Sheet-recognizing machine

A sheet recognizing apparatus comprising:

• image acquiring means for acquiring image data of a sheet;
• a sheet definition database for storing sheet definition data defining characteristics of the sheet, and
• a sheet image processing terminal for recognizing the image data of the sheet acquired by said image acquiring means by referring to the sheet definition data stored in said sheet definition database,
• wherein said sheet image processing terminal reads the sheet definition data corresponding to the image data of the sheet acquired by said image acquiring means from said sheet definition database to execute a recognizing process, if the image data is recognizable, displays a result of the recognizing process, whereas if the image data is unrecognizable, reports the unrecognizable image data of the sheet to an external, stores new sheet definition data obtained from the external in response to the report in said sheet definition database, and recognizes the unrecognizable image data of the sheet by referring to the new sheet definition data stored in said sheet definition database.

A managing apparatus, comprising:

• a managing server f or defining a characteristic field of a sheet and storing and managing sheet definition data necessary for recognizing the sheet;
• a charge server for storing and managing information on a charge of the sheet definition data, and
• a plurality of sheet recognizing apparatus, connected to said managing server, for recognizing each sheet,
• wherein, said charge server claims a charge each time said managing server supplies the sheet definition data;
• and
• wherein said charge managing server has a first table for storing the number of use times by each of said sheet recognizing apparatus and a second table for managing a charge amount to be claimed to each of said sheet recognizing apparatus, and checks the number of use times and a claimed date of the sheet definition data for each of said sheet recognizing apparatus by referring to the first and second tables.

A sheet charging method for charging to an execution of sheet recognition, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating sheet definition data representative of characteristics of a sheet and configuring a sheet definition database;
• making a contract to use the sheet definition data between a sheet definition data managing apparatus for managing the sheet definition data and a sheet recognizing apparatus for recognizing the sheet by using the sheet definition data;
• making the sheet definition data managing apparatus configure the sheet definition data satisfying requirements of the sheet recognizing apparatus and transmit the configured sheet definition data to the sheet recognizing apparatus;
• making the sheet recognizing apparatus recognize acquired image data of the sheet by using the received sheet definition data and store charge information corresponding to the number of use times of the sheet definition data;
• making the sheet definition data managing apparatus acquire the charge information from the sheet recognizing apparatus and sum up the acquired charge information, and claim a use charge to the sheet recognizing apparatus in accordance with a summed-up result;
• and
• making the sheet recognizing apparatus pay the claimed use charge to the sheet definition data managing apparatus.