JPS63120388A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and quickly execute the operation of a read scanner, and to display a relation position on an image sensor of a character image, by bringing a vertical direction character area which is segmented, to a position decision by a prescribed classification area, and displaying the result of position classification. CONSTITUTION:The surface of a form 3 is scanned in the character string direction by an image sensor 6 of a scanner 1, and its binary signal is sent to a memory 8. Subsequently, an extracting circuit 10 executes a line feature extraction at every line of a segmented character from the contents of the memory 8, and also, a data compression is executed by an extracting circuit 11, a character identification is executed from an appearance sequence of the feature extraction of every one line by a identification processing circuit 12, and a result of read is outputted. Next, a position classification on the image sensor 6 is executed by inputting a vertical direction character area signal VA of a character image of a segmenting circuit 9 by a vertical position deciding circuit 17, and a result of classification of its character position is displayed in each separate classification by an indicator 18 on the scanner 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention particularly relates to an optical character reading device that optically reads characters and symbols shown on a price tag attached to a product or the like by scanning with a scanner.

<Conventional technology> In supermarkets, department stores, etc., POS (Po1nt) collects sales information for each item and manages inventory.
A hand-held optical character reading device (of 5ales) used in the price tag system that optically reads the characters and symbols written on the price tag by placing a hand-held scanner on the price tag.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-6418) is known.

A block diagram of such an optical character reading device is shown in FIG. In the optical character reading device shown in FIG. 5, the scanner 1 is moved in the direction (horizontal direction) in which the characters are arranged by holding the scanner 1 in the hand 2 over a paper 3 such as a price tag on which the characters to be read are written. Illuminate the paper with lamp 4 of
The characters above are imaged through a lens system 5 onto an image sensor 6 consisting of photoelectric conversion elements arranged two-dimensionally. The character image formed on the image sensor 6 is converted into a binary signal by the image sensor drive circuit 7, and is stored in the memory element corresponding to the photoelectric conversion element of the image sensor 6 in the buffer memory 8 as shown in FIG. Can be stored. A vertical character area of the character image stored in the buffer memory 8 is cut out by a vertical cutting circuit 9, and a vertical character area signal VA is outputted, and the cutting is completed by No. 41 VA.
Output F. Next, the horizontal cutting circuit 16 inputs the VA signal and the VAF signal from the vertical cutting circuit 9, cuts out a horizontal character area, and outputs a horizontal character area cutting end signal VHF and a horizontal cutting final column signal BCL. The row feature extraction circuit 10 inputs the VA signal of the vertical extraction circuit 9 and the BCL4@ signal of the horizontal extraction circuit 16, and
Feature extraction is performed for each line of the extracted characters.

The feature extraction result C is subjected to data compression by partial standby extraction by the partial feature extraction circuit 11, and the data compressed result D1 is input to the identification processing circuit 12, where characters are extracted from the feature appearance order of feature extraction for each line. The results are as follows.

It outputs ut. Note that CK and CK are clock signals, respectively.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In the conventional optical character reading device shown in FIG. It is necessary to operate by determining the relative positional relationship, and if it is impossible to read, the operation must be repeated. Furthermore, since the image sensor 6 is housed inside the scanner 1, it is not possible to directly know whether or not the character image has fallen within the field of view of the image sensor 6. It required skill to operate, and the operability was poor. Furthermore, since the operator does not know that the document is unreadable until after the identification process, there is an inconvenience that the operator is delayed by the processing time in order to know that the document is unreadable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and the related position of the character image to be read on the image sensor is immediately displayed on the display, thereby facilitating the operation of the scanner on the paper to be read. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical character reading device that is also quick.

Means for Solving Problems〉 The optical character reading device according to the present invention that achieves the above object consists of two-dimensionally arranged photoelectric conversion elements on which character images to be read are formed, and is hand-held. In an optical character reading device equipped with an image sensor housed in a scanner and an identification processing means for reading characters from the result of binarizing the character image formed on the image sensor, the range where characters exist in the vertical direction, i.e. a vertical cutting means for detecting a vertical character area; and determining in which classification area of the pre-classified classification areas of the vertical field of view of the image sensor the vertical character area cut out by the vertical cutting means is located. and a display device provided in a part of the scanner for displaying the classification results of cutout character areas determined by the vertical position determining means according to the classification. It is.

Function> Vertical position determining means determines in which area of the predetermined classification area of the vertical visual field of the image sensor the vertical character area cut out by the vertical cutting means is located. The position classification results of the vertical character area are now displayed on the scanner display according to the classification.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an optical character reading device according to the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 has a configuration in which a vertical position determination circuit 17 and a display bud 18 for classifying and displaying are added to the conventional example shown in FIG. Therefore, the explanation of the parts in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 that overlap with the parts shown in FIG. 5 will be simplified.

In FIG. 1, the image sensor 6 of the scanner 1 is the PO
Paper 3, such as a price tag, on which the object to be read is written, used for S, etc.
By scanning the top in the direction of the character arrangement, the character image on the paper 3 is captured on the image sensor 6, converted into a binary chair number by the image sensor drive circuit 7, and stored in the buffer memory 8. The binarized character image stored in the buffer memory 8 is processed by a vertical cutting circuit 9 to cut out the vertical character area of the character image and generate a vertical character area signal V.
A and the end of cutting (go signal VAF) are output.The horizontal cutting circuit 16 inputs the VA signal and the VAF signal, cuts out the horizontal character area, and outputs the horizontal character area cutting signal VHF and the cutting last column signal. BCL is output.

Regarding the cut out character, the line feature extraction circuit 10 receives the vA signal of the vertical cutout circuit 9 and the BcL(, Then, the partial standby extraction circuit 11 performs data compression and the identification processing circuit 1 outputs C4.
Character identification from the appearance order of feature extraction for each line in 2! , outputs the character reading result D.

The above is the same as the conventional one shown in FIG.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the vertical position determination circuit 17 inputs the vertical character area signal VA of the character image of the vertical cutting circuit 9 as shown in FIG. A function is added to that of the prior art, in which position classification is performed and the classification results of the position-classified cutout character positions are displayed by classification on a display 18 provided above the scanner 1.

The position classification of cutout character positions on the image sensor in the present invention is shown below. Figure 2 (al shows an example in which the vertical field of view of the image sensor is classified into three regions: R, , R, 2°R3. As an example, the vertical field of view height is 7-8
The height of m, R,, R, area is 2.0 lll111
It is assumed that the height of the R2 area is 3.8 tone. Corresponding to these three viewing areas R, , R2°, the display 18 is provided with three light emitting elements LED corresponding to each other in an easily visible part of the upper part of the scanner 1. For example, if the length of the vertical character area signal VA cut out by the vertical cutout circuit 9 on the viewing area is entirely included in the area R2 as shown in FIG. The green LED L2 of the attached display 18 emits light. In addition, if the cut out vertical character area (No. 3 vA2 straddles the area R and area R2 as shown in FIG.

and emits light. In this case, only the red I and EDL may be emitted. Also, the character area Ai No. 1 vA3 is shown in Figure 2 (
As shown in dl, when the area straddles the area, the green LEDl and red LEDL of the display 18 emit light. Further, in this case, only the red LED L3 may be made to emit light.

Through the above operations, the operator can know the relative position of the character image on the visual field of the image sensor 6 of the scanner 1. Furthermore, the LEDs L, R2, L of the display PJ18 are arranged in a line corresponding to the vertical visual field classifications R1, R2, R, of the image sensor 6, so visibility is excellent.

Figure 4 (al shows the vertical field of view of the image sensor R,
, R2, and R3, and the display 18 shows an example using one red LED. In this case, light is emitted when the character area VA covers regions R1 and R3, and no light is emitted in other areas. However, in this case (Yo), when the display 18 emits light, the operator
Looking at the positional relationship between and scanner 1, character area VA is R.
It is necessary to visually confirm which region is affected, 1 or R5.

Figure 3 shows the vertical field of view of the image sensor R, , R2.
, R3PR, and R5. In this case, L E D L of display Ia18,
L2. L,, L4. LS are regions R, , R2, R, , R, respectively, as shown in FIG. 4 (cl).

Compatible with R6, LED L, L is red, I-
E DL, L4 emits orange and L3 emits green.

FIG. 4 (the example shown in dl is the LEDL of the display 18).

L2. L3 is placed close to the tip of the scanner 1 on both sides, and the positional relationship between the paper 3 and the tip of the scanner 1 is checked at the same time as the display on the display 18, which further improves visibility. There is.

Although the light emitting element of the display 18 is an LED, other light emitting elements such as lamps may be used. Alternatively, the display 18 may be a liquid crystal display or an indicator needle.

Further, regarding the number of light emitting elements of the display 18, it is preferable to set the number of light emitting elements to 1 in order to make the central area clear.

Although the buffer memory 8 is used in the above embodiment,
At the same time that the image sensor 6 sequentially outputs character images from the top, a binarized signal is applied to the line feature extraction circuit 10, the vertical extraction circuit 9, and the horizontal extraction circuit 16, thereby avoiding the need to use the buffer memory 8. It is possible to perform processing. Furthermore, since the vertical position determination circuit 17 uses the result of the vertical extraction circuit 9, the buffer memory 8 is not necessarily required in the present invention.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the optical character reading device according to the present invention, the position of the character on the paper that is captured by the image sensor in the scanner can be immediately and easily visually recognized by the display on the display, and if the character image is detected by the image sensor. The operator can immediately visually determine if the object is about to deviate from the vertical area.
The operator can correct the operation of the scanner according to the display and scan the object to be read in the correct state.

In the device of the present invention, the relative position of the character image on the image sensor can be seen from the display on the scanner's display, so operations can be performed while locating the mutual positional relationship between the paper and the front end of the scanner from the lateral direction of the scanner, as in the case of conventional devices. This inconvenience has been resolved.

In addition, with the conventional device, skill is required to scan the character image so that it falls in the right area of the image sensor, but with the device of the present invention, the relative position of the character image with the image sensor during operation is difficult. Since you can tell by the pattern on the display, you can easily perform operation 1 according to the display.

In the conventional system, whether or not the entire character image is within the field of view of the image sensor is determined by scanning all the characters and then determining whether or not the recognition result is output, which is time consuming and difficult to operate. However, in the present invention, the positional relationship of the character image on the image sensor is displayed on the display immediately after cutting out the character area in the vertical direction, so the response is fast and the operability is superior.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical character reading device according to the present invention, and FIG.
The figures show the relationship between the vertical visual field classification of the image sensor and the vertical character area, each side of the display is shown, Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional optical character reading device, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the vertical field of view classification of the image sensor and the vertical character area.
The figure shows the relationship between a character image on a buffer memory and a character area signal in the vertical direction of the character image. In the drawings, 1 is a scanner, 3 is paper, 4 is a lamp, 5 is a lens system, 6 is an image sensor →], 7 is an image sensor drive circuit, 8 is a buffer memory, 9 is a vertical cutting circuit,
10 is a row feature extraction circuit, 11 is a partial feature extraction circuit, 12
16 is a horizontal cutting circuit, 17 is a vertical position determination circuit, and 18 is a display device. Patent application agent Sumitomo Electric Industries Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image sensor consisting of a two-dimensional array of photoelectric conversion elements on which the character image to be read is formed and housed in a handheld scanner, and the result of binarizing the character image formed on the image sensor. In an optical character reading device equipped with an identification processing means for reading characters, a vertical cutting means detects a range in which characters exist in a vertical direction, that is, a vertical character area, and a vertical character area cut out by the vertical cutting means is Vertical position determination means for determining in which classification region of the pre-classified classification regions of the vertical visual field of the image sensor the image sensor is located, and a classification result of the cut-out character area determined by the vertical position determination means is displayed according to the classification. An optical character reading device comprising: a display device provided in a part of the scanner;