JPH0881108A - Stacker and character reader using this stacker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To effectively utilize a space occupied by business forms loaded on a hopper part and a space accupied by documents, etc., loaded on a stacker so as to downsize the stacker matched with capacity of the hopper part. CONSTITUTION: An accept stacker 4 for loading documents, etc., P which are conveyed from a hopper part 1 and normally completed reading by a reading head 6 is provided on the upper part of the hopper part 1 for storing documents, etc., P so as to move vertically. A moving range of the accept stacker 4 contains a space occupied by the documents, etc., P, when the maximum of documents, etc., P are loaded on the hopper part 1. The results read by the reading head 6 are identified in a character recognition result identification part 8 and only the one read normally is counted by a counter 9. The counter 9 outputs the count data to an accept stacker control part 10 and the accept stacker control part 10 lowers the accept stacker 4 based on the count data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stacker on which forms conveyed from a hopper are stacked, and a character reading device equipped with the stacker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a character reading device for recognizing and reading characters written on a form is loaded with a hopper unit for loading and storing the form to be read and a form for which reading is completed. The stacker unit and the stacker unit are separately arranged, and a reading head for reading characters and the like written on forms is arranged in the middle of the conveying path from the hopper unit to the stacker unit. The stacker unit further has an accept stacker on which forms that have been successfully read are stacked and a reject stacker on which forms that have not been successfully read are stacked. Classes are distributed to each stacker according to the read result. The capacity of the stacker section depends on the capacity of the hopper section. With the miniaturization of the apparatus, it has been proposed to reduce the stacker section size without reducing the capacity of the hopper section.

An example thereof will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional stacker. As shown in FIG. 3, a table 104 is arranged inside the box-shaped stacker unit 103 that accommodates the forms that have been read. This table 104 has been read
The documents that have been transported on the transport path 102a are stacked. The table 104 is attached to the other end of a parallel link 120 that is swingably supported around one end, and the table 104 is configured to move up and down by swinging the parallel link 120. . The parallel link 120 also serves as a belt-conveying unit, and the documents that have been read and have been conveyed through the second conveyance path 102 b pass between the parallel links 120 and the bottom wall 105 of the stacker unit 103. Loaded on. Here, the forms conveyed by the hopper (not shown) to the first convey path 102a and the second convey path 102b, respectively, and read by the reading head (not shown) are in accordance with the reading result. It is sorted and conveyed by a select valve (not shown). When the amount of documents loaded on the table 104 is large, the table 104 is lowered, and conversely,
When the amount of documents loaded on the bottom wall 105 is large, the parallel link 120 is driven so as to raise the table 104, and the capacity of the stacker unit 103 is effectively used (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-73750).

In the above-described example, for example, the forms that have been normally read are sent to the first transport path 102a, and the forms that have not been normally read are sent to the second transport path 1.
When it is sent to 02b, the forms that have been normally read are stacked on the table 104, and the forms that have not been normally read are stacked on the bottom wall 105 of the stacker unit 103. That is, the table 104 serves as an accept stacker and the bottom wall 105 of the stacker unit 103.
Becomes a reject stacker.

[0005]

However, in the conventional stacker described above, since the capacity of the stacker section is effectively used, the stacker section can be downsized,
Since it is provided separately from the hopper unit, at least the same capacity as that of the hopper unit is required. That is, the total capacity of the capacity of the hopper section and the capacity of the stacker section needs to be twice the capacity of the hopper section. Moreover, before reading the forms, the stackers do not yet contain the forms, while the hopper becomes empty after reading the forms, and there is still room for improvement when considering the effective use of space. there were.

Therefore, the present invention makes more effective use of the space occupied by the documents loaded in the hopper and the space occupied by the documents loaded in the stacker, and the stacker having a smaller size than the capacity of the hopper can be used. An object is to provide a character reading device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the stacker of the present invention is such that the forms stored in the hopper are
In a stacker that is conveyed and stacked one by one through a predetermined path, the forms stored in the hopper occupy the upper part of the hopper when the maximum amount of forms is stored in the hopper. It is characterized in that it is provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction within a range including a space, and its position is lowered according to the number of sheets to be stacked.

Further, it is used as an accept stacker of a character reading device which reads characters written on a form and sorts the form into those which have been normally read and those which have not been normally read. May be.

The character reading device of the present invention comprises a hopper unit on which forms to be read are stacked, a reading unit for reading the forms conveyed from the hopper unit, and forms that have been normally read by the reading unit. In a character reading device having an accept stacker on which sheets are stacked and a reject stacker on which forms that have not been normally read by the reading unit are stacked, the accept stacker is provided above the hopper unit. When the maximum amount of forms is stored in the unit, the hopper is provided so as to be vertically movable within a range including a space occupied by the forms stored in the hopper, and the position is lowered according to the number of sheets to be loaded. It is characterized by that.

Further, a counter for counting the number of sheets which have been normally read out of the sheets read by the reading means, and the accept stacker having a thickness corresponding to one sheet each time the counter is counted. It may be provided with an accept stacker control unit for lowering the amount by an amount.

[0011]

In the stacker of the present invention configured as described above, when the documents conveyed from the hopper section through the predetermined route are loaded, the position of the stacker is lowered accordingly. That is, the position of the stacker is lowered by the height of the documents loaded on the stacker. The stacker can move vertically above the hopper within a range including the space occupied by the forms stored in the hopper when the maximum amount of forms is stored in the hopper (the space used by the hopper). Since the stacker is installed in the stacker, the stacker position is lowered according to the space used by the hopper, which decreases when the paper is transported from the hopper. And are effectively used.

The character reading device of the present invention has an accept stacker on which forms that have been normally read are placed and a reject stacker on which forms that have not been successfully read are placed. Normally, since the number of forms that have not been normally read is extremely small, the load capacity of the accept stacker is larger than the load capacity of the reject stacker. Therefore, by applying the above-mentioned stacker of the present invention to this accept stacker, the space occupied by the forms loaded in the accept stacker having a large loading capacity and the space used by the hopper are effectively used, and a smaller character is used. A reader is realized. In this case, the control of the descending of the accept stacker is performed by a counter that counts the number of successfully read sheets and an accept stacker that descends the accept stacker by a thickness corresponding to one sheet each time the counter counts. By including the control unit, the reading can be performed by using the reading result by the reading unit.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the character reading apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the character reading device according to the present embodiment is an optical character reading device, and includes a hopper unit 1 in which forms P to be read are stacked and housed, and a form conveyed from the hopper unit 1. An optical reading head 6 for reading the form P by recognizing the characters of the type P,
A stacker unit 3 on which forms P read by the reading head 6 are stacked, and a conveyance path 2 for conveying the forms P from the hopper unit 1 to the stacker unit 3.

The hopper unit 1 is located at the lower end of the character reading apparatus, and the lowest-end forms among the forms P stacked on the hopper unit 1 are sent to the conveying path 2 by the pickup roller 11. . The hopper unit 1 is provided with a separating unit (not shown) similar to that used in a conventional automatic paper feeding mechanism or the like, so that the forms P are conveyed to the conveying path 2 one by one. Has become.

The stacker unit 3 is located above the hopper unit 1, and further, the accept stacker 4 is loaded with the forms P on which the reading by the reading head 6 has been completed normally.
And the reject stacker 5 on which the forms P that have not been normally read by the reading head 6 are stacked. The selection valve 7 distributes the forms P to the respective stackers 4 and 5. Select valve 7
Is a conveyance path 2 for the forms P read by the reading head 6.
Is switched between the first branch path 2a leading to the accept stacker 4 and the second branch path 2b leading to the reject stacker 5 in accordance with the reading result, and is generally used in this type of character reading device. It is what The control of the select valve 7 is performed based on the output from the character recognition result identifying unit 8 that identifies whether or not the characters of the form P are normally recognized by the reading head 6.

The accept stacker 4 is arranged below the reject stacker 5 and is movable in the vertical direction. The amount of movement of the accept stacker 4 is substantially equal to the height of the forms P when the maximum amount of forms P is loaded on the hopper unit 1. Further, the upper end position of the moving range of the accept stacker 4 is the highest position form P when the maximum amount of forms P is loaded in the hopper unit 1.
Immediately above, the accept stacker 4 is located at the upper end of its moving range before starting to read the forms P (the state shown in FIG. 1). The position of the accept stacker 4 is controlled by a command from the accept stacker control unit 10 according to the result of reading the form P by the reading head 6. That is, based on the output from the character recognition result identifying unit 8, the count data from the counter 9 that counts only when the reading is normally completed is input to the accept stacker control unit 10 and is input to the accept stacker control unit 10. The accept stacker 4 is lowered based on the counted data.

Next, the operation of the character reading apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

When the forms P are loaded on the hopper unit 1 and the character reading device is operated, the forms P loaded on the hopper unit 1 are operated.
Are picked up one by one from the lowest position by the pickup roller 11 to the conveyance path 2. The characters P etc. are recognized by the reading head 6 in the middle of conveyance of the forms P sent to the conveyance path 2 and conveyed to the stacker unit 3. At this time, the recognition result by the reading head 6 is output to the character recognition result identifying unit 8, and the character recognition result identifying unit 8 determines that the form P is the first one when the form P is normally read. The select valve 7 is controlled so as to pass through the branch path 2a, and the normally read forms P are loaded on the accept stacker 4, while if they are not normally read, the forms P are second
The select valve 7 is controlled so as to pass through the branch path 2b of No. 2, and the forms P that cannot be read normally are loaded on the reject stacker 5.

On the other hand, the result from the character recognition result identifying unit 8 is also output to the counter 9, and the counter 9 outputs the number of normally read forms P as count data to the accept stacker control unit 10. The accept stacker control unit 10 lowers the accept stacker 4 by a predetermined amount each time the count data from the counter 9 is input. This predetermined amount is an amount corresponding to the thickness of one sheet P, and the accept stacker 4 has the thickness of the sheet P having one sheet P each time one sheet P is loaded. It will fall by the minute. Then, the normally read forms P are successively loaded on the uppermost position of the forms P loaded on the accept stacker 4.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which a certain number of forms P have been read. As shown in FIG. 2, when a certain number of sheets P are read, the accept stacker 4 will change the space occupied by the sheets P initially loaded in the hopper unit 1 (the space used by the hopper unit 1). It will fall as it decreases. That is, the moving range of the accept stacker 4 includes the used space of the hopper unit 1, and moreover, the moving range of the accept stacker 4 is high when the maximum amount of the forms P is loaded on the hopper unit 1. Since the height from the hopper unit 1 to the topmost form P loaded on the accept stacker 4 is constant during the operation of the character reading device, the accept stacker 4
The space occupied by the forms P loaded on the sheet and the used space of the hopper unit 1 are effectively used. Further, as described above, the moving range of the accept stacker 4 is made substantially equal to the height of the forms P when the maximum amount of the forms P is loaded on the hopper unit 1, so that the loading capacity of the hopper unit 1 and the accept stacker 4 are increased. 4 is almost equal to the loading capacity, and by sharing most of these, the space occupied by the forms P loaded on the accept stacker 4 can be made to approximately match the usage space of the hopper unit 1.

By the way, normally, in this type of character reading apparatus, the number of forms P that cannot be read normally is extremely smaller than the number of forms P that can be read normally, so the loading capacity of the reject stacker 5 is small. May be small. For example, in the case where about 10% of the read forms P are not normally read, the loading capacity of the reject stacker 5 is initially set to the hopper unit 1 even if the occurrence rate has a margin. About 20% of the capacity of the forms P to be loaded on is sufficient.

Therefore, the total capacity of the hopper section 1 and the stacker section 3 can be made substantially equal to the capacity of the hopper section 1 plus the capacity of the reject stacker 5,
The capacity can be about 1.2 times the loading capacity of the hopper unit 1. Even if the ratio of the forms P that cannot be read normally reaches nearly 50%, the combined capacity of the hopper unit 1 and the stacker unit 3 is about 1.5 times the loading capacity of the hopper unit 1. As a result, the combined capacity of the hopper unit 1 and the stacker unit 3 can be reduced while the loading capacity of the hopper unit 1 is the same as that of the conventional one, and the loading capacity of the hopper unit 1 is not reduced, and a smaller size is achieved. A character reading device is realized. On the contrary, the same size as before,
The loading capacity of the hopper unit 1 can be increased.

Further, since the position of the accept stacker 4 is lowered according to the number of forms P loaded on the accept stacker 4, even if a large number of forms P are loaded on the accept stacker 4, the forms The first branch 2 by P
The discharge port of a to the accept stacker 4 is not blocked. Moreover, since the drop of the forms P from the discharge port is kept substantially constant, the forms P discharged from the discharge port are reliably loaded on the accept stacker 4. Furthermore, since the accept stacker 4 is lowered based on the reading result of the reading head 6, the control of the accept stacker 4 can be accurately performed with a simple configuration.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the accept stacker 4 is lowered in accordance with the number of the forms P which have been normally read and which has been counted by the counter 9 has been shown. The accept stacker 4 may be lowered according to the number of forms P sent from the unit 1. The control of the accept stacker 4 in this case is
A sensor (not shown) for detecting the forms P may be provided in the transport path 2 and the detection may be performed based on the detection result, or may be performed based on the recognition result by the reading head 6. Thus, even if the accept stacker 4 is lowered according to the number of the forms P sent from the hopper unit 1, the accept stacker 4 is lowered according to the decrease amount of the forms P on the hopper unit 1. The accept stacker 4 does not collide with the forms P on the hopper unit 1. However, if the number of forms P that have not been normally read is large, the head from the first branch path 2a gradually increases, and the forms P may not be accurately loaded on the accept stacker 4. Therefore, it is preferable to lower the accept stacker 4 according to the number of the forms P that have been normally read.

In this embodiment, the stacker is applied to the character reading device, but the stacker of the present invention can be applied to other devices such as a recording device for handling forms. For example, in the recording apparatus, since it is not necessary to sort the forms that have been recorded, the configuration corresponding to the reject stacker shown in the above-mentioned embodiment is not necessary. Therefore, most of the space occupied by the stacker unit can be shared with the used space of the hopper unit, and the space in which forms are stacked can be made smaller.

[0027]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

The stacker of the present invention has a stacker above the hopper.
When the maximum amount of forms is stored in the hopper, it is vertically movable within a range including the space occupied by the forms stored in the hopper, and the position is lowered according to the number of sheets loaded. This makes it possible to effectively use the space occupied by the forms loaded on the stacker and the space used by the hopper. As a result, if this stacker is applied to a device that handles forms, the device can be made more compact without reducing the capacity of the forms stored in the hopper unit. On the contrary, the capacity of the forms stored in the hopper can be increased without increasing the size of the device.

In the character reading device of the present invention, the stacker of the present invention is applied to the accept stacker, so that the space occupied by the forms loaded in the accept stacker having a large loading capacity and the space used by the hopper are set. It can be used effectively. As a result, the character reading device can be made smaller without reducing the capacity of the forms stored in the hopper unit, or the forms stored in the hopper unit without increasing the size of the character reading device. The capacity of can be increased.

In this case, a counter for counting the number of normally read sheets and an accept stacker controller for lowering the accept stacker by the thickness corresponding to one sheet each time the counter counts are provided. As a result, the descent control of the accept stacker can be performed using the reading result by the reading unit, and the accept stacker can be accurately controlled with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of a character reading device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a certain number of forms are read in the character reading device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional stacker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Hopper part 2 Conveying path 2a 1st branch path 2b 2nd branch path 3 Stacker part 4 Accept stacker 5 Reject stacker 6 Read head 7 Select valve 8 Character recognition result identification part 9 Counter 10 Accept stacker control part 11 Pickup roller P Forms

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A stacker in which documents stored in a hopper are conveyed one by one through a predetermined route and stacked, and a maximum amount of documents is stored in the hopper above the hopper. The stacker is provided so as to be vertically movable within a range including a space occupied by documents stored in the hopper when the stacker is moved, and the position is lowered according to the number of stacked sheets. 2. The accept stacker of a character reading device which reads characters written on a form and sorts the form into those that have been normally read and those that have not been normally read. Stacker described in. 3. A hopper unit on which forms to be read are stacked, a reading unit for reading the forms conveyed from the hopper unit, and an accept stacker on which the forms normally read by the reading unit are stacked. And a reject stacker on which forms that have not been normally read by the reading unit are stacked, the accept stacker is above the hopper unit and has a maximum amount of forms in the hopper unit. It is provided so as to be vertically movable within a range including a space occupied by forms stored in the hopper when the types are stored, and the position is lowered according to the number of stacked sheets. Character reader. 4. A counter that counts the number of documents that have been successfully read out of the documents that have been read by the reading means, and a thickness that corresponds to one document that has the accept stacker for each count by the counter. The character reading device according to claim 3, further comprising an accept stacker control unit that lowers the amount by an amount.