JPH0589282A - Optical reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily, quickly, and automatically switch the carrying speed to suitable for a medium without troubling an operator to program the processing. CONSTITUTION:This reader is provided with a control memory 48 where plural carrying speed values for switching of the form carrying speed to plural stages are stores, a thickness detecting mechanism part which detected the continuous quantity of a form as the thickness, and a common control part 43 which sets a carrying speed value in the control memory in accordance with the continuous quantity of the form detected by the thickness detecting mechanism part to automatically switch the medium carrying speed of a carrying means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical reading device for optically reading and processing character / graphic information recorded on a single-leaf medium such as paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of optical reader (OCR)
There are various types, but a paper conveyance path having a plurality of conveyance rollers is provided between the hopper and the stacker,
In many cases, an optical reading processing unit is provided on the way. Then, the medium fed from the hopper is guided to the optical reading processing section by being guided by the carrying rollers in the paper carrying path, and after being read there, is further carried to the stacker by the carrying rollers. Is common.

Various methods have also been adopted for controlling the transport speed during transport of the medium, in order to increase the processing speed, one of which is from the hopper to the reading processing section and the reading processing section. The range from the stacker to the stacker is high-speed transport except during the reading process. However, this method is not suitable for counter operations because (a) the motor noise and the transport noise from the transport mechanism become loud.
(b) When a thin medium is conveyed at high speed, the medium may break due to the load of the guide system, or jams may occur.Therefore, there is a limit to the amount of continuous processing. (c) Horizontal medium When the paper is conveyed at a high speed, it may be skewed due to the inertia of the medium or the load of the guides. Therefore, there is a problem that the ratio of the length and width of the medium should be limited. It was

Therefore, in order to solve these problems,
The applicant of the present application has already proposed a method in which a changeover switch unit capable of changing the medium conveyance speed in a plurality of stages is provided so that an arbitrary conveyance speed can be set by the changeover switch unit. In this method, the operator can adjust the conveying speed only by operating the speed changeover switch, so that the above-mentioned problems caused by only high-speed conveying can be solved.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned method for controlling the medium transport speed in the conventional apparatus is troublesome because the operator has to operate the speed changeover switch every time the continuous amount of the medium is different. was there. In addition, there is a problem in that switching is forgotten, high-speed transportation is performed, and an overload is applied to damage an important medium. In addition, when media with different continuous volumes are mixed, they must be manually processed one by one, or IDs can be processed individually.
There is also a problem in that it is necessary to process the code by reading the ID code while reading the ID code, which requires a long processing time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to be able to perform processing by automatically switching to a transport speed suitable for the medium without the operator's hand. Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical reading device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an optical reading apparatus according to the present invention uses a feeding means to feed a medium placed on a hopper to a medium feeding path, and the feeding means reads the medium. Transports the media information to the stacker, optically reads the medium information in the reading processing unit, and then transports it to the stacker for discharge, and stores multiple transport speed values for switching the transport speed in multiple stages. The control memory, the thickness detecting means for detecting the continuous amount of the medium, and the transfer speed value in the control memory are set from the continuous amount of the medium detected by the thickness detecting means. And a control means for automatically switching the conveyance speed of the medium by the means.

[0008]

According to this structure, when the continuous amount of the medium to be conveyed is detected by the thickness detecting means, high-speed conveyance can be obtained within a range that does not adversely affect the conveyance of the medium. The speed value is selected from the control memory and automatically set to high skip (high speed) speed. Therefore, unlike the conventional apparatus, the high skip speed suitable for the medium is automatically set even if the operator or the like does not switch the transport speed every time the continuous sheet amount is different. Further, since the operator forgets to switch the setting, the medium is conveyed at an allowable high skip speed or higher, an overload is applied, and the medium is not damaged. Further, even if media having different continuous amounts are mixed, the transport speed is automatically switched, so that the types of media to be processed at the same time are not particularly limited and can be applied to a wide range of jobs.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration layout diagram showing an embodiment of the optical reading apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG.
In this optical reading device, a hopper 3 and a pickup roller 4 are arranged at the start end of a paper conveyance path 2 through which a paper 1 as a medium to be processed is conveyed, and a reject stacker 5 and an accept stacker 6 are arranged at the end. It is set up. Further, a reading processing unit 7, a thickness detection mechanism unit 8, a separation roller 9, transport rollers 10 to 16 and the like are arranged in the middle of the paper transport path 2.

More specifically, a plurality of unprocessed sheets 1 are stacked and set on the hopper 3, and are picked up by a pickup roller 4 as a feeding means which is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the drawing to convey the sheets inside the sheet conveying path 2. The paper 1 is fed to the separation roller 9 which separates the paper 1 so that only one paper is fed.

The paper transport path 2 is a transport path disposed in a substantially U shape, and is formed by two guide plates facing each other in parallel at a predetermined interval.

The reading processing section 7 is arranged substantially in the middle of the sheet conveying path 2, and is provided with a light source 17 for irradiating the sheet 1, a lens 18 for forming an image of reflected light of the light source 17, and the lens 18. The image sensor 19 converts the reflected light imaged by the image sensor 19 into electronic information, and the information photoelectrically converted by the image sensor 19 is photoelectric conversion unit 5 described later.
2 (see FIG. 1).

The thickness detecting mechanism section 8 is arranged at the rear side of the reading processing section 7 and at a position where the thickness of the sheet 1 being read by the reading processing section 7 can be detected. It is composed of a pair of thickness detection rollers 20, 21 and the like, which are pressed against each other so as to partially project into the inside 2. The detailed structure is shown in FIG. Then, of the pair of thickness detection rollers 20 and 21, the thickness detection roller 20
Are fixed to the sheet conveying path 2 by being rotatably supported integrally with the rotating shaft 23. On the other hand, the thickness detecting roller 21 is integrally rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 26 mounted on a thickness detecting lever 25 rotatably arranged around a supporting shaft 24 as a fulcrum. And the thickness detection roller 2 is integrated with the thickness detection lever 25 with respect to the paper transport path 2.
It is movable in a direction away from 0 (direction indicated by arrow 27 in FIG. 4). The detection lever 25 is rotated by the urging force of the tension spring 28 in the direction opposite to the arrow 27 until the thickness detection roller 21 comes into contact with the thickness detection roller 20. The other end of the detection lever 25 is in contact with the lever 29a of the potentiometer 29. The lever 29a of this potentiometer 29 is
When the thickness detecting lever 25 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 27, the lever 29a is linked to the other end of the thickness detecting lever 25 so that the lever 29a also moves in the direction of the arrow 30 in the figure.
It rotates in the direction, and electronic information corresponding to this rotation amount is sent to a thickness detection control unit 49 (see FIG. 1) described later.

The conveying rollers 10 to 16 constitute a conveying means, and in order to convey the sheet 1 through the reading processing section 7 and the aligner section 22 to the accept stacker 6 or the reject stacker 5, a sheet conveying path is provided. 2 are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval along the position 2, and each part is protruded from the guide plate into the sheet conveying path 2 and is pressed against each other. Then, the conveyed sheet 1 is clamped from above and below or from the left and right, and is rotated forward to be conveyed forward. Of these, the conveyance rollers 10 and 11 are provided.
Constitutes an aligner processing section 32 for correcting the skew of the sheet 1 fed from the hopper 3.

A blade 31 is provided near the entrance to the accept stacker 6 on the paper transport passage 2, and the accepting stacker 5 and the reject stacker 5 are used by the blade 31 to store the sent paper 1. Switch between and select. Further, between the accept stacker 6 and the blade 31, and the reject stacker 5
Discharging rollers 33, 34 and a timing sensor 35 are disposed between and.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system of the optical reading apparatus according to this embodiment.
And a recognition unit 42.

First, the reading section 41 will be described. The reading section 41 includes a common control section 43 for controlling the entire reading operation, an external operation section 44 for inputting an instruction by an operator or the like, and a recognition section 42. An interface control unit 45 for controlling the interface, a mechanism unit 46 for transporting and processing the sheet 1, and a transport speed value corresponding to the continuous amount of the sheet 1, for example, different values such as high speed, medium speed, and low speed are stored. The control memory 48 having the high skip speed setting memory 47, and the potentiometer 29 described above.
It is composed of a thickness detection control unit 49 to which information from is input. Further, the mechanism unit 46 includes a paper feed mechanism unit 50 that conveys the paper 1, a serial number printing unit 51 that performs numbering printing on the paper 1, an image of the paper, that is, the size of the paper, characters and images described, and the like. It is composed of a photoelectric conversion unit 52 that optically reads display information and a mechanism control unit 53 that controls the entire mechanism unit 46.

Next, the structure of the recognition unit 42 will be described. In the recognition unit 42, an image buffer memory 54 capable of storing the image data of the sheet 1 read by the photoelectric conversion unit 52 in the amount of one sheet 1. A sheet size is calculated from the image of the sheet 1 loaded in the image buffer memory 54, and a preprocessing section 55 that cuts out the information and a recognition section 5 that recognizes the cut out information.
6, an interface control unit 57 that interfaces with the reading unit 41, and an upper interface control unit 58 that interfaces with a higher-level device that captures the read information.
And a recognition common control unit 59 that controls the entire recognition unit 42.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the main part executed by the optical reading apparatus in this embodiment. Therefore, the operation of the optical reading device shown in FIGS.
A description will be given together with the following. First, when you first turn on the power,
The device performs initial processing (step ST1). Since the thickness of the sheet 1 is unknown until the sheet 1 is conveyed to the thickness detection mechanism unit 8, after the initial processing is completed, first, the minimum skip speed is set in the high skip speed setting memory 47 (step ST2). ).

Next, when a reading start key (not shown) is pressed to instruct the start of processing (step ST3), the pickup roller 4 comes into pressure contact with the uppermost layer of the sheets 1 stacked on the hopper 3, and By rotating in the direction of the arrow in 3, the sheet 1 is fed into the sheet conveying path 2 from the upper layer. At this time, when one or more sheets are fed out, they are separated by the separation roller 9 located immediately behind,
Only one is always played.

The sheet 1 thus fed into the sheet conveying path 2 has its skew corrected in the aligner processing section 32 and is further sent to the reading processing section 7 to start the reading processing (step ST4). In the reading processing unit 7, the paper 1 is processed while being fed, and a part of the paper is inserted between the thickness detection rollers 20 and 21 during reading. Then, the thickness detection roller 21 and the thickness detection lever 25 are integrated with each other by an arrow 27 in FIG. 4 against the biasing force of the spring 28.
The lever 29a of the potentiometer 29 is rotated in the direction of arrow 30 at the same time. As a result, the voltage linearly changes from the potentiometer 29 by an amount proportional to the amount of rotation of the lever 29a, and this is input to the thickness detection control unit 49 as the thickness information of the paper 1. Further, based on this information, the thickness detection control section 49 detects the thickness of the sheet 1 (step ST5), sends this information to the mechanism control section 53, and obtains the sent information as the thickness of the sheet 1. At the same time, the high skip speed is selected from the high speed, medium speed, and low speed at this time, and the maximum speed at which the sheet 1 can be conveyed without damaging the sheet 1 is automatically set (step 6). The high skip speed can be set more finely if it is set in addition to the above high speed, medium speed, and low speed. Next, reset the high skip speed, and
After the symbols are identified, the paper 1 is guided by the transport rollers 12 to 16 toward the reject stocker 5 at a high skip speed selected from the generally set high speed, medium speed, and low speed, and the read result is displayed. Therefore, they are sent to the accept stacker 6 or the reject stocker 5, respectively. Further, after the conveyance process of one sheet is completed, the high skip speed is returned to the minimum value, and the reading process after the reading process of the next sheet 1 is prepared (step ST7).

Therefore, according to the optical reading apparatus of this embodiment, as the thickness detecting mechanism 8 for the sheet 1, the potentiometer 29 having the thickness detecting lever 25 provided with the detecting roller 21 at the tip as a contact is provided, and each sheet 1 is provided. Is automatically detected as the thickness, and the high skip speed set in advance in the control memory 48 is automatically selected according to the detected value, and the high skip speed is automatically set for each sheet 1 for each sheet 1. It can be automatically transported at the maximum high skip speed. Therefore, unlike the conventional apparatus, it is not necessary to operate the switch to switch the high skip speed every time the paper 1 is different, and the operation is not troublesome. Further, it is possible to surely prevent the sheet 1 from being damaged due to forgetting to switch, and it is possible to mix different continuous amounts and simultaneously process them. This makes it possible to process the medium easily and quickly.

In the above embodiment, the structure in which the potentiometer 29 is provided as a means for detecting the continuous amount of the sheet 1 is disclosed, but if the continuous amount of the sheet 1 can be detected,
It is possible to use a device other than the potentiometer 29. Further, although the thickness detection mechanism section 8 is disclosed as being provided immediately behind the reading processing section 7, it may be provided at the front side of the reading processing section 7.

[0024]

As described above, according to the optical reading apparatus of the present invention, when the continuous amount of the medium to be conveyed is detected by the thickness detecting means, it has a bad influence on the conveyance of the medium. The conveyance speed value that can achieve high-speed conveyance within the range that is not given is selected from the control memory and automatically set to the high skip speed. Even if the transport speed is not switched, the transport speed suitable for the medium is automatically set, and the operation is simplified. Also,
Since an operator or the like forgets to switch the setting, the medium is conveyed at an allowable high skip speed or higher and is overloaded, and the medium is not damaged, so that the important medium can be surely protected. Furthermore, even if different continuous volumes of media are mixed, the transport speed is automatically switched, so that it is possible to apply to a wide range of jobs without being limited to the type of media to be processed at the same time. Can be expected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system of an optical reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the optical reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration layout diagram showing an embodiment of an optical reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a detailed structural diagram of the thickness detection mechanism portion of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper (Medium) 2 Paper Conveying Path 3 Hopper 4 Pickup Roller (Feeding Means) 7 Reading Processing Section 8 Thickness Detection Mechanism Section 10-16 Conveying Rollers (Conveying Means) 20, 21 Thickness Detection Roller 29 Potentiometer 41 Reading Section 43 Common control unit (control means) 48 control memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A medium placed on a hopper is fed to a medium feeding path by a feeding means, is fed to a reading processing section by the feeding means, and the medium information is optically read by the reading processing section. In an optical reading device that conveys to a stacker and discharges, a control memory that stores a plurality of conveyance speed values for switching the conveyance speed in a plurality of steps, and a thickness detection unit that detects the continuous amount of the medium, And a control means for setting a carrying speed value in the control memory from the continuous amount of the medium detected by the thickness detecting means and automatically switching the carrying speed of the medium by the carrying means. Characteristic optical reader.