Optical character reading system

Claim 2

An optical character reading system comprising: means for optically scanning a two-dimensional character pattern by a single sensor in a single sweep of said sensor past said character pattern for optically recognizing said character pattern at a plurality of different relative positions between said single sensor and said character pattern to provide a plurality of recognition results; and means for subjecting said plurality of recognition results to selection to provide a final single recognition result of said character pattern.

Claim 3

The optical character reading system of claim 1 wherein said means for subjecting said plurality of recognition results to selection comprises means for providing said final single recognition result as the character most frequently recognized along a predetermined number of character output signals.

Claim 4

The optical character reading system of claim 1 wherein said means for subjecting said plurality of recognition results to selection comprises means for providing said final single recognition result in response to the recognition of a character more than a predetermined number of times.

Claim 5

An optical character reading system as defined in claim 1, wherein said plurality of recognitions are provided during a single movement of said sensor past said character pattern.

Claim 6

An optical character reading system in which a character pattern is scanned by a sensor composed of photoelectric elements to recognize said character pattern comprising: scanner means for scanning said character pattern a plurality of times in a single sweep of said scanner past said character pattern, said scanner means including an optical system, a single sensor and a control and binary-coding circuit; a line characteristics extracting circuit coupled to an output of said binary-coding circuit; a partial characteristics extracting circuit coupled to an output of said line characteristics extracting circuit; a recognition process circuit having an input coupled to an output of said partial characteristics extracting circuit; a recognition results detecting circuit having an input coupled to an output of said recognition process circuit, a final single recognition result, upon each character being optically recognized a plurality of times at different relative positions of said sensor and character pattern in a single recognition operation, being produced at an output of said recognition results detecting circuit; and a character area detecting circuit having an input coupled to said output of said control and binary-coding circuit, outputs of said character area detecting circuit being used to control operations of said line characteristics extracting circuit and said recognition results detecting circuit.

Claim 7

An optical character reading system in which a character pattern is scanned by a sensor composed of photoelectric elements to recognize said character pattern comprising: scanner means for scanning said character pattern a plurality of times in a single sweep of said scanner past said character pattern, said scanner means including an optical system, a single sensor and a control and binary-coding circuit; a line characteristics extracting circuit coupled to an output of said binary-coding circuit; a partial characteristics extracting circuit coupled to an output of said line characteristics extracting circuit; a recognition process circuit having an input coupled to an output of said partial characteristics extracting circuit; a recognition results detecting circuit having an input coupled to an output of said recognition process circuit, a final single recognition result, upon each character being optically recognized a plurality of times at different relative positions of said sensor and character pattern in a single recognition operation, being produced at an output of said recognition results detecting circuit; and a character area detecting circuit having an input coupled to said output of said control and binary-coding circuit, outputs of said character area detecting circuit being used to control operations of said line characteristics extracting circuit and said recognition results detecting circuit.

Claim 8

The optical character reading system of claim 5 wherein said line characteristics extracting circuit comprises a read-only memory.

Claim 9

The optical character reading system of claim 6 wherein said partial characteristics extracting circuit comprises a read-only memory having first address inputs coupled to outputs of said line characteristics extracting circuit and a register having inputs coupled to outputs of said read-only memory, outputs of said register being coupled to second address inputs of said read-only memory of said partial characteristics extracting circuit.

Claim 10

The optical character reading system of claim 7 wherein said recognition process circuit comprises a read-only memory having first address inputs coupled to outputs of said register of said partial characteristics extracting circuit and a register, said register having inputs coupled to outputs of said read-only memory of said recognition process circuit and having outputs coupled to second address inputs of said read-only memory of said recognition process circuit.

Claim 11

The optical character reading system of claim 8 wherein said recognition results detecting circuit comprises a microprocessor.

Claim 12

The optical character reading system of any one of claims 5-9 wherein said character area detector comprises a plurality of OR gates having one input of each gate coupled to receive a single line output signal from said control and binary-coding circuit, a register, and a read-only memory, each input of said register being coupled to a corresponding output of one of said OR gates and outputs of said register being coupled to address inputs of said read-only memory and to corresponding second inputs of each of said corresponding OR gates.