Data reading apparatus for reading data from form sheet

• US 4,933,979 A
• Filed: 12/16/1987
• Issued: 06/12/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Suzuki, Akiko, Sato, Yoshikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): COUSO, YON JUNG
• Application Number:
  US07/133,623
• Time in Patent Office: 909 Days
• Field of Search: 382/61, 382/57, 382/65, 382/48, 358/280, 358/282, 358/462, 358/464
• US Class Current: 382/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables

Abstract

A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet comprises a scanning device for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet, a storing part for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms, a discriminating part for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by the scanning device by comparing a form information on the form sheet included in the image data from the scanning device with the form informations stored in the storing part, and a reading part for reading from the image data outputted from the scanning device data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in the discriminating part as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by the scanning device.

Claims

1. A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet, said form sheet having a fixed form with spaces which are to be entered with the data, at least one of said spaces being surrounded by a frame line, said data reading apparatus comprising:

scanning means for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet;

storing means for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms;

frame line recognition means for recognizing one or a plurality of frame lines from the image data outputted by said scanning means;

discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by said scanning means by comparing a form information related to at least one frame line which is recognized by said frame line recognition means with the form informations stored in said storing means; and

reading means for reading from the image data outputted from said scanning means data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in said discriminating means as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by said scanning means.

2. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said storing means stores as the form informations at least first data related to one or a plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets from which data are to be read and second data related to reading conditions under which the data are to be read from the one or plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets.

3. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said second data related to the reading conditions include at least one of type, hand-written and image modes in which the data on the form sheet are to be read as being entered in type, hand-writing and image, respectively.

6. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises pre-registering means for registering the form informations on the model form sheets into said storing means by scanning the model form sheets by said scanning means and using the frame lines recognized by said frame line recognition means.

12. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said discriminating means comprises first memory means for temporarily storing the image data from said scanning means, form recognition means for recognizing the fixed form of the form sheet from the frame lines recognized by said frame line recognition means, second memory means for temporarily storing a form information on the recognized fixed form recognized in said form recognition means, form discriminating means for discriminating the fixed form of the form sheet by comparing a fixed form information within the form information stored in said second memory means with fixed form informations within the form informations stored in said storing means and for outputting reading area information related to one or plurality of reading areas on the form sheet from which the data are to be read, and extracting means for extracting data within the one or plurality of reading areas from the image data stored in said first memory means based on the reading area information, said reading means reading the extracted data depending on the form information from said storing means.

13. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 12 in which said form recognition means recognizes a frame line as the fixed form, said frame line surrounding a rectangular area by four line segments.

14. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said image scanner successively scans a plurality of form sheets.

15. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 14 in which said plurality of form sheets are made up of form sheets having at least two different fixed forms, said image scanner successively scanning said plurality of form sheets in an arbitrary sequence independent of the fixed forms of the form sheets.

4. A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet, said form sheet having a fixed form with spaces which are to be entered with the data, said data reading apparatus comprising:

scanning means for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet;

storing means for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms;

discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by said scanning means by comparing a form information on the form sheet included in the image data from said scanning means with the form informations stored in said storing means; and

reading means for reading from the image data outputted from said scanning means data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in said discriminating means as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by said scanning means,

said storing means storing as the form informations at least first data related to one or a plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets from which data are to be read and second data related to reading conditions under which the data are to be read from the one or plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets,

said second data related to the reading conditions including at least a reading mode with which the data on each of the model form sheets are to be read.

5. A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet, said form sheet having a fixed form with spaces which are to be entered with the data, said data reading apparatus comprising:

scanning means for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet;

storing means for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms;

discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by said scanning means by comparing a form information on the form sheet included in the image data from said scanning means with the form informations stored in said storing means; and

reading means for reading from the image data outputted from said scanning means data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in said discriminating means as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by said scanning means,

said storing means storing as the form informations at least first data related to one or a plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets from which data are to be read and second data related to reading conditions under which the data are to be read from the one or plurality of predetermined reading areas in each of the model form sheets,

said second data related to the reading conditions including at least one of reading density and reading tone with which the data on each of the model form sheets are to be read.

7. A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet, said form sheet having a fixed form with spaces which are to be entered with the data, said data reading apparatus comprising:

scanning means for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet;

storing means for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms;

discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by said scanning means by comparing a form information on the form sheet included in the image data from said scanning means with the form informations stored in said storing means;

reading means for reading from the image data outputted from said scanning means data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in said discriminating means as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by said scanning means; and

pre-registering means for registering the form information on the model form sheets into said storing means by scanning the model form sheets by said scanning means,

said pre-registering means comprising recognition means for recognizing a fixed form of a model form sheet from the image data outputted from said scanning means, memory means for temporarily storing the recognized fixed form recognized in said recognition means, reading area designating means for designating one or a plurality of reading areas on the model form sheet from which data are to be read, reading condition designating means for designating one or a plurality of reading conditions under which the data are to be read from each of the one or plurality of reading areas on the model form sheet, and form information registering means for registering the form information of the model form sheet by storing into said storing means the recognized fixed form from said memory means, the designated reading areas from said reading area designating means and the reading conditions from said reading condition designating means.

8. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which said recognition means recognizes a frame line as the fixed form, said frame line surrounding a rectangular area by four line segments.

9. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which said reading area designating means and said reading condition designating means are constituted by a keyboard.

10. A data reading apparatus as claimed in claim 9 which further comprises a display device for displaying the image data read from the model form sheet by said scanning means, said display device in combination with said keyboard constituting said reading area designating means and said reading condition designating means.

11. A data reading apparatus for reading data from a form sheet, said form sheet having a fixed form with spaces which are to be entered with the data, said data reading apparatus comprising:

scanning means for optically scanning the form sheet and for outputting image data read from the form sheet;

storing means for storing form informations on different kinds of model form sheets having different fixed forms;

discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the form sheet which is scanned by said scanning means by comparing a form information on the form sheet included in the image data from said scanning means with the form informations stored in said storing means;

reading means for reading from the image data outputted from said scanning means data in predetermined reading areas of the form sheet depending on the form information of a model form sheet which is discriminated in said discriminating means as being identical to the kind of form sheet scanned by said scanning means; and

pre-registering means for registering the form information on the model form sheets into said storing means by scanning the model form sheets by said scanning means,

said pre-registering means registering the form informations on the model form sheets into said storing means by scanning the model form sheets by said scanning means at a first reading density, said scanning means scanning the form sheet from which the data are to be read at a second reading density, said first reading density being smaller than said second reading density.