JPH1134534A - Detecting device for incorrect collating - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for detecting incorrect collation having a memory of small capacity for storing data to judge an incorrect collation and a high operation speed. SOLUTION: The image of a prescribed area of a standard paper sheet 1a is taken by a CCD camera 8a, and video signals formed by a signal forming circuit 9a is made discrete into the digital data of gray image video data by a data processing circuit 10a. The data is subjected to projection treatment in each line-column unit by an adder 11a to form the resulting value of summing operation of gray level values, the value is stored in a memory 12a. Similar data processing is done for a inspection paper sheet 1b, and the resulting value of summing operation of each line-column unit is stored in a memory 12b. Data stored in the memories 12a, 12b are read out in each line-column unit respectively and compared by comparing operation machine 13, and when the difference between them exceeds a given range, an incorrect collation signal is outputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting whether or not a sheet different from a sheet that needs to be collated is mixed when collating printed sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A required number of the same page is sequentially printed on each page.
A collating machine having a plurality of paper feed stages is used to feed and collate one sheet at a time from a printed sheet bundle of each page to produce a required number of collated sheet bundles. Conventionally, a misaligned sheet detecting apparatus for detecting whether or not different sheets are mixed in printed sheets to be collated by such a collating machine has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-144826. Things are known.

In the above conventional example, an image of a predetermined area of a printed sheet serving as a reference is transferred to a charge transfer element (Cha).
The data is read by a sensor using a rge-coupled device (hereinafter, referred to as a CCD), the data is converted into a binary level, and stored in a memory. Next, the mapping of the same area on the printed sheet to be inspected is read by a CCD sensor, the data is converted into a binary level and stored in another memory. Thereafter, the data stored in the two memories are compared, and if the difference is within a certain range, it is determined that there is no incorrect page.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional example. In the figure, 1a is a printed reference sheet,
Reference numeral 2a denotes a light source, and 3a denotes a CCD sensor which captures an image reflected from a predetermined area of the reference sheet irradiated by the light source 2a, and converts a signal into a video signal by a photoelectric converter 4a. This video signal is subsequently converted by the digital converter 5a to 2
The value is converted into a value level and stored in the memory 6a.

Similarly, an image of a predetermined area is also captured by the CCD sensor on the printed inspection sheet 1b, and this signal is converted into a video signal, converted into a binary level, and stored in the memory 6b. . The data stored in the memories 6a and 6b are compared in the comparison arithmetic unit 7, and if the difference value is within a certain range, it is determined that the sheet is a normal collated sheet. If it is out of the range, it is determined that the page is out of order and a signal is output.

[0006]

In a conventional apparatus for detecting a page misalignment using a CCD sensor, mapping data from a certain wide area is required in order to judge whether or not the page is incorrect. This is because if mapping data from a narrow area is used, even if there is a small amount of print unevenness in the area that does not interfere with the product, it may be judged that the page is incorrect, and in order to prevent excessive detection of incorrect pages. It is.

However, when mapping data from a wide area of a printed sheet is required, there is a problem that the memory capacity for storing the data converted into the binarized level increases and the cost increases. Further, since the data amount of the reference sheet and the data amount of the inspection sheet are large, there is a problem that it takes a long time to perform a comparison operation of the two data, and a work time for determining a misalignment becomes long.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a misaligned page detecting apparatus in which the capacity of a memory for storing data for determining the incorrect page is small and the time for determining the incorrect page is reduced. I do.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for detecting a misaligned page by converting a video signal of the same predetermined area of a printed reference sheet and a printed inspection sheet into a grayscale digital signal. Signal processing means for discretizing; calculating means for performing a horizontal summation on each of the discretized pixel values of the reference paper and the inspection paper in row units and a vertical summation in each column unit; and the reference paper First storage means for storing the value of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction for each row and the value of the result of the summation in the vertical direction for each column; and the summation in the horizontal direction for each row of the inspection paper Second storage means for storing the value of the result obtained and the value of the result of summation in the vertical direction for each column, and a reference sheet stored in the first storage means and the second storage means. Each line of paper The value of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction is read and compared with the value of the result of the summation in the vertical direction for each column, and the difference between the values of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction at least for each row, or A comparison / judgment means for judging a misalignment and outputting a misalignment detection signal when one of the difference values of the result of the summation operation in the vertical direction in a column unit is out of a certain range. Achieved by configuring.

According to the above-mentioned feature of the present invention, only the data resulting from the summation of each row and each column is stored in the memory, so that the memory capacity can be reduced. Also, since the amount of data required for comparison between the reference paper and the inspection paper is small,
The processing time for comparison determination can be reduced.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; In the figure, an image of a predetermined area of a printed reference sheet 1a is captured by a CCD camera 8a, and a video signal is formed by a signal forming circuit 9a.

Subsequently, the video signal is transmitted to the data processing circuit 10.
a and digitized into digital data. The discretization processing of the video signal by the data processing circuit 10a is, for example, discretization as 8-bit (256 gradation) grayscale video data. The grayscale video data discretized into 256 gradations by the data processing circuit 10a is input to the adder 11a. In the adder 11a, a horizontal adder AHa performs a projection process on the value of each pixel for each row to form projection data. The projection data is a value obtained by calculating the sum of the gray values of each row.

The vertical adder AVa performs projection processing on the value of each pixel for each column to form projection data. The projection data is a value obtained by summing the gray values of each column. Such a summation operation for projecting the value of each pixel in each row and each column is performed in real time simultaneously in both directions.

The value of the summation result obtained by the adder 11a as described above is stored in the memory 12a. That is, the value of the sum operation result of the horizontal adder AHa is stored in the MHa portion of the memory 12a, and the value of the sum operation result of the vertical adder AVa is stored in the MVa portion of the memory 12a.

Next, an image of a predetermined area is also picked up by the CCD camera 8b on the inspection sheet 1b, and the signal forming circuit 9
b forms a video signal. The video signal is discretized into digital data as 8-bit (256 gradations) gray-scale video data in a data processing circuit 10b, and projection processing is performed by an adder 11b on a row-by-column basis to form projection data. A value obtained by performing a sum operation on the grayscale values is obtained. The value of the result of the summation operation is stored in the memory 12b. MHb of the memory 12b is a portion for storing the value of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction, and MVb is a portion for storing the value of the result of the summation in the vertical direction.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of data processing of the reference sheet. In the figure, a video signal in a predetermined area of the reference sheet 1a is discretized into digital data of 256 gradations, and a value of each pixel is added to an adder A for each row.
The projection processing is performed by executing the horizontal direction (solid line) according to Ha, and projection data is formed, and a value obtained by calculating the sum of the gray values of each row is obtained. In addition, projection processing is performed in the vertical direction (broken line) by the adder AVa for each column to form projection data, and a value obtained by performing a sum operation on the grayscale values of each column is obtained. The value of the summation operation result for each row and each column is stored in the memory 12a as described above. Similar processing is performed on the inspection paper.

When the data processing of the reference sheet 1a and the inspection sheet 1b is completed, the comparison calculator 13 stores the MH in the memory 12a.
a and the value of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction of the test sheet 1b stored in the MHb portion of the memory 12b, respectively. Read and compare both values. Similarly, also in the vertical direction of the reference sheet 1a and the inspection sheet 1b, the value of the result of the summation stored in the memories 12a and 12b is read and input to the comparator 13 to compare the two values. Judge whether it is incorrect.

If the value of the difference as a result of the comparison is within a predetermined range, it is determined that the inspection sheet is a regular sheet to be collated, and a normal signal is output. Further, when the difference value of the comparison result of the horizontal summation operation or the difference value of at least one of the comparison result difference values of the vertical summation operation is a value outside a predetermined range. Then, it is determined that the inspection sheet is out of order, and a signal for detecting out of order is output.

When a signal for detecting the incorrect page is output from the comparator 13, the operator visually recognizes the inspected sheet. The worker removes the paper from the collating machine if different paper is mixed, and inserts the paper in the opposite direction into the paper tray of the collator, If paper is supplied at a position shifted from the arrangement position, take measures such as changing the direction of the paper and placing it in the paper feed tray, or placing the paper at the regular position in the paper feed tray. .

In the example of FIG. 1, the CCD camera, the signal forming circuit, and the data processing circuit are configured to use separate components for data processing of the reference sheet and the inspection sheet, respectively. It can be shared for paper data processing. Also, an example in which the video signals of the reference sheet and the inspection sheet are formed by using a CCD camera has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the apparatus using a CCD, and the video signal is formed by using, for example, a double-gate MOSFET solid-state imaging device. You may.

In the present invention, a process for discretizing the video signal of the reference sheet and the inspection sheet into digital data in the data processing circuit is necessary for determining the misalignment. Such a video signal is discretized into digital data. This process is relatively easily realized with the recent development of large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) technology.

[0022]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the data obtained as a result of the summation operation for each row and each column, that is, the direction suitable for detecting the misalignment for the comparison judgment from the entire data is stored in the memory. Since only the processed data is stored, the capacity of the memory can be reduced. Further, since the amount of data required for comparison between the reference sheet and the inspection sheet is small, it is possible to reduce the processing time for comparison judgment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a random page detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of data processing according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional example of a random page detection device.

[Description of Signs] 1a Reference sheet 1b Inspection sheet 2a, 2b Light source 3a, 3b CCD sensor 4a, 4b Photoelectric converter 5a, 5b Digital converter 6a, 6b Memory 7 Comparison arithmetic unit 8a, 8b CCD camera 9a, 9b Signal formation Circuit 10a, 10b Data processing circuit 11a, 11b Adder 12a, 12b Memory 13 Comparison arithmetic unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A signal processing means for converting a video signal of the same predetermined area of a printed reference sheet and a printed inspection sheet and discretizing the video signal into a digital signal of dark and light, and a discretization of the reference sheet and the inspection sheet. Calculating means for calculating the sum of each pixel value in the horizontal direction on a row-by-row basis and summing in the vertical direction on a row-by-column basis; First storage means for respectively storing the values of the results of the summation in the vertical direction in units, and the values of the results of the summation in the horizontal direction for each row of the inspection paper and the results of the summation in the vertical direction for each column And a value obtained as a result of the summation operation in the horizontal direction for each row of the reference sheet and the inspection sheet stored in the first storage means and the second storage means. Vertical by column The difference between the value of the result of the summation in the horizontal direction at least for each row or the difference of the value of the result of the summation in the vertical direction for each column. A misjudgment detecting apparatus comprising: a misjudgment means for judging a misalignment and outputting a misjudgment detection signal when one of the difference values is out of a predetermined range.