JPS5834535Y2 - optical character reader - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to an optical character reading device that optically reads, for example, a postal code recorded on a mail item.

In recent years, various optical character reading devices that optically read postal codes on mail items have been developed and put into practical use.

In this type of character reading device, since the position of the area to be read in which the postal code is written differs depending on the type of mail, it is necessary to set the position of the reading head depending on the type of mail.

Conventionally, this has been done using coordinate designation means as shown in FIG. 1, for example.

That is, the operator feeds the mail 1 and, while monitoring a display device such as a monitor, turns on the coordinate designation switch 2 to drive an open-loop system drive mechanism, such as an induction motor 3.
This is set by moving the reading head 5 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the mail 1 through the , and stopping the movement of the reading head 5 when the reading window 5a of the reading head 5 corresponds to the area to be read. It is.

After specifying the coordinates in this manner, continuous reading operations are started.

However, such conventional character reading devices are extremely inefficient, as the operator must feed the mail and manually specify the coordinates while monitoring a display device such as a monitor. Moreover, it has the disadvantage of poor operability.

In particular, this problem becomes even more noticeable when the position of the read area varies from lot to lot, such as large-lot mail.

Usually, due to external disturbances such as vibration of the device, the set position of the reading head may change and may no longer correspond to the area to be read.

Furthermore, since the several dozen pieces of mail initially supplied are used for specifying coordinates, it is necessary to re-supply and read the corresponding number of pieces of mail.

This idea was created in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to automatically set the reading head to a position corresponding to the reading area of the object without monitoring a display device such as a monitor. The present invention aims to provide an optical character reading device that can improve operability and stability.

An embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes an object to be read, such as a large-sized mail item, which is guided by a guide rail 12 on a not-shown conveyance path and conveyed in the direction of arrow a in the figure.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the mail 11 has a character entry area 13 with a width of 1 square and a length of 12 designated on its surface, and a zone corresponding to the actual reading area 14. has been done.

For example, the postal code 15 type-printed in the character writing area 13 corresponds to the read area 14 .

A reading head 16 is provided on the transport path of the mail 11, which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction a.

This reading head 16 reads postal code 1 within the area to be read 14.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the light circle from the light source 17 and the light reflected by the mirror 18 are condensed by condensing lenses 19a and 19b. The front face of the mail 11 is irradiated through the reading window 20, and the reflected light is imaged on the image pickup device 22 through the reading window 20 and the imaging lens 21.

The imager 22 is, for example, a self-scanning line array formed by linearly arranging a large number of solid-state image sensors, and is disposed perpendicular to the transport direction a of the mail 11.

Thus, the reading head 16 is linearly moved in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction a of the mail piece 11 by the drive mounting 23, and is set at a position corresponding to the read area 14 of the mail piece 11. It has become so.

The drive device 23 compares output signals of a servo motor mechanism 25 that drives the reading head 16 via a shaft 24, for example, and output signals from a detector 27 and a coordinate specifying device 29, which will be described later. Motor mechanism 2
and a comparison drive unit 26 that drives and controls the drive control unit 5.

On the other hand, a detector such as a detection potentiometer 27 is provided near the reading head 16.

This detection potentiometer 27 detects the position of the reading head 16 with respect to the mail 11 by having its center terminal slid by a detection lever 28 fixed to the reading head 16, and its output is as described above. The signal is supplied to the comparison drive section 26.

Reference numeral 29 denotes a coordinate specifying device, which specifies the coordinates of a region to be read using a sample to be read and outputs a corresponding coordinate signal, and is configured as follows, for example.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a cursor 32 is fixed to the center terminal of the setting potentiometer 31 and the guide 30 for setting the sample mail 11.

Here, the guide 30 is used as a reference, and the length of the setting potentiometer 31 corresponds to the maximum width 11 in the width direction of the character writing area 13 of the mail 11.

Thus, the output of the output increment setting potentiometer 31 of the coordinate specifying device 29 is supplied to the comparison drive section 26.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained.

For example, assume that a large-value mail item is to be read.

Generally, mail pieces with type-printed postal codes are sent out in large quantities, so a large number of them must be read and processed at one time.

Therefore, before feeding the mail item 11, the first item 11 must be
The coordinate specifying device 29 uses the sample mail piece 11 as the sample mail piece 11.
Set it on the guide 30 as shown in the figure.

Thereafter, by moving the cursor 32, the postal code 15 within the area to be read 14 is set within the cursor 32.

As a result, the coordinates of the area to be read 14 are set, a corresponding coordinate signal is output from the setting potentiometer 31, and is supplied to the comparison drive unit 26.

That is, by applying a predetermined voltage to the setting potentiometer 31 and placing the cursor 32 on the reading area 14 on the mail 11, a voltage proportional to the distance from the guide 30 to the cursor 321 is applied to the setting potentiometer 31. The generated voltage is generated at the center terminal of , and the generated voltage is supplied to the comparison drive section 26 .

On the other hand, the detection potentiometer 27 is connected to the detection lever 2.
The position of the reading head 16 is detected based on the position 8, and the detection signal is supplied to the comparison drive unit 26.

That is, by applying a predetermined voltage to the detection potentiometer 27, the detection potentiometer 2 is activated via the detection lever 28 as the reading head 16 moves.
Since the center terminal 7 slides, a voltage proportional to the distance from one end of the detection potentiometer 27 to the center terminal at the stop position 1 is generated at the center terminal 7, and the generated voltage is supplied to the comparison drive section 26. It is something that will be done.

Therefore, the comparison drive @26 compares the position detection signal of the reading head 16 outputted from the detection potentiometer 27 and the coordinate signal of the readout area 14 outputted from the coordinate specifying device 29, and the comparison result is Servo motor mechanism 25 according to
For example, the output of the detection potentiometer 27 and the output of the setting potentiometer 31 are compared to see if they match, and if they do not match, the servo motor mechanism 25 is driven according to the difference. By this, the reading head 16 is moved, and when the two match and the difference becomes zero, the driving of the servo motor mechanism 25 is stopped, thereby stopping the movement of the reading head 16.

Therefore, the movement of the reading head 16 is controlled so that the reading window 20 thereof is set at a position corresponding to the area to be read 14 on the mail 11, and when it is set at that position, it stops.

In this state, even if the position of the reading head 16 changes, if the original setting position of the reading head 16 changes,
The output of the detection potentiometer 27 changes accordingly, and a difference occurs between the output of the setting potentiometer 31 and the two do not match, so the comparison drive section 26 drives the servo motor mechanism 25 according to the difference. Then, the reading head 16 is returned to its original setting position.

In this way, the operator specifies the coordinates of the first piece of mail 11 as a sample using the coordinate specifying device 29 before feeding the mail 11, and thereby the operator can read the reading head 16 without particularly monitoring a display device such as a monitor. can be automatically set at a position corresponding to the area to be read 14.

After specifying the coordinates as described above and setting the reading head 16 at a predetermined position, the operator continuously supplies the mail pieces 11 to find the postal code 15 within the reading area 14. Start reading.

Thereby, the reading head 16 irradiates the reading area 14 with light from the light source 17 through the condensing lenses 19a and 19b and the reading window 20, and forms an image of the reflected light on the imager 22 through the imaging lens 21. do.

Therefore, the imager 22 converts the reflected light into an electrical signal by self-scanning, and outputs a character signal.

In the above embodiment, a line array consisting of a large number of solid-state image sensors arranged in parallel was used as the image sensor of the reading head, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other photoelectric converters such as an image pickup tube may be used. .

As detailed above, this invention includes a detector that detects the position of the reading head relative to the object to be read, and a coordinate system that specifies the coordinates of the area to be read using the sample object and outputs a coordinate signal corresponding to the coordinates of the area to be read. A coordinate signal outputted from the coordinate specifying device is compared with a position detection signal of the reading head outputted from the detector, and the movement of the reading head is controlled according to the comparison result. Therefore, the reading head can be automatically set at a position corresponding to the reading area of the object to be read.

Therefore, there is no need for the conventional inefficient operation in which an operator supplies mail and manually specifies coordinates while monitoring a display device such as a monitor, and operability is significantly improved.

Even if the position of the reading head fluctuates due to disturbances such as bending or vibration of the device, this is fed back and the reading head force can dynamically return to the original set position.Therefore, the reading head can always be held at the set position. , stability is also significantly improved.

Furthermore, since the coordinates are not specified while feeding the mail as in the conventional method, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience of having to re-feed the fed mail in order to specify the coordinates and read it again.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional optical character reading device, Figs. 2 to 5 show an embodiment of this invention, and Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the entire device. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an object to be read, FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the reading head, and FIG.
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram of a coordinate specifying device. 11...Object to be read, 13...Character entry area, 14.
... Area to be read, 15... Character, 16... Reading head, 22... Imager, 23... Drive device, 27...
- Detector, 29... Coordinate specifying device, 30... Guide, 31... Setting potentiometer, 32... Cursor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A reading head that is movable in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the object and optically reads characters in a reading area of the object being conveyed, and detects the position of this reading head with respect to the object. a detector, a coordinate specifying device that specifies the coordinates of a region to be read using a specimen to be read and outputs a corresponding coordinate signal, and a coordinate signal output from the coordinate specifying device and a reading output from the detector. An optical character reading device comprising: a drive device that compares a head position detection signal with a head position detection signal and controls the movement of the reading head according to the comparison result.