JPS594064B2 - character reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character reading device that optically reads characters written on paper by printing, typing, or handwriting.

Conventional optical character reading devices mostly employ complicated scanning means using flying spot scanning tubes or registers with a large number of stages, are very expensive, and It was also limited to one direction.

The present invention aims to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its purpose is to make it possible to identify characters even when scanning in one direction and in the opposite direction using an inexpensive sensor having photoelectric conversion elements arranged in a row. .

10 The device of the present invention identifies the characters by moving the sensor or the paper on which the characters are written horizontally from left to right or from right to left, and performs a start mark, an end mark, or a format check as described below. , the horizontal scanning direction is detected (15), the identified characters are corrected or checked, and then outputted.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the apparatus of the present invention, which is used to reread characters by holding the scanner 2 in the hand and moving it in the direction of arrow T or 8 to manually scan the text.

A sheet of paper 1 (for example, a price tag) is illuminated with lamps 3a and 203b, and a character pattern on the sheet of paper 1 is imaged through a lens system 4 onto a sensor 5 having a row of photoelectric conversion elements. Since the light reflected from the background area of the paper 11 and the light reflected from the character area are different from each other, the corresponding signal levels from the respective photoelectric conversion elements 25 are different. The signals obtained by each photoelectric conversion element of the sensor 5 are sent to a control and binarization circuit 6.
In addition, white and black are determined by level determination and outputted to the identification circuit 10. The 30 identification circuit 10 identifies characters scanned from white and black data using a known method, and outputs the results to a processing device 11.

For example, the number of appearances of black (character line segments) is counted for each photoelectric conversion element, a vertical histogram is obtained, and characters are identified 35 from this histogram. The scanning direction differs depending on whether the scanner 2 is moved in the direction of arrow T or in the direction of arrow 8, and some characters cannot be identified.
The processing device 11 detects the scanning direction using a method to be described later, checks the identified characters, and makes corrections.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the sensor field of view 21 moves in the direction of the arrow 22 over the number "2" 24 of a, and the sensor field of view 21 moves in the direction of the arrow 23 over the number "5" 25 of b. If so, the same identification result will be obtained, so the scanning direction is detected and it is determined whether the scanned character is "2" or "5". Actually, the category is "2" or "5" when scanning in the direction of arrow 7.
etc., and if the scanning direction is reversed, "2" and "5" are exchanged. FIG. 3 shows an example for detecting the scanning direction, in which a start mark 32 and an end mark 33 are written on a sheet 31 before and after characters serving as information, and the identification circuit 10 includes a start mark 32 and an end mark 33. When the identified characters are sequentially input into the processing device 11,
The processing device 11 determines the scanning direction by checking with the storage device 12 in which formats and the like are stored.

After detecting the scanning direction, the identified characters are checked, corrected if necessary, and outputted to the terminal device 13. or,
Recently, supermarkets, department stores, etc. handle an extremely large variety of products, and in order to understand product sales and inventory status, information related to each product at the point of sale, such as price, type, weight, purchase price, etc. There is a need for information from other countries.

Due to the increase in the amount of input data, inputting by operating a conventional cash register key is not suitable because it causes operator fatigue and increases the time required for inputting each item. To this end, it has been proposed to write the above-mentioned information to be collected on the price tag in formalized characters, and scan the characters with a scanner to automatically read and input the information.
In this case, an example of the price tag attached to the product is shown in FIG. The product code, product number, price, etc. are coded and written in the price tag 41, and the format is generally "C" 42, "M" 4
Alphabetical characters such as 3 and the symbol ``¥'' 44 are written at the beginning of the = line. Therefore, even if the above-mentioned start mark and end mark are not written in the embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, since the alphabetic character or symbol exists at the beginning of the line, the scanning direction can be detected by identifying the alphabetical character or symbol. It is a very effective method. As mentioned above, the device of the present invention detects the scanning direction and checks and corrects the identified characters, so even if it is possible to scan and read in both directions, the number of categories will not increase significantly, and rather, it will be necessary to hold the scanner 2 by hand. When operated, it is possible to provide a device with very good operability.

In the description, a device is described in which a scanner is held in the hand for reading, but it is of course possible to move the scanner or the paper mechanically.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram explaining one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2A
, b is a diagram showing the relationship between the characters and the sensor being scanned.
The figure shows an example of a price tag that includes symbols that support the identification of the scanning direction, and Figure 4 shows an example of a price tag in which the product code, product number, and price are coded and written. Each is shown below.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a character reading device that scans characters, symbols, etc. with a sensor having multiple light-receiving elements arranged in a line and identifies the scanned characters, symbols, etc., light is irradiated onto the medium to be read and the optical system is activated. means for forming an image on the sensor through the
A means for identifying scanned characters from a signal output from the sensor, a means for detecting a scanning direction from the order of the identified characters or symbols, and a means for correcting the identified characters based on the detected scanning direction. What is claimed is: 1. A character reading device that detects a scanning direction from the order of identified characters or symbols, corrects the identified characters according to the detected scanning direction, and outputs the corrected characters.