JPH0234232B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (1) Description of the field to which the invention pertains The present invention reads format information from an image signal obtained by facsimile inputting an input sheet containing a mixture of format information and character information, and specifies a format using the format information. The present invention relates to a character recognition device using a facsimile machine that recognizes character information on a portion of an input form.

(2) Description of Prior Art FIG. 1 shows an example of an input form to be input into a conventional character recognition device.The character entry frame 26 of the input form 1 has a character line designation mark 25 in the vertical direction. However, a format was used in which a fixed number of character entry frames 26 were arranged at a fixed pitch in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the writing area for the explanatory text must be between the lines of the character entry frame 26 (if the explanatory text is written in a color that can be detected by the facsimile transmitter at the position corresponding to the character entry frame 26,
(rejects or misreadings may occur), and the degree of freedom in which explanatory text can be written is restricted. Another way to solve these problems is to register multiple types of input paper formats in the character recognition device in advance, and then write the format number on the input paper to identify the format. Character recognition devices in which the input device is installed at a remote location, such as this, have the disadvantage that users have to either input an input form for format registration by facsimile or go to the location where the character recognition device is located to register the format. Furthermore, when a single character recognition device is used to provide many types of services, the character recognition device must identify many types of formats. This has the disadvantage that the scale of the character recognition device becomes large.

(3) Purpose of the Invention In order to eliminate these drawbacks, the present invention writes a skip mark as format information in addition to character information on the input paper, and a character recognition device detects the skip mark and performs a skip check. The partial area of the input form specified by the mark is not recognized.The purpose is to expand the flexibility of the area where explanatory text can be written on the input form without registering the format of the input form in the character recognition device. It is something that

(4) Description of structure and operation of the invention FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an input form used in the present invention and the positional relationship with a scanning line when the input form is input into a facsimile transmitter. ,2
is an input paper, 21 is a reference mark indicating the left edge of the input paper 2, 22 and 23 are tilt marks for detecting the inclination of the input paper 2 with respect to the main scanning direction of the facsimile transmitter, and 24 is a reference mark indicating the main scanning direction of character information. Tilt mark 2 is a timing mark that indicates the location.
25 is a character line designation mark indicating the position of character information in the sub-scanning direction, 26 is a character entry frame for writing character information, 27 is a skip mark indicating a skip area, 28 is a skip mark line designation mark indicating the position of the skip mark 27 in the sub-scanning direction, 29 is a skip area specified by the skip mark 27, and l ₁ to l ₃ are scanned input paper 2 with a facsimile transmitter. This figure shows part of the scanning line when

In addition, the reference mark 21 (width 1 mm), the tilt marks 22 and 23 (width 2 mm), and the timing mark 24
(width 2mm, height 3mm) and character line designation mark 25
(width 2mm) and skip mark 27 (height 1mm)
and skip mark line designation mark 28 (width 2mm)
are written on the input paper 2 in a color that can be detected by the facsimile transmitter, and the character entry frame 26 is written in a color that cannot be detected by the facsimile transmitter.

Figure 3 shows input paper 2 being sent to a facsimile transmitter (main scanning density: 8 dots/mm, sub-scanning density: 8 lines/mm).
30 is a diagram showing the image signal of one scanning line when scanning is performed by , 30 is the image signal for scanning line l ₁ , 31
is an image signal corresponding to the reference mark 21, and 32 is an image signal corresponding to the tilt mark 22.

Next, a method for correcting the reference position will be described below with reference to FIG. First, the image signal 31, that is, the reference mark 21, is detected by examining the image signal from the left and detecting consecutive locations where the number of black pixels is 6 or more and 10 or less. Then, the reference position can be corrected by extracting an image signal of a certain length after the reference mark 21.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a tilt detection method when inputting the input paper 2 into a facsimile transmitter.
This figure shows the case where the inclination of the input paper 2 is the same as in FIG. 2, and 40 to 42 are image signals obtained by correcting the reference positions of the scanning lines _l1 to _l3 . First, image signal 40
Check the image signals at the left end and right end of 42, and find out that the black pixel is
Detect consecutive locations with 14 or more dots and 18 or less dots. Then, the tilt mark 22 appears on the image signal 40.
The upper end of the image signal 42 can be detected and the tilt mark 23 can be detected.
can be detected. As a result, it is found that the inclination of the input paper 2 with respect to the main scanning direction of the facsimile transmitter is two scanning lines downward to the right.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method for correcting the inclination of the image signal of the input paper 2, and shows a case where the inclination of the input paper 2 is the same as that in FIG. 43 to 45 are image signals subjected to reference position correction, and 46 to 48 are parts obtained by dividing each of the image signals 43 to 45 into three. Since the input paper 2 has an inclination of two scanning lines downward to the right, each of the image signals 43 to 45 of the three scanning lines is first divided into three parts.
Then, by sequentially extracting the image signals 46 to 48 divided from the image signals 43 to 45 and rearranging them on one scanning line, a tilt-corrected image signal can be created. Thereafter, the same procedure can be repeated by sequentially updating the scanning lines. As mentioned above, the slope marks 22 and 2
If the interval between 3 and 3 is n scanning lines, an image signal subjected to tilt correction can be obtained by dividing (n+1) scanning lines and rearranging them.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a method of detecting the timing mark 24 by adding the image signals corrected for the reference position and tilt in the sub-scanning direction according to the above-described method, and 50 is a diagram showing a method for detecting the timing mark 24 in the sub-scanning direction. This is the threshold for the number of black pixels (20 dots in this example). First, the tilt mark 22 is detected from the tilt-corrected image signal using the method described in FIG. 4, and the number of black pixels of the image signal in which the tilt mark 22 exists is added in the sub-scanning direction. Then, while slicing with a threshold of 50 (20 dots) for the number of black pixels in the sub-scanning direction,
A location where the number of black pixels in the main scanning direction is 14 or more consecutively is detected as a timing mark 24.

FIG. 7 shows a timing mark 24, a skip mark 27, and a skip mark line designation mark 2.
8. It is a diagram showing the mutual positional relationship of character entry frames 26 and a skip mark detection method, and a and b are skip mark detection areas. First, the skip mark line designation mark 28 is detected from the image signal that has been subjected to tilt correction using the method described in FIG. 4. Then, the number of black pixels in the skip mark detection areas a and b indicated by the timing mark 24 among the scanning lines where the skip mark line designation mark 28 is present is counted. Next, the number of black pixels in each of skip mark detection areas a and b is compared with a threshold value (112 dots in this example), and when skip mark detection areas a and b are both equal to or greater than the threshold, skip mark 2 is detected.
7 is detected.

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of the present invention, 60 is a facsimile transmitter, 61 is a facsimile transmitter 6.
An interface circuit 62 extracts an image signal from the facsimile signal received from 0, detects the reference mark 21 in the image signal in units of scanning lines, and corrects the reference position by extracting the image signal after the reference mark 21. A reference position correction circuit 63 corrects the tilt marks 22, 2 from the image signal after the reference position correction.
3, a tilt detection circuit detects the tilt of the input paper 2 with respect to the main scanning direction of the facsimile transmitter 60; 64 writes an image signal into a buffer memory according to the tilt value detected by the tilt detection circuit 63;
A tilt correction circuit reads out and performs tilt correction; 65 is a buffer memory that temporarily stores image signals necessary for tilt correction; and 66 detects the timing mark 24 from the image signal that has undergone reference position correction and tilt correction. timing mark detection circuit, 6
Reference numeral 7 denotes a skip mark detection circuit that detects a skip area in the main scanning direction by detecting the skip mark 27 from an image signal that has undergone reference position correction and tilt correction, and 68 performs reference position correction and tilt correction. Character line designation mark 25 from Natsuta image signal
69 is a buffer memory that stores the image signal for one line extracted by the character line extraction circuit 68, and 70 recognizes character information. 71 is a character recognition circuit 70
72 is an information processing device that receives the character code transferred from the interface circuit 71.

Next, the operation shown in FIG. 8 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 7. In this explanation, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the input data is tilted downward to the right by two scanning lines with respect to the main scanning direction. First, the facsimile transmitter 60 scans the input paper 2 and transmits a facsimile signal. The interface circuit 61 receives the facsimile signal and extracts the image signal in units of one scanning line. The reference position correction circuit 62 receives the image signal from the interface circuit 61, detects the reference mark 21 by the method explained in FIG. 3, and extracts the image signal after the reference mark 21. Through this operation, the left and right positional deviation of the input paper 2 with respect to the facsimile transmitter 60 is corrected.

Next, the tilt detection circuit 63 receives the image signal on which the reference position has been corrected from the reference position correction circuit 62, and uses the method described in FIG.
and 23 are detected, and the inclined marks 22 and 23 are detected.
The detection order and the scanning line difference between the tilt marks 22 and 23 are investigated. As a result, it is detected that the input paper 2 has an inclination of two scanning lines downward to the right with respect to the main scanning direction of the facsimile transmitter 60. Then, the tilt correction circuit 64 is provided with means necessary for tilt correction (in this explanation, since the tilt is two scan lines descending to the right, each image signal of three scan lines is divided into three and rearranged as shown in FIG. 5). instruct.

Next, the slope correction circuit 64 performs the slope detection circuit 63.
In accordance with the instruction, the image signal subjected to the reference position correction is received from the reference position correction circuit 62 and taken into the buffer memory 65. Then, by the method shown in FIG. 5, each image signal of the three scanning lines is divided into three parts, sequentially taken out, and rearranged to create an image signal of one scanning line that has been subjected to tilt correction. This operation causes the input paper 2 to be sent to the facsimile transmitter 60.
Correct the tilt of.

Next, the timing mark detection circuit 66 receives the image signal to be subjected to tilt correction from the tilt correction circuit 64, and adds the number of black pixels of the image signal in which the tilt mark 22 exists in the sub-scanning direction. Then, by the method shown in FIG. 6, a place where there are 20 or more black pixels in the sub-scanning direction and 14 consecutive dots in the main scanning direction is detected, and a skip mark detection circuit 67 and a character line cutting circuit 68 , informs the character recognition circuit 70 of the location of the timing mark 24.

Next, the skip mark detection circuit 67 receives the image signal subjected to the slope correction from the slope correction circuit 64, and detects the image signal in which a black pixel column of 14 dots exists at the position of the second timing mark 24 from the left. That is, the image signal of the skip mark line designation mark 28 is detected. Then, by the method shown in Figure 7,
The number of black pixels in the skip mark detection areas a and b specified by the skip mark line designation mark 28 and the timing mark 24 is counted, and
The area where the number of black pixels is 112 dots is skipped and determined to be the presence of mark 27. Then, the character recognition circuit 70 is notified of the position. The skip area 29 designated by this skip mark 27 is not recognized by the character recognition circuit 70, and this area remains valid until a new skip mark line designation mark 28 and skip mark 27 are detected. .

Every time a skip mark line designation mark 28 is detected, the skip mark detection circuit 67 recognizes a new skip area based on the skip mark 27 set in conjunction with the skip mark line designation mark 28. perform an action. Therefore, as in the case of the skip mark line designation mark 28' shown in FIG.
7 is not set, the skip mark 27 is not detected in the skip mark detection areas a and b (see FIG. 7) specified by each timing mark 24, so the skip mark detection circuit 67 detects the skip mark. It is determined that there is no mark, and the character recognition circuit 70 is not instructed to skip the character. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the skip area 29 ends at the position of the skip mark line designation mark 28'.

In this way, by using the skip mark line designation mark 28 and the skip mark 27, it is possible to set the skip area at any position and size.

Next, the character line cutting circuit 68 receives the image signal subjected to the tilt correction from the tilt correction circuit 64, and
The image signal in which a row of black pixels of 14 dots exists at the position of the first timing mark 24 is stored in the buffer memory 6.
Store in 9. By this operation, character lines in the image signal can be cut out.

Next, the character recognition circuit 70 cuts out the image signal of the character entry frame 26 to be recognized in accordance with the instructions from the timing mark detection circuit 66 and the skip mark detection circuit 67, and performs character recognition.

Next, the interface circuit 71 receives the character code resulting from the character recognition from the character recognition circuit 70 and transfers it to the information processing device 72.

Through the above operations, the character information in the character entry frame 26 on the first line written on the input sheet 2 is input to the information processing device 72. Thereafter, only the character information on the input paper 2 is input to the information processing device 72 by following the same procedure as described above. That is, the information written in the skip area 29 of the input paper 2 is skipped. Also, although there is a skip mark line designation mark 28 below the character line designation mark 25 on the third line, the skip mark 27 does not exist, so the character information on the fourth line is read in its entirety. It will be done.

Note that FIG. 8 shows only one embodiment of the present invention; for example, a transmission path or a switch may be provided between the facsimile transmitter 60 and the interface circuit 61, or a similar device may be used instead of the facsimile transmitter 60. A device having a scanning mechanism may be installed.

Further, in the present invention, the skip mark 27 is arranged on the input paper 2, but it is also possible to arrange a read mark on the input paper 2 instead of the skip mark 27. It can be easily inferred that the effect can be obtained. That is, in this case, the skip mark 27 shown in FIG. 2 is placed above the character entry frame 26 and is called a reading mark indicating the reading position, and the skip mark detection circuit 67 shown in FIG. It may be called a mark detection circuit to notify the character recognition circuit 70 of the reading position.

(5) Explanation of effects As explained above, this device can display reference marks, tilt marks, timing marks, character line designation marks, skip marks, and skip mark line designation marks in colors that can be detected by facsimile transmitters.
In addition, by using input paper with character entry frames written in a color that cannot be detected by facsimile transmitters,
This method has the advantage of correcting the reference position and tilt of the input paper, and accurately detecting character entry frames other than the skipped area. Further, even if an explanatory text is written in a color that can be detected by a facsimile transmitter anywhere on the character line of the input sheet, misreading or rejection will not occur, so there is an advantage that there is a large degree of freedom in the area in which the explanatory text can be written. Furthermore, since there is no need to register the input paper format in the character recognition device, there is an advantage that the device size can be reduced. Furthermore, since the entire line is not recognized, but only the necessary locations are recognized, the number of characters to be recognized is reduced, and the recognition processing time is also advantageously shortened.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows an example of a conventional input form, Figure 2 shows an example of a conventional input form.
The figure shows an example of the input form used in the present invention and the positional relationship with the scanning line when the input form is input into a facsimile transmitter. Figure 4 shows the image signal of one scanning line, Figure 4 shows the tilt detection method when input paper is input to a facsimile transmitter, Figure 5 shows the tilt correction method for the input paper image signal. Figure 6 shows a timing mark detection method from an image signal that has undergone reference position correction and tilt correction. Figure 7 shows a timing mark, a skip mark, a skip mark line designation mark, and a text entry frame. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the mutual positional relationship and the skip mark detection method, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a conventional input paper, 2 is an input paper used in the present invention, 21 is a reference mark, 22 and 23 are tilt marks, 24 is a timing mark, 25 is a character line designation mark, 26 is a character entry frame, 27 is a skip mark, 28 is a skip mark line designation mark, 29 is a skip area, l ₁ to l ₃ are scanning lines,
30 is the image signal of scanning line l ₁ , 31 is the reference mark 21
32 is the image signal of the tilt mark 22, 40
45 to 45 are image signals subjected to reference position correction; 46
48 are divided image signals, 50 is a threshold value for detecting the timing mark 24, a and b are skip mark detection areas, 60 is a facsimile transmitter, 6
1 and 71 are interface circuits, 62 is a reference position correction circuit, 63 is a tilt detection circuit, 64 is a tilt correction circuit, 65 and 69 are buffer memories, 66 is a timing mark detection circuit, 67 is a skip mark detection circuit, and 68 is a 70 is a character recognition circuit, and 72 is an information processing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a character recognition device that recognizes character information written on an input form input from a facsimile transmitter, the input form has at least a timing mark indicating the position of the character information in the main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction of the character information. Using an input sheet on which are written a character line designation mark indicating the existing position of the character information, a skipping mark indicating the skipping width in the main scanning direction of the character information, and a skipping mark line designation mark indicating the existing position of the skipping mark. , a first means for receiving an image signal obtained by inputting the input paper into the facsimile transmitter;
The presence/absence of the skip mark in the area designated by the skip mark row designation mark and the timing mark is detected from the image signal received by the first means, and if the mark is present, the skip state is set or read. a second means for changing the skipping area, setting the skipping width of each subsequent scanning line as the skipping area, and canceling the skipping state when there is no mark; and an image signal obtained by the first means. a third means for detecting a character writing position specified by the character line designation mark and the timing mark from the character line designation mark; and a skipping method that is determined by the second means among the character writing positions detected by the third means. 1. A character recognition device using a facsimile, characterized by comprising a fourth means for recognizing only character information written outside the area.