Abstract:
A CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM IS COMPLETELY CONTROLLED BY A DIGITAL CONTROL WORD FROM A COMPUTER. THE CONTROL WORD CONTAINS START AND END OF FIELD ADDRESSES PLUS RECOGNITION METHOD CODES, A CALIBRATION COMMAND, A CHARACTER FIELD ORIENTATION COMMAND, A CORRECTION COMMAND, A NUMERIC OR ALPHABETIC RECOGNITION COMMAND AND A BLANK AREA COMMAND. ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IN THE CONTROL WORD FROM THE COMPUTER PERMITS GREAT VERSITILITY IN OPERATION OF A CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM. THE VERSATILITY IS ACHIEVED BY THE FACT THAT THE FORMAT OF SCANNING IN THE CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM CAN BE COMPLETELY ALTERED AS TO AREA OF ACAN AND TYPE OF RECOGNITION BY A DIGITAL CONTROL WORD FROM THE COMPUTER. BY CHANGING THE COMPUTER PROGRAM, THE FORMAT OF THE CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM IS CHANGED.
IN OPERATION, THE START AND END OF FIELD ADDRESSES IN THE CONTROL WARD FROM TEH COMPUTER ARE CONVERTED TO ANALOG SIGNALS BY DIGITAL TO ANALOG CONVERTERS FOR USE IN THE SCANNING CIRCUITRY OF THE CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM. THE RECOGNITION MODE AS CODED IN THE CONTROL WORD IS DECODED BY LOGIC. THE LOGIC THEN SIGNAL THE SCANNING SYSTEM AND THE RECOGNITION LOGIC THE TYPE OF SCAN PATTERN AND RECOGNITION TO BE USED IN ANALYZING THE CHARACTER FIELD TO BE SCANNED. ANOTHER PART OF TEH CONTROL WORD IS DECODED TO SIGNAL THE RECOGNITION CIRCUITS WHETHER TO LOOK FOR ALPHABETIC OR NUMERIC CHARACTERS. STILL ANOTHER PART OF THE CONTROL WORD IS DECODED TO SIGNAL THE RECOGNITION CIRCUITS TO LOOK FOR LARGE BLANK AREAS BETWEEN CHARACTERS SCANNED. ANOTHER PORTION OF THE CONTROL WORD IS USED TO INDICATE TO THE SCANNING CIRCUITS THE ORIENTATION OF THE CHARACTER FIELD TO BE SCANNED. FINALLY, A LAST PORTION OF WHETHER TO SELECT ON-LINE OR OFF-LINE CORRECTION WHEN REJECT CHARACTERS ARE INDICATED.
Abstract:
After a curve follower lexical symbol recognition system has completed a character examination and found a conflict to exist, a supplementary scan of the character is initiated only for resolving the conflict. The scan traverses across the character at a horizontal and/or vertical level at which there is an identification number of crossovers for the particular conflict. The number of crossovers solves the conflict.
Abstract:
Great versatility can be achieved by using a computer to control the scanning format of a character reader. To control the format the computer must have accurate addresses as to where to send the scanning beam in the character reader to scan the character fields on a document to be read. To obtain the accurate addresses, the apparatus in FIG. 1 is built into the character reader. An operator observes on a display cathode-ray tube a facsimile of the document and an address mark showing the position of a scan address. The facsimile is produced by a scanning cathode-ray tube which scans the document to be read. The operator may move the address mark relative to the displayed information from the document by manually adjusting potentiometer. The scanning addresses for the scanning cathode-ray tube and the display cathode-ray tube are identical as they are driven by common deflection circuits. Once the operator observes that the desired address is positioned next to the information he wishes to address, he actuates a format address indicate mode of operation. The format address indicate operation uses digitzers to convert the analog signal from the potentiometers into a digital address signal. The digitizers arrive at the digital address by consecutively approximating in smaller and smaller increments the analog address from the potentiometer. Once the digital address is determined, it is displayed by lamps which the operator observes. The operator then causes the computer to store the digital address which he has observed. Thereafter the computer may cause the scanning beam to move to that address whenever it wishes to read the characters at that address.
Abstract:
An optical character recognition system in which position data is detected by other than addressing a document field and is tagged on to a character identifying data byte. For documents in which the position of the character conveys information and for which the selected field to be scanned does not satisfactorily identify the character position, the scanning beam is tracked and converted into a position data byte when a character is detected. The position data byte is sent along with the character data byte to a utilization means.
Abstract:
Scan-control apparatus responsive to a format word specifying an outline of a document field to be scanned generates a series of search patterns for characters within the field. A ''''read'''' command causes a scanning beam to move in a line-search scan downwardly from one corner of the field. When black video is detected by this scan, a character-search scan moves the beam horizontally to establish the beginning of a character line. The first character found is normalized and a recognition scan is initiated. Reaching a selected format end-of-line boundary terminates the ''''read'''' command. Further ''''load-format'''' and ''''read'''' commands cause the beam to continue to search for and read character lines within the boundary. The field is terminated when the scanning beam attains a selected vertical boundary of the format word. A single field may contain a number of rectangular sections.