JPH0962753A - Voting card counting and sorting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a voting card counting/sorting machine which can quickly and accurately count and sort the voted cards. SOLUTION: This machine is provided with a feeding means 6 and 11 which hold plural voting cards including the entry columns for the candidate names or the political party names and their selection marks and then feed these voting cards one by one, a reading means 12 which reads the written columns of the voting cards fed by the means 6 and 11, a recognition means 13 which recognizes the marks that are written in the entry columns and read by the means 12, and the control means 14 and 15 which sort the voting cards base don the recognition results of the means 13 to send them to one of plural stackers and also count these voting cards.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ballot paper counting and sorting machine, which is used for counting votes in national and local elections.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the counting of voting results after an election has been done by a large number of counting people after each election
After reading the sheets, they were classified and accumulated for each candidate or for each political party, and the number was counted by a counter to make a total.

[0003]

However, the task of classifying ballots for each candidate and each political party is very complicated. That is, the conventional voting is a name-based system, and the ballot sheet has the person's name and political party name written by hand by voters, so it is impossible to recognize this with an automatic machine such as a character recognition device. People read the characters and sort them. Although only counting is done by a counting machine, the time taken to sort the votes as a whole in the counting of votes is a major obstacle to quick counting.

An electronic voting device has also been filed in order to efficiently count the votes. For example, JP-A-55-87268
In the gazette, a push button switch for selection in which a candidate's name is described in advance is provided, and it is possible to push the push button switch for selection only once by a voting card handed in exchange for a voting ticket. Each time is pressed, the number of times is summed up so that the totaling is performed quickly is described.

However, there are various problems in applying such a device to an actual voting system, and it is almost impossible to realize it.

[0006] Only recently have the ballots been filled in with the candidate name,
Instead of filling in the political party name, you can print the candidate name or political party name on the ballot in advance and put a circle on the column where the person you want to choose or the political party is written. Has been recognized.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a ballot sheet counting and sorting machine which can sort ballot sheets quickly when such ballot sheets are used.

[0008]

A ballot paper counting and sorting machine according to the present invention has a plurality of ballot papers each having a candidate name or political party name and a selection mark entry field for these candidates, which are placed one by one. A feeding means for feeding out, a reading means for reading the selection mark entry field of the ballot paper fed out by the feeding means, and a recognition means for recognizing the selection mark entered from the selection mark entry field read by the reading means. And a control means for sorting the voting paper into one of a plurality of stackers and counting it based on the recognition result of the recognition means. In this sorting machine, a candidate's name or political party name is written in advance, and ballots marked with a circle that means selection by the elector are placed in the hopper,
When the start button is pressed, the voting papers are fed one by one, all the selection mark entry fields of the voting paper are taken in, and the fields marked with a circle are found by image recognition.
Since it is directed to the relevant stacker, the votes can be sorted quickly and reliably.

Further, the control means, with respect to the recognition means,
It has a setting mode for pre-storing the selection mark entry field of the voting paper. By such learning, various voting papers can be dealt with.

Further, the control means has an order change mode for freely changing the correspondence relationship between the order of the candidates for the ballot sheet and the plurality of stacker positions. With this, the stacker order can be changed to the candidate who is expected to have a large number of votes, and multiple stackers can be assigned to the candidate who is expected to get a large number of votes, and conversely the number of votes is expected to be very small. A plurality of candidates to be assigned can be assigned to one stacker, and the efficiency of counting votes can be improved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a ballot paper counting and sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An operation panel 2 is provided on the upper front portion of the main body 1, and an LE for displaying the stacker number is provided on the left side of the front surface at a position corresponding to the stacker 7 mounted on the left side surface.
A D display device 3 is provided. A hopper 6 is provided on the right side of the main body. This hopper is, for example, 500
It has a capacity of one sheet. The sorted ballot papers are placed on the hopper unit 6, sorted and stored in the stacker unit 7. The stacker unit 7 is composed of a stacker having six stages, and the numbers 1, 2, 3, ... Are given from the top, but the lowest stage (the sixth stage in the embodiment) has an invalid or unreadable form. It is only for rejects such as.

At the center of the top panel 4 of the main body 1, there is provided a display board 5 which is used by raising the panel surface when necessary. This display panel is also used to show witnesses the progress and results of counting, and the angle can be changed arbitrarily to make it easier to see.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the panel surface of the operation unit in FIG. 1, and is a liquid crystal display 2 for displaying numbers, symbols and the like.
1, numeric keypad 22 for inputting numbers, single-function key counting / sorting key 23, batch number setting key 24, recognition level setting key 25, addition ON
A / OFF key 26, a reset key 27, and a start / stop key 28 are arranged.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example on the display board 5. The set number of sheets is displayed on the batch set number display section 51 that displays the batch set number, and the processing mode display section 52 lights up the side of the selected mode, either the counting mode for counting only or the sorting mode for sorting. . In the addition mode display portion 53, after counting all the voting papers of the hopper, the addition mode for selecting whether or not to perform cumulative addition of the subsequent counts is also turned on by selecting either ON or OFF. The candidate name display field 54 displays the candidate names assigned to the stackers 1 to 5, and the total number display field 55 displays the total number of votes of the candidate.
Here, the name tag is attached to the display of the candidate, but it may be displayed electronically.
Each number uses a 7-segment display.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall internal structure of the embodiment of the present invention. This ballot paper counting and sorting machine 1 includes a feeding section 11, a reading section 12, a recognition section 13, and a sorting section 1.
4 has a control unit 15. Also, as mentioned above,
A display board 5 is provided on the upper surface. The feeding unit 11 includes a kicker roller 103 and a conveyance motor 110 for feeding.
It has a feed roller 105 driven by the hopper 6 and is attached with a hopper 6 protruding to the outside of the machine in order to pay out the voting paper.

The reading unit 12 has a sensor unit 121, and an area sensor 122 is provided above the sensor unit 121.
Read the entire ballot that came under this sensor unit. The sensor S3 is a sensor for feeding.

The recognition unit 13 is mainly composed of an electronic circuit and recognizes from the image of the ballot paper read by the reading unit which candidate or political party the selection mark given by the voter is.

The classification unit 14 is provided with a plurality of branch passages, and based on the recognition result of the recognition unit 13, the branching is controlled when the voting paper comes to the sorting sensor S4, and the voting paper is sent to the corresponding stacker. It is like this.

The control unit 15 controls the whole and counts. Under the control of the control unit, the present device realizes a function of learning the voting paper frame in advance, a function of changing the correspondence between the frame and the stacker, and the like.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing details of the structure of the feeding section 11, and FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view thereof. The kicker roller 103 composed of a rubber roller is driven by the belt 102 by the stepping motor 101. The feed roller 105 driven by the transport motor 110 via the timing belt 111 and the transport belt 108 feeds the voting paper taken in by the kicker roller 103 to the transport belt 108.
To be transported with. At this time, the two-sheet feed is blocked by the cooperation with the reverse rotation roller 106. The conveyor belt 108
Are driven faster than the feeding belt 104. In order to make this possible, while the pulley and shaft of the conveyor belt 108 and the shaft, feed roller, and pulley of the feed roller 105 are fixed, respectively, the delivery belt 1
A bearing is attached to the pulley of the No. 04 feed roller 105 side so as to be free from rotation. Further, a speed-up roller 107 which is mounted by a bearing so as to rotate freely is provided so as to absorb the speed difference described above.

The sensor S1 is a sensor for detecting the presence of the ballot paper to be fed out. Also, the sensor S
Reference numeral 2 is a sensor for detecting that a ballot sheet has entered the sensor unit 121 and for measuring the length of the ballot sheet. That is, the pulses of the rotary encoder 109 are counted while the voting paper is passing through the sensor S2, and the length of the voting paper can be known from the number of pulses. After the time t1 when the output of the sensor S2 is turned off due to light shielding, the rotation of the feeding motor 101 is stopped, and after the time t2 when the sensor S2 is turned on, the feeding motor 1 is turned on.
Although 01 is rotated, if the values of t1 and t2 are changed according to the length of the ballot paper, it is possible to increase the processing speed of feeding out the ballot paper having various short lengths. The delay values t1 and t2 of the feeding motor 101 are automatically set to prestored values based on the length of the first voting sheet.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a voting paper.
This voting paper has six columns, and the names of the six candidates running for it are printed. Voters make their choices by encircling the box above the candidate's name.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing details of the setting operation in the ballot paper counting and sorting machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

First, the counting / sorting key 23 and the addition ON / OFF key 26 of the operation unit are simultaneously pressed to enter the setting mode (step S101). Here, a number prepared in advance as a layout mode is input using the ten keys 22 and the start / stop key 28 is pressed to shift to the layout registration mode (step S102). In this way, the start / stop key 28 plays the same role as the enter key, and this point is common to the following operations.

In order to register the layout, a ballot for registration, that is, a blank ballot having a line width of 1 mm or more is placed on the hopper (step S103), and the start button is pressed (step S104). In addition, when the line of the ballot for registration is thin, it is necessary to make it thick by using an appropriate writing tool. The frame layout is recognized and registered when the registration ballot is taken in (step S105). For this recognition, a recognition technology applying a neural network, for example, the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-324837 can be used.

Although the actual ballots are used here, the number and size of the frames,
It is also possible to register the layout by inputting the margin length and the like using the ten keys 22.

At the time when the layout registration is completed, or when the layout registration is not performed, the process proceeds to the next step 106, and when the correspondence between the frame order and the stacker order on the voting paper is changed, the correspondence relationship registration mode ( The number prepared as the order change mode) is input, and the start / stop key 28 is pressed (step S106). If such input is not made, it is defined as 1, 2, 3, 4 ... From the right side of the ballot frame, and numbers are assigned in order from the top of the stacker 1, 2, 3, 4 ...・ ・ Will be supported. When there are six or more voting paper frames, the stacker 5 is associated with all the fifth and subsequent frames.

For candidates with a large number of votes, it is easier to take out the candidates that correspond to the upper stacker. For this reason, it is necessary to change the correspondence of the order of the frame and the stacker, and this is done as follows. This setting basically applies a frame based on the stacker position. That is, when the order change mode is entered, the frame number set in the stacker 1 is displayed first. In the normal registration, 1 is displayed, that is, the rightmost frame is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 as “Stacker 1 =
It is displayed as "1". Here, assuming that the third frame corresponds to the stacker 1, if the user inputs 3 on the numeric keypad 22 and presses the start / stop key 28, the display is 1
= 3, it can be seen that the frame 3 corresponds to the stacker 1. If the fourth frame is also set in the stacker 1, if the user inputs 4 on the numeric keypad 22 and then presses the start / stop key 28, the display becomes 1 = 3, 4 and the stacker 1 has a frame 3 and It turns out that 4 corresponded.

Next, when the "*" key is pressed to move to the setting of the stacker 2, the registered contents up to this point are displayed. Therefore, the setting contents can be changed as necessary by the same procedure as described above. You can

On the contrary, one frame may correspond to a plurality of stackers. This is useful when you are expected to get a large number of votes when you are running alone. In this case, while the stacker 1 is being displayed, enter, for example, 3 from the numeric keypad 22, press the start / stop key 28 (display is 1 = 3), and then press the "*" key to display the stacker 2 and then the numeric keypad. Press 3 again at 22, then start / stop key 28
When is pressed, the display becomes 2 = 3, and it can be seen that the frame 3 corresponds to the stackers 1 and 2.

When the setting for all the stackers is completed, the "C" key is pressed to store the setting contents so far and exit the order change mode. Then, when the "C" key is pressed again, the setting mode is exited.

Note that various other settings can be made on the operation unit. The counting / sorting key 23 can be used to switch between a counting mode for performing simple counting and a sorting mode for performing sorting. As for the number of batches, which is one counting unit, when the batch number key 24 is repeatedly pressed, it changes to no display, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100.
It can be set to an appropriate number. Stacker is 100
The sheets are fully accommodated. The number of batch sheets is usually set to 100. Also, by pressing the identification level key 25, it is possible to switch between the presence / absence recognition level for recognizing that something is in the frame and the level for accurately recognizing the XX symbol. The addition ON / OFF key 26 is for selecting whether or not to perform cumulative addition after counting all the voting papers of the hopper. The reset key is used for recovering by pressing after performing error processing, but is pressed during normal standby to clear the count display. It is also possible to display and confirm the various setting contents as described above.

Next, with reference to FIG. 9, counting and sorting operations by normal operation in the ballot paper counting and sorting machine according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Here, an example in which addition is turned on and the number of batches is set to 100 will be taken up.

It is monitored that the ballots are placed on the hopper (step S201), and when the ballots aligned in the front and back and in the same direction are detected by the sensor or the like, it is detected by pressing the start button ( Step S20
2) The feeding of ballots is started (step S20).
3). The entered content of the fed-out sheet is recognized and counted (step S204). Then, based on the recognition result, the ballots are classified and sorted into the corresponding stackers according to the entered contents (step S205).
It should be noted that the recognition is effective when the O mark is entered in only one place, and is rejected when other marks such as the X mark are entered or the O mark is entered in multiple places, It is deposited on the reject stacker.

Whether any of the stackers are full (100 sheets) (step S206), any of the stackers have reached the number of batches (step S207), or whether the hopper is empty (step S208). It is constantly monitored.

If the hopper is not empty, the process returns to step S204 and continues unless the stop button is pressed (step S231).

When the stacker is not full and the number of batches is not reached and the hopper is empty, the feeding is stopped (step S209). At this point, when the ballot is added to the hopper (step S210), the start button is pressed (step S212), the feeding is restarted (step S225), and the process returns to step S204. When such addition is performed, the displayed count value is accumulated. However, when adding after removing the papers from all the stackers, the state is the same as the initial state, and therefore the start cannot be started unless the clear key is pressed once.

On the other hand, when any one of the stackers is full or the number of the stackers reaches the number of batches, the feeding is stopped (step S221) and the LED display beside the corresponding stacker blinks ( Step S222). In response to the blinking, when it is detected that the ballot is removed from the stacker by the staff member (step S223), the LED is turned off (step S223).
224), the feeding is restarted.

When the stop button is pushed by an attendant or the like for some reason while the hopper is not empty (step S23).
In 1), the feeding is stopped (step S232), and when the start button is pressed, the feeding is restarted (step S225).

In the embodiment, there are six categories including rejects, but this number is arbitrary. The number of recognitions in the reading column can be up to about 30. For example, if there are 20 candidates, it is possible to sort them at once if 21 stackers are prepared, but in the six stackers of the embodiment, the first to fifth persons are used for sorting. Those who are rejected with other people may be placed in the 6th stacker, and the 6th one may be sorted again so that the 6th to 10th can be divided this time. Prepare a paper counting and sorting machine, and the first one is the first to the fifth
The second person may be the sixth person to the tenth person.

In the embodiment, only when the O mark is written in one place, the OK mark is accepted. However, as in the case of the national examination of the Supreme Court judge, the X mark as the selection mark is registered in advance and this is Even if there are a plurality of them, each may be counted. In this case, sorting may be performed appropriately in terms of operation,
Each count is possible.

The number of hoppers and stackers accommodated can be arbitrarily changed depending on the application.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, the candidates are printed in advance, and the voting paper with the selection mark attached thereto is automatically sorted by recognizing the selection mark. Since this is done, it is possible to perform quick and accurate tabulation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a ballot paper counting and sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a panel surface of an operation unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example on a display board 5 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall internal configuration in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing details of the configuration of the feeding unit 11.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a voting paper.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of a setting operation.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating counting and sorting operations by normal operations.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Body 2 Operation Panel 3 LED Display 5 Display Panel 6 Hopper 7 Stacker 11 Feeding Section 12 Reading Section 13 Recognition Section 14 Sorting Section 15 Control Section 21 Liquid Crystal Display 22 Numeric Keypad 28 Start / Stop Key 103 Kicker Roller 105 Feeding Roller 108 Transport Belt 111 rotary encoder

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ballot papers each having a candidate name or political party name and a selection mark entry field for these, and a feeding means for feeding one by one, and the voting given by the feeding means. A reading means for reading the selection mark entry field of the sheet, a recognition means for recognizing the selection mark entered from the selection mark entry field read by the reading means, and a plurality of ballot sheets based on the recognition result of the recognition means. A ballot paper counting and sorting machine having a control means for sorting and counting into one of the stackers. 2. The ballot sheet counting and sorting machine according to claim 1, wherein the control means has a setting mode for preliminarily storing a selection mark entry field of the ballot sheet in the recognition means. . 3. The control means has an order change mode for freely changing the correspondence relationship between the order of candidates for the ballot paper and the plurality of stacker positions.
Ballot counting machine described in.