Character recognition and communication system

• US 4,180,798 A
• Filed: 02/03/1978
• Issued: 12/25/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Inventors: Komori, Kazuaki, Kaiyoh, Hirofumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Application Number:
  US05/874,827
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 340/146.3 H, 340/146.3 R, 340/146.3 E, 340/146.3 MA, 340/146.3 AH, 340/146.3 AC, 358/256, 358/263
• US Class Current: 382/181
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/98 Detection or correction of errors, e.g. by rescanning the pattern or by human intervention; Evaluation of the quality of the acquired patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0022 involving facsimile protocols or a combination of facsimile protocols and computer data transmission protocols

Abstract

A character recognition and communication system, wherein a character appearing on a document is converted into a character image signal at a transmission terminal including, for example, a facsimile scanner and transmitted to the prescribed center, after the character represented by the image signal is identified by a communication network including switching equipment; the communication network comprises a plurality of switching units, and the corresponding recognition control units and character recognition units all scattered throughout said network and connected together by a common interconnection circuit; and the plural character recognition units recognize characters by different processes, have a complementary relationship with each other and recognize with high precision various kinds of characters supplied from a plurality of terminals and transmit the recognized characters to the corresponding centers.

Claims

1. A character recognition communication system comprising:

a plurality of terminals, each terminal including a general-purpose facsimile unit having a scanning means for transmitting characters on a document medium as image signals;

at least one center for receiving a message which includes character codes to thereby effect output processing and data processing; and

a communication network connected between said message receiving center and said terminals for receiving the image signals from the terminals, recognizing characters, constructing a message according to the result of character recognition and transmitting said message to the message receiving center designated by an address data included in the result of character recognition, said communication network comprising;

a switching device for switching the image signals from said terminals and transmitting the same to said message receiving center;

a character recognition unit coupled to said switching device for recognizing characters;

a recognition control unit coupled between said switching device and said character recognition unit for controlling said character recognition unit to recognize characters from the individual image signals from said terminals, said recognition control unit comprising;

an image signal receiving unit for receiving said image signals from said terminals and for delivering image signals and control signals necessary to achieve character recognition;

an image signal converting unit for converting the image signals from said image signal receiving unit to binary output signals, the values of which are controlled by said control signals from said image signal receiving unit, said image signal converting unit generating a completion signal representing completion of conversion of said image signals;

a memory having addresses any one of which stores said output signals of said image signal converting unit as an image pattern;

a communication control unit for causing, in response to said completion signal from said image signal converting unit, said character recognition unit to recognize the image pattern stored in an address of said memory, storing the result of image pattern recognition to thereby construct the message, and transmitting the message to the message receiving center designated by an address data included in the result of image pattern recognition; and

transmitting and receiving means for operating said switching device to connect said recognition control unit to said terminals or to said message receiving center by means of an interconnecting line.

2. A character recognition communication system comprising:

a plurality of terminals, each terminal including a general-purpose facsimile unit having a scanning means for transmitting characters on a document medium as image signals;

at least one center for receiving a message which includes character codes to thereby effect output processing and data processing; and

a communication network connected between said message receiving center and said terminals for receiving the image signals from the terminals, recognizing characters, constructing a message according to the result of character recognition and transmitting said message to the message receiving center designated by an address data included in the result of character recognition, said communication network comprising;

a plurality of switching devices scattered in said communications network for connecting said terminals to said message receiving center;

a plurality of interconnecting lines for connecting said switching devices to one another;

a plurality of character recognition units coupled to said switching devices, respectively, said character recognition units including means for recognizing various kinds of characters in different methods; and

a plurality of recognition control units coupled between the respective switching devices and the respective character recognition units for controlling the respective character recognition units to recognize characters from the individual image signals from said terminals and to thereby effect a high precision character recognition and/or a recognition of characters of different kinds, each of said recognition control units comprising;

an image signal receiving unit for receiving said image signals from the switching device connected to the recognition control unit and for delivering image signals and control signals necessary to achieve character recognition;

an image signal converting unit for converting the image signals from said image signal receiving unit to binary output signals, the values of which are controlled by said control signals from said image signal receiving unit, said image signal converting unit generating a completion signal representing completion of conversion of said image signals;

a memory having addresses any one of which stores said output signals of said image signal converting unit as an image pattern,

a communication control unit for causing, in response to said completion signal from said image signal converting unit, said character recognition unit to recognize the image pattern stored in an address of said memory, storing the result of image pattern recognition, transmitting the image pattern in response to the codes of the result of pattern recognition to the character recognition unit connected via another recognition control unit to the switching device which is connected by an interconnecting line to the switching device connected to said recognition control unit, receiving the result of image pattern recognition obtained by another character recognition unit, comparing and/or combining the results of image pattern recognition obtained by the two character recognition units, storing the final result of image pattern recognition, and constructing the message and transmitting said constructed message to the message receiving center designated by an address data included in the final result of image pattern recognition; and

transmitting and receiving means for operating said switching unit to connect said recognition control unit to said terminals or to said message receiving centers by means of an interconnecting line.

3. The character recognition communication system of claim 2, wherein each of said communication control units includes a memory means for previously storing codes indicating the handling classification of a document medium and the kinds of characters recognizable by the corresponding character recognition unit and the other character recognition units.

4. The character recognition communication system of claim 3, wherein said memory means stores a code indicating a high precision character recognition after said character recognition unit has finished recognizing an image pattern.

5. The character recognition communication system of claim 4, wherein said character recognition units recognize characters of the same kind in different methods when said memory means stores the code indicating a high precision character recognition.

6. The character recognition communication system of claim 3, wherein said memory means stores a code indicating a recognition of characters of various kinds after said character recognition unit has finished recognizing an image pattern.

7. The character recognition communication system of claim 6, wherein said character recognition units recognize characters of different kinds when said memory means stores the code indicating a recognition of characters of various kinds.