JPH0911677A - Ballot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to read data in the reverse direction and simultaneous reading of data on both front and rear sides of a ballot by forming an index area in which a marking particular to each part is put, on each tip part and the back end part of the front and rear sides which are relatively at the same position at the time of reading data. CONSTITUTION: A plurality of index areas 11a-11d are formed at the same positions on each tip part and a back end part of the front and rear surfaces of a ballot 1, and ID areas 12a-12d which indicate a format are formed on the same horizontal lines of each index area 11a-11d. The index areas 11a-11d are divided into plural marking areas, and the tip part and the back end part each of the front and the rear surface are identifiable in accordance with the amount of marking in each divided area. Consequently, it is possible to easily recognize in which transport status such as front, rear, forward or backward the ballot 1 is. Therefore, the data shown on both front and rear surfaces of the ballot 1 or the data shown in different formats can be simultaneously read.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to ballots, and in particular
The present invention relates to a structure of ballot paper for mechanically reading the content of a vote by a reading device including a ballot paper transport unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an election or the like, a voter fills out a predetermined ballot form according to his / her vote content. At the time of voting
The counting data is totaled from each completed ballot form. This work is usually done manually. Therefore, particularly when the number of voters is large, a large amount of manpower and time are required to collect the vote counting data. In addition, when collecting data manually, it is always unavoidable to make a mistake in counting the votes. Therefore, attempts have conventionally been made to mechanize the counting of vote counting data by freeing humans.

[0003]

However, when attempting to mechanize the counting of the vote counting data, there is a problem that the front and back sides of the voting paper and the top and bottom of the voting paper are not always correctly read by the reading device. Also,
Since there are cases where a plurality of formats are mixed in one ballot, it may be difficult to accurately read the entered data.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to enable backward reading and simultaneous reading on both the front and back sides when mechanically counting the vote counting data, and also to cope with the case where different formats are mixed. To provide ballots of various structures.

[0005]

The ballot paper of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems can be read by a ballot paper to be read by a ballot paper reader having a means for reading the presence or absence of marking in a predetermined area or the number of markings. At the front and back ends, which are sometimes in the same position,
It is characterized in that an index region for forming a marking peculiar to each part is formed. This index area is divided into, for example, a plurality of marking areas, and it is possible to identify either the front surface front end portion, the front surface rear end portion, the rear surface front end portion, or the rear surface rear end portion according to the marking amount in each divided area. It is assumed to be a structure.

The ballot paper according to the present invention is a table which is relatively in the same position at the time of reading in the ballot paper to be read by the ballot paper reader equipped with means for reading the presence or absence of marking or the number of markings in a predetermined area. An ID area is formed on the front and rear edges of the back surface, where a different number of markings are applied according to the format of the surface, and a timing mark that indicates the entry position of the data mark indicating the voting content is used as a reading unit. Is formed.

The above-mentioned voting paper is, for example, an index area determination unit for determining the marking amount in the index area, a voting surface reference table that determines the front and back and the top and bottom of the voting paper according to the marking amount, and the voting surface. A voting surface determination unit that determines the front and back of the voting paper sheet and the transport direction based on a reference table, an ID area determination unit that determines the marking amount in the ID area, and a voting paper sheet according to the marking amount in the ID area determination unit. The effect is exhibited by a reading device having a format reference table that defines the format and a format determination unit that determines the format on the surface of the ballot based on the format reference table.

[0008]

Since the voting paper of the present invention has a unique marking in the index area, it is possible to identify the front and back and top and bottom of the paper, that is, the conveying direction and the set state by detecting this marking. In particular, if the index area is divided into a plurality of marking areas, and the marking amount in each divided area, for example, the number of markings or the marking area is used as the identification target element, and the geometric shape of the marking is not specified, the formation area of the index area is identified. As a result, the front and back of the ballot and the conveying direction can be easily and quickly identified. Further, the format of the surface can be identified by the marking amount of the ID area, and by reading the timing mark, it becomes easy to search the entry position of the data mark representing the voting content.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a front surface structure of a ballot paper 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a rear surface structure of the ballot paper 1. On the surface of this ballot paper 1, a plurality of candidate names A1 to An, B1 to Bn, C1 to C
Mark entry area 10 for selecting n, D1 to Dn
0 is formed, and a plurality of proposal contents a1 to a4, b1 to b4, c1 to the proposal units a to d are formed on the back surface.
Mark entry area 1 for selecting c3, d1 to d3
00 is formed. In other words, this ballot paper 1 is capable of voting for a plurality of simultaneous elections with one sheet.

A plurality of index areas 11a to 11d are formed at the same positions on the front and back ends of the voting paper 1 at the front and rear ends thereof, respectively, to make unique markings on the respective formation sites, and the respective index areas 11a to 11d are formed. In the same row in the horizontal direction of the ID areas 12a to 12 representing the format of the surface.
d is formed. These ID areas 12a-12d are
It shows an example when the ID code corresponding to the format information has two digits. A plurality of timing marks 13 are formed between the index areas on the front and back surfaces, and
An area for forming the double-reading prevention mark 14 is provided at a predetermined portion of the surface.

First, an index code based on the index areas 11a to 11d and the marking amount will be described with reference to FIGS. These index areas 11a to 11d are for identifying the conveying direction and the conveying position of the ballot paper 1, so that when the paper is supplied to the reading device (not shown), it can be identified even if the paper shape changes a little. In addition, the center position is made to coincide with the transport reference position 10 which is the central axis of the sheet in the transport direction. As one mode of marking, a different number of black boxes are arranged in each of the index regions 11a to 11d depending on the formation site.
FIGS. 3A to 3D show an example of the arrangement standard of the number of black squares. In the illustrated example, one block (4 squares) represented by a 2 × 2 square has a surface. One black box (same (a)) for the front end index area 11a, two black boxes (same (b)) for the front surface rear end index area 11b, and three black boxes for the back surface front end index area 11c. Four black boxes (the same (c)) are arranged, and four black boxes (the same (d)) are arranged in the case of the index region 11d at the rear end of the back surface. In this case, the geometrical arrangement of the black boxes does not matter, and only the code or area ratio is used as the identification target element.

For example, in FIG. 4 (a), there is no black box, so the code is "0", and in FIG. 4 (b), there is one black box, so the code is "1".
(1x), the same (c) has two black boxes, so the code is "2".
(2 times), the same (d) has three black boxes, so the code is "3".
(3 times), the same (e) has four black boxes, so the code is "4".
(4 times). These codes "0" to "4" are index codes. 4F and FIG. 4G have different geometrical arrangements, the area of each black square is equivalent to two squares. Therefore, these represent the code "2" as in the case of FIG. 4C, and indicate that they are the index regions 11b at the rear end of the surface. By doing so, the sheet position can be accurately and quickly identified even if the position and direction of the block are slightly deviated.

The shape of the black box is not necessarily square, and may be any shape as long as it can be identified by the area ratio. For example, instead of the shape shown in FIG. 5A, a circular shape can be used as shown in FIG.

To actually identify the formation regions of the index regions 11a to 11d, as shown in FIG. 6, the vertical frame of each block is set to Hi and the horizontal frame is set to Wi, and the black inside of the frame is set as the index region. Count the number of dots (corresponding to a black box). For example, when the resolution of the scanner portion of the reading device is 2 dots / mm and the size of the index area is 10 mm × 10 mm, the unit area of the black box is W
i / 2 × Hi / 2 = 25 mm ² . 1 as above
Since it corresponds to mm ² = 4 dots, the unit area of each box (for one black box) is 100 dots, and when black boxes are arranged in all of the individual index areas (four black boxes), The total area is equivalent to 400 dots. In this way, the number of black boxes or the code corresponding thereto can be obtained from the number of black dots.

Since an error is unavoidable when scanning the number of dots, a fixed threshold value is set for the measured number of dots. An example of this threshold is shown below.

## EQU00001 ## Measurement dots 0 to 49 ... Code "0" (no black box) Measurement dots 50 to 149 ... Code "1" (one black box) Measurement dots 150 to 249 ... Code "2" ( Two black boxes) Measurement dots 250 to 349 ... Code "3" (three black boxes) Measurement dots 350 to 449 ... Code "4" (four black boxes) If it does not enter, it is treated as unidentifiable. For example, the total of the ballots is discarded and the ballots are discharged to a reject stacker or the like.

According to the voting paper 1 having such a structure, the reading device reads the code corresponding to the number of dots in each block of the index areas 11a to 11d near the transport reference position 10 to obtain the voting paper 1 It is possible to easily identify whether the state is the front surface conveyance, the back surface conveyance, the forward direction conveyance, or the reverse direction conveyance. Therefore, based on these pieces of information, it is possible to recognize the voting content on each surface by referring to the format information stored in advance for each of the front surface and the back surface, that is, the format information. In addition,
The format information as used herein refers to read information such as a reading position, whether the data mark is an alternative type or an aggregate type, and a data mark determination criterion.

Next, the ID areas 12a to 12d will be described. The ID areas 12a to 12d are for identifying the format information of the surface, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, are arranged in the same row in the horizontal direction of the index areas 11a to 11d. This makes it easy to identify the format of the reading surface even when ballot papers having the same size and different formats are mixed. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this case corresponds to the case where the front and back surfaces of the voting paper have different formats.

As a procedure for detecting the marking amount applied to each of the ID areas 12a to 12d (expressed by the area ratio as in the case described above), the index area near the transport reference position 10 is irrespective of the paper position. 11a to 11d are detected, and an ID area at a specified position on the same row in the horizontal direction is detected from the detected index area. Detected ID
By detecting the marking amount of the area, the format information of the corresponding voting paper can be immediately known.
It should be noted that the format information (format reference table) for each type of ballot paper 1 may be stored in advance in the memory or the like of the reading device for each ID area.

Next, the detection area of the mark (data mark) entered by the voter will be described. As described above, the ballot paper 1 of the present embodiment enables voting for a plurality of simultaneous elections, and voting for a candidate (choice of a candidate) is performed next to the candidate name column of each election division. This is done by writing a mark in the mark writing area 100. Figure 8
Shown in Voting for proposals on the back side is also done by putting a mark in the mark entry box next to the proposal item column as well. This mark entry area 100 is used as a mark detection area,
The voting content is identified by detecting the presence or absence of a mark within the range.

The position of the mark writing area 100 is detected by
Timing mark 1 placed on the transport reference position 10
Reading is performed for each row, for example, for each row using the position of 3 as an index.
Further, the timing mark 13 is used as a reference to detect variations in skew and image distortion with a minimum.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, each mark detection area may be an area including not only the mark writing area 100 but also a candidate name column or a proposal item column located correspondingly adjacent thereto. . In this way, even if a mark is erroneously entered in the candidate name column or the proposal item column as shown in the figure, the mark can be correctly detected.

However, the candidate name, the proposal, and the partition frame of each field (including the field for entering the mark to be read) are dropout colors that are optically removed. This is to identify the mark entered by the voter and the candidate name printed from the beginning. The black dot on the mark is large,
When it is possible to clearly distinguish the blank from the blank, the partition frame for writing the shape of the data mark does not have to be the dropout color. As described above, by counting the number of black dots in the designated area instead of the geometrical shape, the above-described flexible correspondence is possible.

Next, the data mark will be described. FIG. 10 shows an example of writing the shape of the mark written in the mark writing area 100. In this way, it is possible to properly use the read target mark depending on the election content, the size of the voting paper, the layout, and the voter. For example, the ballot paper of FIG. 1 assumes a circular stamp.

The presence or absence of a mark in the mark writing area 100 is determined by measuring the number of black dots. In particular,
As illustrated in FIG. 11, the mark writing area size (W
The number of black dots existing in (m × Hm) is counted. For example, the number of black dots when the mark size is a circle having a diameter of 10 mm and filled in is about 78.5 mm ² , and when the resolution of the scanner is 2 dots / mm, this area corresponds to 314 dots. Therefore, it is determined whether a black dot corresponding to 314 dots is detected by setting a threshold value. In this case, for example, it is determined that there is no mark from 0 to 157 dots and that there is a mark from 158 to 470 dots. If black dots having other values are detected, it is determined that they cannot be identified, the total of the voting papers is discarded, and the voting papers are discharged to the reject stacker or the like.

Next, the imprinting and detection processing of the double reading prevention mark 14 will be described. When the double-reading prevention mark 14 is not imprinted on the ballot paper 1 supplied to the reading device and the data mark is recognized and the reading is normally performed, the double-reading is performed at a predetermined position of the corresponding ballot paper. The prevention mark (processed mark) 14 is imprinted. In the example of FIG. 12, the double-reading prevention mark 14 is imprinted at the position Ya from the leading end of the form and the position Xa from the transport reference position. When the ballot paper 1 on which the double-reading prevention mark 14 has been imprinted in this way is supplied to the reading device again due to an operation error or the like, the reading device detects the double-reading prevention mark 14 and counts up the ballot paper 1. To cancel. Then, for example, the removal switch is operated so that the ballot paper 1 is removed by the reject stacker. By such a process, illegal tabulation due to double reading can be suppressed.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, for example, a predetermined double-reading prevention mark imprint area (Wa × Ha).
Count the number of black dots that exist in the area (shown in). If the mark size to be read is a circle with a diameter of 10 mm and the character “Done” is blank for better visibility, the number of black dots is about 7.0 mm ² . If the resolution of the scanner is 2 dots / mm, this area corresponds to 280 dots. Therefore, it is determined whether a black dot corresponding to 280 dots is detected by setting a threshold value. In this case, for example, it is determined that there is no mark from 0 to 139 dots, and that there is a mark from 140 to 420 dots. If a black dot having a value other than that is detected, it is treated as unidentifiable. For example, the total of the ballots is discarded and discharged to the reject stacker.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of the structure of the ballot paper 2 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the right end of the sheet is set as the transport reference position 20, and the index areas 11a to 11d are always located at the right end in the transport direction. Therefore, the index area 11a indicating the front end of the surface and the index area 11b indicating the rear end of the surface
Will be on the diagonals of the ballot paper 2 with respect to each other. Along with this, the ID areas 12a to 12d are also arranged side by side in the same row on the left side in the horizontal direction of the index areas 11a to 11d. In this case as well, marking is performed according to the same criteria as in the first embodiment so that the state of the ballot paper 2 is conveyed on the front surface,
Whether it is back side conveyance, forward direction conveyance or reverse direction conveyance,
It is possible to easily identify what the front and back surfaces are like.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the front and back sides and the up, down, left, and right directions of the ballot paper used in the reading device, and to simultaneously read the front and back surfaces of the ballot paper and use different formats. Simultaneous reading is possible. Further, when supplying the ballots to the reading device, there is no need to align the front and back of the ballots or the transport direction, so that it is possible to quickly perform the ballot counting operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a front surface of a ballot paper according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the back surface of the ballot paper according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an index area according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an index area according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a code shape according to this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of recognition of an index area according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an index area and an ID area according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a mark detection area according to this embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a mark detection area according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a data mark entry example according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a data mark recognition example according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a double reading prevention mark according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an example of recognition of a double-reading prevention mark according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of the front surface of a ballot paper according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Voting paper 10 Transport reference position 11a to 11d Index area 12a to 12d ID area 13 Timing mark 14 Double reading prevention mark 100 Mark entry area

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A ballot paper to be read by a ballot paper reader having a means for reading the presence or absence of markings or the number of markings in a predetermined area, and the front and back edges of the front and back surfaces that are relatively in the same position during reading. A ballot sheet, characterized in that an index region for marking each part is formed on each part. 2. The index area is divided into a plurality of marking areas, and a front surface front end portion, a front surface rear end portion, a rear surface front end portion, and
2. The ballot paper according to claim 1, wherein either the rear end of the rear surface or the rear end has a distinguishable structure. 3. A ballot paper to be read by a ballot paper reader having means for reading the presence or absence of markings or the number of markings in a predetermined area, and the front and back edges of the front and back surfaces that are relatively at the same position during reading. A ballot sheet, characterized in that an ID area is formed on a portion, the ID area having a different number of markings according to the format of the surface. 4. In a ballot paper to be read by a ballot paper reader having a unit for reading the presence or absence of markings or the number of markings in a predetermined area, a timing unit indicating a writing position of a data mark representing a voting content is a reading unit. Ballot paper characterized by being formed into.