JPH0376513B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character input device for converting characters written on a recording medium such as a form into a code representing the characters and inputting the converted characters into a storage device. Specifically, the present invention relates to a character input device for reading out a large number of character types such as Chinese characters from a storage device and using them for display or printing.

The configuration of a conventional device of this type is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a form, 2 is a scanning section, 3 is a buffer memory, 4 is a preprocessing section, 5 is a pattern memory, 6 is a recognition section, 7 is a recognition dictionary, and 8 is an output section.

The characters written or printed on the form 1 are scanned by the scanning unit 2.
The video signal is scanned and converted into an electrical signal corresponding to the density (including color in some cases) on the document, and the video signal thus converted to the electrical signal is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 3. The preprocessing section 4 performs predetermined preprocessing such as binarization and pattern normalization on the video signal stored in the buffer memory 3 and sends it to the pattern memory 5 . Therefore, when a predetermined area on a form containing characters is divided into a predetermined number of pixels, the pattern memory 5 stores logic "0" or "0" to indicate whether the density of each pixel is at a white level or a black level. The pits represented by the signal "1" are arranged in an arrangement similar to the arrangement of pixels. This is called a character pattern.

In the recognition dictionary 7, for every character within a predetermined range, a standard character pattern of the character and a character code representing the character are stored in association with each other. The character pattern when referring to the recognition dictionary 7 includes not only the character pattern itself but also the case where various features extracted from the character pattern are stored in place of the character pattern.

The recognition unit 6 determines which character pattern in the recognition dictionary 7 the character pattern stored in the pattern memory 5 is most similar to, and determines the character code corresponding to the most similar character pattern. It is outputted via the output section 8.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of writing in the form 1. Reference numeral 9 indicates a frame in which characters are written, and each character is written or printed in the frame 9 for convenience of scanning by the scanning unit 2. For example, divide the inside of the frame 9 into 32 equal parts in the horizontal direction and 32 equal parts in the vertical direction, and divide the inside of the frame 9 into 32 equal parts.
Assuming that each pixel is made individually, this one minute section is defined as one pixel, and whether each pixel is at a white level or a black level is represented by a binary signal of logic "0" or "1". If the level is stored in a 32 x 32 bit memory, the character pattern of the characters in the frame 9 can be stored. Furthermore, the features extracted from the character pattern of each character can be displayed using fewer bits than 32×32 bits for one character pattern. Furthermore, if the recognition dictionary 7 stores, for example, 4,000 characters that are different from each other, the character code can be created using a 12-bit code (2 ¹² >4,000).

If the recognition dictionary 7 stores character pattern features and character codes in correspondence, the recognition unit 6 extracts the features from the character patterns stored in the pattern memory 5 and uses the extracted features to The most similar feature is searched from the recognition dictionary 7, and the character code corresponding to the searched feature is output to the output section 8.

By the way, if the characters registered in the recognition dictionary 7 are temporarily called internal characters, it is not practical to increase the total number of internal characters too much. In order to read a character pattern from a stored character code and display or print that character pattern on a display device, a font memory that stores the character pattern using the character code as an address is required. This is because increasing the total number of internal characters increases both the capacity of the font memory and the recognition dictionary.

When characters other than internal characters (hereinafter referred to as external characters) are entered in the form 1, the recognition result in the recognition unit 6 will either reject the character pattern of the external character or indicate that it is one of the character patterns among the internal characters. misrecognize. Therefore, when attempting to input external characters using the conventional device, there was a drawback in that a complicated input device using, for example, a keyboard was required, which was provided separately from the device of the system shown in FIG.

This invention was made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional devices.In this invention, a control symbol entry frame is provided at a position corresponding to a character entry frame on a form, and a control symbol is entered in this frame. The character pattern determined to be a custom character is stored at a predetermined address location in the storage device without searching the recognition dictionary. However, by outputting the address indicating the storage location as a character code for a non-standard character, it is possible to easily input a non-standard character.

Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of how to write a form in an embodiment of the present invention, in which the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 indicate the same parts, 10 is a control symbol entry frame, 9a, 9
The characters written in the character entry frames indicated by b and 9c indicate that they are external characters. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 indicate the same or corresponding parts, and 80 is an output section corresponding to 8 in FIG. In addition to the character code output line 81 corresponding to the output of the output section 8, a character pattern output line 82 is provided.

When the scanning section 2 scans, the control symbol entry frame 10 is also scanned at the same time as the character entry frame 9, and characters on which no control symbol is written are determined to be internal characters, and the same processing as explained in connection with FIG. 1 is performed. A character code is output from the output line 81. However, in this case, a bit indicating that it is an internal character code (for example, one bit of logic "0") is added.

Characters for which control symbols are detected in the scanning unit 2 are determined to be non-standard characters, and recognition dictionary 7 is used for non-standard characters.
The character pattern itself is outputted from the output line 82 of the output section 80 without performing the process of searching for it, and the character pattern is stored at a predetermined address position in the storage device. For convenience when reading and displaying character patterns, the character patterns of external characters stored in the storage device may have the same bit configuration as the character patterns of internal characters stored in the font memory.

The address area for storing character patterns of external characters may be determined in advance, and the numbers may be sequentially increased according to the scanning order on the form. For example, in Fig. 3, the character patterns of external characters in frames 9a, 9b, 9c, ... are 'X00', 'X01',
It is stored in the address position 'X02', and the address indicating the storage position is output from the output line 81 as a character code for external characters, and is input in the same way as the character code for internal characters. However, in this case, a bit indicating that it is a private character code (for example, one bit of logic "1") is added.

When displaying or printing a character pattern by reading a character code, the stored character code is output from the output line 81, and if it is an internal character code, it is addressed to the font memory, and if it is an external character code, it is addressed to the font memory. For example, it is sufficient to address the address position indicated by the external character code.

Incidentally, regardless of whether the character pattern is determined to be an internal character in the configuration shown in FIG. , and the corresponding character code for external characters can be output from the output line 81.

As described above, according to the present invention, external characters such as special characters and special symbols can be easily inputted without using a keyboard or the like.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional device.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of how the form shown in FIG. 1 is written, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of how the form is written in this invention, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1... Form, 2... Scanning unit, 5... Pattern memory,
6... Recognition unit, 7... Recognition dictionary, 80... Output unit, 9...
Character entry frame, 10... Control symbol entry frame. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a character input device for converting characters written on a recording medium such as a form into a code representing the characters and inputting the converted characters into a storage device, a desired character from among the characters on the form is provided. A means for writing a control symbol for the character in the position on the form corresponding to the character, and a standard character pattern for the character and a character code representing the character for all characters within a predetermined range. a recognition dictionary that scans and stores the characters and control symbols on the form, a scanning unit that scans the characters and control symbols on the form and converts them into electrical signals, and preprocessing that performs predetermined preprocessing on the output of this scanning unit to convert it into a binary signal. A pattern memory that temporarily stores the output of this preprocessing section; Character patterns that do not have a corresponding control symbol pattern among the character patterns stored in this pattern memory are converted into character patterns in the recognition dictionary. The corresponding standard character pattern is determined by comparing the similarity with the character pattern, and the character code corresponding to the determined standard character pattern is output. The present invention is characterized by comprising means for storing a character pattern of a size in a predetermined address position in a storage device, and outputting an address signal indicating the storage position as a character code for a non-standard character corresponding to the character. character input device.