JPS584486A - Optical reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make reading of a bar code and an OCR character with one set of scanner, by discriminating whether read picture is bar code or OCR character and performing processing through the switchig to corresponding identification processing section. CONSTITUTION:An OCR scanner 1 has sensors in nXm arrangement in two dimension for photoelectric conversion elements 1b and picks up a bar code C or an OCR character D as a binary signal. A bar code/OCR character switching gate 2 discriminates whether the picture is a bar code e or an OCR character D from the said binary signal and an identification processing section is switched to a bar code or OCR character identification processing section 3 or 4. For the discrimination of the gate 2, the longitudinal effective length of the bar code C and the OCR character D is predetermined and discrimination is made based on it.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention is an optical barcode that can be read by scanning a barcode, a so-called display code that combines multiple pars and spaces of different widths, and characters/symbols with a single hand scanner. Regarding a reading device.

Conventionally, in supermarkets and stores, etc., price tags are attached to products to display the product number and price, and the product number and price are manually entered into a register using a keyboard to register the product and make monetary calculations. .

By the way, in recent years, POS terminals, so-called point-of-sale control systems, are being put into practical use in supermarkets and other places. Therefore, the oai character (hereinafter referred to as the character i) in the price list of the product number displayed on the price tag is t-nasoru. At the same time, monetary calculations and the like are performed using OCR scanner tubes that can read numbers.

In addition, instead of OCR characters, price tags display product numbers, prices, etc. with bar codes (coded by combining bars and spaces of various widths). These are read by scanning with a light pen.

The OOR character-defining device (OCR scanner, etc.) that reads the above OCR characters projects the characters shown on the basket card KN onto a one-dimensional image sensor or two-dimensional image sensor, and converts this character image into an electrical binary signal. to highlight the characteristics of the characters,
Compare it with the character pattern stored in the memory in advance. It is something to be aware of.

On the other hand, the barcode generally displays numbers and the like by combining a black palm and a white bar B (space) of different widths as shown in FIG.

In this barcode, when a character is displayed with a black bar B and a white bar B having a width of 2 mats, the width a of the narrow black palm 1 and the width a of the wide black bar B are as shown in FIG.
, and are generally selected such that al≧a1. Similarly, for the white bar B, 1≧b.

chosen for the relationship. In addition to the black palm and white bar 1 with two widths, barcodes are coded with black bars and white bars with three widths, and barcodes are coded with only black bars of multiple different widths. There is also.

Since such barcodes record information corresponding to the relative width of each bar, - the relative width information of each bar making up a character can be recorded in a characteristic pattern of bar widths stored in memory in advance. It is detected by comparing the data with the data, and is read after de-feeding.

To detect the width information of these barcodes, for example, the width of each bar shown in FIG.
! '1t-Sequentially convert to pulse count values starting from the left side, store them in memory, and compare these count values sequentially to find the number and wide island from the beginning of the character where '-M: is. A barcode reader is used to detect the presence and decode this character.

Also, each bar's @ahIL1a as a as
A barcode reader or the like is used that determines the structure of characters by sequentially comparing them in real time.

However, since the above-mentioned OCR character reading device and barcode reading device each have independent functions, it is not possible to read both OOR characters and barcodes with one reading device. For example, 1muN (?:urop@an), which is currently used in various countries.

mrtic)e l'Nu! l1l) (Ir) and JA
)I(JapaneseMurtiollI IItut
If a price tag with a tb*r barcode printed on it and a price tag with OCR characters printed on it are attached to a product on the sales floor, at the checkout location, one price tag with a barcode and a price tag with OCR characters printed on it are attached.
It was necessary to distinguish between the price tag with CR characters and read it with each reader.

The present invention aims to provide an optical reader that can read both barcodes and OOR characters with one scanner for the rationalization of POB systems. 61 0 (IR scanners) scan barcodes or OCR characters and send out electrical signals corresponding to them, and based on the electrical signals, determine whether the image being read by the OCR scanner is a barcode or OCR character barcode 10ai that determines the image and switches to the identification processing section corresponding to each of the images.
Due to the switching operation of the character switching gate section and this barcode 10OR character switching gate section, the barcode identification processing section reads and recognizes the bar code based on the electric signal of the barcode and the barcode identification processing section that reads and recognizes the OCR characters. One feature is that it is configured with an OCR character classification identification section that recognizes OOR characters based on electrical signals.

An embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail below based on the drawings.

As shown in the figure, the optical reading device of the present invention includes one OOR scanner W51 that scans a bar code or a string of characters printed on a sheet of paper, and a binary signal from the OOR scanner s1. A barcode 10CR character switching gate unit 2 receives the barcode, determines whether it is a barcode or an OCR character, and switches the circuit, and the output side &C of this barcode 10CR character switching gate unit 2 is connected to decode and read the barcode. Compiled barcode identification process s3 and the bar food 1
0 OR character switching gate s20 output! I'm hooked OO
It is composed of an OOR character identification processing section 4 which decodes and reads the R character 1, and an output terminal 115 connected to the output side of the barcode identification processing section 3.

The above-mentioned 00R scanner section 1 photoelectric conversion element 1b (hereinafter referred to as a cell) is equipped with nXm sensors arranged in a t-plane (two-dimensional) manner, and the optical system lens 1a is equipped with a photoelectric conversion element 1b (hereinafter referred to as a cell). The image of the barcode ayltuI/1oOR character is projected onto the cell lb, and the character area and background area obtained in the cell 1b are level-judged and converted into white and white by a binarization circuit (not shown). This is extracted as a black binary signal.

For example, 1iii& projected onto cell l- sequentially outputs a signal from one row of the topmost row of screen 6 composed of nX11 cells to one row of -, C, etc., as shown in FIG.
By sequentially scanning from one column of the next row to the bottom row, a pattern of one screen can be obtained as a binary signal.

Above barcode 10CR character switching gate section 2hiro above 00
Is the image projected from the binary signal of Yana s1 in R to cell 1 of OCR scanner section 1 barcode 0 or O?
Determine CR character D-IP and identify 16H111A -y
-)'Il another 46m1113 *Also 1 doox character identification alli14 switch 1 & continuation O this barcode 10OR character switch goo) 112 with barcode 0
To determine whether the character is an OOR character or an OOR character, the effective length in the vertical direction of the barcode 0 and the effective length in the vertical direction of the OOR character are determined in advance, and recognition is performed by determining these effective lengths for each. be done. For example, in the case of barcode 00, if its effective length is min, then even if 4-4≧-, the cane barcode C is projected on the entire screen as shown in Figure 6-).
It is determined that The image of barcode 0 is uniform 6
4, irises #A0 when projected to one side above and below
)) as in ichiichiban≧-1orhajll @ @(a)0
110 < Mrr −k≧k”eItLtf bar code C
The bottom line is the screen art line on which the end of the - company barcode is projected.

On the other hand, to judge the character 00R, eL 0011 character p
The maximum value of the effective length in the character direction is taken as the value, and the minimum value is taken as the value, and both the upper and lower sides of the 900R character are 1aO projected on the screen.
As a town, it is predetermined in advance that it will be judged as an OOR character only if Shame≦Occupation--≦-.Therefore, for example, as shown in Fig. If it is, it will be judged as strange 00R character ・On the contrary, l
uml (as in II (e)
It is not judged as an X character. In this way, barcode 10 OR character switching gate s
In 2, it is determined whether the signal output from OOR command line s1 is barcode 0 or OOm character p.'i! If the barcode is C, the barcode identification processing unit 3
If it is an OOR character, the output signal from the OOR character recognition unit 1 is transmitted to the OCR character recognition I&device 4 through a circuit 1*.

The barcode identification processing section 3 is projected onto the image 1Ii6 of the OOR scanner section 1/(-The bar widths of the palm and donkey B of the code C are all stored in the memory, and the bar widths are stored in the memory in advance.) (- width pattern is compared to decode and decipher O Character recognition is performed by comparing these s! recognized /<- codes C and doOR characters p are output from the output gate 5 to the external device and displayed O. The sensor tA has photoelectric conversion elements arranged in the OCR scanner section, and Bernid and OOR characters are projected onto this sensor, and discrimination and recognition is performed based on the pixels of this image divided into many vertical and horizontal sections.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the image V-tU may be separately recognized by a configuration using a single optical fiber or a laser beam.
It is now possible to read both barcodes and OCR characters with an OCR scanner, improving operability. As a result, the POS system can be further streamlined.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a barcode, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged barcode for one character, Figs. 3 to 7 are related to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the device of the present invention. 4(a) and (b) are perspective views of the OCR scanner showing the state of reading barcodes and characters, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the projection screen composed of photoelectric conversion elements of the OCR scanner.
FIGS. 6(a) to 6(c) are explanatory diagrams of images of barcodes projected on the screen, and FIGS. 7(a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams of images of OCR characters. In the drawings, 1 is an OCR scanner section, 1a is an optical system lens, 1b is a photoelectric conversion element (cell), 2 is a barcode/0CR character switching gate section, 3 is a barcode identification processing section, 4 is an OCR character identification processing section , 5 is the output gate section, 6 is the screen of the OCR scanner section, A, A1, A2 are the black bars of the barcode, B, B1, B2
is the white bar of the barcode, a1 and a2 are the widths of the black bars, b1 and b2 are the widths of the white bars, C is the barcode, D is the OCR character, Lo~Ln are the columns of the screen, Mo~Mn are the rows of the screen , LA is the effective length of the barcode. Patent issuer Sumitomo, Denki Kogyo Co., Ltd. representative Atsushi Mitsuishi Shibe, patent attorney (and 1 other person) Figure 61 Figure 7 (a)
(b) (C) (C)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) One OCR scanner that scans a parcode or OCR character that is a combination of multiple bars of different widths and sends out electrical signals corresponding to these, and the OCR scanner reads the information based on the electrical signal. A barcode/OCR system that determines whether an image is a barcode or an OCR character and switches to identification processing corresponding to each image.
A character switching gate unit and a barcode identification processing unit that decodes and recognizes the barcode based on the electrical signal of the barcode and a barcode identification processing unit that decodes and recognizes the barcode based on the electrical signal of the OCR character according to the commands of the barcode/OCR character switching gate unit. An optical reading device characterized by comprising an OCR character recognition processing section for recognition. (2) Claim 1, characterized in that the device is constituted by a circuit that discriminates and recognizes barcodes and OCR characters projected onto a sensor section of an OCR scanner based on pixels divided into multiple vertical and horizontal sections. optical reader.