JPS58161085A - Manual scanning type character recognizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability by providing a display, where the output of a character position detecting circuit is displayed, in a scanner. CONSTITUTION:A character 2 is illuminated with light sources 4 and 4', and its image is formed onto a two-dimensional image sensor 6 and is processed in a character recognizing circuit 7 to recognize the character. At this time, the output of the image sensor 6 is inputted to a character position detecting circuit 8 to display the output on a display 9. The display 9 is attached to a scanner 1' so that the operator sees displayed contents easily. The operator scans characters so that the lighting part of the display 9 is positioned in the center of vertical direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention is a manual scanning character recognition device (hereinafter referred to as OCR) that manually scans and optically reads characters, such as reading price tags at stores.
It is used for reading price tags at various stores and reading book codes for book management at libraries.

A conventional device of this kind will be explained with reference to FIG.

Conventionally, in order to read characters such as price tags using OCR, an operator (operator) holds the scanner (scanning unit) 1 shown in FIG. was being moved.

If scanner 1 deviates significantly from the center line, the reading sheller
occurs. Whether or not the scanner 1 is moving along the center line of the character string 2 can only be determined by the operator 3's visual observation. And scanner 1
Due to the structure of the scanner, the characters currently being read cannot be seen because they are covered by the scanner 1, making it necessary to watch from the side, which poses a problem in terms of operability.

Particularly when the number of characters in a string increases, considerable care is required.The present invention improves these conventional drawbacks and provides a manual scanning type OCR with good operability.

An example of this will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG. 2 shows an example of a scanner embodying the present invention, FIG. 3 shows its internal structure, and FIG. 4 is only for explaining FIG. 3.

First, explanation will be given from FIG. In the figure, a character 2 is illuminated by light sources 4 and 41, and its image is formed on a two-dimensional image sensor 6 by a lens 5. The character image on the image sensor 6 is processed and recognized by a character recognition circuit 7. At this time, the output of the image sensor 6 is input to a character position detection circuit 8, and the output of the circuit 8 is sent to a display 9. If the image sensor 6 has, for example, a 20.times.40- arrangement, the character image formed thereon will be as shown in FIG. 4, for example. That is, Fig. 4 (a) shows an example in which numerals are projected on the image sensor, and Fig. 4 (b) shows the contents of the register inside the character position detection circuit 8 of Fig. 3 in that case. (c) shows the display state of the display at that time. The image sensor uses the so-called rusk scan method and has one line.

2 lines, ..., 40 lines are scanned, and the output is output bit serially. Therefore, if a character line segment is detected in each line, 1 is set, and if none is detected, 0 is set in the 40-bit register as shown in FIG. 4(b).

The contents of the register are reset at the scanning star of the (K+1)th character, assuming that the character currently being scanned is the 1st character. The character position detection circuit 8 shown in FIG. 3 mainly drives the display 9 by passing the output of the 40-bit register from the 40-bit register through its first drive circuit (not shown).

The display 9 is composed of, for example, a collection of four light emitting elements corresponding to the registers. In the case of the example of projection of the numerals shown in FIG. 4, the display on the display becomes as shown in FIG. 4(c). This display 9 is mounted, for example, on the top of the scanner, so that it can be easily seen by the operator, as shown in the external view of the screen 11 in FIG. Using this scanner 1', the operator scans a character string 2 as shown in FIG. At this time, the display 9 displays the position of the character being scanned in the vertical direction of the image sensor 6. That is, it can be determined whether the scanner 11 is moving along the center line of the character string. Then, the operator only has to scan so that the light-emitting portion of the display 9 is approximately at the center of the display 9 in the vertical direction.

According to the manual scanning type character recognition device of the present invention having the above-described configuration, the following effects can be achieved.

(1) Since the relative position of the character string and the scanner can be easily determined, the operation becomes easier and the reading accuracy can be improved.

(2) It is easy to see text in dark places such as warehouses.Even in places where the relative position to the scanner is difficult to see, the positional relationship between the scanner and the text is displayed, so it can be used easily even in the bad environments mentioned above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional manual scanning character recognition device;
The figure is a perspective view of an embodiment of the manual scanning character recognition device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is an electrical block diagram of the same device, and FIG.
A), B), and C are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the device. 11...0 scanner, 20...e character string, 494
+... Light source, 5... Lens 6...
... Two-dimensional image sensor, 7 ... Character recognition circuit, 8 ... Character position detection circuit, 9 ...
·display. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4- (4) (B+ (c)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light source that illuminates the characters, an optical system that maps the characters onto the sensor, a two-dimensional image sensor, a character position detection circuit that receives the output of the two-dimensional image sensor, and displays the output of the character position detection circuit. 1. A manual scanning character recognition device comprising: