JPH06208648A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the optical character reader which can easily return respective separately integrated slips to the state of an original bundle. CONSTITUTION:This device 1 is provided with a recognizing and judging means 5, invalid integration part 7, identifying paper housing part 9, valid integration part 10 and conveying means 11. The recognizing and judging means 5 performs character recognition processing concerning slips 2 separately supplied from the state of the bundle one by one and judges whether the processing is valid or invalid. When it is judged that the processing is valid, the conveying means 11 conveys the slips 2 to the valid integration part 10, when it is judged that the processing is invalid, the slips 2 are conveyed to the invalid integration part 7, and identifying paper 8 is fetched from the housing part 9 and conveyed to the valid integration part 10. Since the identifying paper 8 is constituted so as to be visually identified from the slips 2, the existence of the identifying paper 8 can be easily recognized from the outside even when it is judged that the processing is valid and the paper is sandwiched between the plural slips 2, and the respective slips 2 separately integrated at the respective integration parts 7 and 10 can be returned to the state of the original bundle with the position of the identifying paper 8 as a clue.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical character reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional optical character reading apparatus performs character recognition processing on a form that is separated and supplied one by one from a bundle state, prints serial numbers after determining whether the processing is valid or invalid. The forms determined to be valid are accumulated in the valid accumulation unit, and if there are unreadable characters or a part of the form is missing, it is determined to be invalid, and the forms are accumulated in the invalid accumulation unit ( Reject) is generally done.

Then, the rejected form is returned to the original bundle state by the operator after finishing the process of correcting the read data together with other forms.

[0004]

However, when returning to the original, the operator has to rely on the serial number printed on the form, which is a problem for the operator.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical character reading device in which it is possible to easily return the divided and stacked forms to the original bundle state. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the optical character reading apparatus of the present invention performs character recognition processing on a form that is separated and supplied one by one from the state of a bundle, and the effective processing A recognition determination unit for determining invalidity, an effective accumulation unit for accumulating forms determined to be valid, an invalid accumulation unit for accumulating forms determined to be invalid, and an identification sheet for visually identifying the form. Based on a plurality of identification sheet storage units and the determination result of the recognition determination unit, the form is conveyed to the valid accumulation unit when it is determined to be valid, and the form is transferred to the valid accumulation unit when determined to be invalid. And a conveying unit that conveys the identification sheet from the identification sheet storage unit and conveys it to the effective accumulation unit while conveying the identification sheet.

[0007]

According to the optical character reader having the above structure, the recognition determining means performs the character recognition processing on the sheets separately supplied one by one from the state of the bundle and determines the validity / invalidity of the processing. The transport means transports the form to the valid stacking unit when the determination result is determined to be valid. In addition, when the determination result is determined to be invalid, the transporting unit transports the form to the invalid stacking unit, takes in the identification sheet from the identification sheet storage unit, and transports the identification sheet to the valid stacking unit.

Since the identification sheet is configured to be visually distinguishable from the form, even if the identification sheet is sandwiched between a plurality of forms that are determined to be valid and accumulated, the identification sheet can be easily located from the outside. Can be recognized. Therefore, by using the position of the identification sheet as a clue, it becomes easy to return the forms that have been sorted and stacked in each stacking unit to the original bundle state.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

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

The apparatus 1 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has a first hopper 3 on which a plurality of forms 2 are placed in a bundle and a form 2 placed on the hopper 3 is separately supplied one by one. Supply unit 4
Then, the character recognition processing is performed on the form 2 supplied by the first supply unit 4, and the recognition determination means 5 for determining the validity / invalidity of the processing and the form 2 processed by the recognition determination means 5 are given serial numbers. Printing unit 6 for printing, and recognition determination means 5
Invalid accumulation unit 7 that accumulates the forms 2 determined to be invalid by
And an identification sheet storage section 9 arranged below the invalid collection section 7 for storing a plurality of identification sheets 8 which can be visually identified from the form 2, and an identification sheet storage section 9 disposed below the identification sheet storage section 9. And an effective stacking unit 10 for stacking the forms 2 determined to be valid by the recognition determining unit 5, and a transport unit 11 for transporting the form 2 and the identification sheet 8 based on the determination result of the recognition determining unit 5. There is.

Next, the details of each of the above parts will be described.

The recognition determining means 5 includes a light source 50 that irradiates the form 2 with light, and a photoelectric conversion element (C that receives reflected light from the form 2 and converts it into an electric signal to detect a form image).
A CD) 51 and a recognition unit 52 that performs character recognition processing based on the form image detected by the photoelectric conversion element 51 and determines whether the processing is valid or invalid. As a determination result of the recognition unit 52, when the character recognition process is effectively performed, even if one recognized character (character code) is unreadable, or the form 2 is partially lost. In this case, the reject signal is output to the control unit 17 described later.

The printing unit 6 prints using, for example, an ink ribbon, and prints consecutive numbers on the corners of the form 2 under the control of the control unit 17 described later.

The transport means 11 forms a main transport path 12a for transporting the form 2 and the identification sheet 8 between the hopper 3 and the effective stacking section 10, and a gate member 13 and an invalid stacking section 7 which will be described later. A first branch conveyance path 12b is formed between
A second branch conveyance path 12c is formed between a first guide member 14 and an identification sheet storage section 9 described later. In the main transport path 12a, the supply unit 4, the light source 50 of the recognition determination unit 5, and the printing unit 6 are arranged in this order from the hopper 3 side, and the invalid stacking unit 7 sorts out the forms 2 determined to be invalid. The gate member 13, the first guide member 14 for guiding the identification sheet 8 supplied from the identification sheet storage section 9 to the effective stacking section 10, the form 2 and the identification sheet 8 determined to be valid, the effective stacking section 10 And a second guide member 15 for guiding to. The gate member 13 is a gate drive unit 1 described later.
When it is rotated by 8 in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the conveyed form 2 is conveyed to the first branch conveyance path 12b. In addition, the main transport path 12a and the first branch transport path 12b
In each part of the second branch conveyance path 12c, a conveyance roller 16 that conveys the form 2 and the identification sheet 8 and a double feed detection sensor DF such as a photo sensor that detects double feed and a paper such as a photo sensor that detects paper jam. Jam detection sensor C
R is arranged. When any of the sensors (DF, CR) detects, the transportation of the form 2 and the identification sheet 8 by the transportation means 11 is stopped.

Further, the transport means 11 has a control unit 1 which will be described later.
7, a gate drive unit 18, a roller drive unit 19 for driving the conveying roller 16, and a second supply unit 20. The second supply section 20 takes in the identification sheets 8 one by one from the identification sheet storage section 9 and supplies them to the main conveyance path 12a via the second branch conveyance path 12c.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the control system of this embodiment.

The control unit 17 controls each unit of the apparatus 1. The control unit 17 includes the recognition unit 52, the double feed detection sensor DF, the paper jam detection sensor CR, and the first paper feed detection sensor CR.
The supply unit 4, the printing unit 6, the gate drive unit 18, the roller drive unit 19, and the second supply unit 20 are connected. Based on the determination result of the recognition unit 52, the control unit 17 controls the roller driving unit 19 to convey the form 2 to the effective stacking unit 10 when it is determined to be valid. In addition, the control unit 17
The gate driving unit 18 and the roller so that when it is determined that the form 2 is invalid, the form 2 is conveyed to the invalid accumulating unit 7 and the identification sheet 8 is taken from the identification sheet storage unit 9 and conveyed to the effective accumulating unit 10. The drive unit 19 and the second supply unit 20 are controlled.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the identification sheet 8.

The identification sheet 8 has a length L and a width W that are the same as those of the form 2, and is provided with an extension portion 8a in which a portion of the sheet is extended, so that the identification sheet 8 is determined to be effective. The location of the identification sheet 8 can be easily recognized from the outside even if the identification sheet 8 is sandwiched between the accumulated forms 2. If the identification sheet 8 is configured so that its location can be easily recognized from the outside even if it is sandwiched between the accumulated forms 2,
Features such as shape and color may be provided so that they can be visually distinguished from the form 2. In addition, the effective stacking unit 10 includes the identification sheet 8
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 described later, a recess 10a is provided so as not to interfere with the extending portion 8a.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 and also with reference to FIGS.

First, a plurality of forms 2 are placed in a bundle on the hopper 3, and a plurality of identification sheets 8 are stored in the identification sheet storage section 9.
Is stored.

Under the control of the control unit 17 of the conveying means 11, the first supply unit 4 separates the forms 2 placed on the hopper 3 one by one and supplies them to the main conveyance path 12a. Is
The conveyance roller 16 is rotated by the roller driving unit 19 to be conveyed along the main conveyance path 12a (S1).

When the form 2 reaches the reading position where the light source 50 of the recognition determining means 5 is emitting light, the photoelectric conversion element 51 is formed.
Receives the reflected light from the form 2, converts it into an electric signal, detects the form image, and outputs it to the recognition unit 52. Recognition unit 5
2 performs character recognition processing based on the output form image (S2) and determines whether the processing is valid or invalid (S3).

Subsequently, when the processed form 2 is conveyed along the main conveyance path 12a and reaches the printing position, the printing unit 6 controls the control unit 17 to print the consecutive numbers on the corners of the form 2. .

If the result of the determination in step S3 is a valid determination, the form 2 is the main transport path 12a.
Is conveyed as it is, is guided to the effective stacking unit 10 by the second guide member 15, and is stacked in the effective stacking unit 10 (S4).

When the determination result in step S3 is an invalid determination, the recognition unit 52 outputs a reject signal to the control unit 17. The control unit 17 controls the gate drive unit 18 based on the output reject signal to operate the gate member 13, and conveys the form 2 to the invalid stacking unit 7 along the first branch conveyance path 12b. The forms 2 determined to be invalid are accumulated in the invalid accumulation unit 7 (S5). At the same time, the control unit 17 controls the second supply unit 20 to take in the identification sheets 8 one by one from the identification sheet storage unit 9 and supply them to the main conveyance path 12a via the second branch conveyance path 12c. To do. The identification sheet 8 supplied to the main transport path 12a is
As shown in FIG. 5 (a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1), they are stacked in the effective stacking unit 10 (S6).

According to the above-described embodiment, the identification sheet 8 is constructed so as to be visually distinguishable from the form 2. Therefore, as shown in FIG. Even if it is sandwiched between a plurality of forms 2, the location of the identification sheet 8 can be easily recognized from the outside. Therefore, by using the position of the identification sheet 8 as a clue, it becomes easy to return the respective forms 2 sorted and accumulated in the accumulating units 7 and 10 to the original bundle state.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Various modifications can be made without changing the gist of the invention.
For example, the positional relationship among the invalid stacking unit 7, the identification sheet storage unit 9, and the valid stacking unit 10 is not limited to this embodiment. Further, the supply timing of the identification sheet 8 may be supplied at the same time as or before the conveyance of the form 2 determined to be invalid to the invalid stacking unit 7.

[0030]

According to the present invention described in detail above, since the identification sheet is configured to be visually distinguishable from the form, the identification form is identified among a plurality of forms that are determined to be valid and accumulated. Since the location of the identification sheet can be easily recognized from the outside even if the sheets are sandwiched, it is possible to provide an optical character reading device that can easily return the separately stacked forms to the original bundle state.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of an identification sheet.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a view on arrow A direction in FIG. 1 showing the operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an effect of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical character reader 2 Form 5 Recognition determination means 7 Invalid stacking section 8 Identification sheet 9 Identification sheet storage section 10 Effective stacking section 11 Conveying means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character recognition process is performed on a form separately supplied one by one from a bundle state, and a recognition determining unit for determining whether the process is valid or invalid, and an effective accumulation unit for accumulating the form determined to be effective. An invalid stacking unit that stacks the forms determined to be invalid, an identification sheet storage unit that stores a plurality of identification sheets that can be visually identified from the form, and a valid sheet based on the determination result of the recognition determining unit. If it is determined, the form is conveyed to the valid stacking unit, and if it is determined to be invalid, the form is conveyed to the invalid stacking unit and at the same time the identification sheet is taken from the identification sheet storage unit and the effective collection is performed. An optical character reading device, comprising: a conveying unit that conveys the image to a unit.