JPH02123485A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To speed up reading processing and to shorten processing time by arranging plural scanners having respectively different specifications, calculating the processing speeds of respective scanners based upon the size and information of a reading slit set up in format control information and selecting an optimum scanner based upon the calculated result. CONSTITUTION:A slit size corresponding to each reading slit, format information such as reading field information and information for controlling character recognizing processing are previously set up, and at the time of starting slit reading processing, the start of scanner selecting processing is commanded from an external control device 11 to a control part 12 and corresponding format information is applied to the reading slit. Namely, size and field information is outputted to a processing speed calculating part 16, an optimum scanner is selected on the basis of the specifications of scanner parts 13, to 15, the selected scanner is connected to a character recognizing part 19, and the connection is displayed on a display part 18. An operator drives the selected scanner based upon the display, optically scans a slit and detects a slit image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an optical character reading device that performs character recognition processing based on format control information.

(Prior Art) Generally, when reading characters recorded on a form using an optical character reading device, format control information (hereinafter abbreviated as FC information) corresponding to the form to be read is prepared in advance. is set. This FC information includes the form size.

Information regarding the area (reading field) in which characters etc. provided on the form are recorded (for example, the number of lines per line at position i'' on the form), etc. is set. The optical character reading device performs character recognition processing based on FC information from the form/image obtained by optically scanning the form, and reads the characters recorded on the form.

The scanner used to detect document images in such an optical character reading device may be a general-purpose page scanner or a small document scanner for a specific document, depending on the type of document to be scanned. It is being

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Incidentally, there are cases where an optical character reading device performs character reading processing for multiple types of books. In such cases, an optical character reading device with a general-purpose page scanner is used, or a plurality of optical character reading devices with scanners for specific documents are used.

However, optical character reading devices equipped with general-purpose page scanners do not have the ability to read multiple types of documents, or are difficult to use in order to perform character reading processing based on FC information corresponding to various types of documents. In addition, it was difficult to perform high-speed reading processing.

-JJ, the optical character reading device t, which uses a scanner for specific forms, has a high-speed reading process or is unable to handle forms other than the predetermined specific forms.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned points, and is an optical character reading device capable of efficiently performing character reading processing even when handling multiple types of forms. The purpose is to provide

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention connects a plurality of scanners to a scanner switching unit to optically scan and detect a form image while conveying the read form, and The processing speed of the read form in each of the plurality of scanners is calculated based on the corresponding format control, the form size included in the file information, and the 41'1 information of the reading field. The system is configured so that the most suitable stage 4-1 for processing the read form is selected from 11 and used by switching.

(Function) In the optical character reading device constructed in this way, it is possible to select and use the most suitable one for character reading processing from a plurality of connected scanners.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an optical character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an external control device 11 controls the entire system of the optical character reading device.

A control section 12 that controls each section of the optical character reading device is connected to the external control device 11. The control unit 12 is
The character reading process and the like are controlled based on instructions from the external control device 11 and FC information corresponding to the form to be read.

This optical character reading device is provided with three scanner units 13 to 15 with different specifications, and a scanner switching unit 1
6. For example, the scanner units 13 to 15 each use a general-purpose page scanner, a high-speed document scanner for specific forms, and the like, which are used to read different documents.

A processing speed calculation section 1G is connected to the control section 12, and calculates the processing speed necessary for selecting a scanner section to be used for form reading processing from among the three scanner sections 13 to 15. That is, the processing speed calculation unit 1G is based on the form size and reading field information corresponding to the read form set as the FC information given from the control unit 12, and the internally set specification information of the scanner units 13 to 15. Then, the processing speed of the read form in each scanner section 13 to 15 is calculated. This calculation result is output to a comparison selection section 17 connected to the processing speed calculation section 16. Comparison selection section 1
7 compares the calculation results obtained from the processing speed calculation unit 16 and compares the calculation results obtained from the processing speed calculation unit 16, and compares the calculation results obtained from the processing speed calculation unit 16 to
The most suitable one for the reading process is selected from among the 15. The comparison and selection section 17 outputs information specifying the selected scanner section to the scanner switching section 16. The scanner switching section 1B switches and connects the designated scanner section to the character recognition section 19 in response to an instruction from the comparison and selection section 17. Further, a display 18 is connected to the scanner units 13 to 15, and displays a display indicating which scanner unit is connected and available for use by the scanner switching unit 16.

A character recognition section 19 is connected to the scanner switching section 16 . The character recognition unit 19 converts the form image detected by one of the scanner units 13 to 15 into the scanner switching unit 16.
Enter via. Then, the character recognition unit 19 stores the form image in, for example, a sheet buffer (not shown),
Based on the FC information given from the control unit 12, recognition processing of characters etc. recorded on the form is performed. The recognition results obtained by the character recognition section 19 are output to the external control device 11 via the control section 12.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When reading characters on a form using an optical character reading/reading device, FC information corresponding to the read form is set. This FC information includes the form size of the read form, information on the read field (for example, position).

The number of lines), information for controlling character recognition processing, etc. are set. When starting the document reading process, the external control device 1
1 instructs the control unit 12 to start the scanner selection process and outputs FC information corresponding to the read form. Here, the scanner selection process will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the control unit 12 holds FC information given from the external control device 11. Then, information indicating the form size and information on the reading field are output to the processing speed calculation unit 1B (step Sl).

The processing speed calculation unit 16 determines the scanning target for each of the scanner units 13 to 15 based on each piece of information given from the control unit 12 and internally held specification information of the scanner units 13 to 15 (corresponding to FC information). ) Calculate the processing speed of the form (step 82 to step S4). In other words,
The scanner units 13 to 15 each have a form size set in their specifications and FC information.

Since the processing speed differs depending on the number of fields to be read, etc., by calculating this processing speed for each scanner section 13 to 15, judgment information for selecting the most suitable scanner section for the reading process of the form to be read can be obtained. I'm trying to get it. Note that for a scanner unit that is determined to be unable to perform reading processing based on the information indicating the form size, the processing speed is output as 0 (minimum value). The calculation result by the processing speed calculation unit 16 is output to the comparison selection unit 17. The comparison selection unit 17 compares the calculation results for each scanner unit 13 to 15 in the processing speed calculation unit 16 and selects the one with the highest processing speed (shortest reading processing time) (step S
5). The comparison and selection section 17 outputs information specifying the selected scanner section to the scanner switching section 16.

The scanner switching section 16 switches and connects the designated scanner section to the character recognition section 19 in response to the instruction from the comparison and selection section 17 (step S6). Among the scanner units 13 to 15, the scanner unit connected to the character recognition unit 19 by the scanner switching unit 16 notifies the display 18 that it is available for use. The display 18 is the scanner switching unit 1
In response to the notification from 6, a display is made to indicate that the selected scanner section is now available for use.

The operator selects the display unit 18 of the scanner units 13 to 15.
The form is set in the scanner section (usable display scanner section) which is shown to be usable by , and the reading process is executed. The usable display scanner unit optically scans the form to detect a form image. The form image detected by this scanner unit is transferred to the scanner switching unit 1.
6 to the character recognition section 19. Character recognition part 1
9 stores the form image in, for example, a sheet buffer (not shown). The character recognition section 19 then controls the control section 12.
Under the control of FC information, character patterns are cut out from the form image stored in the sheet buffer and character recognition processing is performed. The character recognition result by the character recognition unit 19 is output to the external control device 11 via the control unit 12.

In the above embodiment, the number of scanner units 13 to 15 that can be connected by the scanner switching unit 16 is three, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[Effects of the Invention According to the present invention as described in I-1-, a plurality of scanners with different specifications are provided in an optical character reading device, and the document size of the read document set in the FC information and the information of the read field are provided. The processing speed of each scanner is calculated based on the calculation results, and the scanner that is most suitable for document reading processing is selected and used, so reading processing is performed efficiently and processing time is shortened. This makes it possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an optical character reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 showing the processing procedure for selecting a scanner in the same embodiment. 11・External control device, 12...control unit, 13-15・
・Scanner section, 16...Scanner switching section, 17...
Comparison selection section, 18...Display device, 19...Character recognition section. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue CC JU

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An optical character reading device that performs character recognition processing based on format control information corresponding to a form from a form image obtained by optically scanning a form to be subjected to character reading processing. , a plurality of scanner means for optically scanning and detecting a form image while conveying the read form, a form size included in the format control information corresponding to the read form, and a position of an area to be read. processing speed calculation means for calculating the processing speed of the read form in each of the plurality of scanner means based on the information; a selection means for selecting a scanner means most suitable for processing a form; and a scanner switching means to which the plurality of scanner means are connected and for switching the scanner means according to a selection result by the selection means; An optical character reading device characterized in that a scanner means switched by a switching means is used to detect a form image and perform character recognition processing.