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Hand-operated low cost magnetic character recognition system

  • US 5,054,092 A
  • Filed: 03/31/1988
  • Issued: 10/01/1991
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1988
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for magnetically reading and recognizing plural magnetic ink characters disposed sequentially on a surface of a document during manual conveyance of said document relative to a magnetic reading station, said apparatus comprising:

  • structure which permits human hand movement to propel relative movement between said document and said magnetic reading station, said structure permits relative movement in a first direction and in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction;

    said magnetic reading station including electromagnetic transducer means operatively coupled to said document surface for producing a first electrical signal representing magnetic characteristics of said characters during relative movement occurring between said characters and said reading station;

    position sensing means for producing electrical position signals indicating a sequence of spaced apart document positions as said document and said magnetic reading station move relative to one another, said position sensing means is operative to sense position for said relative movement occurring in either of said first and second directions;

    said apparatus further includes direction indicating means coupled to said position sensing means for producing a direction indicating signal indicating the direction said document is conveyed; and

    character identifying means responsive to said first signal and said position signals for producing electrical output signals that accurately identify said plural characters when said manually propelled relative movement occurs between said document and said magnetic reading station at variable velocities within a velocity range of between 5 inches per second and 110 inches per second said character identifying means produces said electrical output signals in response to either direction of said relative movement;

    means for sampling said first electrical signal in response to said position signal and for storing said samples; and

    means connected to receive said direction indicating signal for analyzing said stored samples in an order responsive to said direction indicating signal.

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