Optical character reader
US4817185A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 9, 1987 |
| Grant date | Mar 28, 1989 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 9, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06V30/10
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention provides an optical character reader (OCR) utilizing prioritized horizontal OR ranges for enhanced accuracy and ease of use. A light source illuminates a price tag or the like on which characters have been imprinted generally along a horizontal direction of the sheet. A lens system images the characters onto an image sensor having a field of vision covering a plurality of characters, the image sensor including a plurality of photo-electric conversion elements arranged in a matrix. A binary coding circuit digitizes outputs of the photo-electric conversion elements, which define picture elements (pixels), of an image in the field of vision of the image sensor, into binary signals representing black and white picture elements. A hand holdable scanner incorporates the light source, image sensor, lens system and binary coding circuit. An identifying circuit identifies characters from binary-coded data. The OCR utilizes at least two horizontal OR ranges in the field of vision of the image sensor. When the horizontal OR range of higher priority detects a character line, the result of character line detection is output. When none of the horizontal OR ranges detects a characte…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.