Abstract: An apparatus for reading information off a document such as a check is herein disclosed. The apparatus includes an apparatus housing defining a specific path through which the document is intended to pass during normal operation of the apparatus. The apparatus also includes an arrangement including a read head positioned at a fixed point on the path and cooperating circuitry for reading specific information off of the document as the document is caused to move through the path and across the read head. And, the apparatus includes an arrangement for moving the document through the path and across the read head along with causing the document to engage against the read head as the document moves across the read head. This document moving arrangement includes an arrangement supporting a freely rotating idler roller which is positioned to engage the document against the read head.

Abstract: An arrangement for acquiring signal representatives intended to correspond to character representations, out of a set of possible character representations, provided on a substrate that emanate magnetic fields which can be sensed to provide a related waveform. Times of extrema of the waveform are ordered and compared with the ordering of time locations in waveforms expected for the set of possible characters with different orderings being used to eliminate those possible characters having expected waveforms incompatible with the extrema ordered times of the measured waveform.

Abstract: An optical scanning wand is disclosed that provides improved illumination of the document scanned and improved visual control of the movement of the wand. The wand comprises a handle having a hollow tip disposed at an oblique angle thereto. The tip has a scanning window opening at its distal end that defines the target zone through which the image being scanned should pass. In one embodiment light is directed to the document through the transparent tip. In another embodiment the light is directed toward the document by optical fibers from a light source located behind the wand's light sensor and the tip is cut away to provide viewing window openings.

Abstract: A document reader for reading manually fed edge coded documents, comprising a first component including a side wall, a second component orthogonally positioned with respect to the first component and having a second sidewall, the first and second sidewalls positioned adjacent one another so as to form a document receiving slot therebetween, the first sidewall containing an opening, a drive means, the drive means positioned within the first component and adapted to project through the first sidewall opening and substantially across the slot, the second sidewall including an opening, reading means contained within the second component, the reading means including a light source, means for directing light from the source through the second wall opening to the document, means responsive to light reflected from the document for converting the reflected light to digital data, control means coupled to the drive means, sensing means positioned proximate to the slot for sensing the precise location of the document, th

Abstract: A system for inputting signals to a terminal includes a first interface having an input port, the first interface including a decoder for decoding the signals received at said port for application to the terminal. Two external sources of signals are OR'ed to the same port. One or both the sources may include an external input device and an interface for translating signals from a first code output from the input device to a second code which the first interface is adapted to accept. In order to OR the outputs of the sources, the sources may have open collector output transistors connected to a common collector resistor in the first interface.

Abstract: An optical scanning system operates asynchronously by electro-optically detecting movement of a scanning unit directly from the data being scanned. A first embodiment of the system includes two sets of optical sensors in a handheld unit. One set extends transversely of a scanning direction for detecting the optical pattern, and a second set is approximately aligned with the scanning direction for detecting relative movement between the pattern and the scanning unit. Relative movement is detected by detecting a pattern in a first subset of the second set of sensors and then sensing a shift of the detected pattern to a second subset of the second set of sensors. In response to detecting a unit movement, the optical states of the first set of sensor elements are polled to record a portion of the pattern along the line.

Abstract: A data acquisition control method and system for alphanumeric character recognition. An unknown pattern is normalized, the normalized pattern is then divided into top and bottom parts. A center of mass is calculated for the two parts and is utilized for vertically aligning the unknown pattern. The vertically aligned pattern is width normalized and feature vectors are obtained. The feature vectors of the unknown pattern are then compared with feature vectors of known patterns stored in memory and the characters are identified.