CHARACTER SEPARATING SYSTEM IN USE FOR AN OPTICAL CHARACTER READER

A postal code pattern video signal obtained by optically scanning the postal code area is converted, by a quantitizing circuit, into binary data, i.e. single bit pattern data. The video signal is also converted into multibit pattern data by a A/D converter. The single and multibit pattern data are stored in the single and multibit pattern memories, respectively. The single bit pattern data is masked by the character detecting circuit to set an address of a mask corresponding to chained characters. The multibit pattern memory is designated by the address, so that the multibit pattern data corresponding to the chained characters is read out. The words of multibit pattern data are accumulated for each line, and the lowest level data is detected from the accumulated data as the connecting portions. At the connecting portion, the chained character is separated.