Hand-operated low cost magnetic character recognition system

Claim 1

Apparatus for magnetically reading and recognizing plural magnetic ink characters disposed sequentially on a surface of a document during manual conveyance of said document relative to a magnetic reading station, said apparatus comprising: structure which permits human hand movement to propel relative movement between said document and said magnetic reading station, said structure permits relative movement in a first direction and in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction; said magnetic reading station including electromagnetic transducer means operatively coupled to said document surface for producing a first electrical signal representing magnetic characteristics of said characters during relative movement occurring between said characters and said reading station; position sensing means for producing electrical position signals indicating a sequence of spaced apart document positions as said document and said magnetic reading station move relative to one another, said position sensing means is operative to sense position for said relative movement occurring in either of said first and second directions; said apparatus further includes direction indicating means coupled to said position sensing means for producing a direction indicating signal indicating the direction said document is conveyed; and character identifying means responsive to said first signal and said position signals for producing electrical output signals that accurately identify said plural characters when said manually propelled relative movement occurs between said document and said magnetic reading station at variable velocities within a velocity range of between 5 inches per second and 110 inches per second said character identifying means produces said electrical output signals in response to either direction of said relative movement; means for sampling said first electrical signal in response to said position signal and for storing said samples; and means connected to receive said direction indicating signal for analyzing said stored samples in an order responsive to said direction indicating signal.

Claim 18

A system for recognizing an aligned series of magnetic characters imprinted upon a manually conveyed document, said system comprising: a slotted member which includes (i) an opposing pair of parallel planar side walls, (ii) a bottom wall that is joined to said side walls in such a manner that said side walls are separated from one another by a predetermined dimension to establish a conveyance path for the document therebetween, wherein said sides walls are vertically oriented relative to said bottom wall, and wherein said side walls provide lateral support for the document wherein said circuit means includes a sample circuit which samples said recognition signal when said position signal occurs as it is manually conveyed between said side walls without substantial drag being imparted thereto so that the document is in a substantially planar state conforming to said planar side walls; mechanical encoder means driven in response to said manual document conveyance along said defined path for generating a position signal indicating positions along said manually conveyed document; magnetic read head means positioned operatively along said path for producing an electrical recognition signal in response to passage of said characters thereby during conveyance of said document relative thereto in response to force imparted by a human hand; and circuit means operative in response to receiving said position and recognition signals for generating an output signal identifying said characters, said circuit means reliably identifying said characters for wide variations of speed as exhibited by said manually conveyed document.

Claim 19

A system for recognizing an aligned series of magnetic characters imprinted upon a manually conveyed document, said system comprising: a slotted member which includes (i) an opposing pair of parallel planar side walls, (ii) a bottom wall that is joined to said side walls in such a manner that said side walls are separated from one another by a predetermined dimension to establish a conveyance path for the document therebetween, wherein said sides walls are vertically oriented relative to said bottom wall, and wherein said side walls provide lateral support for the document wherein said circuit means includes a sample circuit which samples said recognition signal when said position signal occurs as it is manually conveyed between said side walls without substantial drag being imparted thereto so that the document is in a substantially planar state conforming to said planar side walls; mechanical encoder means driven in response to said manual document conveyance along said defined path for generating a position signal indicating positions along said manually conveyed document; magnetic read head means positioned operatively along said path for producing an electrical recognition signal in response to passage of said characters thereby during conveyance of said document relative thereto in response to force imparted by a human hand; and circuit means operative in response to receiving said position and recognition signals for generating an output signal identifying said characters, said circuit means reliably identifying said characters for wide variations of speed as exhibited by said manually conveyed document.