Scanning method and apparatus for optical character reading and information processing

• US 20020051562A1
• Filed: 04/11/2001
• Published: 05/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Electronic Check Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Electronic Check Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Anderson, Edward L., Sheppard, Clinton E.
• Application Number:
  US09/833,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20020051562A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/137
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2253 Recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink G06V30/2247 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for reading and decoding documents transported through the system in a single, non-reversing pass. An optical sensor array derives a pair of separate and distinct video signals from a scanning sequence where select portions of the document are scanned solely with infrared, and adjacent portions are scanned with visible light. The two, resultant video signals are delivered to separate image processing modules which concurrently process data independently. One module decodes bit images of machine readable characters derived from the infrared scanning sequence, the other module derives an image. Noise is reduced as smudges or extraneous marks are ignored. The first P bits of an initial scan are spatially filtered to yield M intermediate numbers of N bits, where P=M×(N−x2). Each N-bit resultant number corresponding to a predetermined pattern. Combinations of patterns are analyzed to recognize OCR, MICR, and E13B characters.

Claims

1. A scanning system for decoding and reading checks or other documents comprising a region containing precoded characters and a separate region containing other indicia, said system comprising:

an input throat for admitting a check or other document into the system;

a drive motor;

check presence means for activating said motor and said system when a check or other document to be scanned is present in said throat;

means driven by said motor for drawing checks or other documents from said throat and moving them through the system for scanning;

infrared means for illuminating that region of the check containing the precoded characters with infrared light;

visible light means for concurrently illuminating said separate region with visible light;

sensor means for scanning the check as it moves though the system, said sensor concurrently reading visible and infrared light reflected from the check'"'"'s surface to concurrently generate a bit images and character data;

means for decoding the character data to read the precoded characters; and

,

means for concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned by decoding said bit image.

2. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein said check presence means comprises means for transmitting light towards said check, means for responding to the presence or absence of said light, and means for activating said motor and said optical sensor if a check is present.

3. The system as defined in claim 1 further comprising a baffle disposed between said infrared means and said visible light means for separating infrared light from visible light.

4. The system as defined in claim 3 further comprising a focusing lens interposed between the drive hub and the linear optical sensor.

5. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means sensor means generates a plurality of vertical scan lines.

6. The system as defined in claim 5 wherein said sensor means generates an output scan line of contiguous pixels, wherein each pixel has a voltage amplitude proportional to the light intensity reflected from the surface of the check.

7. The system as defined in claim 6 wherein each scan line comprises 1280 pixels, at 400 pixels per inch.

8. The system as defined in claim 1 further comprising means for compressing said bit images, and means for transmitting the compressed bit images through serial communications.

9. The system as defined in claim 1 further comprising video signal conditioning means for processing signals outputted by said sensor means, said video signal conditioning means determining where along each scan line that printed portions of said check or other document are located by comparing the average signal amplitude with the instantaneous signal amplitude.

10. The system as defined in claim 9 wherein said video signal conditioning means establishes a detection threshold for discriminating between printed and non-printed portions of the scan line, whereby signals that are below the average amplitude represent printed portions of the check or other document in a given scan line, and those signals above the average in a given scan line represent non-printed portions of the scan line.,

11. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for decoding the character data to read the precoded characters comprises means for separating binary sequences corresponding to character data from each scan.

12. The system as defined in claim 1 further comprising spatial filtering means comprising:

means for recognizing a binary sequence corresponding to raw character data from each of a plurality of raw scans;

means for padding each recognized sequence by adding a binary bit at the left and right side of each raw binary sequence, thereby creating a padded binary number;

means for creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from each padded binary number;

means for creating a unique 1 bit representation of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1 ”

to said intermediate numbers if they comprise N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises less than N/2 “

1'"'"'s,”

;

means for forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers;

means for comparing the resultant number to a table of patterns corresponding to possible scanning results, and correlating a series of patterns to recognize the character that has been scanned.

13. The system as defined in claim 12 wherein said means for concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned comprises means for first locating the pixels within the scan line that represent the bit image of the first character being read, buffer means for storing them, and means for then scanning the stored bits in descending order starting until either a black pixel is found or a previously recorded “

Top of Character”

pixel has been reached.

14. The system as defined in claim 13 further comprising means for correcting for vertical displacements of the check or document being scanned, said last mentioned means comprising means for looking at a plurality of successive, lower numbered pixels in the pixel buffer means in succession and, if any of them is a black pixel, changing the Top of Character pixel number to reflect the number of the pixel where the first black pixel was found.

15. The system as defined in claim 14 further comprising means for looking at the next plurality of successive, lower numbered pixels in the pixel buffer means after a black has been found, and, if none of the next six lower numbered pixels are black, then proceeding to the next phase of image processing.

17. The system as defined in claim 16 further comprising a baffle disposed between said infrared means and said visible light means for separating infrared light from visible light.

18. The system as defined in claim 17 further comprising a focusing lens interposed between the drive hub and the linear optical sensor.

19. The system as defined in claim 16 wherein the linear optical sensor generates a plurality of vertical scan lines comprising contiguous pixels comprising MICR character data and a bit image data, and wherein each pixel has a voltage amplitude proportional to the light intensity reflected from the surface of the check.

20. The system as defined in claim 19 wherein each scan line comprises 1280 pixels, at 400 pixels per inch.

21. The system as defined in claim 19 further comprising video signal conditioning means for processing signals outputted by said linear optical sensor, said video signal conditioning means determining where along each scan line that printed portions of said check or other document are located by comparing the average signal amplitude with the instantaneous signal amplitude.

22. The system as defined in claim 21 wherein said video signal conditioning means establishes a detection threshold for discriminating between printed and non-printed portions of the scan line, whereby signals that are below the average amplitude represent printed portions of the check or other document in a given scan line, and those signals above the average in a given scan line represent non-printed portions of the scan line.

23. The system as defined in claim 16 wherein said means for decoding preprinted character data comprises means for separating binary sequences from vertical scans across pertinent portions of characters.

24. The system as defined in claim 16 further comprising means for first generating a P-bit binary number corresponding to a trace of a MICR character, according to the formula:

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t=a number of added tolerance bits.

25. The system as defined in claim 24 further comprising spatial filtering means comprising:

means for recognizing and then padding the P-bit number to convert it to a P+2 bit number;

means for creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from each padded P+2 bit binary number, where M=P/(N−

2);

means for creating a unique 1 bit representation of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1”

to said intermediate numbers if they comprise a N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

of that intermediate number comprises less than N/2 binary “

1'"'"'s;

”

means for forming an M-bit resultant number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers; and

,

means for comparing the resultant number to a table of patterns corresponding to possible scanning results to obtain the character that has been scanned.

27. The system as defined in claim 26 further comprising a focusing lens interposed between the drive hub and the linear optical sensor.

28. The system as defined in claim 26 wherein the system comprises:

spatial filtering means comprising;

means for separating a P-bit binary sequence corresponding to raw character data from each of a plurality of raw scans;

means for padding each P-bit sequence by adding a binary bit at the left and right side of each raw binary sequence, thereby creating a padded P+2 bit binary number;

means for creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from each padded binary number, where M=P/(N−

2);

means for creating a unique 1 bit equivalence of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1”

to said intermediate numbers if they comprise N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises less than N/2 “

1'"'"'s,”

;

means for forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers;

means for comparing the resultant number to a table of patterns corresponding to possible scanning results; and

,

means for correlating a series of patterns to recognize the character that has been scanned.

29. The system as defined in claim 26 further comprising means for first generating a P-bit binary number corresponding to a trace of a MICR character, according to the formula:

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t=a number of added tolerance bits.

30. The system as defined in claim 29 wherein the spatial filtering means comprises:

means for padding said P-bit binary number corresponding to a trace of a MICR character by adding a binary bit at the left and right side of each raw binary sequence, thereby creating a padded P+2 bit binary number;

means for creating M intermediate, N-bit numbers from each padded binary number;

means for creating a unique 1 bit equivalence of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1”

to said intermediate numbers if they comprise N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises less than N/2 “

1'"'"'s,”

;

means for forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers;

means for comparing the resultant number to a table of patterns corresponding to possible scanning results; and

,

means for correlating a series of patterns to recognize the character that has been scanned.

16. A scanning system for decoding and reading checks or other documents comprising a region containing precoded MICR characters and a separate region containing other indicia, said system comprising:

an input throat for admitting a check or other document into the system;

a drive motor;

check presence means for activating said system and said motor when a check or other document to be scanned is present;

means driven by said motor for drawing checks or other documents from said throat and moving them through the system for scanning;

infrared means for illuminating that region of the check containing the MICR characters with infrared light;

visible light means for concurrently illuminating a separate portion of the check with visible light;

a linear optical sensor for scanning the check as it moves though the system, said sensor concurrently reading visible and infrared light reflected from the check'"'"'s surface to concurrently generate MICR character data and a bit image data corresponding to the separate portion of the check;

means for decoding the MICR character data to read the precoded characters; and

,

means for concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned by decoding said bit image.

26. A scanning and reading system for decoding MICR characters on checks or other documents, said system comprising:

an input throat for admitting a check or other document into the system;

a drive motor;

check presence means for activating said system when a check is present;

a hub driven by said motor for drawing checks or other documents from said throat and moving them through the system for scanning;

infrared means for illuminating that region of the check containing the MICR characters with infrared light;

a linear optical sensor for scanning the check as it moves though the system, said sensor reading infrared light reflected from the check'"'"'s surface to generate MICR character data;

means for decoding the MICR character data to read the precoded characters, said last mentioned means comprising means for generating a plurality of vertical scan lines comprising contiguous pixels and means for generating patterns from a plurality of scan lines to read a MICR character.

31. A method for decoding and reading checks or other documents comprising a region containing precoded characters and a separate region containing other indicia, said method comprising:

illuminating that region of the check containing the precoded characters with infrared light;

concurrently illuminating said separate region with visible light;

scanning the moving check or other document by concurrently reading visible and infrared light reflected from the check'"'"'s surface, thereby generating a plurality of scan lines each comprising pixels representing bit image information and pixels representing character data information;

decoding the character data information to read the precoded characters; and

,

concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned by decoding said bit image information.

32. The method as defined in claim 31 further comprising the step of separating infrared light from said visible light.

33. The method as defined in claim 32 wherein each scan line comprises 1280 pixels, at 400 pixels per inch.

34. The method as defined in claim 31 further comprising the steps of separating those pixels in each scanning line that are generated from said precoded characters and generating a P-bit binary number corresponding to a trace of a character from said pixels in each scanning line that are generated from said precoded characters according to the formula:

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t is a preselected number of added tolerance bits.

35. The method as defined in claim 31 wherein said scanning step comprises the further step of determining where along each scan line that printed portions of said check or other document are located by comparing the average signal amplitude with the instantaneous signal amplitude.

36. The method as defined in claim 35 comprising the further step of discriminating between printed and non-printed portions of the scan line, whereby signals that are below the average amplitude represent printed portions of the check or other document in a given scan line, and those signals above the average in a given scan line represent non-printed portions of the scan line.

37. The method as defined in claim 32 comprising the further step of separating those pixels in each scanning line that are generated in response to said precoded characters from those pixels derived from other areas of said check or other document to provide a P-bit binary scan line sequence according to the formula:

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t is a preselected number of added tolerance bits.

38. The method as defined in claim 38 comprising the further step of spatially filtering said P-bit scan line sequence through the further steps of:

padding each P-bit scan line sequence by adding a 1-bit character at the left and right side of each sequence;

creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from the padded binary number obtained from said preceding step, where M=P/(N-2);

creating a unique 1-bit representation of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1 ”

to said intermediate numbers if it comprises N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises three or less “

1'"'"'s;

”

forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers; and

,

recognizing said precoded characters by comparing a series of resultant numbers obtained from successive scans of said character to stored values corresponding to sensed characters.

39. The method as defined in claim 38 wherein N=8 and M=8.

40. The method as defined in claim 31 wherein said the steps of concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned comprises the steps of first locating the pixels within the scan line that represent the bit image of the first character being read, buffering the pixels from said last step, and scanning the buffered bits in descending order starting until either a black pixel is found or a “

Top of Character”

pixel is reached.

41. The method as defined in claim 40 further comprising the steps of:

correcting for vertical displacements of the check or document being scanned, said last mentioned step comprising the steps of testing for the presence of a black pixel in said buffering step, and changing the Top of Character pixel number to reflect the number of the pixel where the first black pixel was found; and

,

looking at the next plurality of successive, lower numbered pixels in the pixel buffer step after a black has been found, and, if none of the next six lower numbered pixels are black, then proceeding to the next phase of image processing.

42. A method for decoding and reading checks or other documents comprising a region containing MICR characters and a separate region containing other visible indicia, said method comprising:

providing a mechanical input region for inputting said check or other document to be scanned;

testing for the presence of a check or other document to be scanned, and if the presence of a check or other document to be scanned is determined, mechanically moving the check or other document for scanning;

illuminating that region of the check containing the MICR characters with infrared light;

separately and concurrently illuminating said separate region with visible light;

separating infrared light from said visible light;

scanning the moving check or other document by concurrently reading visible and infrared light reflected from the check'"'"'s surface, thereby generating a plurality of scan lines each comprising a plurality of pixels containing bit image information and MICR character data;

decoding the pixels containing MICR character data to read the MICR characters; and

,

concurrently generating a visible image of the check or document being scanned by decoding said pixels comprising bit image information.

43. The method as defined in claim 42 further comprising the steps of separating those pixels in each scanning line that are generated from said precoded characters.

44. The method as defined in claim 43 wherein each scan line comprises 1280 pixels, at 400 pixels per inch.

45. The method as defined in claim 43 wherein said scanning step comprises the further step of determining where along each scan line that printed portions of said check or other document are located by comparing the average signal amplitude with the instantaneous signal amplitude.

46. The method as defined in claim 45 comprising the further step of discriminating between printed and non-printed portions of the scan line, whereby signals that are below the average amplitude represent printed portions of the check or other document in a given scan line, and those signals above the average in a given scan line represent non-printed portions of the scan line.

47. The method as defined in claim 42 comprising the further step of separating those pixels in each scanning line that are generated in response to said precoded characters from those pixels derived from other areas of said check or other document to provide a P-bit binary scan line sequence according to the formula:

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t is a preselected number of added tolerance bits.

48. The method as defined in claim 47 comprising the further step of spatially filtering said P-bit scan line sequence through the further steps of:

padding each P-bit scan line sequence by adding a 1-bit character at the left and right side of each sequence to form a P+2 bit number, creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from the padded binary number obtained from said preceding step, where M=P/(N−

2);

creating a unique 1-bit representation of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1”

to said intermediate numbers if it comprises N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises less than N/2 “

1'"'"'s;

”

forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers; and

,

recognizing said precoded characters by comparing a series of resultant numbers obtained from successive scans of said character to stored values corresponding to sensed characters.

49. The method as defined in claim 48 wherein said recognizing step comprises the further steps of correlating each resultant number to a predetermined pattern, and comparing successive patterns to a table of patters indicative of preexisting MICR characters to obtain and recognize the MICR character that has been scanned.

50. The method as defined in claim 47 wherein N=8.

51. The method as defined in claim 47 wherein M=8.

52. The method as defined in claim 47 wherein P=48.

53. A method for decoding and reading MICR characters on checks or other documents, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a mechanical input region for inputting said check or other document to be scanned;

testing for the presence of a check or other document to be scanned, and if the presence of a check or other document to be scanned is determined, mechanically moving the check or other document for scanning;

illuminating that region of the check containing the MICR characters with light;

scanning the check by reading reflected light and generating a plurality of scan lines each comprising a plurality of pixels containing MICR character data;

decoding the pixels containing MICR character data to read the MICR characters by 2 generating a P-bit binary scan line sequence according to the formula;

P=(D×

S)+t,

where D is the pixel density, S is the height of a MICR character being read, and t is a preselected number of added tolerance bits;

the decoding step comprising the further step of spatially filtering each P-bit binary scan line through the further steps of;

padding each P-bit scan line sequence by adding a 1-bit character at the left and right side of each sequence to form a P+t bit number;

creating M intermediate N-bit numbers from the padded binary number obtained from said preceding step;

creating a unique 1-bit representation of each intermediate number by assigning the value “

1”

to said intermediate numbers if it comprises N/2 or more “

1'"'"'s”

in any place and/or assigning a value “

0”

if that intermediate number comprises less that N/2 “

1'"'"'s;

”

forming a resultant M-bit number from the M, 1-bit equivalences of the intermediate numbers; and

,

recognizing said precoded characters by comparing a series of resultant numbers obtained from successive scans of said character to stored values corresponding to sensed characters.

54. The method as defined in claim 53 wherein said recognizing step comprises the further steps of correlating each resultant number to a predetermined pattern, and comparing successive patterns to a table of patters indicative of preexisting MICR characters to obtain and recognize the MICR character that has been scanned.

55. The method as defined in claim 53 wherein N=8.

56. The method as defined in claim 53 wherein M=8.

57. The method as defined in claim 53 wherein P=48.

58. The method as defined in claim 57 wherein N=8 and M=8.