JPS61217882A - Optical character recognizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the proper detection of a skew error of a form by deciding the skew error by the degree of skews corresponding to the width of the data area of the form. CONSTITUTION:A fed form is read through a photoelectric conversion part 30 and stored every line in a line buffer 45 at a line buffer part 31. These lines are segmented into patterns for each character and undergo the recognition of characters through a recognizing part 34. The result of this recognition is given to a control part 36 to receive various types of processing. The part 36 delivers the format control FC information, i.e., various data on the format of the form to be read to both parts 31 and 34. The A and B registers 40 and 41 of the part 31 store the data in a data area where characters, symbols, etc. of the FC information are written. A selector 42 compares the data on the register 40 or 41 with the data on the buffer 45 through a deciding circuit 46 and decides a skew error.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field of invention] The present invention relates to an optical character H recognition device.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In optical character recognition devices, when a form is read at an angle, many errors (misreading) and rejections (refusal to read) occur. For this reason, the inclination (skew) of the form is checked in advance before character recognition, and when a skew error is detected, the recognition operation is stopped and the form is read again. Conventionally, this skew check has been performed by measuring the difference in the absolute value of the distance between the left edge and the right edge of the document when the document is read, and checking whether this difference is equal to or greater than a certain value. However, in recent years, there have been an increase in the number of types of forms, and various sizes of forms have been used.

If the document is large, the conventional skew check method has the problem of detecting a skew error even though the amount of skew is small and VT can be sufficiently detected. If the standard value of the skew check is increased in consideration of this, there is a problem that in the case of a small form, a skew error cannot be detected even if the form is tilted significantly.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical recognition device that can appropriately detect skew errors in forms.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the optical character recognition device according to the present invention stores information in advance without indicating the data area in which character symbols etc. that should be recognized by WX on a form is recorded, and identifies the data area based on the reading pattern of the form. The feature is that the amount of skew at is detected, and it is determined based on this skew whether or not there is a skew error.

(Embodiment of the Invention) An optical character recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
Shown in Figure 2. The transported form is electrically scanned and photoelectrically converted in the photoelectric conversion section 30. The read pattern that has been photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion section 30 and has been read out is stored in a line buffer 45 in the line buffer section 31 line by line.

The reading pattern for one line stored in the line buffer 45 is cut out into patterns for each character, and the recognition unit 34
is output to. The recognition unit 34 performs character recognition by comparing the extracted pattern with dictionary data stored in the dictionary unit 32. The recognition result is input to II 8 section 36,
Various processes are performed.

The control unit 36 also outputs various data of the form format of the form to be read, that is, format control information (hereinafter referred to as rFCFC information) to the line buffer unit 31 and the g-identification unit 34.

As shown in FIG. 2, the line buffer section 31 has a line buffer 45 that stores a reading pattern for one line, and an X counter 43 that controls the X-direction address of this line buffer 45 and a Y-direction address. Host Y
It has a counter 44. The A register 40 and the B register 41 store data indicating a data area in which characters, symbols, etc. are written, among the FC information. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a form has n-line data areas L1, L2.・
..., then the data indicating these leftmost positions A and B, for example, the distance a from the left end of the form to position A, is stored in the A register 40, and the data area is
2. ...The distance ib to the rightmost end of e, Lo is 8 registers 4
It is stored in 1. Selector 42 selects A registers 40 and 8.
One of the data in the register 41 is selected by a select signal from the determination circuit 46. The selected data is
It is input to the counter 43. The determination circuit 46 inputs the data in the line buffer 45 and determines whether or not there is a skew error.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. First, before transporting the form, the control unit 36 sends the distance a to the left end position A and the distance to the right end position B of the data area from the FC information to the A register 40 and the B register 40 of the line buffer unit 31.
Store in. Next, the form is conveyed, read by a reading head (not shown), photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric converter 30, and the read pattern is stored in the line buffer 48.

The reading pattern stored in the line buffer 48 is
As shown in FIG. 4, a form pattern 101 exists on the back m1oo of the read pattern. First, the left end position 0 of this form pattern 101 is detected.

The selector 42 selects the data in the A register 4o,
This data includes the X address X of the left end position O of the form pattern 101. The added value is set in the X callan 43. That is, the X counter 43 contains X. - Data a is set. At the same time, the Y counter 44 is cleared and the Y clock is sequentially applied to count up the Y counter 44.

The determination circuit 46 reads and checks the data in the line buffer 45 at the indicated size position using the X counter 43 and the Y counter 44, and if the white data at the tip of the form pattern 101 is input, the value of the Y counter 44 at that time is Store Y2. This makes it possible to know the Y address Y2 at the leftmost position A of the data area of the form pattern 101.

Next, the data in the B register 4 is selected by the selector 42, and the X address X of the left end position O of the form pattern 101 is added to this data. , that is, data of X□+b is set in the X counter 43. As in the case of the leftmost position A of the data area, after clearing the Y counter 44, the count is sequentially increased, and the X counter 43 and Y counter 4 are counted up.
The data at the position indicated by 4 is checked by the determination circuit 46, and the Y address Y1 of the rightmost position B of the data area is stored.

The determination circuit calculates the difference between the leftmost position MA and Y address Y of the data area and the Y address Y1 of the rightmost position B. If it is larger than the standard skew amount S″o, it is determined that there is a skew error and is output to the recognition unit 34. The recognition unit 34 performs a predetermined process, such as stopping the reading operation, in response to the skew error.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, skew errors were determined based on the skew amount S that corresponds to the width W of the form regardless of the width W' of the data area, but in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. Since it is determined whether or not there is a skew error based on the skew amount S' corresponding to the width W' of the data area, an appropriate determination can be made.

In the above embodiment, the amount of skew in the data area was determined using the specific configuration shown in FIG. 2, but the amount of skew may be determined using other configurations.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the skew error is checked in the substantial data area of the form, appropriate determination can be made. Therefore, the throughput of the entire optical character recognition device can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of an optical character recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the optical character recognition device. 30... Photoelectric conversion section, 31... Line buffer section,
32-0. Dictionary section, 34... Recognition section, 36... Control section, 40... A register, 41... B register, 4
2...Selector, 43...X counter, 44...
Y counter, 45...line buffer, 46...judgment circuit. Applicant's agent Kiyoshi Inomata Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5 Book Sou Zunchikuman "Amendment to Procedures April 23, 1985

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An optical character recognition device that stores an input reading pattern of a form in a pattern memory and recognizes characters, symbols, etc. on the form from the stored reading pattern, comprising: data area information storage means for storing information indicating a data area in which the data area, etc. are written; What is claimed is: 1. An optical character recognition device comprising: determining means for calculating the amount of skew in a data area and determining whether or not there is a skew error based on the amount of skew.