JP2680449B2 - Optically-readable automatic ticket gate - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to an automatic ticket gate that optically reads a ticket or an admission ticket inserted into an automatic ticket gate body and controls the opening and closing of a door based on the result.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, a magnetic reading type ticket is known as an automatic ticket gate. This conventional magnetic-reading automatic ticket gate uses a transport mechanism to eject a ticket or admission ticket (typically called a ticket) that is inserted into the automatic ticket gate body (hereinafter referred to as the body) While it is being transported to, the magnetic data recorded on the ticket is read by a magnetic head, and the read data is processed by a controller built around a microcomputer. Is configured to be controlled to be opened and closed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional automatic ticket gate is configured to be controlled based on the magnetic data recorded in the ticket, the ticket used in the automatic ticket gate is
It can be magnetically recorded. Therefore, the conventional automatic ticket gate is paired with the magnetic recording type automatic ticket vending machine so that the automatic ticket gate function cannot be achieved until the automatic ticket gate system equipment cost increases. It was In order to solve such a drawback, it has been proposed to optically read an ordinary ticket having no magnetic recording surface and control the automatic ticket gate based on the result of the arithmetic processing of the read information. However, in the optical reading type automatic ticket gate, since there are many kinds of contents printed on the face of the ticket and the printing format is not constant, there are many problems to be solved in order to cope with these, and it is still in practical use. It has not been converted. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to effectively cut out an image obtained by picking up a ticket face of a ticket, and to effectively perform a reading process to improve the reading processing speed. The purpose is to provide an optically readable automatic ticket gate that is high and practical.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the optical reading type automatic ticket gate according to the present invention is constituted by a, b to g as shown in FIG. The image pickup means a picks up an image of a ticket or an entrance ticket inserted in the main body of the automatic ticket gate. The matching line extraction means b extracts a matching line corresponding to the captured image from the matching lines stored in the matching line storage unit in advance and corresponding to the ticket surface patterns such as the boarding station and the boarding fare printed on the ticket. To extract. The cutout format extraction means c extracts the cutout format corresponding to the extracted matching line from the cutout formats stored in advance in the cutout format storage unit. The cutting-out means d cuts out the captured image according to the extracted cutting-out format. The reading means e is for reading each cut-out image from a pattern of characters, numbers or symbols stored in advance in the character pattern storage unit. The judging means f judges, based on the read data, whether or not the ticket allows passage through the ticket gate passage. The door control means g controls the opening and closing of the door based on the determination result. The reading order determining means h determines the reading order of each cut-out image according to the priority order of the determination of the ticket gate or the ticket collection.

[Action]

In the optical reading type automatic ticket gate according to the present invention, a picked-up image is cut out into a predetermined section by using a collation line, and each cut-out image is read. Then, the reading result is determined, and the door is opened and closed. Further, the reading order of each cut-out image works according to the priority order of the judgment at the time of ticket examination or ticket collection.

【Example】

An optical reading type automatic ticket gate according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the automatic ticket gate A according to the embodiment, and a ticket inserted from the insertion slot 2 between the insertion slot 2 and the discharge slot 3 of the main body 1. A transport mechanism 4 is provided for transporting B to the discharge port 3. The transport mechanism 4 is composed of an endless belt which is rotationally driven by a motor M, like the transport mechanism of a conventional magnetic reading type automatic ticket gate. Then, the portion near the insertion slot 2 optically reads the aligned transport path 4a for aligning the inserted ticket a, and the downstream portion of the aligned transport path optically reads the ticket a being transported. Further, a main transport path 4b for performing punching processing as necessary is configured. Therefore, on the main conveyance path 4b, the image pickup device 5 including a CCD camera for optically reading the ticket B being conveyed
Further, a punching unit 6 for punching a ticket B is provided on the downstream side of the image pickup device. In the figure, D is a door, which is opened when the passage of a passenger is permitted, like a conventional automatic ticket gate, and is opened and closed by a command from a controller described later. W is a wing that moves up and down according to a command from the controller depending on whether the inserted ticket a is a collection ticket or a return ticket. The controller C is configured as shown in the block diagram of FIG. That is, the so-called microcomputer mainly includes a ROM 10a in which a system program is stored and a central processing unit (CPU) 10 that performs arithmetic processing by a RAM 10b in which a working program is stored. In the CPU 10, a matching line storage unit 11 that stores a table of matching lines for cutting out a screen capturing the face of the inserted ticket a for each predetermined section, and a cutout format corresponding to the matching lines. The cutout format storage unit 12 in which the table is stored, and the characters, numbers, and
It is connected to a character pattern storage unit 13 in which patterns of symbols or combinations thereof are stored. Note that these storage units 11 to 13 can also be used as RAM by increasing the storage capacity of the RAM 10b. Further, the CPU 10 has an image processing circuit 15 of the image pickup device 5 and a drive circuit 16 of the punching unit 6 via the I / O unit 14.
And the drive circuit 17 of the door D are connected. Although not shown, the CPU 10 is connected to a drive circuit of the drive motor M and a circuit of a sensor for detecting the transport position of the ticket A through the I / O unit 14. The basic operation of the automatic ticket gate A of the present embodiment based on the above configuration is performed according to the general flow chart of FIG. First, when the ticket a is inserted into the insertion slot 2 of the main body 1, the operation is started (Yes at step 100). The inserted ticket B is imaged by the image pickup device 5 while being conveyed by the conveying mechanism 4 (step 102). That is, while the ticket a is being conveyed in the long direction, the imaging device 5 intermittently scans the ticket a in the short direction. The signal obtained by the scan is converted into a binary signal by the image processing circuit 15 and sequentially RA
It is stored in M10b. After that, the format search (step 10
The format of the printed ticket face of the boarding ticket a is detected by the format process consisting of 4) and the cutting process (step 106), and then the pre-process (step described in detail later).
108) and a recognition process consisting of a reading process (step 110), characters on the face of the ticket (boarding station name, transfer station name, etc.) or numbers (fare, date, etc.) are collated and read. After the recognition processing, when it is determined that the inserted ticket B may be permitted to pass through the ticket gate passage (steps 112, 11).
4) Yes, as in the case of the conventional magnetic reading type automatic ticket gate, in the case of the normally closed type, the door drive circuit 17 is driven to open the door D (step 116). In the case of the normally open type, the door is kept open. On the other hand, when it is determined that the passage is not permitted (No at step 114), the inserted ticket a is returned to the outlet, and in the case of the normally closed type, the door drive circuit 17 causes the door drive circuit 17 to move to the door. D is maintained in the closed state, the door D is closed in the case of the normally open type, and error processing is performed to the effect that the ticket can not be automatically ticketed (step 118). The format search in step 104 is performed to determine the cut-out format of the face of the inserted ticket A. For example, as shown in Fig. 5 (a), the inserted ticket a is now taken from Shinjuku station to Tokyo station on Company A line (own line) and from Tokyo station to Company B line (other company line). It is assumed that it is a ticket with a face value of 240 yen that rides on the 120 yen section. Then, a cutout line is obtained from the captured image (sometimes referred to as image data) of the bill surface. As for the cutout line, a temporary sky line (dotted line in FIG. 5A) is drawn on a blank portion (a portion where print dots do not exist) of the captured image, and the temporary skyline is stored in the matching line storage unit 11 in advance. It is determined which matching line in the matching line table is matched. It should be noted that the matching line storage unit 11 stores in advance matching lines corresponding to the ticket surface pattern of the printed contents such as the boarding station and the boarding fare of all tickets that are valid for the station where the main body 1 is installed. . Therefore, in the case of the face of FIG. 5 (a), the format matching line shown in FIG. 5 (b) is extracted. It should be noted that this format matching line may be extracted only in the case of a perfect match, but according to the experimental results of the present inventors, even if it is extracted with a certain width, it will be described later. It has been found that the processing can be handled sufficiently.
Therefore, if the matching line is extracted with a certain width, there is an advantage that it is possible to deal with even a slight stain on the bill surface or a little noise. The cutout form storage unit 12 stores a cutout format (hereinafter, referred to as an FTC format) corresponding to each matching line as shown in FIG. 5C (FIG. 5C is shown in FIG. ) Is in the FTC format). Therefore, when the format matching line is extracted,
The FTC format corresponding to this is extracted. Once the FTC format is extracted, step 1 in Figure 4
The cutting process of 06 is performed. This cutout process is performed in order to divide the image data into a plurality of blocks and collate the blocks with the pattern of the reference character at the time of the interpretation process described later. If you try to read the characters printed on the face individually without performing this cut-out process, the characters will be distorted and the characters will be read, and incorrect readings will often occur, eventually resulting in automatic ticket gates. The function of the machine cannot be fulfilled. Therefore, the automatic ticket gate A according to the present embodiment performs the cutting process before the reading process. Fig. 5 (d) is an image of the ticket shown in Fig. 5 (a) cut out according to the FTC format in Fig. 5 (c). From "Shinjuku", "240", "yen"","Tokyo",
Direction sign , "120" and "circle" are divided and cut out. At the time of this clipping processing, the image shift is corrected. This is to correct image shift and printing unevenness that occur when the ticket B is transported by the transport mechanism 4. For example, if the transport mechanism and the printing mechanism are precise, when the same ticket is repeatedly inserted and transported, the image data obtained by the image pickup device 5 will be the same, but such a precise transport mechanism and printing will be performed. The mechanism becomes expensive and unrealistic. Therefore, in the cutting process, for example, a directional symbol at the center of the face is detected with reference to a specific portion of the face, the deviation amount is detected around this direction symbol, and the deviation amount is corrected so that accurate cutting can be performed. It is devised. As described above, when the FTC format is required, the data necessary for the interpretation in step 112 is extracted from the image. FIG. 5 (e) shows the data necessary for the determination extracted from the data cut out in the FTC format of FIG. 5 (d). As shown in FIG. 6, the extracted image data is provided with the contents (station name, amount of money), the cutout size of the contents and the address of the contents, and the RAM 1
It is stored in 0b. When the data necessary for interpretation is extracted, the interpretation processing is performed in step 110 of FIG. Prior to this reading, preprocessing (step 10 in FIG. 4) for improving the reading accuracy is performed.
8) is performed. In this pre-processing, the same misalignment correction as the misalignment correction at the time of the above-described clipping process is performed for each character or for each number. The reading process is performed using a pattern of reference characters, numbers or symbols stored in the character storage unit 13.
FIG. 7 (a) shows one piece of cut data to be read,
The station name is image data of "Tokyo", and FIG. 9B illustrates a matching table pattern of the corresponding reference characters. As is clear from these figures, the collation table is a table expanded by several dots (for example, 2 dots). The reason why the collation table has a width in this way is that the collation table can be read even if the image data has some deviation. Interpretation is performed based on the degree of matching between the image data and the matching table. That is, if the degree of collation is equal to or higher than a certain degree obtained experimentally, the target character or number is read as the character or number in the collation table. The reading is performed by prioritizing all the cut blocks. Because, for example, in reading the cut-out block of the date, if it is read as something other than the valid period, it is possible to process the inserted ticket as an error without reading the other cut-out block. This is because the processing speed of the automatic ticket gate a can be increased. Fig. 8 shows an example of the reading order. Fig. 8 (a) shows the case at the time of entry (gates) and Fig. 8 (b) shows the case at the time of exits (ticket collection). Then, it is assumed that any one of the tickets shown in (c) to (c) is inserted into the main body 1. At the time of entry (the entry station in the figure (c) is "Tokyo"), the date is first read (step 20).
0). Next, the presence or absence of the child mark is read (step 2).
02). If there is a child mark, the matching with a human sensor (not shown) is determined. In other words, when an adult tries to enter with a child ticket, an error is processed and the door D is not opened. If it is a company ticket and it is not a contact ticket (, Step 20
4 positive, 206 negative), station name I (Tokyo) is read. On the other hand, if the ticket is not the own ticket but another company's ticket, that is, if the own station is a transit station (No at step 204), the station name I is read. Furthermore, in the case of the company's contact ticket (Yes at step 206), the station name II is read. At the time of participation, the amount of money is read before reading the station name I (step 208 in FIG. 8 (a)) (step 30).
8) In the case of your own contact ticket (Yes at step 306),
Other than the station name I being read, the station name I is read in the same order as in the step of FIG. As described above, the optical reading type automatic ticket gate A according to the present embodiment extracts the corresponding matching line from the image picked up by the image pickup device 5, and outputs the image data in the FTC format corresponding to the extracted matching line. Since the image is cut out and read for each cut-out image, the cut-out can be performed accurately and accurately. Further, since the read order of the cut-out images is determined according to the priority order of the judgment at the time of ticket examination or ticket collection, error processing can be performed without waiting for the reading of all cut-out images, so that the ticket examination processing capability can be further enhanced. . Although the door D is controlled to be opened and closed in the above-described embodiment, the rotating bar may be drive-controlled instead of the door D. Therefore, it should be understood that the door opening / closing control means in the present invention includes such a bar. Further, the imager 5 is adapted to image only one side of the ticket face by itself, but it is made a pair and is capable of imaging both sides, and the insertion of the ticket a to be inserted from the insertion slot 2 The direction may not be limited.

【The invention's effect】

An automatic ticket gate according to the present invention extracts a matching line corresponding to a ticket surface pattern such as a boarding station or a boarding fare, which is printed on a ticket face stored in advance in the matching line storage unit, from an image captured by the image capturing means. , The FTC corresponding to the extracted matching line
The image taken by the format is cut out, read out for each cut out image, the reading result is judged, and the opening and closing of the door is controlled based on the judgment result, so cutting out can be performed accurately and accurately. The ticket gate processing efficiency can be improved. Further, when the reading order determining means for determining the reading order of the cut out images is provided, the reading order is determined according to the priority order of the judgment at the time of the ticket gate or the collection of the ticket, so that the reading of all cut out images is waited for. Since error processing can be performed without doing so, the ticket gate processing capability can be further enhanced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing the structural features of an optical reading type automatic ticket gate according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an outline of an automatic ticket gate according to one embodiment of the present invention. Configuration diagram, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the controller, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of a control program of the controller, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a cutting procedure, and FIG. 6 is read data. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of image data and a matching table, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the reading order and an explanatory view of a ticket. 1 …… Main body (main body of automatic ticket gate), 2 …… Insertion port, 3 …… Ejection port, 4 …… Transport mechanism, 5 …… Imaging device, 6 …… Punching unit, A …… Optical reading type automatic ticket gate , 10 ... CPU, 11 ... collation line storage section, 12 ... clipping format storage section, 13 ... character storage section.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image pickup means for picking up an image of a ticket or an entrance ticket inserted in the main body of an automatic ticket gate, and a boarding station or a boarding fare stored in the matching line storage unit in advance and printed on the ticket. Matching line extraction means for extracting the matching line corresponding to the captured image from the matching line corresponding to the bill face pattern, and the matching line extracted from the cutout format stored in the cutout format storage unit in advance Extraction format extraction means for extracting the extraction format, extraction means for extracting the captured image in accordance with the extracted extraction format, and each extraction from the character, number or symbol pattern stored in the character pattern storage unit in advance. Judgment method to read each image and based on the read data, determine whether or not to allow the ticket to pass through the ticket gate passage That determination means and a door control means for controlling opening and closing the door based on the determination result, the optical reading type automatic ticket gate, characterized by comprising. 2. The optical-reading automatic ticket gate according to claim 1, wherein the reading order for each of the cut-out images is performed according to the reading order determining means for determining the priority order of the determination of the ticket gate or the ticket collection. Characteristic optical reading type automatic ticket gate.