JPS61273683A - Optical character reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the constitution of an optical character reader and at the same time to set freely coupled logics of plural formats, by reading a character pattern out of the common format for recognition of the individual format on the slip and reading out the corresponding character pattern. CONSTITUTION:A character pattern on a slip 30 is converted into signals by a CCD sensor 32 by the reflected light produced from irradiation of a lamp 31 and then binary coded at a photoelectric converting part 33. These binary coded signals are stored in a memory 34. Then the information on the common format is stored in a format buffer 37 from a calculator 38. The data within the common format on the ship 30 undergoes the character recognition 35 out of the character pattern stored in the memory 34 and is supplied to the calculator 38 via a buffer 36. The calculator 38 delivers the format information corresponding to the ship 30 to a buffer 37. A character recognizing part 35 of an optical character reader 39 recognizes the individual format of the slip 30 and then the character pattern in the individual format based on the format information within the buffer 37. The recognized character pattern is delivered to the calculator 38 via the buffer 36.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an optical character reading system, and is particularly suitable for reading complicated forms or forms that are divided into a common format and a unique format within one document. Concerning public optical character reading systems.

[Background of the invention]

In conventional optical character reading devices, one type of format is specified for each form.

In this case, in order to read forms with different formats, 1
The contents of the format specification in each form are divided into a common format and a unique format, and the optical character reader selects one unique format from among the multiple unique formats based on the data read from the common format. The method was adopted.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are explanatory diagrams showing examples of forms with different formats, and form 10.11 has a common format 1.2.13 and unique formats 14 and 15, respectively. ing. Further, FIG. 4 shows a system configured to allow mixed reading of forms with different formats as shown in FIGS. 3(a) and (b).
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a format designation structure of a conventional optical character reading device. Figure 3(a).

When reading the form 10.11 shown in (b) in a mixed manner, the common format section 21 reads the common format 12.13, and if the data in the common format 12.13 is a, the form 10.11. If it is b, it is determined that the form is 11. When the common format section 21 determines that the form is the form 10, the unique format 14 is connected to the individual format section 23 for which the format is specified by a predetermined connection logic 22, and the common format section 2
If it is determined that 1 is the form 11, the unique format 15 is connected to the designated format section 24 by a predetermined connection logic 22. As a result, the data in the unique format 14 of the form 10 and the data in the unique format 15 of the form 11 are read based on the respective unique formats, and reading of forms in different formats is realized.

However, in the conventional optical character reading device described above,
Because one type of format was specified for each form, form 1
There is a problem in that there are limitations on the number of lines to be read and the number of fields to be read per sheet. Furthermore, since the logic for selecting a unique format is built into the optical character reading device, there is a problem in that it is difficult to expand the selection logic.

Furthermore, as a document format specification in a conventional optical character reading device, there is a method of specifying reading parameters for specifying the start position, end position, character type, etc. of the reading field for each reading field in a unique format. However, with this type of format specification, it is not possible to specify multiple fields and multiple lines as a single format, so there are problems such as increased interaction with the optical character reader, which is not efficient, increases overhead, and complicates processing. There is.

As a prior art related to format designation of a conventional optical character reading device, there is an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1413/1983.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was developed in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and when reading a single document, it is possible to specify multiple formats, thereby limiting the number of lines, fields, characters, etc. that can be read. An optical character reader that simplifies the optical character reader by eliminating the need for concatenation logic for multiple formats within the optical character reader, and allows the concatenation logic for multiple formats to be freely set outside the optical character reader. The purpose is to provide a system.

[Summary of the invention]

The optical character reading system of the present invention reads a character pattern in a common format, recognizes a unique format on a form, and reads out the character pattern in the recognized unique format. and a second means for reading character patterns on the form based on the specified plurality of unique formats. It is characterized by the presence of

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this optical character reading system is comprised of an optical character reading device 39 and a general-purpose computer 39.

The optical character reading device 39 includes a lamp that illuminates the form 30, a CCD sensor 32 that converts reflected light from the form 30 into an electrical signal, and converts this electrical signal into a binary signal (black, white). a photoelectric conversion unit 33 that stores binary signals, a character recognition unit 35 that recognizes the contents stored in the memory 34, an output buffer 36, and a format that stores format information from a general-purpose computer 38. It is configured to include a buffer 37.

The operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is as follows. That is, the character pattern on the form 30 is determined by the CCD sensor 32 due to the reflected light from the form 30 irradiated by the lamp 31.
The signal is converted into an electric signal by the photoelectric converter 33, converted into a black/white binary signal, and stored in the memory 34. In this case, all the character patterns on the form 30 are stored by transporting the form 30 at a constant speed, and the lamp 31 and the CC
It is also conceivable to make the D sensor 32 movable and store the pattern on the form 30. Next, format information of the common format is output from the general-purpose computer 38 to the format buffer 37 and stored in the format buffer 37. Therefore, among the character patterns stored in the memory 34, the data in the common format on the form 30 is recognized by the character recognition unit 35, and is input to the general-purpose computer 38 via the output buffer 36. The general-purpose computer 38, based on the input data in the common format,
Format information corresponding to the form 30 is output to the format buffer 37.

The character recognition unit 35 of the optical character reading device 39 recognizes the unique format of the form 30 based on the format information stored in the format buffer 37, recognizes the character pattern within the unique format,
It is output to the general-purpose computer 38 via the output sofa 36.

Next, according to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The case where the forms 10 and 11 shown in a) and (b) are mixedly read will be explained. As shown in FIG.
, the general-purpose computer 38 executes a common format download, thereby storing format information of the common format in the format buffer 37 of the optical character reader 39. Next, in step 41, the general-purpose computer 39 outputs a reading command, which causes the character recognition unit 35 of the optical character reading device 39 to
reads the character patterns in the common format from among the character patterns stored in the memory 34 and recognizes the characters. next,
In step 42 , general purpose computer 38 receives read character data in the common format from optical character reader 39 .

In step 43, the general-purpose computer 38 determines whether the character data in the common format indicates the proprietary format 14 or the proprietary format 15, depending on whether the character data is a or b. If it is determined that the unique format 14 is the unique format 14, the general-purpose computer 38 downloads the unique format 14 in step 144, and thereby stores the unique format 14 in the format buffer 37 of the optical character reader 39.
format information is stored. Next, in step 45, a reading command is output, and the character recognition section 35 of the optical character reading device 39 reads out the character pattern in the unique format 14 from the memory 34 and recognizes the character. Next, in step 45, character data that has been recognized is received from the optical character reading device 39 via the output buffer 36. Step 4
Even when it is determined in step 3 that the format is proprietary format 15, similar processing is executed in steps 47, 48, and 49.

According to this embodiment, since the general-purpose computer 38 is connected to the outside of the optical character reading device 39, there are conventional limitations due to the memory capacity, format buffer capacity, output buffer capacity, etc. of the optical character reading device. - It is possible to eliminate limitations on the number of unique formats, number of fields to be read, number of lines to be read, etc. per document.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is also possible to provide a plurality of unique formats on a single document.

Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the general-purpose computer 3
Since the configuration is set to 8, it is necessary to set the unique format of the form,
Changes can be made freely through programs. Furthermore, although the description has been made assuming two types of forms (@ forms 10 and 11), the number of types of forms can also be arbitrarily set and changed.

Further, in this embodiment, a case has been described in which the general-purpose computer 38 is provided as a host device of the optical character reading device 39, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also useful when the device is used as a host device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the form 1
Multiple formats can be specified per sheet, and there are no restrictions on the number of lines, fields, characters, etc. that can be read. In addition, since it is possible to specify and change the number of types of forms and unique formats of forms using the host device of the optical character reading device, it is necessary to provide the optical character reading device with connection logic for each unique format. This has the effect that the user can freely set the above connection logic.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, and Figs. 3 (a) and (b) show an example of a form. The explanatory diagram, FIG. 4, is a block diagram showing a format designation structure of a conventional optical character reading device. 10.11...Form, 12.13...Common format, 1
4, 15...Private format, 31...Lamp, 32...
・CCD sensor, 33... Photoelectric conversion section, 34... Memory, 35... Character recognition section, 36... Exit cover sofa,
37... Format buffer, 38... General purpose computer, 39
...Optical character reading device. Agent Patent Attorney Tadashi Akimoto Minoru 2 Fig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an optical character reading system configured to read a character pattern in a common format on a form, recognize a unique format on the form, and read out the character pattern in the recognized unique format, and a second means for reading character patterns on the form based on the specified plurality of unique formats. An optical character reading system characterized by: