JPH02222084A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read a slip whose read direction is different from a reference, as well by identifying the direction of a sheet by means of identification information described beforehand at least on one side out of the four sides of the sheet carried in the arbitrary direction, and converting the direction of a character and a graphic on the sheet so as to conform to the reference axis direction. CONSTITUTION:The carried slip is photoelectrically converted in the original direction by a photoelectric converting part 2, and stored into a graphic information storage part 3. Next based on a detection result by the line mark detecting parts 6 to 9, the read direction of the slip is determined by a direction determining part 10, the direction of the graphic information is converted based on the direction by a character recognizing part 16, and the character is recognized. Thus even when the slip having the different read direction is mixed, the all slips can be automatically read. Further by storing format control information corresponding to each type of the slip into format control information storage parts 11 to 14 beforehand, the all slips can be read in the same way, and the reader can be applied at high freedom degree.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical character reading device, and more particularly to a method for identifying and controlling the reading direction of a slip in an optical character reading device.

Conventionally, in optical character reading devices, the reading direction of a slip is set in advance, and the characters on the slip sent in that reading direction are read according to the corresponding format control information.

With such conventional optical character reading devices, it was necessary to read the slips in a preset reading direction, so it is necessary to read all the slips that are conveyed in a mixed state with different reading directions. The disadvantage is that it is impossible.

The present invention was made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional ones as described above, and aims to provide an optical two-character reading device that can automatically read a mixture of slips with different reading directions. shall be.

The optical character reading device according to the present invention performs character recognition using a predetermined direction as a reference axis, and recognizes characters and characters on a sheet of paper conveyed with the predetermined direction facing in an arbitrary direction. a photoelectric conversion means for photoelectrically converting figures; a storage means for storing characters and figures on the paper photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion means with the transport direction as the reference axis; identification means for identifying the orientation of the paper in a predetermined direction based on written identification information; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a direction conversion means for changing the direction of characters and figures on a sheet of paper, and a character recognition means for recognizing the characters and figures on the sheet whose direction has been changed by the direction conversion means.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a slip in one embodiment of the present invention. In these figures, a photoelectric detection unit 1 is installed in front of a photoelectric conversion unit 2, detects the position of the leading edge of a slip a conveyed in the direction of arrow B, and synchronizes the photoelectric conversion unit 2 with the conveyance of the slip a. and start it. Further, the photoelectric detection section 1 measures and stores the length of the slip a, and sends the length of the slip a to the graphic storage control section 4.

The graphic information for one slip photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric converter 2 is sent to the graphic information storage section 3 and stored in the graphic information storage section 3 under the control of the graphic storage control section 4.

Thereafter, the graphic storage control unit 4 includes a specific area width W2 from both ends of the leading edge of the voucher, that is, the line mark a1 of the voucher a and the voucher edge, among the graphic information of the voucher a stored in the graphic information storage unit 3. The area width graphic information is read out and sent to the slip width detection section 5.

In the photoelectric conversion unit 2, the black background and the white color of the slip a are both photoelectrically converted (the black level of the background is "1" and the white level of the ground color of the slip a is "o"). The width detecting section 5 detects the change point between the black level and the white level based on the information of the specific area width w2, that is, detects the left end and right end of the slip a, and calculates the slip width W1. The calculated document width W1 of document a is stored in the figure storage control unit 4.
Send to.

The graphic storage control section 4 stores the length of the document a sent from the photoelectric detection section 1 and the document width W1 of the document a sent from the document width detection section 5 in the graphic information storage section 3. Among the graphic information contained in the figure information, graphic information corresponding to the width W3 of line mark a1 (hereinafter referred to as line mark width) is read from each side a2 to a5 of slip a, and the line mark detection unit (LM Detection unit) Sends to 6 to 9.

Each of the line mark detection units 6 to 9 performs a logical OR on all of the graphic information corresponding to each side a2 to a5 sent from the graphic information storage unit 3, and outputs the result to the direction determination unit 10. do.

That is, since the graphic information corresponding to each side a2 to a5 is only the white level of the slip a except for side a2 on which line mark a1 is printed, the line mark detection units 7 to 9 corresponding to each side a3 to a5 are , a logic "0'° is output to the direction determining unit 10, and the side a on which the line mark a1 is printed is
The line mark detection unit 6 corresponding to the line mark detection unit 6 outputs a logic “1” to the direction determination unit 10.

In the direction determining section 10, a reading direction A is determined based on the output signal from each of the line mark detection sections 6 to 9, and the reading direction information is sent to the format control information selection section 15 and the character recognition section 1.
Send on 6.

The format control information selection unit 15 selects one of the format control information stored in the format control information storage units 11 to 14 based on the reading direction information from the direction determination unit 10 and selects one of the format control information stored in the format control information storage units 11 to 14 to select the character recognition unit 1.
Send on 6.

Here, each of the format control information storage units 11 to 14 includes format control information corresponding to a reading direction (a reading direction determined according to the detection result of each line mark detection unit 6 to 9),
That is, the position information of the character frame to be read within the slip a is stored.

The character recognition unit 16 reads the character frame to be read from the graphic information sent from the graphic information storage unit 3 based on the format control information sent from the format control information selection unit 15, and reads the character frame to be read from the graphic information sent from the graphic information storage unit 3. The direction conversion is performed based on the reading direction information from the direction determining section 10. That is, in this embodiment, the character frame is rotated to the right by 90 degrees, and character recognition is performed after the direction of the character frame is changed.

In addition, if the format control information storage units 11 to 14 respectively store format control information corresponding to various types of slips in advance, the character recognition unit 16 first reads the reading direction information from the direction determination unit 10. The direction of the entire graphic information sent from the graphic information storage section 3 is changed. That is, in this embodiment, the entire graphic information is rotated to the right by 904.

Thereafter, the character recognition unit 16 reads the I of the slip a from the preset reading position of the direction-converted graphic information.
It reads the D code (“04” in this embodiment) and outputs the ID code to the format control information selection unit 15.

The format control information selection unit 15 uses the ID code sent from the character recognition unit 16 to select the format control information storage units 11 to 14.
The character recognition unit 16 selects one of the format control information stored in the character recognition unit 16 and sends the selected format control information to the character recognition unit 16. In this case, the reading direction information is not sent from the direction determining section 10 to the format control information selecting section 15, and the reading direction information from the direction determining section 10 is sent only to the character recognition section 16.

The character recognition section 16 performs character recognition of the above direction-converted graphic information based on the format control information sent from the format control information selection section 15.

In this way, the slip a conveyed in the direction of the arrow B is photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion unit 2 in the same direction and stored in the graphic information storage unit 3, and the line mark detection units 6 to 9
The direction determining unit 10 determines the reading direction A of the slip a based on the detection result, and the character recognition unit 16 converts the direction of the graphic information based on the reading direction A to perform character recognition. , it becomes possible to automatically read all the slips in a state in which slips with different reading directions are mixed together, that is, in a state in which the slips are conveyed with the reading direction facing in an arbitrary direction.

In addition, by storing format control information corresponding to various types of slips in the format control information storage units 11 to 14 in advance,
It is also possible to read all the slips in a state where the slips are mixed in different reading directions and of different types.

Therefore, the device can be operated with a high degree of freedom without being aware of the type of slip and the reading direction.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the line mark a1 conventionally printed on the slip is used to identify the reading direction, but information for identifying the reading direction may be printed or written on at least one of the four sides of the slip. However, it is not limited to this.

Eban Goko 1 As explained above, according to the present invention, character recognition is performed using a preset predetermined direction as a reference axis, and one of the four sides of the paper being conveyed with the predetermined direction facing any direction. Character recognition is performed by identifying the orientation of the paper in a predetermined direction using identification information written in advance on at least one side, and converting the orientation of the characters and figures on the paper so that the identified orientation becomes the reference axis direction. By doing so, it is possible to provide an optical character reading device that can automatically read a mixture of slips with different reading directions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a slip in one embodiment of the present invention. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1...Photoelectric detection section 2...Photoelectric conversion section 3...Graphic information storage section 4...Graphic storage control section 5. ... Slip width detection section 6 to 9 ... Line mark detection section 0 ...
Direction determining unit 4...Format control information storage unit 5...Format control information selection unit 6...Character recognition unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Character recognition is performed using a preset predetermined direction as a reference axis, and a photoelectric conversion means photoelectrically converts characters and figures on paper that is conveyed with the predetermined direction facing in an arbitrary direction; a storage means for storing the characters and figures on the paper photoelectrically converted by the conversion means with the transport direction as the reference axis; and a storage means for storing the characters and figures on the paper photoelectrically converted by the conversion means; an identification means for identifying the orientation; and a direction for changing the direction of the characters and figures on the paper stored in the storage means so that the orientation of the predetermined direction identified by the identification means becomes the reference axis direction. An optical character reading device comprising: a conversion means; and a character recognition means for recognizing characters and graphics on the paper whose direction has been changed by the direction conversion means.