JP2734539B2 - Binary information reproducing method and apparatus, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a binary information reproducing method and apparatus for restoring binary information from an encoded image recorded on a recording medium such as paper, and a method and apparatus of this kind. It relates to the recording medium used.

[Background] A barcode technology (a barcode recording medium, a barcode decoding device) is known as a technology for encoding binary information by an image and a technology for reproducing information from the encoded image. However, in the case of this technique, the density of information that can be recorded on a recording medium is limited due to the structure of a barcode.
A4 to record the performance data for the song as a barcode
An area larger than the size was required.

In view of this point, the present applicant has proposed a technique of encoding binary information using a line drawing instead of a barcode and a technique of restoring the binary information (patent filed on May 25, 1988, Application (1), Name “Binary Information Reproduction Method and Apparatus and Recording Sheet”). The line drawing has one elongated line and a plurality of branch lines that are distributed on the elongated line, each of which selectively takes one of two different branch modes from the elongated line. Represents one bit. Therefore, by minimizing the interval between branch lines, the density of recordable information can be considerably increased.

Reproduction of this type of line drawing into binary information is performed by generating a bit according to the branching mode each time a branch line is detected while following an elongated line. This binary information reproducing method has no problem if the branch line that caused the bit generation is a normal branch line, but if the branch line is a fake branch line, one extra bit of data is read. Therefore, all subsequent binary data is shifted, and subsequent data processing becomes impossible. In addition, when the image of the normal branch line is lost due to a printing error or the like, the data is skipped by one bit, and this spreads to subsequent data.

As described above, the technique of the above-mentioned application has a problem that the binary data reproduced when the encoded image contains noise is out of order over a wide range.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention is an improvement of the technology of the above-mentioned application, and a binary information reproducing method and apparatus capable of limiting the influence on binary reproduction information due to noise included in a line drawing to a limited range. The purpose is to provide. Another object is to provide a recording medium on which an encoded image for facilitating reproduction of such binary information is recorded.

[Structure and operation of the invention] In order to achieve the above object, an encoded image recorded on the recording medium of the present invention is distributed over one elongated line and the elongated line. A line drawing pattern composed of a plurality of branch lines that selectively take one of two different branching modes from an elongated line is defined as one line, and the line drawing pattern is formed in a plurality of lines. And the recording medium of the present invention is a binary information reproducing method according to the present invention,
It is used in the device. Therefore, the effect of the noise image can be easily reduced by utilizing the discontinuity between rows in the binary information reproducing method and apparatus.

According to the invention, one elongated line and a plurality of lines distributed on the elongated line, each of which selectively takes one of two different branching modes from the elongated line for bit coding of binary information. Two-dimensionally reading image information on the recording medium from a recording medium on which an encoded image formed by forming a line drawing pattern composed of a plurality of lines with a line drawing pattern composed of branch lines as one line; Tracing from the start point to the end point of the elongated line for each line of the line drawing pattern of the plurality of lines from the stored image information, and detecting the branch line when detecting the branch line in the process. Bits of the binary information are generated according to the branching manner of the line, and an error check is performed by checking the number of the generated bits for each row, so that Binary information reproduction method characterized by a step of decrypting the binary information encoded are provided me.

Further, according to the present invention, one elongated line and a plurality of lines distributed on the elongated line, each of which selectively takes one of two different branch modes from the elongated line for bit coding of binary information. A line drawing pattern consisting of a branch line
Image input means for two-dimensionally reading image information on the recording medium from a recording medium on which an encoded image formed by forming a plurality of lines of this line drawing pattern is formed, and an image read by the image input means. The image storage means for storing information, and from the image information stored in the image input means, from the start point to the end point of the elongated line for each line of the line drawing pattern of the plurality of lines, the branch line was detected in the process. Sometimes, the bits of the binary information are generated according to the branching mode of the branch line, and the number of the generated bits is checked for each row to perform an error check, thereby being coded by the coded image. A binary information reproducing apparatus, comprising: an arithmetic unit for decoding the binary information.

That is, the binary information reproducing method and apparatus according to the present invention reads and stores an encoded image recorded on the recording medium, and reproduces binary data corresponding to a plurality of lines of line drawing patterns from the stored image data. Run separately. Therefore, even when noise is included in the line drawing pattern of a certain row, the spread of the binary data error due to the noise is limited to the range of the binary data corresponding to the line drawing pattern row including the noise, and the next row corresponds. It has no effect on binary data.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an encoded image recorded on a recording medium according to the present invention. First, what is noticed is that the encoded image is constituted by a line drawing pattern of a plurality of rows L1, L2,..., L10 arranged in parallel. The line drawing pattern of each row is composed of one elongated line (trunk) M extending from the start point S to the end point E and a plurality of branch lines (branches) B1 and B2 distributed on the trunk M. One branch B1 extends from the left side of the trunk M with respect to the traveling direction of the trunk M (the direction from the starting point S to the end point E), and another branch B2 branches from the right side of the trunk M. This 2
Types of branching are bit-encoded, for example branch B1 extending from the left side of trunk M represents bit "1",
Branch B2 extending from the right side of trunk M represents bit "0".

As can be seen from the above description, in the above-described coded image, the stems M are in a discontinuous relationship, and
Is separated from the starting point E of the trunk M of the next row. As will be described later, by utilizing the characteristics of the encoded image in reproducing the binary data, it is possible to suppress the influence of noise that may be included in the encoded image.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of a binary information reproducing apparatus that reads an image from a recording medium on which such an encoded image is recorded and reproduces the binary data. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a recording medium. An image on the recording medium 1 is read by an image input device 2 and stored as binary (black and white) image data by an image storage device 3. As the image input device 2, a known image scanner or a television camera (for example, a CCD camera) can be used. The image data stored in the image storage device 3 is subjected to recognition processing by the arithmetic device 4 in accordance with the structural characteristics of the encoded image, and binary data is reproduced.

The arithmetic unit 4 operates according to the flow shown in FIG.
As a premise, it is assumed that the line intervals of the encoded image are substantially equal, and the number of branches B1 and B2 (normal branches) per line is determined (for example, there are 12 branches corresponding to 12 bits).

First, in 3-1 the arithmetic unit 4 measures a line interval (interval of the stem M) from the stored image data, and sets the interval to W. Next, focusing on the top row (3-2), the starting point S of the row is searched (3-3). Then, it moves to the right position along the center line of the row, that is, the trunk M, and determines whether or not the end point E of the trunk M has been exceeded (3-4). If the moved position is a point on the trunk M, the process proceeds to 3-5, and the image data at positions up / down W / 4 from that point is checked. Branch B as shown in FIG.
1. Since the length of B2 is about half of the interval W between the trunks M, if the checked image data (pixels) is black,
It is thought to indicate a fragment of 1, B2. In particular,
A black pixel at a point W / 4 above the trunk M is a branch B extending to the left side of the trunk M.
The black pixel at the point W / 4 below the stem M is a fragment of the branch B2 extending to the right side of the stem M. Therefore, when a white pixel is found in the check in 3-5, the process returns to 3-4 and the check position is moved right by one. When a black pixel is found, which of the upper and lower black pixels was found? To identify the branch direction of the branch and generate the corresponding bit. That is, the position where the black pixel is found in 3-6 is checked, and when it is above the trunk M, the bit "1" is output (3-7), and when it is below the trunk M, the bit "0" is output. When a black pixel is found both above and below the stem M,
An error occurs (3-9).

When the completion of scanning for one row is detected in 3-4, the process proceeds to 3-10, where the number of bits generated in the processing for one row is compared with a predetermined number, so that an error is included in the row. Check whether or not. For example, when a bit is generated in processing 3-7 or processing 3-8 for one fake branch, the number of bits of the binary data in the row increases by one, so that it can be detected. When there is one mistake in the detection of B1 and B2, the number of bits of the binary data of the row is reduced by one, so that it can be detected. Then, the process proceeds to 3-11, where the presence or absence of a line drawing pattern in the next line is checked (determined from the processing result in 3-1). If the next line remains, a line break mark is output in 3-12. I do. By attaching the line delimiter mark, even if a fake branch is included in the line drawing pattern of the previous line, the effect (desynchronization of the reproduced binary data) due to the fake branch is 2 times that of the previous line. Will be limited to the range of binary data. After the process of 3-12, the process returns to 3-3 to search for the starting point S of the next line.

If it is confirmed in 3-11 that the next line does not remain, the image recognition processing is completed.

As can be understood from the above description, in the reproduction of the binary data, since the line drawing patterns of the lines of the encoded image are discontinuous with each other, the start or the end of the line drawing pattern of each line is recognized and distinguished ( 3-1, 3-3, 3- of FIG.
4), the reproduced binary data is marked with a line delimiter (3-12), and the synchronization of the binary data is set at the start position of a new line, so that fake branches are formed or real branches are formed. Bit development of the binary data caused by the lack of data can be limited to the range of one line.

The description of the embodiment is finished above, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications and changes are possible.

For example, the error check processing for one line of binary data shown in 3-10 in FIG. 3 may not be performed. Also, the plurality of rows L1, L2... In the encoded image need not be parallel and at equal intervals as shown in FIG. 1, and each row has ends S and E independent of the other rows. Is enough.
Therefore, after detecting the starting point S of each row, the arithmetic unit 4 may perform image recognition on the line drawing pattern of a plurality of rows by a plurality of processors in parallel.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the encoded image recorded on the recording medium of the present invention used in the binary information reproducing method and apparatus of the present invention is distributed over one elongated line and the elongated line, Since a line drawing pattern composed of a plurality of branch lines that selectively take one of two different branching modes from an elongated line is defined as one line, and the line drawing pattern is formed of a plurality of lines, the line drawing pattern is formed from a plurality of lines. By utilizing the discontinuity in the reproduction of the binary data, the influence of the noise image can be reduced.

Also, the binary reproducing method and apparatus of the present invention execute the reproduction of the binary data with respect to the line drawing patterns of a plurality of lines recorded on the recording medium separately for each line. Elongated lines are traced from the start point to the end point using the property, and each time a branch line is encountered in the process, a bit is generated according to the branch line, and the bit is generated when the end point of the line drawing pattern line (the end point of the elongated line) is reached Since the error check is performed by checking the number of bits, even if the line drawing pattern of a certain line contains noise, the spread of the asynchronous (shift) phenomenon of the binary data due to the noise is reflected in the line of the line drawing pattern containing the noise. Can be limited within the range of binary data corresponding to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an encoded image recorded on a recording medium according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a binary data reproducing device, and FIG. 3 is an image executed by the arithmetic device of FIG. It is a flowchart of recognition. 1 ... recording medium, 2 ... image input device, 3 ... image storage device, 4 ... arithmetic device, L1, L2, L10 ... line drawing pattern of lines, M ... trunk (elongated line), B1, B2 ... Branches (branch lines).

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An elongate line and a plurality of branches distributed on the elongate line, each of which selectively takes one of two different branching modes from the elongate line for bit coding of binary information. A line drawing pattern consisting of a line and
A step of two-dimensionally reading image information on the recording medium from a recording medium on which an encoded image formed by forming the line drawing pattern is formed, and a step of storing the read image information. The image information is tracked from the start point to the end point of the elongated line for each line of the line drawing pattern of the plurality of lines, and when the branch line is detected in the process, bits of binary information are generated in accordance with the branch mode of the branch line. Decoding the binary information encoded by the encoded image by performing an error check by checking the generated number of bits for each row. Hexadecimal information reproduction method. 2. An elongate line and a plurality of branches distributed on the elongate line, each of which selectively takes one of two different branching modes from the elongate line for bit coding of binary information. A line drawing pattern consisting of a line and
Image input means for two-dimensionally reading image information on the recording medium from a recording medium on which an encoded image formed by forming a plurality of lines of the line drawing pattern is stored; and image information read by the image input means. An image storage unit that tracks from the start point to the end point of the elongated line for each line of the line drawing pattern of the plurality of lines from the image information stored in the image input unit, and detects the branch line in the process. Bits of the binary information are generated according to the branching mode of the branch line, and an error check is performed by checking the number of the generated bits for each row, so that the binary information encoded by the coded image is obtained. And a calculating means for decoding the binary information. 3. The recording medium for use in the binary information reproducing method according to claim 1 or the binary information reproducing apparatus according to claim 2.