JPH09198469A - Optical character reading device and optical character reading method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An optical character reading device and an optical character reading method are provided in which the apparent conveyance path length is shortened by curving a form and the device is downsized. SOLUTION: Two sets of rollers 3 and 7 that are individually driven and controlled by an external power for conveying a form 15, a sensor 12 that detects a form to be conveyed, and the rollers 3 and 3 are detected by the sensor 12. Motors 1 and 5 for individually controlling the rotation of 7 and a first guide 9, a second guide 10, and a fourth guide 13 for bending the form 15 upward or downward to temporarily retract it are provided. And a transport path section.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical character reading device and an optical character reading method for improving a document conveying mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an optical character reader, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a CCD reads characters written on a form, and a recognition circuit (not shown) finishes reading the form and then prints and forms. I was sorting.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional optical character reading device, since the printing and the form allocation are performed after the reading process is completed, the conveyance path length is at least the length of the form. Is required between the CCD and the printing mechanism, which causes problems such as an increase in size of the device and an increase in weight.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an optical character for reducing the size of the apparatus is achieved by curving the form in the middle of conveyance to shorten the apparent length of the form conveyance path. An object is to provide a reading device and an optical character reading method.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises two sets of rollers for conveying a form,
Drive control means for individually controlling and driving the two sets of rollers by external power, detection means for detecting a conveyed form, and control means for individually controlling the rotation of the rollers by the detection of the detection means, An optical character reading device comprising: a conveyance path portion that bends the form upward or downward and temporarily retracts the form.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides
In the above-mentioned optical character reading device, it has a housing structure that can be divided at a place where the form is curved. Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention individually drives and controls two sets of rollers for conveying a form by external power, detects the conveyed form, and individually controls the rotation of the rollers. The optical character reading method is characterized in that the form is curved upward or downward so as to be temporarily retracted.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention is, in the above-mentioned optical character reading method, capable of dividing a form at a curved position. According to the above configuration, by bending the form on the conveyance path, the apparent length of the form conveyance path can be shortened, and thereby the apparatus can be downsized.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The outline of the present invention is as follows. That is, the conveyance guide for curving the form between the unit that carries the form from the time it is conveyed to the position immediately after the CCD and the unit that ejects it after performing processing such as printing / form sorting and smoothing the curving In order to reduce the apparent conveyance path length by providing a circuit that controls the two motors independently by detecting the position of the form and the mechanism that inserts and removes the protrusion that guides on the guide surface. Realize downsizing of the device.

That is, it is as follows. (1) An optical character reading device, comprising two sets of rollers which are controlled and driven by an external power for conveying a form, a detecting means for detecting the conveyed form, and the detecting means for detecting An optical character reading device comprising: a control unit that controls the rotation of a roller; and a conveyance path unit that bends the form upward or downward and temporarily retracts it.

(2) In the above-mentioned (1) optical character reading device, a casing structure is provided which can be divided at a place where the form is curved. (3) In the optical character reading device, two sets of rollers are controlled and driven by external power for conveying the form,
An optical character reading method, characterized in that a conveyed form is detected, the rotation of the roller is controlled by this detection, and the form is curved upward or downward so as to be temporarily retracted.

(4) In the above-mentioned (3) optical character reading method, the form can be divided at a curved position.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. Of these, FIG. 7A shows a state before the form is conveyed between the CCD and the printing mechanism, and FIG. 7B shows a state where the form is conveyed between the CCD and the printing mechanism. .

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a first motor which serves as a drive source for the form conveying system, and is rotationally controlled by an external control. Reference numeral 2 denotes a first belt that is stretched over the form conveyance path, and is driven by the rotation of the first motor 1 to convey the form on the conveyance path in the direction of arrow a.

Numerals 3 and 3 are first rollers rotatably driven by the first motor 1 via the first belt 2, and the sheets are sandwiched between tension rollers 4 and 4, which will be described later, and the sheets are arrowed. Transport in the a direction.

.. are applied to the first rollers 3 and 3 and a second roller 7 which will be described later by a spring or the like (not shown), respectively, and the form is sandwiched between the rollers on the form conveying path to form the form. It is a tension roller for carrying in the direction of arrow a.

Reference numeral 5 is a second motor which is a drive source of the form conveying system and is rotationally controlled by an external control. Reference numeral 6 denotes a second belt that is stretched over the form conveyance path and is driven by the rotation of the second motor 5 to convey the form on the conveyance path in the direction of arrow a.

A second roller 7 is rotatably driven by the second motor 5 via the second belt 6, and sandwiches the form with the tension roller 4 to convey the form in the direction of arrow a.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a CCD provided on the conveyance path around which the first belt 2 is stretched, for reading characters written on a form. 9 is a first roller 3 and a second roller 7
The first guide is erected on the conveyance path between the first guide and the second guide, and is for guiding the form on the conveyance path upward by a gap with the third guide 11.

Reference numeral 10 is a second guide provided so as to face the first guide 9, and is for guiding the form upward by a gap with the third guide 11.
Reference numeral 11 denotes a third guide, which is used to bend and guide the form upward by a gap between the first guide 9 and the second guide 10.

Reference numeral 12 is a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a form. Reference numeral 13 is a fourth guide provided corresponding to the gap between the first guide 9 and the second guide 10, and the tip portion is projected onto the surface of the third guide 11 by external control. The first guide 9 and the second guide 1 on the conveyance path.
It is for curving and guiding the gap formed with 0.

Reference numeral 14 is a processing unit, which performs printing processing, form allocation, and the like. Reference numeral 15 is a form, on which characters and the like are written, and the first and second rollers 3,
It is conveyed in the direction of arrow a by 3, 7, or the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. Here, a guide mechanism (first, second, second, etc.) for guiding a form provided on a conveyance path between the CCD and the printing mechanism or the like is shown. The fourth guide has the same configuration as that of FIG. 1 except that the fourth guide is configured to bend and guide the form downward, not to bend and guide the form upward. The reference numerals are given and the description thereof is omitted. In FIG. 2, FIG. 2A shows a state before the form is conveyed between the CCD and the printing mechanism, and FIG. 2B shows that the form is conveyed between the CCD and the printing mechanism. It shows the state.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the external appearance of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 is a first unit, which performs from the work of the form to the reading of the CCD 8.

A second unit 32 has a mechanism that can be connected to the first unit 31, and is provided with a fourth guide 33 for bending the form at the tip thereof to perform printing / sorting of forms. After that, the form is discharged.

Reference numeral 33 denotes a fourth guide provided in the second unit 32, which guides the curve of the form by projecting on the form conveyance path. The fourth guide shown in FIGS. It corresponds to thirteen.

Reference numeral 34 is a form, which is a gap formed between the first unit 31 and the second unit 32, and is curved by the fourth guide 33.
It corresponds to the form 14 shown in FIG.

The operation of the configuration of the above embodiment will be described below. In FIG. 1A, the first motor 1 and the second motor 5 rotate, respectively, so that the first rollers 3 and 3 pass through the first belt 2 and the second belt 6. , And the second roller 7 rotate.

Tension roller 4, first roller 3,
The form 15 is conveyed in the direction of arrow a by the frictional force between the form 15 and the second roller 7. When the form 15 passes on the conveyance path provided with the CCD 8, the characters written on the surface of the form 15 are read by the CCD 8. Furthermore, form 15
Is conveyed in the direction of arrow a on the conveying path, and when the leading end of the form blocks the optical axis of the sensor 12, the second motor 5 stops rotating by a control circuit (not shown).

At this time, since the first motor 1 is rotating, the form 15 begins to bend in the gap between the first guide 9 and the second guide 10 in the direction shown in FIG. .
The fourth guide 13 protrudes from the surface of the third guide 11 after the form 15 is curved to some extent,
The form 15 which is further conveyed is guided between the first guide 9 and the second guide 10.

When the form 15 passes through the CCD 8 and the processing in the processing unit 14 is decided, the second motor 5 starts to rotate again by the control circuit, and the conveyance of the form 15 is started. When the rear end of the form 15 passes the sensor 12, the fourth guide 13 returns to its original position. When the processing in the processing unit 14 is completed and the form 15 is ejected, the control circuit causes the first motor 1 and the second motor 5 to stop rotating.

The above control is repeated for the number of forms. FIG.
Has a configuration in which the form 15 is curved and guided downward, and its operation is the same as the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 described above except that the form 15 is curved and guided downward. The description of the operation is omitted.

In the configuration of FIG. 3, the configuration of FIG. 1 (or FIG. 2)
1, a first motor 1, a first belt 2, first rollers 3, 3, tension rollers 4, 4, ..., CCD 8, a first guide 9, a third guide 11 and the like. The first unit 31, and the tension roller 4, the second motor 5, the second belt 6, the second roller 7, the second guide 10, and the third guide 11 shown in FIG. 1 (or FIG. 2). , The sensor 12, the fourth guide 13, the second unit 32 including the processing unit 14 and the like have a separable housing structure, and when printing / form sorting is unnecessary, the first The structure is such that it can be used only by the unit 31.

In the structure shown in FIG. 3, the first guide 9 and the second guide 10 are not necessarily required, that is, the gap between the pair of guides 9 and 10 facing each other makes it possible to carry out the conveyance path. It is not necessary to bend the form, and the gap formed between the rear wall surface of the first unit 31 and the upper wall surface of the tip of the second unit 32 makes the form 34 similar to the above-described embodiment. It has a structure that bends by action.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be applied to various kinds of conveying devices which require saving of a conveying medium such as a form between the pre-processing and the post-processing, and various modifications can be made. Of course, it is possible.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when handling the same form length, the apparatus can be downsized, and the number of rollers used for conveyance can be reduced, so that damage caused by friction of the form can be reduced. And so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an appearance of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a reading control processing portion of the optical character reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... 1st motor, 2 ... 1st belt, 3 ... 1st roller, 4 ... tension roller, 5 ... 2nd motor, 6 ... 2nd belt, 7 ... 2nd roller, 8 ... CCD , 9 ... first guide, 10 ... second guide, 11 ... third guide,
12 ... Sensor, 13 ... Fourth guide, 14 ... Processing unit, 15 ... Form, 31 ... First unit, 32 ... Second unit, 33 ... Fourth guide, 34 ... Form.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transport mechanism for transporting a form,
Two sets of rollers that are individually driven by external power, a detection unit that detects the form sent to the transport mechanism, and a control unit that individually controls the rotation of the rollers by the detection signal of this detection unit, An optical character, characterized in that it is provided between a transportation system consisting of two sets of rollers of the transportation mechanism, and comprises a transportation path portion for curving a transportation document upward or downward and temporarily retracting it. Reader. 2. The optical character reading device according to claim 1, wherein the form has a casing structure that can be divided at a place where the form is curved. 3. In an optical character reading device, two sets of rollers for conveying a form are individually driven and controlled by an external power, the form to be conveyed is detected, and by the form detection, the rollers of the rollers are detected. An optical character reading method, characterized in that the rotation is individually controlled, and the form is curved upward or downward so as to be temporarily retracted. 4. The optical character reading method according to claim 3, wherein the form can be divided at a curved position.