FR2751770A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION - Google Patents

Abstract

The method of processing information carried by an information medium according to the invention comprises a global operation step operating on the information as a whole independently of any meaning of said information. Prior to said overall operation step, the following are carried out: - a step of interpreting the meaning of at least part of said information, and - a step of determining a direction of orientation of said information taking into account the result of the interpretation step. The overall operation step takes into account the direction of orientation determined during the determination step and operates differently for at least two different directions of orientation.

Description

 The present invention relates to a method and a device for processing information and office automation systems implementing them.

 It applies in particular to capturing, restoring and copying images, including those which include text, locally or remotely, for example in photocopiers, fax machines, printers or scanners. More generally, it applies to all systems operating globally on information as a whole.

 The word "information carrier" includes any object, flat or not, of regular shape or not, which can support information of any type whatsoever, optical, magnetic, electrical, biological, written or graphic etc. The information medium has at least two sides. It can for example be made of paper, plastics, textiles or composite materials. It can be flat, curved, porous, cellular, hollow, full, smooth or rough, flexible or rigid, with multiple successive plates.

 The information supported by said information medium can be found on the surface of one of the faces of said information medium or inside it.

 The word "sheet" includes any information medium in sheet form.

The words "global operation" should be considered to include:
- reading the information supported by the information medium.

 - writing secondary information on the information medium.

- more generally, any global use or transformation of an information medium
He is known
- duplex printers, which, in duplex mode, always print one side and one back, even if the back is blank;
- two-sided copiers with the same defects;
- devices capable of slightly reorienting a slightly tilted document, before scanning it and / or making a copy;
- optical character recognition methods which accept an angle of tolerance but which modify the document processed;
- an electronic page reverser whose purpose is to print the pages in the reverse order of their reading to insert these pages in an envelope, this order reversal step being systematic.

 However, in all currently known systems of image copying, that is to say of capturing the image and of its restitution on an information medium, the user must take care to orient the supports of the original images, to avoid on the one hand the positions or the two sides of the document are reversed and on the other hand, the positions which reverse the upper and lower parts of the sheet. Otherwise, copies may be misdirected or copies of blank pages may be made. Finally, part of the useful information may be lost if only one side of a document is copied and the sheet is positioned with the sides reversed.

 The invention intends to remedy these drawbacks by proposing a method and a device enabling the user not to worry about the direction of introduction of the original documents into the copying or faxing devices.

 The obvious advantage of such an invention is to simplify the user interface as much as possible. There is in fact today no de-facto standard for the direction of introduction of documents into photocopiers or fax machines on the market and the installation of original documents always requires a moment of reflection for the user. The user is traditionally simply guided by a sign representative of the orientation to be given to the document.

 Before the copy (or fax) procedure, the user must, in a preliminary step, make sure that the pages of the same document are all well oriented.

 The invention aims to eliminate this preliminary phase which is all the more tedious as the document to be copied is complex and comprises a large number of pages.

 In addition, in the case of documents which include both portrait-type pages, oriented "French-style" and landscape-type pages, oriented "Italian-style", few users are aware of the standards. presentation of such documents.

 When the document is intended to be bound, no page should be oriented towards the binding, failing which the reading of these pages is difficult.

 Once the copies have been made, if one (or more) page is "upside down", the user must manually redirect, for each copy, the copy of the incorrectly inserted page.

 In the case where one (or more) page is "upside down", each copy has a blank page instead of the page "upside down", it will therefore be necessary to make a copy of the missing page separately and 'insert the copy in each package.

 In the case of faxing a document of which one (or more) page is "upside down", the problem can be all the more annoying since the sender supposes having transmitted a page containing information while he actually transmitted a blank page.

 In the case of faxing a document with one (or more) page upside down, the problem may seem less annoying because the recipient receiving only one copy, it is easy for him to turn the page wrongly oriented by hand.

The invention therefore relates to a method of processing information carried by an information medium, comprising a step of global operation operating on the information as a whole independently of any meaning of said information, characterized in that, preliminary in said overall operation step, are carried out:
a step of interpreting the meaning of at least part of said information, and
a step of determining a direction of orientation of said information taking into account the result of the interpretation step, and in that the overall operation step takes into account the direction of orientation determined during of the determination step and operates differently for at least two different directions of orientation.

 Thanks to these provisions, the overall operation carried out on the information can be differentiated to take account of the direction of information orientation.

 According to particular characteristics, said information being capable of comprising characters. The step of interpreting the meaning of at least part of said information comprises an optical character recognition phase.

 According to particular characteristics, the step of interpreting meaning of at least part of said information includes a phase of analysis of distribution of information on the information medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the phase of analysis of distribution of information on the information medium analyzes the morphology of paragraphs.

 Thanks to these provisions, it is complex and effective techniques but of low cost which make it possible to determine the direction of information orientation.

 According to particular characteristics, the step of determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged in a first predetermined direction of orientation or in a second direction of returned orientation, relative to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of a face of the information carrier.

Thanks to these provisions, the information which has undergone a positioning error reversing the upper and lower parts on a support can be treated differently from the information normally positioned.

 According to particular characteristics, the step of determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged on a first face of the support or on a second face of the information support. Thanks to these provisions, the information which has undergone a positioning error permuting the faces of the support be treated differently from the normally positioned information.

 According to other particular characteristics, the global operation step includes copying said information as a whole when its direction of orientation is a first predetermined direction of orientation. Thanks to these provisions, all the information which has the expected direction of orientation is copied.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operation stage involves turning the information carrier upside down, then copying the information as a whole which is arranged on said information support, when the direction of orientation of said information is a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one face of the information carrier.

Thanks to these provisions, the positioning errors reversing the upper and lower parts of the images are corrected.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operation step comprises a phase of reversing the information medium by permuting at least two of its faces, then a phase of copying as a whole of said information, when the information is arranged on a predetermined side of the information carrier. Thanks to these provisions, the positioning errors reversing the faces of an information carrier are corrected.

According to particular characteristics:
- The overall operation step comprises a phase of reversing the information medium by permuting at least two of its faces, then a printing phase on said medium, when the information is placed on a predetermined face of the information support
- The overall operation step includes a phase of combining secondary information with information from the information medium, by orienting secondary information in the combination of information, taking into account the direction of orientation of the information available on the information medium.

 Thanks to these provisions, it is possible either to neutralize one side to be canceled, or to print on a pre-printed paper such as a letterhead, or to date a document, or even to authenticate it by affixing additional information to it. 'information.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operation step comprises a phase of lighting one side of the information medium and a phase of capturing information through said information medium, then a phase of copying information placed on said medium, when the information is placed on a predetermined face of the information medium. Thus, a simple change of light source used makes it possible to recover the information which is on the back of a support, in relation to the capture means used.

According to particular characteristics, the interpretation step and the determination step are jointly adapted to determine the absence of information having a meaning on said medium. In particular,
The overall operation step is not carried out when the interpretation step and the determination step jointly determine an absence of information having a meaning on said medium. Thanks to these provisions, when the support does not carry any significant information, it can be avoided to process it.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operation step comprises a phase of triggering an alarm when the direction of orientation of said information is not a first predetermined direction of orientation. Thanks to these provisions, the user can be warned of a positioning error and can correct the fault himself. The implementation of such a method is particularly economical since only a means of transmitting an alarm is necessary, without any means of handling the information medium or of processing means being used.

 According to a first variant, the method according to the invention as succinctly described above comprises at least two stages of interpretation of meaning of information carried by at least two faces of said support and in that the stage of determining the direction information orientation includes a step of comparing the results of said interpretation steps. Thanks to these provisions, for information carriers which are only capable of carrying information on one side, the determination of said side is carried out by comparison of analysis results carried out on several sides. Information detection is thus very insensitive to noise or interpretation faults, since these faults are substantially equal on the different faces of the support.

 According to a second variant, the method according to the invention as succinctly described above comprises at least one step of interpretation of the meaning of information carried by one face of said information medium and the step of determining the direction of information orientation includes a step of comparing the result of each interpretation step with at least one predetermined value. This variant has the advantage of saving a great deal of time when the orientation of the information is practically always identical between different media successively processed.

 The invention also relates to a device for processing information carried by an information medium, comprising a means of global operation operating on the information as a whole independently of any meaning of said information, characterized in that it further comprises an interpretation means adapted to interpret the meaning of at least part of said information and a determination means adapted to determine a direction of orientation of said information as a function of said meaning, and in that the overall operating means takes account of said direction of orientation and is adapted to operate on said information differently according to at least two different directions of orientation.

 According to particular characteristics, said information comprising characters, the interpretation means is adapted to perform optical character recognition.

 According to particular characteristics, the means of interpretation is adapted to analyze the distribution of information on the information medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the means of interpretation is adapted to analyze the morphology of paragraphs.

 According to particular characteristics, the means for determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged in a first predetermined direction of orientation or in a second direction of returned orientation, relative to the first , by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one face of the information carrier.

 According to particular characteristics, the means for determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged on a first face of the support or on a second face of the support.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operating means is adapted to copy said information as a whole when the determining means determines that its direction of orientation is a first predetermined direction of orientation.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operation means is adapted to turn the information medium upside down, then to copy as a whole the information which is arranged on said information medium, when the determining means determines that the direction of orientation of said information is a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one face of the information carrier.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operation means is adapted to return the information carrier by permuting at least two of its faces, then to copy said information as a whole, when the determination means determines that the information is arranged. on a predetermined side of the information medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operating means is adapted to turn the information medium by permuting at least two of its faces, then to print said medium, when the determination means determines that the information is arranged on one face. predetermined information carrier.

 According to particular characteristics, the overall operating means is adapted to illuminate one side of the information medium and to collect the information through said information medium, then to copy the information which is arranged on said medium, when the determining means determines that the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the means of interpretation and the means of determination are jointly adapted to determine the absence of information having a meaning on said medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operation means is not implemented when the interpretation means and the determination means jointly determine an absence of information having a meaning on said medium.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operating means is adapted to combine secondary information with information from the information medium, by orienting the secondary information by taking into account the direction of orientation of the information arranged on the information support.

 According to particular characteristics, the global operating means is adapted to trigger an alarm when the determining means determines that the direction of orientation of said information is not a first predetermined direction of orientation.

 According to a first variant, the interpretation means is adapted to interpret the meaning of information carried by at least two faces of said support and in that the means for determining the direction of orientation of the information comprises a means for comparing the results of interpretations.

 According to a first variant, the means for determining the direction of orientation of the information comprises a means for comparing each interpretation performed by the interpretation means with at least one predetermined value.

 The advantages of the devices, identical to those of the corresponding methods, are not recalled here.

 Finally, the invention relates to a photocopier, a fax machine, a computer, a scanner, a printer characterized in that they incorporate a processing device according to the invention as succinctly described above.

The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, made with reference to the accompanying drawings for explanatory purposes and in no way limitative, in which
- Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a first device implementing the present invention
- Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a second device implementing the present invention
- Figures 3a and 3b are diagrams illustrating other devices implementing the present invention for processing a sheet;
- Figure 4 is a simplified longitudinal sectional view along the line ll-ll of Figure 5, of a scanner comprising a device for reading two-sided sheets implementing the present invention
- Figure 5 is a top view with partial cutaway of the scanner presented in Figure 4, according to arrow III of Figure 4
- Figure 6 is a sectional elevation view along the line IV-IV of Figure 5;
- Figure 7 is an enlarged view of the insert V of Figure 6;
- Figure 7a is an enlarged view of the insert V of Figure 6
The processing unit being in the starting position;
- Figure 7b is an enlarged view of the insert V of Figure 6
The processing unit being in the intermediate position
- Figure 7c is an enlarged view of the insert V of Figure 6
The processing unit in the final position
- Figure 8 is an enlargement of the insert VI of Figure 5
- Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating the electronic control circuit of the engine block;
FIGS. 10A and 10B represent a flow diagram of a program recorded in the read-only memory of the circuit of FIG. 9 and operating the scanner presented in FIGS. 4 to 9
- Figures 11a to 11g are schematic sectional views of an information reading device arranged on a sheet, implementing the present invention
- Figure 12 is a simplified longitudinal sectional view along line 111-111 of Figure 5, of a scanner comprising a device for reading two-sided sheets implementing the present invention
- Figures 13a and 13b show a flowchart of a program recorded in the read-only memory of the circuit of Figure 9 and intended to operate the variant of the scanner presented in Figure 12
- Figure 14 shows the information stored in a memory register of a device presented in Figures 12, 13a and 13b
- Figure 15 is a simplified longitudinal sectional view along line 111-I II of Figure 5, of a scanner comprising a device for reading two-sided sheets according to a variant implementing the present invention
- Figures 16a and 16b show a flowchart of a program recorded in the read-only memory of the circuit of Figure 9 and intended to operate the variant of the scanner presented in Figure 15
- Figure 17 shows a printer comprising the device according to the invention;
- Figure 18 shows a fax machine comprising the device according to the invention;
- Figures 19A, 19B, 19C and 19D show the effects of the invention in two cases of positioning error
- Figure 20 shows a device for entering and restoring information according to the invention;
- Figure 21 shows a flowchart of operations performed by the device shown in Figure 20 to reposition the information upside down;
- Figures 22, 23 and 23A show a flowchart of operations performed by the device shown in Figure 20 to reposition the information upside down; and
FIGS. 24A, 24B and 24C respectively represent the writing, the organization and the reading of part of a random access memory incorporated in the device presented in FIG. 20.

To help understand the description that follows, the following definitions have been assigned to the words enclosed in quotes
- we call "information" any brand, image, text, drawings capable of being interpreted, unlike defects, or noises, when they are not intended to be treated;
- it will be said that the user introduces a page "upside down" if the front and back are reversed. (The result of copying a page of which only one side is printed and which is inserted "upside down" in a conventional photocopier is a blank sheet). To put the page back in the right direction we will speak of "reversal".

 - we say that the user introduces a page "upside down" if the top of the document and the bottom of the document are reversed. To put the document back in the right direction we will speak of "reorientation".

 In FIG. 1, a processing unit 301 is carried by a movable support member 302. The support member 302 is adapted to rotate around an axis of rotation 50 which is located in the median surface 51 of the support information 52 to be processed, this rotation displacing the processing unit 301 to place said unit opposite one of the faces of the information carrier.

 The information medium 52 follows a transfer path 30 consisting of two parts referenced 30a, upstream of the processing unit 301, and 30b, downstream of the processing unit 301. The transfer path 30 brings them, starting from a supply and positioning means 314 between an ejection and positioning means 315, which may also consist of rollers. The positioning means 314 and 315 are adapted to move the information carrier 52 on the one hand longitudinally, parallel to the axis 51 but also laterally, perpendicular to the axis 51, while maintaining the information carrier 52 parallel to the axis 51. The processing unit 301 is arranged in a processing area 20 for the purpose of processing one of the faces 37a, 37b, 37c, 37d, 37e, 37f of the information medium 52.

 In broken lines are represented the inlet 20e, on the right of the figures, and the outlet 20s, on the left of the figures, of the treatment zone 20. It will be recalled that in general according to the invention, the device comprises a member mobile carrier 302 carrying said processing unit 301 and adapted to position said processing unit 301 in the processing area 20 facing one of the faces of the information carrier 52 to allow an operation to be carried out overall on each of the faces of said information medium 52.

 In the embodiment described and shown here, the processing unit 301 is, in a fixed position, suitable for processing one face of the information carrier 52 during a movement of the information carrier in the processing zone, movement carried out by maintaining constant the distance between the processing unit 301 and the information medium 52. Then, when said face of the support has been treated, the carrier member 302 is adapted to position the processing unit 301 in a new position stationary where this unit is adapted to process another face of the information carrier 52 during a second movement of the information carrier 52 in the processing area 20.

 The operation of the device is as follows: first of all the processing unit 301 is in a position 39a, as illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 1. The information medium 52 follows the transfer path 30a and goes into vis-à-vis the processing unit 301 which treats the face 37a, when this face is to be treated. When the information medium is no longer facing the processing unit, while remaining held by the positioning means 315, the carrier member 302 causes the processing unit 301 to rotate, which is then located in position 39c as illustrated in phantom in Figure 1. The information medium 52 is then moved in front of the processing unit in the opposite direction to the previous direction, by the positioning means 314 and 315 and the processing 301 then processes the face 37c of the information medium, if the latter is to be processed.

 Assuming that the face 37d is not to be treated but that the face 37b is, once the global operation has been carried out on the information carried by the face 37c between the points 341 and 342, the information medium moving parallel to its face 37c, the support member 302 causes the processing unit 301 to rotate to position 39b, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 1. The information medium 52 is then moved parallel to its face 37b but in the opposite direction to the previous direction, by the positioning means 314 and 315 and the processing unit 301 then performs a global operation on the information carried by the face 37b of the information medium 52.

 This sequence of operations is repeated if necessary iteratively for each of the faces 37e and 37f. It is noted that, in the example of FIG. 1, the information carried by the face 37d has not undergone an overall operation because it was not among the faces retained by the device according to the invention. At the end of the processing, the information carrier can be ejected from the machine from one side or the other.

 In FIG. 2, the elements common to FIG. 1 have not all been recalled. A processing unit 301 is carried by a mobile carrying member 302.

 The carrier member 302 is adapted to perform a translation parallel to each of the faces of the information medium to be processed and a rotation between each of these translations by means of positioning not shown, because being well known to those skilled in the art .

 The operation of the device is as follows: first of all the processing unit 301 is in a position 49a and is driven in translation between a and b, at point b the processing unit 301 rotates to find itself in the position 49c at point c, then it undergoes a translation between c and d, this sequence of operations is repeated iteratively to successively process all the faces to be treated of the information medium 52.

 Of course, the present invention is not limited to the processing of an information medium in the form of the processing unit 21, rotation moving the processing unit 21 from one side to the other of the sheet 60. The support means 38 is placed opposite the processing unit 21 with respect to a transfer path 30 on which the sheet 60 moves and, during its movements, the sheet 60 is pinched between the means of support 38 and unit 21.

 The sheets 60 follow the transfer path 30 consisting of two parts 30a, upstream of the processing unit 21, and 30b, downstream of the processing unit 21. The transfer path 30 brings them, starting from two supply rollers 14a and 14b, first between the support roller 38 and the processing unit 21, and then between output rollers 15a and 15b.

The treatment unit 21 is arranged in the treatment zone 20 for the purpose of treating one of the faces 37a, 37b of the sheet 60.

 In broken lines are represented the inlet 20e, on the right of the figures, and the outlet 20s, on the left of the figures, of the treatment zone 20. It will be recalled that in general according to the invention, the device comprises a member mobile carrier 40 carrying said treatment unit 21 and adapted to position said treatment unit 21 in said treatment zone 20 on one side or the other of the sheet 60 to allow the treatment of each of the faces to be treated of said sheet 60.

In the embodiment presented in FIGS. 3 to 10 and 12 to 14,
The processing unit 21 is, in a first fixed position, suitable for processing a face of the sheet 60 during a first movement of the sheet in the processing area, The carrier member 40 is suitable for positioning the processing unit 21 in a second fixed position when the first face of the sheet 60 has been treated and the processing unit 21 is adapted to process the second face of the sheet 60 during a second movement of the sheet 60 in the treatment area 20.

 The operation of the device is as follows: first of all the processing unit 21 is in position 39a, as illustrated in FIG. 3a. The sheet 60 follows the transfer path 30a and passes over the processing unit 21 which treats its face 37a, if the latter is to be treated. When the sheet 60 has left the treatment zone 20, while remaining pinched between the exit rollers 15a and 15b, the direction of rotation of the latter is reversed and the support member 40 causes a rotation of one half turn on the one hand, to the processing unit 21 and, on the other hand, to the support roller 38. The processing unit 20 is then in position 39b illustrated in FIG. 3b. The sheet 60 then again passes between the support roller 38 and the processing unit 21 but below the processing unit 21. The processing unit 21 then processes the face 37b of the sheet 60, if this side is to be treated.

 The sheet 60, thus treated on each face to be treated, then leaves the device either between the feed rollers 14a and 14b, or between the outlet rollers 15a, 15b, according to variants of the device.

 We will now describe, with the aid of FIGS. 4 to 9, an embodiment of the processing device according to the invention suitable for processing information arranged on the front and back sides of a sheet.

In this embodiment, the device is, in principle, incorporated in a scanner 100 comprising in a conventional manner and known to those skilled in the art:
a zone 101 for the temporary storage of sheets intended to be treated comprising a plate 102 on which the sheet 60 is placed;
a processing unit 21 of known type and intended to successively read the information likely to be placed on each face of the sheet 60.

 In the scanner 100 illustrated in section in FIG. 4, a control panel 112 comprising an operating button 113 and a recto or recto-verso selection button 114 is arranged on top of a casing 115. The casing 115 comprises on the one hand, a frame 116 carrying the various organs of the device and on the other hand, an upper cover 117 carrying the control panel 112, and a lower cover 118 carrying electronic cards 119 and various electronic control bodies of the scanner as well as a battery 120.

 The scanner 100 comprises a transfer path 30 comprising an upstream part 30a and a downstream part 30b arranged on either side of a treatment zone 20.

 Two supply rollers 14a, of shaft 70, and 14b, of shaft 72, are arranged opposite part 30a of the transfer path 30 and the output rollers 15a, of shaft 71, and 15b, of shaft 73, are arranged opposite part 30b of the transfer path 30. The arrows carried on these rollers 14a and 14b, as well as on the output rollers 15a and 15b indicate their direction of rotation during the introduction of a sheet 60 in the processing area 20 and during the overall operation carried out on the information carried by the front face of the sheet 60. Upstream, the processing area 20 is materialized at its upstream end by the optical beam 131 from a position sensor 130 consisting of a light ray emitter 130a to an optical sensor 130b and, at its downstream end, by the optical beam 132 of a position sensor 135 consisting of a light ray emitter 135a to an optical sensor 135b.

 The processing unit 21 is here a reading unit of a type known by the English name of "contact sensor", that is to say image sensor by paper contact, comprising a large number of photosensitive point sensors which are all placed in a straight line, in contact with the sheet and which each provide a signal representative of the reflectance of the area of the paper with which they are opposite. Such contact sensors are well known in the field of facsimile machines. In the following description, we speak of the signal emitted or leaving the sensor in contact although in reality an analog-digital converter or more simply a threshold circuit is necessary to digitize the signal leaving the sensor and representing successively the luminosities perceived by the photosensitive point sensors.

 A support roller 38 whose cylindrical surface has a high reflectance, for example of white color, and whose central shaft 158 is metallic, is located opposite the processing unit 21, on the other side of the path transfer 30, and ensures that a sheet possibly placed between the support roller 38 and the processing unit 21 is in effective contact with the latter.

 The processing unit 21 and the support roller 38 are placed in the processing zone 20 and carried by a carrier member 40. The carrier member 40 has an axis of rotation 50 perpendicular to the direction of movement of the sheet 60 The axis 50 is substantially on the path of the sheet 60 and passes substantially on the surface of the processing unit 21.

The carrier member 40, the structure of which will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, can be rotated around the axis of rotation 50 and can therefore move the processing unit 21 and the roller d support 38 from one side to the other of the transfer path 30.

 The transfer path 30 of the sheet 60 is shown in phantom (Figures 4, 6, 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d). To guide the sheet along this transfer path 30, the input rollers 14a and 14b cooperate with an upper guide surface 121 and with a lower guide surface 122. Likewise, the output rollers 15a and 15b Cooperate with an upper guide surface 123 and with a lower guide surface 124. The guide surfaces 121, 122, 123 and 124 are parallel to the transfer path 30.

 The upper input roller 14a is made of rigid plastic and is free to rotate around the metal shaft 72 on which it is mounted. The lower entry roller 14b is made of rubber and is rotationally integral with the shaft 70 on which it is mounted. The upper output roller 15a is made of rigid plastic and is free to rotate around the metal shaft 73 on which it is mounted. The lower output roller 15b is made of rubber and is rotationally integral with the shaft 71 on which it is mounted.

The metal shafts 70 and 71 are inserted at each end into a plastic bearing secured to two side plates 80, 81. These plates 80, 81 are fixed to the frame 116 by screws 82, 83. The shafts 70 and 71 are rotated as explained below. The ends of the shafts 72 and 73 are inserted into oval holes 84 in the plates 80, 81.

These oval holes 84 allow vertical movements of the shafts 72 and 73 along the greatest distance from the oval shapes, that is to say by deviating or approaching the rollers 14b, 15b, respectively (illustrated by the double arrows 90). Elastic means constituted by blades in Figures 4 and 5, respectively 91 and 92, each exert a restoring force tending to bring the rollers 14a and 14b, on the one hand and the rollers 15a and 15b, on the other hand. The folded metal blades as shown in FIG. 4 are fixed by one of their ends to the frame 116 by screws 93 and 94 and pressing by their other end on the shafts 72 and 73.

 We will now describe, with the aid of FIGS. 4 to 8, the arrangement of the means incorporated in the reading area 20. The carrier member 40, made of plastic, forms a rigid structure carrying a sensor in contact 21 and the roller d 'support 38. The carrier member 40 consists of two blocks 150 and 151 (Figure 5) having recesses 180 for receiving the lateral ends of the sensor in contact 21 (Figure 4). The contacting sensor 21 rests, in these recesses 180 on elastic means 154, 155, here made up of helical springs. These elastic means serve to keep the sheet 60 in contact with a reading surface 156 of the sensor in contact 21 and with the support roller 38. The two blocks 150 and 151 are made integral by means of two beams 152 and 153 .

 The external surface of the support roller 38 consists of a white rubber roller 157 of a length at least equal to the reading width of the sensor in contact 21. The white roller 157 is integral with a steel shaft 158 the ends of which are arranged in the lateral blocks 150 and 151 of the carrier member 40 and which is free to rotate about its axis 50. The lateral blocks 150 and 151 are arranged on steel shafts 159 and 160 coaxial, respectively, which allow, in accordance with the invention, free rotation around the axis 50 of the carrier member 40 and of the elements which are linked to it to allow a global operation performed on each of the faces of the sheet 60.

 With reference to FIGS. 6 and 8, there is a groove 170a machined on the outer face of the lateral block 151 and housing a shaft 171 a, on the one hand and a groove 170b machined on the outer face of the lateral block 150 and accommodating a shaft 171 b. The grooves 170a and 170b have circular shapes allowing the trees 171a and 171b to follow them when the side blocks 150 and 151 rotate in a semicircle. The shafts 171a and 171b are coaxial and crimped respectively on the plates 81 and 82. The shaft 171a171b cooperates with the grooves 170a and 170b to allow the free rotation of the support member 40 between two extreme positions separated by an angle of 180 ( see Figures 7 and 7c).

 With reference to Figures 6 and 7, there is a gear train 200 driven by a stepping motor 190. According to the mode of operation of the scanner described in support of Figures 11a and 11b, the stepping motor -not 190 is supplied by a power circuit 300. The gear train 200 connects the stepping motor 190 with on the one hand, the shafts 70 and 71 and, on the other hand, with a gear 206 d 'a set of gears 216.

 The set of gears 216 sets in motion the carrier member 40 and the white roller 157. The gear 206 meshes with the gear 208, which meshes with the gear 209a with a double gear 209a-209b.

The gear 209b meshes with the gear 210 which is integral with the end of the shaft 70, causing the rotation of the rubber rollers 14b. In this way, the shafts 70 and 71 rotate in the same direction and in an opposite direction to the roller 157.

 The double gear 217 consists of the outer gear 206 and the inner gear 207 and is rotated around the shaft 160 of axis of rotation 50, common with the carrier member 40.

 With reference to FIG. 8, it can be seen that the gear 217 has a recess 181 in which the set of gears 211 to 215 is disposed. The shafts of the latter are crimped onto the plate 85 which is free to rotate around the shaft 160. The plate 85 has an oblong hole 218 allowing the passage of the shaft 158 of the support roller 38, at the end of which the gear 213 is fixed. The gear 207 meshes with the gears 211, 212 and 215. The gear 215 meshes the gear 214.

The oblong hole 218 is adapted so that the shaft 158 can move enough so that when the plate 85 moves, the gear 213 meshes either with the gear 214 or with the gear 212. Thanks to the free rotation from plate 85,
- in the case of a recto reading (FIG. 7), that is to say when the double gear 217 rotates clockwise,
The gear 214 meshes with the gear 213;
- in the case of a reverse reading (FIG. 7c), the double gear 217 rotating in the counterclockwise direction, the gear 212 meshes with the gear 213 in place of the gear 214;
- between these two positions and to move from the front of the sheet 60 to its back, the plate 85 rotates counterclockwise, the gear 213 leaves the gear 214 and the gear 212 approaches the gear 213 which remains stationary (Figure 7a) then, when the gears 212 and 213 are in contact and mesh, All of the gears linked to the movable plate 85, as well as the carrier 40 rotate around the axis 50 (Figure 7b) counterclockwise;
- between these two positions and to pass from the back of the sheet 60 to its front, the plate 85 rotates clockwise,
The gear 213 leaves the gear 212 and the gear 214 approaches the gear 213 which remains stationary then, when the gears 214 and 213 are in contact and mesh, All of the gears linked to the plate mobile 85, as well as the carrier member 40 rotate about the axis 50 in the direction of clockwise.

 The gear train presented in Figures 6, 7 and 8 is an example of mechanical servo means between the direction of movement of the sheet 60 and the position of the carrier member 40. Said servo means jointly ensures the change direction of paper movement and change of position of the processing unit 21.

 In accordance with the usual practice in terms of detection system of the front end of the sheet 60, there are two conventional optical sensors 130 and 135, comprising a light emitter 130a (respectively 135a) and a sensor 130b (respectively 135b) as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

 However, a variant comprising only a fixed optical sensor is presented below, in support of FIGS. 12 to 14.

 According to another variant presented below with reference to FIGS. 15, 16a and 16b, a single mobile optical sensor is positioned on the mobile support member 40.

 FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the electronic control circuit of the engine block. It comprises a microcontroller 804 incorporating a processor 803 connected to a random access memory 801 and to a read-only memory 802, to the control panel 112, to a motor control power circuit 800 connected to the stepping motor 190, two additional motors 191 and 192, and sensors 130b and 135b. Each of these components is in known use in the field of scanners and fax machines.

Note however that the complementary motors 191 and 192 serve:
- In the embodiment of the invention presented in Figure 1, to implement the positioning means 314 and 315 to move in translation the information carrier 52 parallel to each of its faces to be treated;
- in the embodiment of the invention presented in FIG. 2, on the one hand, to move in translation the processing unit 49a along one face of the information carrier, for example from position a to at position b, and, on the other hand, to re-orient the processing unit when passing in front of a corner of said support, for example between positions b and c.

 These complementary motors 191 and 192 are not incorporated in the embodiment presented with reference to FIGS. 3 and following, since the reversal of the processing unit is carried out by the use of the motor 190, as described with reference to the figures 6 to 8 in particular.

 The ROM 802 contains the operating instructions for the processor 803 and all the components of the mechanical device presented above.

 FIG. 10a represents the operating algorithm of the device according to the invention: the operation begins with the test 900 of the operating button 113 of the panel 112. As long as this button 113 is not pressed, it is tested by the processor 803. As soon as the operating button 113 is actuated by the user, during operation 901, the processor 803 controls the operation of the stepping motor 190 with rapid speed, in the direction of Clockwise. While the engine is running, test 902 consists in testing the detection of a sheet 60 by the optical sensor 130b. As soon as the detection of a sheet is carried out, the operation 903 consists in controlling the operation of the stepping motor 190 with a fast speed, with a number of steps equal to X.

 Next, the sequential read operation 904 consists in reading the information carried on a first face (here the upper face, the front) of the sheet 60 and in storing this information. After each reading of a line by the sensor in contact 21, operation 905 consists in advancing the sheet 60 by one step at the slow speed exerted by the stepping motor 190, always in the direction of the needles of a watch. The test 906 refers to the sequential read operation 905 as long as a sheet is detected by the optical sensor 130b. On the other hand, as soon as the absence of a sheet is detected, the test 906 launches the movement operation 907 which is carried out at slow speed, advancing by X steps in a clockwise direction, the sensor in contact 21 reading the first face of the sheet 60. During the operation 908, the sensor in contact 21 is disconnected from processor 803, that is to say that the memorization of the information leaving this sensor in contact 21 is interrupted.

 The next operation, 909, consists in turning the motor 190 clockwise at high speed, and by a number of steps Y. Test 910 relates to the treatment instruction front and back. In the event that this test is negative, that is to say if only the carrying out of a global operation carried out on all of the information arranged on the front of the sheet 60, has been controlled by use of the button front / back selection 114 of the control panel 112, operation 911 advances clockwise the motor 190, at fast speed and Z steps, corresponding to the ejection of the sheet 60 towards the left of the device as shown in FIG. 4, then refers to the test 901. In the event that the test 910 is positive, that is to say if the carrying out of a global operation on all of the information arranged on the back of the sheet 60 has been controlled by the user, by means of the selection button 114, the operation 912 controls the rotation of the motor 190 anticlockwise, that is to say say counterclockwise, at fast speed. During this operation, the carrier member 40 is turned over, as described with reference to FIGS. 7, takes place.

The test 913 tests the detection by the optical sensor 135b of the presence of a sheet 60. As long as this test is negative, in the absence of a sheet,
Operation 912 continues. As soon as the test 913 is positive, a sheet being detected by the sensor 135b, the operation 914 consists in advancing the motor 190 in the trigonometric direction of T step, at rapid speed.

Then, operation 915 consists in reading the sensor in contact 21 and in memorizing a line read on the back of the sheet 60. Operation 916 consists in advancing the motor 190 in the trigonometric direction from one step to slow speed. The test 917 consists in testing whether the sensor 135b detects the sheet 60. In the event that this detection is positive, the operation 915 is carried out again. If the test 917 is negative, operation 918 is carried out and consists in turning the stepping motor 190 at slow speed, by a number of steps T.

 Then, the operation 919 consists in interrupting the memorization of the information leaving the sensor in contact 21. The next operation, referenced 920, consists in turning the stepping motor 190 one step at high speed and counterclockwise. Next, the test 921 consists in testing whether the sensor 130b detects a sheet 60. If this test is positive, the rotation 920 continues. If this test is negative, operation 922 consists in turning the stepping motor 190 by a number of steps U at high speed and in a counterclockwise direction, then operation 923 consists in running the motor. step-by-step 190 of a number of steps Y at fast speed and clockwise. This operation 920 performs in conjunction with test 921 the ejection of the sheet 60 to the right of the device as shown in FIG. 4. The consequence of operation 923 is the inversion of the carrier member 40 towards the reading position on the front of sheet 60. Finally, after operation 923, processor 803 returns to test operation 900.

 FIGS. 11a to 11g are schematic sectional views of a device for reading the information arranged on a sheet, according to a variant of the invention: during the overall operation on each of its faces 37a and 37b, the sheet 60 is fixed between an entry and an exit from the treatment zone 20, the carrier member 40 moving the treatment unit 21 between this entry and this exit.

 According to the particular embodiment presented with reference to Figures 11, The carrier member 40 performs, during the overall operation on each of the two faces 37a and 37b of the sheet 60, a translation on either side of that -this and a rotation between these two global operations. Said rotation is carried out with respect to an axis 50 perpendicular to the direction of movement of the sheet 60. The axis 50 is substantially in the path of the sheet 60, and passes substantially over the surface of the processing unit 21.

The support roller 38 is carried by the carrier member 40 in the same manner as the processing unit 21 but on the opposite side thereof, relative to the sheet 60. The carrier member 40 is moved by two belts 180 and 181 which are set in motion by input wheels 182 and output wheels 183. During operation of the device according to the embodiment of the present invention presented in FIGS. 1a to 11f:
- the sheet 60 remains stationary and the carrier member 40 moves the processing means 21 along a first face of the sheet 60 (lower face in Figures lig and 11a) and the support roller 38 on the other side of sheet 60, the overall operation on this first face of sheet 60 being carried out during movement, if this face is to be treated,
- then turns half a turn around the axis of the output wheels 183 (Figures Ilb, lIc and Ild),
- Then moves the processing means 21 along the second face of the sheet 60 (upper face in island figures), the overall operation on this second face of the sheet 60 being carried out during the movement, if this face must be treated,
- then turns again half a turn around the axis of the input wheels 182 (Figure 11f).

 Figure 12 is a simplified longitudinal sectional view along line III-III of Figure 5, of a scanner comprising a device for reading two-sided sheets according to a variant of the invention.

 We recognize in FIG. 12 all the elements present in FIG. 4 with the exception of the sensors 130a, 130b, 135a and 135b. On the other hand, a position sensor 165 comprising a light ray emitter 165a and an optical sensor 165b is mounted upstream of the carrier member 40 in the direction of introduction of the sheets 60.

 FIGS. 13a and 13b represent a flow diagram of a program recorded in the read-only memory of the circuit of FIG. 9 and intended to operate the variant of the scanner presented in FIG. 12.

 We recognize in Figures 13a and 13b the different operations 900 to 912 of Figures 10a and 10b. On the one hand there is an operation 1100 of counting, in a first counter, of steps which are carried out each time that the test 906 is positive and brings back to operation 905. The first counter thus preserves the number of lines processed on the front of sheet 60 in the memory register. The reference 1200 in FIG. 14 represents the storage area which contains the information emitted by the sensor in contact during the number of steps equal to the value of the variable "counteri". The references 1203 and 1204 in FIG. 14 represent the memory areas which contain the information sent by the sensor in contact during operations 903 and 907, respectively.

On the other hand, there are operations following operation 912, which is the first operation on the back of sheet 60:
an operation 1101 for memorizing the information leaving the sensor in contact 21;
- An operation 1102 of rotation of the stepping motor 190 in the counterclockwise direction, at slow speed;
a test 1103 for detecting a sheet 60 by the sensor 165b;
- in the event that test 1103 is negative, an operation 1104 of counting steps in a second counter. The second counter therefore keeps the number of steps taken before detection of the sheet 60 by the optical sensor 165b, in the memory register shown, under the name of the variable "counter2". The reference 1201 in FIG. 14 represents the memory area which contains the information emitted by the sensor in contact during the number of steps I + 2 X - Z.

- in the event that test 1104 is positive, a test 1105 which detects whether the second counter keeps a value greater than a predetermined number Z;
if the test 1105 is positive, the operation 1106 deletes the information 1206 emitted by the sensor in contact before the effective arrival of the sheet on the sensor in contact, represented by the line 1205, then launches the operation 1107; this operation corresponds in FIG. 14 to the representation 1202 of the memory register which keeps the information leaving the sensor in contact, register in which the information represented in the hatched part has been removed. This information corresponds to the slip of the sheet,
- if test 1105 is negative, operation 1107 is directly launched; this operation corresponds in FIG. 14 to the representation 1201 of the register of the memory which keeps the information leaving the sensor in contact,
- Operation 1107 consists in starting the stepping motor at slow speed, in the counterclockwise direction, with a number of steps equal to the number present in the first counter;
- in
- Operation 1110 turns the stepper motor at the rapid speed of a number of steps Y and clockwise. At the end of this operation 1110, the processor 803 returns to operation 900.

 Figure 15 is a simplified longitudinal sectional view along line 111-II of Figure 5, of a scanner comprising a device for reading two-sided sheets according to a variant of the invention.

 We recognize in Figure 15 all the elements present in Figure 4 with the exception of sensors 130a, 130b, 135a and 135b. On the other hand, a position sensor 185 comprising a light ray emitter 185a and an optical sensor 185b is mounted on the carrier member 40 on the upstream side regardless of the direction of movement of the sheets 60.

 FIGS. 16a and 16b represent a flow diagram of a program recorded in the read-only memory of the circuit of FIG. 9 and intended to operate the variant of the scanner presented in FIG. 15.

 We recognize in Figures 16a and 16b the different operations 900 to 908 of Figure 10a, tests 902 and 906 applying to the single optical sensor 185b of this embodiment of the device. These operations and tests correspond in particular to the movement of the sheet to the optical sensor 185b then to the reading area, then the reading of the front of the sheet considered.

In addition, operations following operation 908
- a test 1600 which tests whether the user has requested that the two faces undergo a global operation;
- in the event that the test 1600 gives a negative result, an operation 1601 causes the motor 190 to advance in a clockwise direction at high speed, by Y not corresponding to the ejection of the sheet from the left on FIG. 15, then returns to operation 900 for the overall operation carried out on another sheet;
- in the event that the test 1600 gives a positive result, an operation 1602 causes the motor 190 to advance in a clockwise direction, at fast speed, by Z steps. This operation corresponds to moving the sheet to the left rollers;
- Then the operation 1603 (FIG. 16b) advances the motor 190 by one step in the counter-clockwise direction, at high speed. This operation causes the reversal of the direction of travel of the paper and the reversal of the movable carrier member 40 and of the sensor in contact which it carries;
- test 1604 refers to operation 1603 as long as the optical sensor 185b does not detect the sheet. Jointly, operation 1603 and test 1604 correspond to the movement of the sheet up to the optical sensor 185b;
Operation 1605, which is carried out when the sheet is detected by the optical sensor 185b, advances the motor 190 by X not in the counterclockwise direction, at high speed, which corresponds to the movement of the sheet up to the reading area
Operation 1606 stores the information leaving the sensor in contact 21
- Operation 1607 advances the motor 190 by one step in the counterclockwise direction, at slow speed;
- test 1608 refers to operation 1603 as long as the optical sensor 185b detects the sheet;
- Operation 1609 causes the motor 190 to advance X by not in the counterclockwise direction, at slow speed;
- Operation 1610 stops the storage of the information leaving the sensor in contact 21. Operations 1606, 1607, 1609 and 1610, as well as test 1608 correspond to the reading of the back of the sheet considered;
- Operation 1611 advances the motor 190 by U not in the counterclockwise direction, at high speed. This operation causes the sheet to be ejected on the right, in Figure 15
- Finally, operation 1612 advances the motor 190 by T not in a clockwise direction, at high speed. This operation returns the movable carrier member 40 to its initial position.

 It is noted that the sensor in contact traverses the sheet 60 with an opposite direction of progression between the front and the back. In fact, the end of the sheet opposite which the sensor is in contact at the start of the overall operation performed on the front is the end of the sheet opposite which the sensor is in contact at the end of the overall operation performed on the back. To correct this difference concerning the information stored, several solutions can be used: either the information is read in the memory with two different directions of reading between the front and back, or the addresses of the memory at which one positions l information from the sensor in contact follows one another differently.

 By way of example, the storage of the information read during operation 904 can be carried out with storage addresses, for each start of series of punctual information corresponding to a reading of the sensor in contact, at addresses decremented with a step equal to the number of useful photosensitive points of the sensor in contact, the memory addresses for memorizing the point information of each point of the sensor in contact incrementing, starting from the start of line addresses, with a step of a unit. According to this example, during operations 915, 1101 and 1606, respectively, the memory addresses succeed one another, in the memorization of each line but also in the memorization of successive lines, with a regular incrementation whose pitch is one unit .

In this way, the different faces of the sheet correspond, in memory, to identical reading directions.

 FIG. 17 shows a printer comprising the device according to the first variant of the invention, the processing unit 21 here being a means of printing 21 i of a face 37a or 37b of the sheet 60.

 FIG. 18 represents a facsimile machine comprising two devices according to the first variant of the invention, the processing units 21 being on the one hand, a reading means 211 of a face 37a or 37b of the sheet 60 and, on the other part, a printing means 21i on one side 37a or 37b of the sheet 60.

 We will now describe, with reference to FIGS. 19A to 24C, information processing taking into account the direction of orientation of the information on the information medium, that is to say in the preferred example described in Figures 3 to 18, of a sheet.

 We consider an original document of three sheets numbered in order, each printed on one side (respectively identified by the references on page 1, page 2 and page 3). In Figures 19A to 19D, the original pages are shown at the top and the copies are shown at the bottom. When the reference of a page is written backwards, it means that the information arranged on this page is upside down. When "back" is written in square brackets, it means that the page is turned upside down. In FIG. 19A are represented the original and a copy of the document for a conventional device, known in the prior art, in the case where the page 2 is introduced "upside down": each copied page keeps the orientation, even defective , of the original page to which it corresponds. So the copy of page 2 is upside down, like the original page 2. In FIG. 19B are represented the original and a copy of the same document by a device in accordance with the invention: page 2 is automatically "redirected" and the three copies of pages present information oriented in the same way.

 In FIG. 19C are represented the original and a copy of the document made by a conventional apparatus of the prior art, in the case where the page 2 is introduced "upside down": each copied page keeps the orientation, even defective, of the original page to which it corresponds. So the copy of page 2 is upside down, like the original page 2.

In FIG. 19D are represented the original and a copy of the same document by a device according to the invention, in the case where page 2 is introduced "upside down": page 2 is automatically "turned over" and the three copies present information oriented in the same way.

 In the embodiment described and shown, to detect whether a page is "upside down", it is considered that the useful side of a page is the side which contains the most information.

 For this, we are interested in the number of pixels, whose color is different from that of the background of the document, present on each of the faces.

In order to determine the background color of the document, in the prior art, there are systems such as those implemented in certain fax machines which take as background color the color of the first lines of the document, this color then serving as a reference. .

To process each side of a page, you must:
- digitize the first lines, traditionally called margins, to determine the background color
- scan the entire document and count the number of pixels of a color different from that of the background
- Copy, that is to say, according to the examples of implementation, photocopy or fax the page containing the largest number of pixels having a color different from that of the background.

 According to the preferred embodiment, to avoid scanning the two sides of each sheet, a preferred direction of document introduction is defined, identified on the copying device, for example by an acronym. We digitize the first side, counting the number of pixels of different color from the background color. If this number is less than a predetermined value, the sheet is turned over and the procedure is as above. In the other case, we consider a priori that the sheet is not "upside down".

 Note that to turn over a sheet, it is possible either to physically turn it over to scan the other side, or to use image capture means comprising two image capture means arranged on either side of the sheet, either still to use the partial transparency of the sheet to light it on one of its faces, while the image sensor is on the other side, or still, as presented above, opposite Figures 3a to 18, to move a mobile processing unit around the sheet. This latter possibility is described and shown here.

 According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, to detect a page "upside down", an optical character recognition is performed on the first face (front) by counting the number of recognized characters. If this number is greater than a second predetermined value, it is assumed that the document is in the right direction. Otherwise, the document is redirected and a second optical character recognition is carried out.

If the number of characters recognized, during this second optical recognition, is greater than that recognized in the first direction, it is concluded that the document is now in the correct direction (after reorientation).

 If you cannot recognize a sufficient number of characters on each side, either because the optical character recognition is not efficient enough, or because the copied document does not contain any characters, we consider that the document had originally been introduced in the correct direction (preferred meaning identified by an acronym).

According to a variant, a morphological analysis of the document is carried out. According to this analysis, certain criteria are used such as:
- lateral margins (the size of the left margin is often more regular than the right) (see Figure 23A)
- the pixel density on either side of the page (in the case of French documents for example, we write from top to bottom and from left to right).

 To redirect a page, we note that we could use a mechanical solution, but it would be complex and expensive. According to a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention, the pixels representative of the information to be copied are written into a random access memory, then this memory is read in the reverse order of the order in which they were read. One thus carries out a symmetry compared to the center of the page.

 In FIG. 24A is represented a portion of image, each pixel being represented by a black or white background square.

 It is assumed that this image portion is read from top to bottom and from left to right, line after line by a scanner in front of the sensor from which the page carrying the image moves. The digital information corresponding to a white pixel is here represented by an O and the digital information corresponding to a black pixel by a 1.

 In FIG. 24B is represented the digital information relating to the image portion of FIG. 24A. The memory boxes or addresses are referenced cl to c42, in the order of writing into memory, that is to say here by browsing the part of the image represented in FIG. 24A from top to bottom and from left to right. .

 If we restore the information by printing from top to bottom and from left to right, a black pixel for each 1 in the table in figure 24B and a white pixel for each 0, respecting the number of rows and columns in figure 24A and by going through the table in FIG. 24B backwards, following the order of decreasing addresses (c42, c41 ..., cl), the result of FIG. 24C is then obtained. This result is identical to the image in FIG. 24A after reorientation.

 FIG. 20 represents a photocopier 1810 in accordance with the invention, capable of turning the pages "upside down" and reorienting the pages "upside down".

This photocopier comprises the conventional constituent elements of a photocopier and of the elements necessary for the implementation of the embodiment of the invention, linked together by a bus according to known techniques, these elements being: - means of calculation and 1820 processing for example constituted by a microprocessor CPU; a ROM 1870 read-only memory in order to store the instructions of the program implementing the instructions of the flowcharts described in support of FIGS. 21 to 23A. This read-only memory 1870 further comprises the following memory registers
- CAR ~ MIN: minimum number of characters which must be
detected on a page to consider that the page is not "header
below";
- DensMin: density of pixels whose color is different from the
minimum document background color to consider that a
page is not "upside down" - a RAM 1860 RAM containing, in addition to a work area, the following registers: - registers linked to optical character recognition:
- dpix ~ orig: density of pixels whose color is different from the background
of the document on the face of the scanned document corresponding to the
preferred direction of introduction;
- dpixrvrs: density of pixels whose color is different from the background
of the document on the face of the scanned document corresponding to the
non-preferred direction of introduction
- MemLigne: digital information corresponding to a line
segmented;
- nbcar orig: number of characters recognized on the face of the
document corresponding to the preferred direction of introduction;
- nboar rvrs: number of characters recognized on the face of the
document corresponding to the non-preferred direction of introduction; - registers linked to the analysis of the distribution of information on the sheet, and more precisely of paragraph morphology:
- n is the number of lines of image information leaving the
sensor that represent an image of the information to be processed, this is
ie the number of non-white lines;
- Left Var is the variance of the left margin;
- S2 ~ Left is the sum of the squares of the left margins of
lines already analyzed
- S ~ Left is the sum of the left margins of the lines already
analyzed;
- Margin ~ Left is the number of photosensitive sensors
contiguous point (pixels) of the contacting sensor that are located
left of the information present on the line analyzed;
- S2 ~ Right is the sum of the squares of the right margins of the lines already analyzed
- S ~ Right is the sum of the right margins of the lines already
analyzed;
- Margin ~ Right is the number of photosensitive sensors
contiguous point (pixels) of the contacting sensor that are located
right of the information present on the line analyzed;
- Right Var is the variance of the right margin.

- a document presence sensor 1830 whose output 1831 is capable of taking two values depending on the presence of a document to be copied; a means of reading information 1840 such as a scanner intended to digitize the documents; a switch 1907 adapted to be controlled via the reading unit to supply one or the other of two light sources 1905 and 1906; - a means of restoring information 1850 such as a printer or a display; - an 1890 control panel providing the interface with the user. This 1890 control panel has in particular a key allowing the user to start the copy operation; - A mechanism for turning over the sheet 1880 or turning over the processing unit with respect to the sheet, such as that described with reference to FIGS. 3a to 18; - a RAM 1861 intended to store the original digitized page, that is to say as initially introduced into the photocopier; - a random access memory 1862 intended to store the digitized page after repositioning, that is to say after reversal and / or reorientation; and - a 1900 character optical recognition device. Such a device is known to a person skilled in the art. For the purposes of the description, however, the essential constituent elements of such an optical character recognition device are noted, namely:
- a segmentation unit 1902, capable of isolating elements
of the scanned page likely to represent a
character of this page; and
- a 1901 comparator likely to determine with a
certain probability if the elements isolated by the unit of
segmentation 1902 actually correspond to a character
contained in a 1903 read only memory containing images of
characters; an alarm unit 1930 adapted to transmit a signal representative of a fault or an error detected during the implementation of the invention;
All of these are individually well known to those skilled in the art and, therefore, are not further described here.

 It is noted that the elements grouped together by the dotted line 1920 correspond to the elements which can be brought together in a remote computer system, distant from the mechanical systems used.

 It is observed that the device presented in FIG. 20 can supplement that presented in FIG. 9. However, the common components such as certain detectors for the presence of information media or like processors, can be combined to provide the appropriate functions presented with regard to the figures. 3 to 24c.

 In FIG. 21, a first operation 2000 is observed, which corresponds to the waiting state of the device. When the user orders the start of a copy / fax procedure via the control panel 1890, the program performs an operation 2010 by which the calculation and processing unit 1820 reads the output port 1831 of the sensor 1830 document presence to determine if a document is present.

If this test is negative, the program returns to operation 2000 and the device returns to the waiting state.

 If the 2010 test is positive, the program performs the 2020 operation.

During this operation, the calculation and processing unit 1820 controls the reading of the page by the reading unit 1840. This operation, which consists in scanning the page, is known to those skilled in the art and will not be described here. The scanned page is stored in the RAM intended to store the original page 1861. At the end of reading of the page, the reading unit 1840 sends an electrical signal to the calculation and processing unit 1820 in order to '' warn of the end of reading.

 In operation 2030, we succinctly test whether the page is "upside down".

 In a preferred embodiment, this is done by estimating the total area of the information arranged on the page analyzed. This estimation is done for example by calculating the pixel density of the scanned document whose color is different from the background color of the page dpix ~ orig and by comparing dpix ~ orig to a DensMin threshold value. In the case where dpixong is greater than DensMin, we hypothesize that the page is not "upside down", the test 2030 is negative, and the program performs the operation 2040 which will be described below.

 If the 2030 test is positive, the program performs operation 2050.

During this operation, the calculation and processing unit 1820 controls the sheet turning mechanism 1880 in order to turn the sheet over with respect to the processing unit or from the processing unit over with respect to the sheet, as described above.

 The program then performs operation 2060, an operation during which an image of the returned page is captured.

This operation is similar to operation 2020. The scanned page is stored in the random access memory intended for storing the returned page 1862. At the end of the reading of the page, the reading unit 1840 sends an electrical signal to the 1820 calculation and processing unit to notify it of the end of the reading.

 The program performs operation 2070 by which it is tested whether the page, which was returned to operation 2050, is now "upside down", in the same way as during operation 2030. If the test 2070 is positive, and the program performs operation 2040 which will be described below. If the 2070 test is negative, the program returns to the 2010 test.

 If the test 2030 is negative or if the test 2070 is positive, the program performs the operation 2040. In this case, it is in fact assumed that the information to be restored was contained on the page which was read at operation 2020 and which is contained in the RAM 1861. The original page is therefore copied during operation 2040. This operation is carried out by the rendering unit 1850, under the control of the calculation and processing unit 1820. Well known to those skilled in the art, this operation is not described here.

 If test 2070 is negative, the program performs operation 2080.

In this case, it is in fact assumed that the information to be restored was contained on the second side of the page which was read in operation 2060 and which is contained in the RAM 1862 and this is therefore the returned page which is produced by the 1850 restitution unit.

 At the end of operations 2040 or 2080, the restitution unit 1850 emits an electrical signal to the calculation and processing unit 1820 to inform it of the end of restitution. The program then performs operation 1910 again, where it is tested if there are other pages to be photocopied. The program repeats all of the previous operations for each of the pages of the document. The last page restored, the 2010 test becomes negative and the program then performs operation 2000 again.

 We observe in FIG. 22, following the operations 2000 and 2020 and the 2010 test presented in FIG. 21, first of all an operation 2130, during which we test if the page is "upside down".

 In a first embodiment, this is done by implementing the subroutine of FIG. 23 which will now be described.

 In order to determine if a page is "upside down", an optical character recognition procedure is used. Are known in the prior art such techniques as that described for example in the European patent whose title is: "Method and apparatus for character recognition", whose publication number is EP-0 539 158 A2, filed on October 20 1992 by the applicant of this patent application. The content of this document is incorporated into this application by reference.

 Referring to Figure 23, there is shown how to use an optical character recognition technique to determine if the page is "upside down", in a preferred embodiment. It is fixed as a decision criterion that the page is not "upside down", the fact that the device according to the invention is capable of recognizing at least CAR ~ MIN characters, CAR ~ MIN being a predetermined constant stored in the read-only memory 1870.

 During operation 2131, the calculation and processing unit 1820 commands the segmentation unit 1902 to segment the first line of the original page read in operation 2020 and stored in the RAM 1861. This operation consists in read the information relating to the first line of text in the RAM 1861 and store this information in the MemLigne buffer of the working memory 1860. Once this operation is complete, the segmentation unit 1902 sends an electrical signal to the 'computation and processing unit 1820 and the program performs operation 2133.

 In operation 2133, the calculation and processing unit 1820 commands the segmentation unit 1902 to extract the first image character from the line recognized in operation 2131. After the extraction of the character, the unit segmentation 1902 sends an electrical signal to the computation and processing unit 1820. On reception of this signal, the computation and processing unit 1820 commands, in operation 2135, to the comparator 1901, to search the memory dead of characters 1903, a character whose form is likely to correspond to this image character. During this operation, if the 1901 comparator recognizes the character, the variable of the RAM 1860 nbcar orig is incremented by one.

 In operation 2136, it is tested whether the current number of characters recognized in the nbcar orig page is greater than a predetermined constant CAR ~ MIN. If the test is positive, it is considered that the page read in operation 2020 is not "upside down" and the program performs operation 2040 which will be described below.

 If the test 2136 is negative, the program performs the operation 2137 during which it is tested whether all the image characters of the segmented line in the operation 2131 have been extracted. If there are other characters to extract, the program then performs operation 2133. Operations 2133 to 2137 are thus repeated until the last image character of the segmented line has been extracted.

 When the test 2137 becomes negative, the program performs the operation 2139 during which it is tested whether all the lines of the image page have been extracted. If there are rows that have not been extracted, the program then performs operation 2131, during which operation the calculation and processing unit 1820 requests the segmentation of the next row.

 Thus, all the image characters contained in the page are capable of being extracted during the loop comprising the operations 2131 to 2139. As soon as CAR ~ MIN characters have been recognized by the comparator 1901, the test 2136 becomes positive and the sub -program of figure 23 is finished. In this case, it is considered that the page is not "upside down" and the program performs operation 2040, presented with reference to FIG. 21.

On the other hand, if all the image characters have been extracted, i.e. after the last character of the last segmented line, without
CAR ~ MIN characters have been recognized, the subroutine ends when the test 2139 becomes negative, and in such a case, the page is considered to be "upside down". The program then performs operation 2150 (Figure 22).

 It should be noted that the optical character recognition can be carried out on only part of the information supported by the sheet, in order to limit the time required.

 Operation 2130, during which it is tested whether the page is "upside down" is carried out, in a second embodiment, by implementing the subroutine of FIG. 23A which will now be described.

 Operation 2200 consists in zeroing variables contained in registers of random access memory, S2 ~ Left, S ~ Left, by the punctual photosensitive sensors of the sensor in contact, during a single shot.

If, during this shooting, no information was found next to the sensor in contact, the line is said to be "white". Test 2230 determines whether the line is white or not. If the result of test 2230 is positive, test 2210 is run again. If the result of test 2230 is negative, during operation 2240, the calculation unit 1820 first performs the calculation of the right and left mages, that is to say respectively of the numbers of successive point photosensitive sensors which did not collect any information on the right and on the left of the sheet, these values are preserved in the registers Marge ~ Droite and nllargeGauche of the RAM 1860. Then, still during operation 2240, The unit of calculation 1820 performs the following arithmetic operations:
- the value of the variable n which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value n + i.

 - the value of the variable S2 ~ Left which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S2 ~ Left + (Margin ~ Left) 2.

 - the value of the variable S ~ Left which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S ~ Left + Left Margin.

 - the value of the Var Left variable which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S2 ~ Left / n - Left / n (S ~ Left) 2 / n2.

 - the value of the S2 Right variable which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S2 ~ Right + (Margin ~ Right) 2.

* - the value of the variable S ~ Right which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S ~ Right + Margin ~ Right.

 - the value of the Var Right variable which is kept in the memory is replaced by the value S2 ~ Right / n - (S ~ Right) 2 / n2.

The test 2210 is then carried out again. When the result of test 2210 is positive, test 2250 determines whether the value kept in the Var Left register is less than the value kept in the register
Var Right.

 If the result of test 2250 is positive, operation 2040 is carried out (Figure 22). If the result of test 2250 is negative, operation 2150 is carried out (FIG. 22).

 During operation 2150 (FIG. 22), the page is redirected. For this purpose, the calculation and processing unit 1820, operates successively two symmetries as explained, with reference to FIGS. 24A, 24B and 24C, above, on the image page contained in the RAM 1861, the result of this operation then being stored in the RAM 1862.

 The program then performs operation 2170, identical to operation 2130 but performed on the image page contained in the RAM 1862. In a preferred embodiment, during this operation, the number of characters recognized on the page after reorientation, ncbar rvrs. If nbcayn / rs is less than nbcar orig, we consider that the document had been correctly introduced into the device, the test 2170 is positive and we restore the page stored in RAM 1861. Otherwise, the test 2170 is negative and the returned page stored in RAM 1862 is restored, during operation 2080, presented with reference to FIG. 21. Following operations 2040 or 2080, the operation returns to the 2010 test.

 Of course, the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described with the support of the figures, but it encompasses, quite the contrary, any variant within the reach of those skilled in the art.

 In particular, in FIGS. 3a to 18 of this description, the treated sheet is a sheet of paper, the overall operation carried out by the processing unit is a reading of information placed on the sheet of paper whereas in the figure 17,1 'global operation is an impression and in figure 18,1' global operation is, on the one hand, an impression of information and, on the other hand, a reading of information. However, the invention is in no way limited to this type of sheet or to this type of global operation but, on the contrary, extends to all sheet-shaped products and all the global operations which can be applied to them.

 In particular, the device according to the invention can easily combine the information to be processed and secondary information originating, for example, from read-only memory or from a clock (not shown), for dating, authenticating, canceling a face, signaling a copy. , for example. For this purpose, the information to be processed is superimposed on secondary information such as "copy", "canceled side" (if no information to be processed is found on this side), "received the" followed by the date. This combination of information, which proceeds from image processing or from word processing, is well known to those skilled in the art and is therefore not described in more detail here. The information resulting from the combination of the information to be processed and the secondary information is then printed or restored by the rendering means 1850.

 The invention is easily applicable to printing machines on textiles, to machines for manufacturing or reading holograms on one side of an information carrier but in different directions and to information carriers with internal facets.

 Note, moreover, that the displacements may not be parallel to the treated faces.

 Likewise, the present invention naturally applies as well to the movements of sheets in a horizontal plane, as shown in the figures, as in an inclined or vertical plane, not shown.

 Finally, the carrying member 40 can also perform, between the overall operation performed on the front of the sheet and that relating to its back, a rotation about an axis parallel to the direction of movement of the sheet 60.

The processing unit 21 therefore then passes laterally next to the sheet 60 and not longitudinally as in the device presented in support of FIGS. 3 to 12.

 According to another variant, particularly suitable for facsimile machines, an information reading device according to the invention reads the information present on a sheet and transmits to a printing device according to the invention on the one hand, information representative of images present on the sheet read by the reading device and, on the other hand, information representative of an orientation of said image information, following the operations described above. According to this variant, the reading device determines an orientation by analyzing the morphology of the paragraphs or by analyzing the optically recognized characters.

 According to another variant, always particularly suitable for facsimile machines, the facsimile machine which receives information representative of images from any transmitting facsimile machine, determines a direction of orientation of the images represented, paragraphs or characters, and prints in the same meaning, on the one hand, said information and, on the other hand, additional information representative for example of the issuer, of the date, of the number of pages transmitted, for example, according to known techniques.

Claims (40)

 1. Method for processing information carried by an information medium, comprising a global operation step (2040,2080) operating on the information as a whole independently of any meaning of said information, characterized in that, preliminary to said step of global operation, are carried out: - a step of interpretation of meaning (2030,2070,2130,2170) of at least part of said information, and - a step of determining a meaning d orientation (2030,2070,2130,2170) of said information taking into account the result of the interpretation step, and in that the overall operation step takes into account the direction of orientation determined during the determination step and operates differently (2050,2150) for at least two different directions of orientation.  2. Method according to claim 1 characterized in that, said information being capable of comprising characters, the step of interpretation of meaning of at least part of said information comprises an optical character recognition phase (2133,2135 ).  3. Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the step of interpretation of meaning of at least part of said information comprises a phase of analysis of distribution of information (2230,2240) on the support of information.  4. Method according to claim 3 characterized in that the analysis phase of information distribution on the information medium analyzes the morphology of paragraphs.  5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the step of determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged in a first predetermined direction of orientation or in a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one face of the information carrier.  6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the step of determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged on a first face of the support or on a second side of the support.  7. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the overall operation step includes a phase of copying (2020,2040,2060,2080) as a whole of said information when its sense of orientation is a first predetermined direction of orientation.  8. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of inverting the information carrier upside down (2150), then a copy phase (2080) as a whole of the information which is arranged on said information medium, when the direction of orientation of said information is a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one side of the information carrier.  9. Method according to any one of claims I to 8, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of reversal of the information medium by permutation of at least two of its faces (2050), then of copying as a whole of said information (2080), when the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.  10. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of reversal of information medium by permutation of at least two of its faces (2050), then a printing phase on said support, when the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information support.  11. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of lighting one side of the information carrier and a phase of capturing information through said information medium, then an information copying phase arranged on said medium, when the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.  12. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the interpretation step and the determination step are jointly adapted to determine the absence of information (2030,2070) having a meaning on said support.  13. The method of claim 12 characterized in that the overall operation step is not performed when the interpretation step and the determination step jointly determine an absence of information having a meaning on said medium.  14. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of combining secondary information with information from the information medium, by orienting the information secondary in the combination of information, taking into account the direction of orientation of the information available on the information medium.  15. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the overall operation step comprises a phase of triggering an alarm (1930) when the direction of orientation of said information is not a first predetermined direction of orientation.  16. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that it comprises at least two stages of interpretation of information meaning (2130,2170) carried by at least two faces of said support and in that the step of determining the direction of orientation of the information includes a step of comparing (2170) the results of said steps of interpretation.  17. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 characterized in that the step of determining the direction of information orientation includes a step of comparing the result of each interpretation step with at least a predetermined value (2030,2070).  18. Device for processing information carried by an information medium, comprising a global operating means (1820, 1840, 1850) operating on the information as a whole independently of any meaning of said information, characterized in that that it further comprises a means of interpretation (1820,1860,1870,1900) adapted to interpret the meaning of at least part of said information and a means of determination (1820,1860,1870, 1900) adapted to determine a direction of orientation of said information as a function of said meaning, and in that the overall operation means takes into account said direction of orientation and is adapted to operate on said information differently (2050,2150) according to at least two different directions of orientation.  19. Device according to claim 18 characterized in that, said information comprising characters, the interpretation means is adapted to perform optical character recognition (2135).  20. Device according to claim 18 characterized in that the interpretation means is adapted to analyze the distribution of information (2240) on the information medium.  21. Device according to claim 20 characterized in that the interpretation means is adapted to analyze the morphology of paragraphs.  22. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 21, characterized in that the means for determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged in a first predetermined direction of orientation or in a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of one face of the information carrier.  23. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 22, characterized in that the means for determining a direction of orientation is at least suitable for determining whether the information is arranged on a first face of the support or on a second side of the support.  24. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 23, characterized in that the global operating means is adapted to copy (2020,2040,2060,2080) as a whole said information when the determining means determines that its direction of orientation is a first predetermined direction of orientation.  25. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that the overall operating means is adapted to turn the information carrier upside down (2150), then to copy the information as a whole ( 2080) which is arranged on said information medium, when the determining means determines that the direction of orientation of said information is a second direction of orientation returned, with respect to the first, by a first symmetry with respect to the center of 'one side of the information medium.  26. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 25, characterized in that the overall operating means is adapted to turn the information medium by permuting at least two of its faces (2050), then to copy into its together said information (2080), when the determining means determines that the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.  27. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 26, characterized in that the overall operating means is adapted to turn the information medium by permuting at least two of its faces (2050), then to print said medium. , when the determining means determines that the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.  28. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 27, characterized in that the overall operating means is adapted to illuminate one side of the information medium and to collect information through said information medium, then copying the information which is arranged on said medium, when the determining means determines that the information is arranged on a predetermined face of the information medium.  29. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 28 characterized in that the interpretation means and the determination means are jointly adapted to determine the absence (2030,2070) of information having a meaning on said support.  30. Device according to claim 29 characterized in that the global operation means is not implemented when the interpretation means and the determination means jointly determine an absence of information having a meaning on said medium.  31. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 30, characterized in that the global operating means is adapted to combine secondary information with information from the information medium, by orienting the secondary information by taking into account counts the direction of orientation of the information placed on the information medium.  32. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 31, characterized in that the global operating means is adapted to trigger an alarm (1930) when the determining means determines that the direction of orientation of said information does not is not a first predetermined direction of orientation.  33. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 32, characterized in that the interpretation means is adapted to interpret the meaning of information carried by at least two faces (2130,2170) of said support and in that the means for determining the direction of information orientation includes a means of comparison (2170) of the results of the interpretations.  34. Device according to any one of claims 18 to 33 characterized in that the means for determining the direction of information orientation includes a means for comparing each interpretation (2030,2070) performed by the interpretation means with at minus a predetermined value.  35. Photocopier, characterized in that it incorporates a processing device according to any one of claims 18 to 34.  36. Fax machine, characterized in that it incorporates a processing device according to any one of claims 18 to 34.  37. Scanner, characterized in that it incorporates a processing device according to any one of claims 18 to 34.  38. Printer characterized in that it incorporates a processing device according to any one of claims 18 to 34.  39. Computer characterized in that it incorporates a processing device according to any one of claims 18 to 34.  40. Computer characterized in that it implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.