Optical character reader
First Claim
1. An optical character reader, comprising:
- an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal;
binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal;
character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result and positional information;
field selecting means for selecting a perfect field which is perfectly contained in said range of view on the basis of said recognition result and said positional information, said field selecting means deleting characters outside said perfect field and within said range of view; and
format check means for judging whether said perfect field is in accord with a predetermined format.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical character reader comprises a scanner including an image sensor and a binary encoding circuit for converting an output analog signal from the image sensor into a binary signal, a character recognizing means for recognizing each character in a range of view of the image sensor and outputting positional information and a result of recognition, a field selecting means for selecting and outputting a perfect field which is perfectly contained in the range of view of the image sensor on the basis of the positional information and the result of recognition, a format check means for judging whether the perfect field is in accord with a predetermined format or not, and an output judging means for outputting the perfect field being in accord with the predetermined format.
29 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An optical character reader, comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result and positional information; field selecting means for selecting a perfect field which is perfectly contained in said range of view on the basis of said recognition result and said positional information, said field selecting means deleting characters outside said perfect field and within said range of view; and format check means for judging whether said perfect field is in accord with a predetermined format. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and subject-exchange check means for detecting exchange of subjects, wherein said reading of characters is re-started when said exchange of subjects is detected by said subject-exchange check means after said judgment that said result of recognition is contradictory to said predetermined format.
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10. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and timer means for measuring a predetermined period, wherein said reading of characters is re-started when contradiction of said recognition result to said predetermined format is not detected for said predetermined period after said contradiction is once detected.
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11. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result and positional information; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and field selecting means for selecting a perfect field which is perfectly contained in said range of view on the basis of said recognition result and said positional information, said contradictory format suppressing means judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format only for said perfect field.
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12. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and notification means for giving a notice of detection of contradiction to said predetermined format when said contradiction is detected. - View Dependent Claims (13, 15)
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14. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and new row detecting means for detecting exchange of rows in said view range of said image sensor, wherein said reading of characters is re-started when entrance of said new row into said view range is detected by said new row detecting means after said contradiction of said recognition result to said predetermined format is once detected.
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16. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; and contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format, said contradictory format suppressing means comprising contradictory time measuring means for measuring elapsed period in which said recognition result continues contradictory to said predetermined format, and said contradictory format suppressing means substantially suppresses said reading of characters if said elapsed period is longer than a predetermined period.
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17. An optical character reader comprising:
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an image sensor for catching one or a plurality of fields of characters including symbols in a range of view thereof, and outputting an analog signal; binary encoding means for converting said analog signal into a binary signal; character recognizing means for recognizing each of said characters in said range of view of said image sensor on the basis of said binary signal, and outputting a recognition result; contradictory format suppressing means for judging whether said recognition result is contradictory to a predetermined format, and substantially suppressing reading of characters after a judgment that said recognition result is contradictory to said predetermined format; and reading sequence control means for changing a condition of contradiction judgment which is used in said contradictory format suppressing means with an advance of a reading sequence detected by said reading sequence control means.
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Specification