JPS60138693A - Optical character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read data written on both sides of a form by providing a form inverting means at an end of a form conveying system and turning over the conveyed form by said inverting means. CONSTITUTION:The top sheet of forms 2 stacked on a hopper 1 is sent to a conveying system and sent to a rotary drum 10 through a place right under a photoelectric system 8. The system 8 scans optically both character and picture data written on the form 2 to obtain a photoelectric conversion pattern. This pattern is sent to a logical circuit 9. The form 2 carried to the drum 10 is carried again to the end part of the conveying system after passing through idlers 12-14. Then the form 2 is sent to a stacker 4 and passes under the system 8 with the rear side of the form 2 turned upside. Thus the character and picture data written on the rear side of the form 2 are read by the system 8. Then the form 2 is sent to the stacker 4 for storage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an optical character reading device (hereinafter referred to as OCR) that optically reads characters written on a form.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventional image OCR forms tend to be large because maps and the like are written on them. If the form is large, it will be difficult to handle ((O
This method has the drawback that the operability of the CR deteriorates, and the cost of the device increases due to the increase in size of the form conveyance system and the like.

In order to overcome this drawback, the form can be made smaller by allowing data to be written on the back side of the form and increasing the data storage capacity per form. That is, by writing data on the front side of the form and writing comments, maps, etc. on the back side, the image OCR form can be made smaller.

However, with conventional OCR, it was impossible to read the characters (data or images) written on the back of the form, so it is now possible to write characters (data or images) on the front and back of the form as described above. However, it was not possible to make the form smaller.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above drawbacks, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical character reading device that can read data written on the front and back sides of a form.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides an optical character reading device in which a rotary drum is provided at one end of a form conveyance path, and the sheet conveyed through the conveyance path is reversed by the rotary drum and sent back to the same conveyance path. By passing the form back and forth under the photoelectric thread,
The above object is achieved by having a configuration in which the front side of the form is read on the way out and the back side of the form is read on the way out.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the optical character reading device of the present invention. The hopper 1 is for loading documents 2 to be read, and a pickup roller 3 for sending the documents 2 to a conveyance system is arranged adjacent to the hopper 1. A gate 5 is arranged at the end of the conveyance system to guide the form 2 before being read to the reading section, or to guide the form 2 after reading to the stacker 4. The conveyance system is provided with drive rollers 6.7 for conveying the form, and a photoelectric system 8 for reading characters on the form 2 is disposed adjacent to this conveyance system. A logic circuit section 9 is redundantly connected to this photoelectric system for processing electrical signals supplied from the photoelectric system to perform character recognition, image processing, data processing, and the like. A rotating drum 10 is disposed at the other end of the conveyance system, and this rotating drum 10
A gate 11 is arranged between the transfer system and the transfer system to guide the document 2 that has been transferred to the rotating drum 10, or to guide the document 2 that has been transferred by the rotating drum 10 to the transfer system again.

The rotating drum 10 rotates with a form 2' placed on its surface and has the function of inverting this form 2. Furthermore, idler rollers 12, 13, and 14 are provided that are arranged close to the periphery of the rotating drum 10 and assist in transporting the form 2 in conjunction with this drum.

The gate 5 is operated by a solenoid (not shown), and when the tip of the gate faces in the a1 direction, the solenoid is turned on.
This case is called gate-on. Further, when the tip of the gate 5 faces in the 58 direction, the solenoid is turned off, and this case is referred to as gate off. Similarly, when the tip of the gate 11 is in the direction a, the solenoid is turned on, and this case is called gate on.Also, when the tip of the gate 11 is in the direction a, the solenoid is turned off, and this case is called gate on. It is called gate off.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. The topmost sheet of form 2 stacked in hopper 1 is transferred to pickup roller 3.
It is then guided to the transportation system. Here, for convenience, the drum lO
Leading the form 2 in the direction of is referred to as positive conveyance, and conversely, guiding the form 2 ft from the drum 10 side to the stacker 4 side is referred to as negative conveyance. During positive conveyance, the gate 5 is controlled to be off (the tip of the gate is down at 1111), and when the form 2 is guided to the drive roller 6,
The drive roller 6 moves the sheet through the conveyance system, passing directly under the photoelectric system 8 and conveying it to the rotating drum 10 side. The photoelectric system 8 optically scans the character data and image data written on the surface of the form 2 to obtain a photoelectric conversion pattern, and sends this photoelectric conversion pattern to the logic circuit section 9 .

The logic circuit unit 9 performs recognition, image processing, and data processing of the input photoelectric conversion patterns.

When all the character data and image data written on the surface of the form 2 have been recognized and processed, the form 2 is guided to the rotating drum 10 by the driving roller 7. When the drive roller 7 detects the leading edge of the form 2, the gate 11 is turned off (the leading edge of the gate 11 falls down in the direction). Therefore,
The form 2 guided by the drive roller 7 is transferred by the circumferential surface of the rotating drum 10 rotating in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and passes through idler rollers 12, 13, and 140. When the idler roller 14 detects the leading edge of the form 2, the gate 11
is controlled so that it is turned on (the tip of the gate falls in direction a). At the same time, the drive roller 6.7 of the conveyance system
is controlled so that it rotates in the opposite direction (from counterclockwise to clockwise). Therefore, the form 2 transferred by the rotating drum 10 passes through the idler roller 14 and is then sent to the end of the conveyance system again.

Further, the form 2 is conveyed toward the stacker 4 by the driving roller 7, and passes under the photoelectric system 8 with the back side of the form facing. At this time, the character data and image data written on the back side of the form 2 are converted into a -C photoelectric conversion pattern by the photoelectric system 8, which is further verified and processed by the logic circuit section 9. Thereafter, when the drive roller 6 detects the leading edge of the form 2, the gate 5 is turned on (the leading edge of the gate falls in the a1 direction). Therefore, the form 2 after reading the data written on the front and back sides is led to the stacker 4 and accumulated there. When the drive roller 6 detects the rear end of the form 2 during negative conveyance, the drive roller 6.7f rotates counterclockwise to enable positive general feeding of the form to be read next. Then, the next form 2 before reading is guided to the conveyance system by the pickup 4-ra 3, and the above-mentioned mb operation is repeated by performing the same operation until there are no more forms loaded in the hopper 1.

According to this embodiment, the form 2 sent through the conveyance system with the front side facing the photoelectric system 8 is reversed on the rotating drum 10, and the back side of the form 2 is turned towards the photoelectric system 8 and the conveyance system is reversed. The photoelectric system 8 and the logic circuit section 9 can be
By increasing the amount of data that can be written on the form 2 on both sides of the form 2, the form 2f can be made smaller. Therefore, the ease of handling the form is improved and the operability of the OCR is improved, and the form transport system can be made smaller, so the cost of the OCR can be reduced.

The present invention can be applied to a document data reading mechanism 9 used in a facsimile machine, etc., to achieve the same effect.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the optical character reading device of the present invention, a rotating drum is provided at one end of the form transport system, and the form sent by the rotating drum is turned over and sent backwards. ), it has the effect of reading data written on the front and back of a form.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical character reading device of the present invention. 2... Report 5.11... Gate 6.7... Drive roller 8... Photoelectric system 9... Logic circuit section 10... Rotating drum 12.13.14... Idler roller substitute Person Patent Attorney Kensuke Chika (and 1 other person)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A conveying means capable of reciprocating 11 forms, a form reading means disposed close to the conveying means and reading the data written on the passing form by photoelectrically converting the data, and the conveying means 1. An optical character reading device, comprising: a form reversing means disposed at an end of the form, for inverting a fed form and sending it again to the conveying means. (2) The form reversing means is characterized by comprising a rotating drum that places the form sent by the conveying means on a surface, rotates it once, and feeds the form to the conveying means again. An optical character reading device according to claim 1.