PURPOSE: To secure an application of the same program to the optical character readers having different systems, by storing the format control data and then transferring this data by an amount necessary when reading.

CONSTITUTION: When the format control (FC) data is sent to the command decoder 12 from the OCR control unit 11, the FC data transfer command signal is sent to the AND gate 13 from the decoder 12. Thus the FC data equivalent to one page of slip is stored in the FC data storing part 14 through the unit 11. Then the reading command is delivered from the unit 11, and thus the slip reading command signal is sent to the AND gate 16 and the main body 17 of the optical character reader OCR from the decoder 12. In this case, the FC data equivalent to one line and read out of the part 14 through the FC data reading part 15 is supplied to the main body 17. When the main body 17 reads the characters equivalent to one line, the next reading command is delivered from the unit 11.