US4056804A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Optical character recognition systems
Assignee: PIESSEY HANDEL und INVESTMENTS AG
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Filing: 1976-09-10
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Granted: 1977-11-01
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Expires: 1996-09-10
Abstract
Abstract An optical character recognition system comprising a reader head which includes the single line array of photo-sensitive elements, a clock pulse generator under control of which the elements of the array are sequentially sampled to produce video output pulses one from each element, the level of each pulse being dependent upon the light incident upon the element from which it originated, all elements being sampled in one scan and the elements being scanned repeatedly, data storage means into which the output pulses derived from the array are clocked under control of the clock pulse generator, a feature detector comprising gating circuits responsive to predetermined signals obtaining contemporaneously in two or more predetermined locations within the store for providing a signal indicating that a feature has been detected, a plurality of different features being detectable, each being regarded as havng a certain priority relative to the others, priority selection gating means operative for selecting the feature having the highest priority detected in each scan, minimization logic circuitry responsive to signals fed from the priority selector gating means and having a plurality of output lines one for each feature, on an appropriate one of which a signal is produced each time the highest priority feature selected in a given scan differs from the feature having the highest priority selected in the previous scan, a plurality of feature stores one for each feature which are individually fed on an appropriate line from the minimization logic circuitry and clocked synchronously by incoming signals fed on the said appropriate lines so as to advance in synchronism data clocked into the feature stores, and a character recognition logic circuit responsive to the signals in the feature stores for providing an output signal indicating that a character has been recognized when predetermined features occur in a predetermined sequence within the feature stores.
Inventors
- 👤 John Alan Whitfield
- 👤 Eric William Burdis
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 04:36
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V30/00; G06V30/10; G06V30/18; B; B82; B82Y; B82Y15/00; G06V10/00; G06V10/20; G06V10/40; G06V10/42; G06V10/421
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
308 words
An optical character recognition system comprising a reader head which includes a single line array of photo sensitive elements, a clock pulse generator under control of which the elements of the array are sequentially sampled to produce video output pulses one from each element, the level of each pulse being dependent upon the light incident upon the element from which it originated, all elements being sampled in one scan and the elements being scanned repeatedly, data storage means into which the output pulses derived from the array are clocked under control of the clock pulse generator, a feature detector comprising gating circuits responsive to predetermined signals obtaining contemporaneously in two or more predetermined locations within the store for providing a signal indicating that a feature has been detected, a plurality of different features being detectable, each being regarded as having a certain priority relative to the others, priority selection gating means operative for selecting the feature having the highest priority detected in each scan, minimisation logic circuitry responsive to signals fed from the priority selection gating means and having a plurality of output lines one for each feature on an appropriate one of which a signal is produced each time the highest priority feature selected in the given scan differs from the feature having the highest priority selected in the previous scan, a plurality of feature storage locations one for each detected feature which are individually fed on an appropriate line from the minimisation logic circuitry and clocked synchronously by incoming signals fed on the said appropriate line so as to advance in synchronism data clocked into the feature stores, and a character recognition logic circuit responsive to the signals in the feature stores for providing an output signal indicating that a character has been recognised when predetermined features occur in a predetermined sequence within the feature stores.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
308 words
An optical character recognition system comprising a reader head which includes a single line array of photo sensitive elements, a clock pulse generator under control of which the elements of the array are sequentially sampled to produce video output pulses one from each element, the level of each pulse being dependent upon the light incident upon the element from which it originated, all elements being sampled in one scan and the elements being scanned repeatedly, data storage means into which the output pulses derived from the array are clocked under control of the clock pulse generator, a feature detector comprising gating circuits responsive to predetermined signals obtaining contemporaneously in two or more predetermined locations within the store for providing a signal indicating that a feature has been detected, a plurality of different features being detectable, each being regarded as having a certain priority relative to the others, priority selection gating means operative for selecting the feature having the highest priority detected in each scan, minimisation logic circuitry responsive to signals fed from the priority selection gating means and having a plurality of output lines one for each feature on an appropriate one of which a signal is produced each time the highest priority feature selected in the given scan differs from the feature having the highest priority selected in the previous scan, a plurality of feature storage locations one for each detected feature which are individually fed on an appropriate line from the minimisation logic circuitry and clocked synchronously by incoming signals fed on the said appropriate line so as to advance in synchronism data clocked into the feature stores, and a character recognition logic circuit responsive to the signals in the feature stores for providing an output signal indicating that a character has been recognised when predetermined features occur in a predetermined sequence within the feature stores.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the data storage means comprises a multistage series coupled shift register and the feature stores each comprise self clocking multistage series coupled shift registers which are clocked by incoming data so as to advance data entered therein mutually in synchronism.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
48 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 2 wherein in use of the system relative movement is produced between the characters and the array, the characters being so positioned and arranged relative to the array that light reflected from the characters is incident on the array.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
36 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the array is carried in a housing which is adapted to be held in the hand whereby the array is moved relative to the characters.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
31 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the housing includes a lens system for focussing an image of characters to be read onto the photo sensitive array.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
78 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the minimisation logic circuitry is arranged to be responsive to a predetermined sequence of features produced from the priority selection gating means for initiating a cancellation function whereby spurious ones of the predetermined sequence of features are erased from the feature store or stores so as to retain therein only the wanted correct feature which would have been recognised if spurious effects had not been in evidence.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
141 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the system comprises three additional stores connected in effect as additional feature stores and comparator means for comparing the position of the origin within the data storage means of the first significant feature to be detected in each character with the position of the origin of subsequently detected features of the character and in dependence upon the results of such comparison, stepping on or injecting data into one or other of the three additional stores in accordance with whether the origin of the subsequently detected feature is "the same as", "up on" or "down on" the origin of the first significant features to be detected one of the additional stores being used to store data appertaining to each of the three functions "the same as", "up on" and "down on".
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the additional stores are similar in construction to the feature stores.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
39 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the additional stores and the feature stores comprise multistage self clocking shift registers which are clocked mutually in synchronism with the shift registers which comprise the feature stores.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
255 words
An optical character recognition system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the comparator means comprises a counter arranged to receive pulses received from the clock pulse generator to count up during each scan and to be reset at the end of each scan, a count storage latch which is responsive to the counter for storing the count state of the counter when the first significant feature of a character is detected, an adder which adds a weighting count onto the stored count and presents the sum count thereof at output terminals, and a subtractor which subtracts a weighting count from the stored count and presents a difference count on further output terminals, a first comparator which compares in subsequent scans the count state of the counter with the stored sum count in the adder, a second comparator which compares in subsequent scans the count state of the counter with the difference count in the subtractor and gating means responsive to the output from the comparators for providing on one or other of three lines a signal to one or other of the three additional stores indicative of whether a feature selected subsequently to the first feature originates in the data store at a location which is "the same as", "up on" or "down on", the origin of the location of the first feature, data from the three additional shift registers being sampled by the character recognition logic circuit whereby recognition of the character having the same sequence of features as another different character is facilitated.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1980-10-31 | 1981-05-02 | 1981-11-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1984-10-31 | 1985-05-02 | 1985-11-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1988-10-31 | 1989-05-02 | 1989-11-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |