Character and image processing apparatus

• US 4,589,144 A
• Filed: 12/09/1982
• Issued: 05/13/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1981
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Namba, Hiromi
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mancuso, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US06/448,324
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 382/61, 382/9, 382/47, 358/257, 364/523, 364/518, 250/556, 250/557, 235/436, 235/462
• US Class Current: 382/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1444 Selective acquisition, locating or processing of specific regions, e.g. highlighted text, fiducial marks or predetermined fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00 Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/38 Circuits or arrangements for blanking or otherwise eliminating unwanted parts of pictures H04N1/387 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3871 the composed originals being of different kinds, e.g. low- and high-resolution originals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3872 Repositioning or masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40062 Discrimination between different image types, e.g. two-tone, continuous tone

Abstract

A character and image processing apparatus comprises a scanning section for photoelectrically converting data on a sheet in which character data and image data are mixedly arranged in a free format; an image buffer for storing the photoelectrically converted data; a scanning control circuit for scanning the stored data in the image buffer to detect control marks and for determining a character read mode, an image data output mode or a skip mode according to the control mark; a character recognizing circuit for recognizing characters from the image buffer when the scanning control circuit determines the control marks as the character read mode; a data compression circuit for compressing the image data from the image buffer when the scanning control circuit determines the control marks as the image data output mode; and a data editing circuit for discriminately editing the character data and the image data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing a printed sheet, said apparatus comprising:

scanning means for scanning the sheet and for photoelectrically converting the information printed on said sheet to data;

storage means for storing the photoelectrically converted data;

a plurality of bars, imprinted on said sheet in a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction with respect to a predetermined dimension of said sheet, for specifying both the range of data to be processed in two coordinate dimensions and one of a character read-out mode and an image data read-out mode, the number of said plurality of bars printed on said sheet encoding one of a plurality of predetermined commands, said plurality of commands including a character processing command, a skip command, an image processing command and an end of processing command;

control means for reading the data stored by said storage means to detect indicia of said bars and for selecting one of the character mode and the image data read-out mode according to said indicia of said bars;

character recognizing means for recognizing characters from data stored by said storage means when said control means selects said character read-out mode; and

image data processing means for processing data stored by said storage means as image data when said control means selects the image data read-out mode,

wherein said control means also disables both said character recognizing means and said image data processing means from processing data corresponding to indicia read from areas of said sheet within the range delimited by said bars encoding said skip command, and causes said apparatus to terminate processing of said data read from said sheet in response to said end of processing command.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein:

the range of data to be read from said sheet is determined by the length of one of said plurality of printed bars; and

said control means selects between the character read-out mode and the image data read-out mode depending upon the number of bars printed on said sheet.

3. An apparatus as in claim 2 wherein a change in the number of bars printed on said sheet represents an end code indicating termination of processing in one of the character read-out mode and the image data read-out mode.

4. An apparatus as in claim 2 wherein when a plurality of characters and a plurality of images are printed on said sheet in the same line, the image data read-out mode is specified by at least one lateral bar and at least one longitudinal bar and the range of a specific image to be processed is specified by at least one bar the direction of which is different from that of the bar specifying the image data read-out mode.

5. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein:

each bar comprises a timing mark printed on a blank area of said sheet; and

said control means alternately switches between the character read-out mode and the image data read-out mode every time said timing mark is detected.

6. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said control means selects the character read-out mode when no bar is printed on said sheet.

7. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said control means disables processing of data in response to a change in the number of bars printed on said sheet.

8. A system for automatically reading information imprinted on a medium, said system comprising:

a medium imprinted with information, said imprinted information including means for delimiting areas of said medium to be processed, said delimiting means comprising a subset of a plurality of possible printed bars, the length of said bars delimiting the range of said areas in two coordinate dimensions, the number of said bars encoding one of a plurality of predetermined commands, said plurality of commands including a character processing command, a skip command, an image processing command and an end of processing command;

scanning means for optically reading said imprinted information and for converting said read information into electrical signals;

decoding means, connected to receive said electrical signals, for decoding said command from the number of bars read by said scanning means and for selecting between a character processing mode and an image processing mode in response to said decoded command;

character processing means, connected to receive said signals, for processing information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means as character symbols when said decoding means selects said character processing mode; and

image processing means, connected to receive said signals, for processing information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means as image patterns when said decoding means selects said image processing mode,

wherein said decoding means disables both said character processing means and said image processing means from processing signals corresponding to information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means encoding said skip command, and causes said system to terminate processing of said information read from said medium in response to said end of processing command.

9. A system as in claim 8 wherein:

said plurality of possible printed bars comprise a first plurality of parallel bars printed in a first direction and a second plurality of parallel bars printed in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction; and

said decoding means selects between said character processing mode and said image processing mode in response to the number of said first plurality of bars printed on said medium.

10. A system as in claim 9 wherein said image processing means processes areas delimited by at least one of said first plurality of bars if none of said second plurality of bars also delimits said areas, and processes only the portion of areas delimited by at least one of said first plurality of bars which is also delimited by at least one of said second plurality of bars if at least one of said second plurality of bars also delimits said areas.

11. A system as in claim 10 wherein said image processing means processes the portion of areas delimited by all of said second plurality of bars delimiting said areas.

12. A system for automatically reading information imprinted on a medium, said system comprising:

scanning means for optically reading information imprinted on a medium, said imprinted information including means for delimiting areas of said medium to be read, said delimiting means comprising a subset of a plurality of possible printed bars, the length of said bars delimiting the range of said areas in two coordinate dimensions, the number of said bars encoding one of a plurality of predetermined commands, said plurality of commands including a character processing command, a skip command, an image processing command and an end of processing command, said scanning means also for converting said read information into electrical signals;

decoding means, connected to receive said electrical signals, for decoding said control information from the number of bars read by said scanning means and for selecting between a character processing mode and an image processing mode in response to said decoded control information;

character processing means, connected to receive said signals, for processing information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means as character symbols when said decoding means selects said character processing mode; and

image processing means, connected to receive said signals, for processing information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means as image patterns when said decoding means selects said image processing mode,

wherein said decoding means disables both said character processing means and said image processing means from processing signals corresponding to information read from areas of said medium delimited by said delimiting means encoding said skip command, and causes said system to terminate processing of said information read from said medium in response to said end of processing command.