Method of optical character recognition
First Claim
1. The method of isolating and reading character data for character recognition comprising:
- (a) scanning a portion of a page having characters thereon with an imager to generate character data arranged in scan lines representative of said character and storing said character data,(b) generating a first data set indicative of the amount of character data in each scan line,(c) determining that a scan line contains significant character data only when corresponding data from said first set is above a scan line threshold value,(d) reading character data only in scan lines which contain significant character information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for scanning a page and locating individual characters on that page so that character recognition can be performed is disclosed. A page containing characters to be read is scanned with successive scan lines from top to bottom and the data contained in each scan line is transmitted to a buffer memory for temporary storage. An additional set of data which represents the significant amount of character information within a scan line is also generated and stored in a separate memory. When the microprocessor is ready to begin recognizing characters the set of data which indicates those scan lines containing significant character data is accessed and read. The microprocessor then accesses a different set of data which represents the significant character information as arranged in vertical pixel lines. When the microprocessor locates a vertical pixel line having significant character information the microprocessor then begins reading data from the buffer memory at locations as determined by the external data sets. The microprocessor does not read data in the buffer memory unless it corresponds to areas in which significant character data is located. The microprocessor is able to quickly scan an entire page and locate all characters within the page to provide for fast optical character recognition.
26 Citations
15 Claims
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1. The method of isolating and reading character data for character recognition comprising:
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(a) scanning a portion of a page having characters thereon with an imager to generate character data arranged in scan lines representative of said character and storing said character data, (b) generating a first data set indicative of the amount of character data in each scan line, (c) determining that a scan line contains significant character data only when corresponding data from said first set is above a scan line threshold value, (d) reading character data only in scan lines which contain significant character information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of isolating a text line of characters comprising:
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(a) scanning a portion of a page having characters thereon with an imager to generate character data arranged in scan lines representative of said character and storing said character data, (b) generating a first data set indicative of the amound of character data in each scan line, (c) reading data from said first set, (d) selecting as the beginning of a text line the upper most scan lines whose corresponding data from the first set is above a scan line threshold value, (e) selecting as the end of a text line the lower most scan line whose corresponding data from the first set is above the scan line threshold value when the lower adjacent scan line is below the scan line threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. The method of isolating text lines for character recognition comprising:
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(a) scanning a portion of a page having characters thereon with an imager to generate character data arranged in scan lines representative of said character, (b) storing said character data in a plurality of storage means, (c) determining the upper most scan line of a text line of characters, (d) determining the lower most scan line of the text line of characters, (e) storing all character data within the isolated text line in a single storing means, (f) storing the subsequent text line in a separate storing means.
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Specification