JPS6027083A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To correct characters with a simple means by writing the correction information such as a prescribed lateral line, etc. on a character which is written erroneously. CONSTITUTION:If some of written characters has an error, the correction information of a lateral line 51 is written on the wrong characters. Both characters and the correction information 51 on a slip 50 are converted into binary video signals VD and stored to a line buffer 21. Then the character pattern in the buffer 21 is demarcated every character and transferred to a demarcated buffer 22 and then to a character recognizing part 23. Thus characters are recognized. While it is decided that the correction information exists and the characters written at the upper side of the line 51 are regarded as correct ones in case the projection information is equal to a continuous projection 41 equivalent to the line 51.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an optical character reading device having a correction reading function.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

A form used in an optical character reading device (hereinafter referred to as OCR) is usually provided with a character entry frame printed in dropout color.

Characters are written in this character entry frame, and the written characters are read by OCR. .

By the way, if an error occurs in writing characters on a form, conventionally the characters written with a pencil are erased with an eraser, or the line of characters written in a goal-in etc. is treated as a crossed out line. For example, a form 10 as shown in FIG. 1 is used in this method of processing as a cancellation line. In addition to the character entry frame Iz, this form 10 is provided with a cancellation field Z2 for each line. ? - If an error occurs in a character written in Reuben, etc., the cancellation field 12 of the cancellation line 13a containing the character is entered with VC correction data (for example, an x mark) 14. The corrected character line is then written anew in the next line 13b. OCR
Then, depending on the presence or absence of the correction data 14 in the cancellation field Z2, only the read character line 13b is recognized.

However, the above correction method of erasing the f1 character requires the troublesome work of erasing it with an eraser.
Furthermore, if the incorrect characters are not erased completely, there is a problem that the reading rate of the corrected characters decreases. Further, in the method using the form 10 shown in FIG. 1, it is necessary to provide a cancellation field 12 and a new reading line is required, which reduces the efficiency of writing characters on the form. Furthermore, the control for distinguishing canceled lines and read lines according to correction data and recognizing characters only in the read lines is complicated, and the operation control of the entire OCR becomes complicated.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to easily correct the characters when an error occurs in writing on a form, and to ensure that the corrected characters can be read. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical character reading device that has the following features.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, the characters corresponding to the characters written on the form,
A buffer means for storing one line or more of turns, and a cutoff bar and a cutoff means for storing one character's worth of characters cut out from the buffer means are provided. Each of the projection registers is provided with a corresponding projection register.In each of the projection registers, projection information for the image information including the character/arm turn and preset correction information stored in each of the buffer means is stored. Based on each piece of projection information, the correction information stored in the buffer means or the cutoff buffer means is detected by the detection means.The control means detects the character corresponding to the correction information detected by the detection means. The character pattern located in the column direction with respect to the pattern is controlled to be transferred to the character recognition unit as a read character/guttern.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an OCR according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration of the OCR.

In FIG. 2, 20 is a photoelectric conversion unit, which converts characters written on a form into characters made of electric signals (binarized video signals). The signal is converted into a turn and output to the line buffer 21. The line buffer 2 stores character patterns corresponding to one or more lines of characters on a form. Inspection buffer 2
2 stores one character's worth of turns cut out from the line buffer 21. The character recognition unit 23 performs character recognition processing on the characters and arm turns sent from the cutoff buffer 22. 24 is a control circuit, and line buffer 2
1. Controls the operation of the inspection buffer 22 and the like. Further, the control circuit 24 detects correction information set in advance based on the projection registers 25 and projection information corresponding to the line buffer 21 and the cutoff buffer 22, respectively. In the character pattern corresponding to the detected correction information, the control circuit 24 controls the character/4' turn all line buffer 2Z in the column direction (i.e., upper or lower) with respect to the character pattern corresponding to the detected correction information.
The data is then transferred to the inspection buffer 22.

In rjOcR as described above, a specific configuration (however, only the part related to the present invention) such as a bald part will be explained, for example, as shown in FIG. The line buffer 2I receives characters and turns (binarized video signal VD) (z
When storing, each address in the row direction and column direction is set by the line address counter 30 and the address counter 31. On the other hand, the binary video signal VD is stored in the twin buffer 21 and is applied to one inverting input terminal of the OR circuit 33 via the inverter 32. The output signal of this OR circuit 33 is supplied to the projection shift register 25 in synchronization with a clock signal CLK (fJ in the figure, a scan clock signal for each bit sent from the V1 control device).

The output signal of the projection shift register 25 is sent to the inverter 34
f: Provided to the other inverting input terminal of the OR circuit 33 and the control circuit 24 via.

In the OCR configured as described above, the operation according to one embodiment will be described. First, for example, a form 5 as shown in FIG.
Suppose that a character is written in a predetermined digit above 0. In this case, since some of the written characters are incorrect, correction information (for example, a horizontal line) 51 is written on the incorrect characters.

Then, correction characters 52a and 52b are newly written in the column direction of the erroneous character, for example, above the erroneous character.

The characters and correction information 51 on the form 50 are
It is converted into a binary video signal VD by the photoelectric conversion unit 20 shown in the figure and stored in the line buffer 2 (Figure 3).
. At this time, the line buffer 2I has a horizontal address and a vertical address set by the line address counter 30 and the row address counter 31, and corresponds to one or more character lines (i.e., a text line including correction characters 52h and 52bf). Binarized video signal VDi is stored. Note that the signal SL shown in FIG. 3 is a scan start signal that is generated for each line scan when the form 50 is scanned.

When the binarized video signal VD is stored in the line buffer 21, the projection shift register 25 is cleared by the control signal C1K of the control circuit 24, and then information on the projection of characters/turns in the line buffer 21 is stored. . This projection information is a vertical projection of the range shown by the line area 40a of the normal character pattern 5 as shown in FIG. line buffer 2
When the character lf turn for one line is stored in I, the control circuit 24 inputs the format control information stored in advance (', i.e., the start and end positions of the character field, 1 font, 9 character types, information such as bi, sochi, etc.). ) is used to cut out one character's worth of characters/grams. In this case, the control circuit 24 scans the projection shift register 25 and performs character cutting processing based on the projection information. Projection shift 1 - The projection information in the register 25 becomes a continuous projection 4I if correction information 51 consisting of a line exists in the state 41 shown in FIG. The control circuit 24 is a projection shift register 25
When a projection 4z' corresponding to the correction information 5I is detected by scanning the projection 4z', a process of cutting out characters and turns in the column direction (for example, higher order) is performed for the characters and turns at the position corresponding to the projection 41. That is, the control circuit 24 scans the inside of the line guide 21 in the area 40b as shown in FIG.
The characters and turns in that area are cut out character by character and transferred to the cutout buffer 22 shown in FIG. In this case, the control circuit 24 controls the operations of the line address counter 30 and the row address counter 31 using the control signal C2 to scan the inside of the line buffer 21 and cut out each character. Note that the control circuit 24 is connected to the line buffer 2I.
If a character pattern cannot be detected by scanning the area 40bf, a reject (reading refusal) process is performed.

In this way, the character pattern in the line buffer 21 is cut out character by character and transferred to the inspection buffer 22. The character pattern is sent from this cutoff buffer 22 to the character recognition unit 23 and character recognition processing is performed.
Become. In this case, in the present invention, character extraction processing is performed based on the projection information in the projection shift register 25 as described above. At this time, if the projection information is, for example, a continuous projection 41 corresponding to a horizontal line, fj means that correction information that is a horizontal line is detected. Then, the control circuit 24 cuts out a character pattern from the area 40b in the line buffer 21 corresponding to the start and end positions of the projection 41. Therefore, when correction information 5Z, which is a horizontal line, is written on a form 50 as shown in FIG. 5, the characters written at the top of the correction information 5I, for example, will be read as the corrected characters. Therefore, even if a character is incorrectly written with a beer pen or the like, the incorrect character can be easily corrected by simply writing a horizontal line or the like on the incorrect character.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the control circuit 24 detects the correction information based on the projection information in the projection register 25 of the line buffer 2I, but this is not limited to this. Projection register 26a.

26b may also be used. This method has the advantage that not only horizontal lines but also vertical lines can be used as correction information, and correction information for each character can be reliably detected.

In addition, when reading a form, the control circuit 24 determines whether or not there is any correction in advance.
This format control information may be used to control the area in which characters/gturns are stored in the line buffer 2I. This method has the advantage of improving the processing speed of reading a form when there is no correction. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to OCR using a sheet buffer instead of the 2-in buffer 2I.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when an error occurs in writing characters on a form, all the correction information such as a horizontal line set in advance is written on the characters, and the correction characters are placed above or below the correction information. You can correct the entered characters by entering the . Therefore, incorrectly written characters can be easily corrected, and the corrected characters can be reliably read. As a result, there is no need to provide a special control field in form design, and it is possible to omit tasks such as erasing erroneously written characters.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a form for explaining the operation of a conventional optical character reading device, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an optical character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 3 is a book diagram specifically showing the partial configuration of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the state in the line buffer and projection to explain the operation of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a form for explaining the operation of FIG. 2. 20... Photoelectric conversion unit, 21... Line buffer, 2
2... Validation buffer, 23... Character recognition unit, 24
...Control circuit, 25...Projection register, 2
6 a t 26 b... Projection register. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 3 30 1! 'vnl- Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] a photoelectric conversion means for converting characters recorded on a form into character f-turns made of electrical signals; a buffer means for storing one or more lines of characters/mother turns 'fr output from the photoelectric conversion means; A cross-cutting buffer means for storing one character's worth of characters cut out from the buffer means, and image information including character patterns and preset correction information stored in each of the buffer means and the double-crossing buffer means. each projection register for storing each projection information for the projection register; and a detection means for detecting the correction information for the character/image stored in the buffer means or the cut-off buffer means based on the projection information of each projection register; and control means for controlling the character pattern located in the column direction with respect to the character pattern corresponding to the correction information detected by the detection means to be transferred to the character recognition unit as read characters and arm turns. An optical character reading device characterized by: