PURPOSE: To recognize the character of a slip even when the slip is transmitted in the reverse direction or in the horizontal direction.

CONSTITUTION: The title device has an image memory 12 to store image data, a slip edge detecting part 13 to detect the tip part coordinates of a slip from the image data and a mark detecting part 14 to decide whether or not a reference mark exists at the prescribed position away from the tip part of the slip by the prescribed distance only. The device has a slip format storing part 15 to store the format information of the slip beforehand, a segmenting instruction converting part 16 to convert the format information of the slip format storing part 15 based on the decided result of the mark detecting part 14, a character segmenting part 17 to segment the character described in the slip from the image memory 12 based on the converted format information and a character recognizing part 18 to recognize the segmented character.