Optical character recognition apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An optical character recognition apparatus comprising:
- means for optically scanning a prescribed scanning area to produce a scanned signal corresponding to a character contained in said prescribed scanning area;
means responsive to said scanned signal for producing a plurality of binary signals each having a different characteristic, each binary signal being quantized to construct said prescribed scanning area of a plurality of meshes arranged to form a matrix and being represented by black meshes each indicating a part of said character and by white meshes each indicating a background;
means for counting black meshes contained in said prescribed scanning area with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of black mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively;
means for counting insulated meshes with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of noise mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, said insulated mesh being a white mesh surrounded by black meshes and a black mesh surrounded by white meshes;
means for calculating a plurality of ratios between said plurality of black mesh numbers and said plurality of noise mesh numbers, said plurality of ratios corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively;
means for determining an optimum binary signal from said plurality of binary signals on the basis of comparison of said plurality of ratios calculated by said calculating means; and
means for recognizing said character contained in said prescribed scanning area on the basis of said optimum binary signal determined by said determining means.
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Abstract
The disclosure describes a character recognition apparatus comprising a scanner for optically scanning a prescribed area and outputting a scanned signal, a binary processing circuit for receiving the scanned signal and producing a plurality of binary signals, a counting mechanism for counting black meshes in the scanned area, a counting mechanism for counting insulated meshes, a mechanism for calculating the ratio of the number of black meshes and the number of insulated meshes, and a mechanism for selecting one optimum binary signal from the plurality of binary signals on the basis of a comparison of the ratios.
29 Citations
5 Claims
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1. An optical character recognition apparatus comprising:
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means for optically scanning a prescribed scanning area to produce a scanned signal corresponding to a character contained in said prescribed scanning area; means responsive to said scanned signal for producing a plurality of binary signals each having a different characteristic, each binary signal being quantized to construct said prescribed scanning area of a plurality of meshes arranged to form a matrix and being represented by black meshes each indicating a part of said character and by white meshes each indicating a background; means for counting black meshes contained in said prescribed scanning area with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of black mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively; means for counting insulated meshes with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of noise mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, said insulated mesh being a white mesh surrounded by black meshes and a black mesh surrounded by white meshes; means for calculating a plurality of ratios between said plurality of black mesh numbers and said plurality of noise mesh numbers, said plurality of ratios corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively; means for determining an optimum binary signal from said plurality of binary signals on the basis of comparison of said plurality of ratios calculated by said calculating means; and means for recognizing said character contained in said prescribed scanning area on the basis of said optimum binary signal determined by said determining means. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A character recognition apparatus comprising:
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means for scanning a predetermined scanning area to produce a scanned binary signal corresponding to a character contained in said predetermined scanning area; means for converting said scanned binary signal into a digital signal, said digital signal being constructed by a plurality of bits; means for producing a plurality of binary signals from said digital signal by selecting a plurality of bits constructing said digital signal, each binary signal being quantized to include a plurality of meshes arranged to form a matrix corresponding to said predetermined scanning area; means for counting black meshes each showing a part of a character contained in said predetermined scanning area with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of black mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively; means for counting insulated meshes contained in said predetermined scanning area with respect to said plurality of binary signals to deliver a plurality of insulated mesh numbers corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, said insulated mesh being a black mesh surrounded by white meshes and a white mesh surrounded by black meshes, said white mesh showing other than said part of said character; means for calculating a plurality of ratios between said plurality of black mesh numbers and said plurality of insulated mesh numbers, respectively; means for comparing said plurality of ratios with each other to select one binary signal from said plurality of binary signals in accordance with the comparison result; and means for recognizing said character contained in said predetermined scanning area in response to said one binary signal delivered from said comparing means.
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4. A character recognition apparatus comprising:
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means for scanning a character on a mail article with a predetermined scanning area to produce a scanned signal; means coupled to said scanning means for producing a plurality of binary signals from said scanned signal, said plurality of binary signals being binary-coded under respective different conditions, each of said binary signals being quantized to construct said predetermined scanning area of a plurality of meshes arranged in a matrix form and being represented by black meshes each indicating a part of a character and by white meshes other than said black mesh; means for recognizing said character on said mail article on the basis of said plurality of binary signals to produce a plurality of recognition results corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively; means for counting said black meshes contained said predetermined scanning area with respect to said pluraltiy of binary signals to output a plurality of the numbers of black meshes corresponding to said plurality of binary signals, respectively; means for counting noise meshes contained said predetermined scanning area with respect to said plurality of binary signals to output a plurality of the numbers of noise meshes corresponding to said plurality of binary signal, respectively, said noise mesh being a white mesh surrounded by black meshes and a black mesh surrounded by white meshes; means for calculating a plurality of ratios between said plurality of the numbers of black meshes and said plurality of the numbers of noise meshes with respect to said plurality of binary signals; means for selecting an optimum binary signal from said plurality of binary signals on the basis of said plurality of ratios calculated by said calculating means to deliver a selection signal corresponding to said optimum binary signal; and means responsive to said plurality of recognition results delivered from said recognizing means and said selection signal delivered from said selection means for determining a recognition output corresponding to said character. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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Specification