JPS62551B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a print quality measuring gauge for evaluating the print quality of OCR characters printed by a printer.

To evaluate the printing quality of conventional OCR characters,
There was something called a COL (Character Outline Limits) gauge. This COL gauge enlarges the characters printed in standardized characters (JISOCR FONT-B), and the outline of the line width of the enlarged characters is the maximum COL1 (circle whose diameter is the maximum line width) as shown in Figure 1. ,
The outline of the figure drawn when the center is moved along the center line glyph of the character) and the minimum COL2 (the outline of the figure drawn when the center is moved along the center line glyph of the character) and the minimum COL2 (when the circle whose diameter is the minimum line width is moved along the center line glyph of the character) This is to determine whether or not the marking exists within the two outlines (the outline of the figure to be drawn), and evaluates the print quality by adding certain conditions to the measurement of line width and visual confirmation. Ta.

However, with this COL gauge, it is impossible to evaluate and measure print density, which is directly related to OCR reading, and both print density and line width are required as parameters for print quality evaluation. Therefore, by combining an OCR, a computer, an XY plotter, or a printer that can print marks such as dots in a matrix, the characters to be evaluated are read at a predetermined density level, and the read information is used as input data to be sent to a second XY plotter or printer.
Output the figure as shown in the figure or Figure 3,
It was proposed to evaluate the print quality of this output graphic using a COL gauge.

However, since this method is ultimately evaluated visually using a COL gauge, the maximum
It is not possible to measure the area of the part that protrudes from the COL or the distance between the protruding parts, and it is also impossible to measure the area of the missing part of the character shape or the distance between the missing parts within the minimum COL. It was difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a gauge for measuring print quality that can eliminate ambiguity in measuring print quality and quantitatively evaluate the quality of print quality.

To achieve this objective, the print quality measuring gauge of the present invention has a plurality of visible scanning lines arranged in a grid pattern at a density corresponding to the character reading resolution predetermined by OCR, surrounded by a maximum COL and a minimum COL. A pixel is printed on the intersection of the scanning lines existing in the area where the pixel is printed, as shown in Figure 3, and applied with this gauge, the pixel is regarded as a standard pixel, and the standard pixel is calculated. The pixels existing outside and the missing pixels in the area surrounded by the standard pixels are visually counted, and the quality of the print quality is evaluated based on the total number and the distance.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Ideally, the outline of the line width of characters for OCR should be
It must exist in the area between the maximum COL1 and minimum COL2 of the COL gauge. In Figure 4, 3
indicates a standard contour area surrounded by maximum COL1 and minimum COL2.

Now, if you make this standard contour area 3 all black with a predetermined density or higher, read it with a sensor with a predetermined reading resolution using OCR, and enlarge the black recognition points in a matrix shape with a printer and print it, the standard contour Region 3 is expressed by a plurality of pixels as shown in FIG.

The gauge of the present invention corresponds to this, and first, a vertical line 5a is formed on a transparent plate 4 at a density corresponding to the above-mentioned resolution.
and horizontal lines 5b are arranged in a grid pattern, and these are used as scanning lines. The intersections of these scanning lines correspond to the intersections of the rows and columns of the matrix when the characters to be evaluated are composed of pixels printed in a matrix as described above, that is, the individual recognition points in OCR. Therefore, among the intersection points of these scanning lines, a pixel 6 is printed or engraved on the intersection included in the area surrounded by the maximum COL and the minimum COL, and is used as a standard pixel.

When the gauge thus created is applied to the pixel matrix character printed by the printer, the pixels 6 on the gauge and the printed pixels completely overlap.

Next, we will explain how to measure print quality using this gauge.

First, the characters to be evaluated are read using OCR in the same way as above, and the pixels are printed using a printer as recognized. The gauge of the present invention is applied to this printed image, and in this case, the printed image is applied so that the printed pixels and the pixels on the gauge overlap as much as possible. FIG. 6 shows a part of "H" printed in pixels, but when the gauge of the present invention shown in FIG. 5 is applied to this, pixels protruding outside the standard pixels 6 on the gauge Missing pixels 8a to 8c within the area surrounded by 7a to 7f and the standard pixels 6 can be easily found. Count the number of pixels that exist consecutively outside this standard pixel and the number of missing pixels, and check the total number and their arrangement condition, such as whether there are m or more consecutive pixels in the vertical direction and n or more in the horizontal direction. If there are two or more such groups, conditions such as measuring the distance between adjacent groups are added to determine whether the print quality is good or bad.

As explained above, according to the gauge of the present invention,
The quality of printing quality can be expressed quantitatively, which has the effect of eliminating ambiguity from the measurement results of printing quality.

The gauge of the present invention corresponds to the OCR recognition points in the area surrounded by the scanning lines, that is, the part corresponding to the eyes of the grid, and fills in the eyes within the standard outline area.
It is also possible to transform the filled eyes so that they take the place of the pixels.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a COL gauge, Figures 2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining a conventional printing quality measurement method, Figure 4 is a diagram for explaining the gauge of the present invention, and Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining the gauge of the present invention. Figure 6 shows the gauge of the present invention.
The figure is a diagram for explaining a printing quality measuring method using a gauge according to the present invention. 1...Maximum COL, 2...Minimum COL, 4...Transparent plate, 5a...Vertical line, 5b...Horizontal line, 6...Pixel.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A predetermined transparent plate or semi-transparent plate is provided with a plurality of visually visible lines in a grid pattern at a density corresponding to a predetermined reading resolution, and the lines existing in an area surrounded by the maximum COL and the minimum COL A gauge for measuring print quality that is characterized by having pixels printed or engraved on the intersection of the two.