JP2000246184A - Address specifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an address specifying device by which the destinations of matter to be delivered such as mail can be specified at high speed. SOLUTION: A delivery area code recognizing part 3 detects a zip code area from image data of mail 1 inputted by an image inputting part 2 and recognizes a zip code in the area by using a letter recognizing part 5. An address line recognizing part 4 detects an area consisting of letter lines other than the zip code from the inputted image data and also detects the lines which are a set of letter strings in the area and recognizes letter strings in each line thereof by using a letter recognizing part 5. A range specified letter inspecting part 9 detects, from the output of the address line recognizing part 4, name line discriminating letters contained therein to specify the letter strings as destination name lines. A destination specifying part 6 retrieves destination address information corresponding to the specified destination name lines specified by a range specified letter inspecting part 9 from a destination address data base 8 for the delivery area of the obtained zip codes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a destination specifying apparatus for specifying a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail in a mail processing apparatus or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the operation of sorting delivery items such as mail has been increasingly automated. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to automatically sort postal matter, an ID (identification information) such as a postal code and a part or all of a delivery address are read by an optical character reading means, and this is recognized and classified. Recently, the postal code has been reduced to seven digits, and information for specifying the delivery destination of mail has been strengthened.

[0003]

The most important item in performing automation is whether enough information can be read to specify a destination. Taking mail as an example,
A three- or five-digit postal code has been used to determine the destination area to which the mail should be sent, and in addition to reading the delivery address, the destination was specified. Otherwise, it is difficult to identify the destination.

[0004] To compensate for this, not only the delivery address,
By reading the delivery destination name, it is becoming possible to specify a postal matter whose destination is difficult to specify. However, when the delivery destination name is complicated, such as when the delivery destination name is long or when it is composed of a character string that is difficult to recognize characters, it is difficult to specify the delivery destination address, and the Even if you apply a method that uses a certain delivery name,
There is a problem that it takes time to specify the delivery destination name.

[0005] In addition, these complicated destinations have a high possibility that a delivery address is erroneously recognized as a delivery name as a delivery destination name.
In this case, the delivery destination cannot be specified.

In order to compensate for these ambiguities, a method of applying a seven-digit zip code capable of considerably specifying a delivery address and using all destinations other than the zip code as search destination names is used. And an improvement in the recognition rate can be expected. In this case, since the search target range is widened, the time required for the specification becomes a problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a destination specifying apparatus capable of specifying a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail at a high speed.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a destination specifying apparatus which reads an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputs image data, and image data input by the image input means. A delivery area code recognition means for detecting a delivery area code present in the detected area, and a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means. Destination area recognizing means for detecting a line which is a set of character strings included in the detected area, and recognizing a character string included in each detected line, and storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information. From the storage means and the line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means and the character string contained therein, to detect the name line identification characters contained therein, A range designation character inspection unit that specifies a character string as a delivery destination name line, and a delivery area of a delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognition unit, corresponding to the delivery destination name line specified by the range designation character inspection unit. And a delivery destination specifying means for searching delivery address information to be performed from the storage means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a destination specifying apparatus which reads an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputs image data, and indicates a delivery area code based on the image data input by the image input means. Detecting an area, a delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code present in the detected area, and detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line which is a set of character strings included in the detected area, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; and storage means for storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information. From a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means and a character string included in the line, a character considered to be a delivery destination name using information accompanying the character. Character-related information investigating means for specifying the delivery area code obtained by the delivery area code recognizing means, and the delivery address information corresponding to the delivery destination name line specified by the character-related information investigating means. Delivery destination specifying means for searching from the storage means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a destination specifying apparatus which reads an image of a destination surface of a delivery and inputs image data, and indicates a delivery area code based on the image data input by the image input means. Detecting an area, a delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code present in the detected area, and detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line which is a set of character strings included in the detected area, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; and storage means for storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information. From the lines other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing means and the character strings contained in the lines, a character string considered to be a delivery destination name from the positional relationship of the character strings is specified. Line location information investigating means, and for the delivery area of the delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognizing means, the delivery address information corresponding to the delivery name line specified by the line location information investigating means is stored in the storage means. And delivery destination specifying means for searching from.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a destination specifying apparatus which reads an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputs image data, and indicates a delivery area code based on the image data input by the image input means. Detecting an area, a delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code present in the detected area, and detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line which is a set of character strings included in the detected area, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; and storage means for storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information. Detecting a name line identification character included in a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means and a character string included in the line, and converting the character string to a delivery destination name From a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing unit and a character string contained in the line and a character string included in the range designation character inspection unit that specifies the line and outputs the evaluation value, the delivery is performed using information accompanying the character. A character-related information investigating unit that specifies a character string that is considered to be a destination name and outputs an evaluation value of the character, and a line other than a delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition unit and a character string included in the line. A line position information investigating unit that specifies a character string that is considered to be a delivery destination name from the column positional relationship and outputs an evaluation value thereof; the range designating character inspecting unit, character related information inspecting unit, and line position information From each delivery name line specified by the survey means and its evaluation value, a line with the most probable delivery name is determined by evaluating these factors. For the delivery area of the delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognizing means, the delivery address information corresponding to the delivery name row determined by the delivery name determining means is stored in the storage means. And delivery destination specifying means for searching.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a destination specifying apparatus, comprising: first input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data; A delivery area code recognizing means for detecting an area indicating the area code and recognizing a delivery area code present in the detected area; and a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the first input means. Destination area recognizing means for detecting a line which is a set of character strings included in the detected area, and recognizing a character string included in each detected line, and storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information. From the first storage means and the line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means and the character string contained therein, a name line identification character contained therein is detected, and the character is detected. From a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing unit and a character string included in the range designation character inspection unit that specifies A character-related information investigating unit that specifies a character string that seems to be present, and a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing unit and a character string included in the line. Line position information checking means for specifying a character string considered to be assumed, and each delivery destination name line specified by the range designation character checking means, character related information checking means, and line position information checking means are set in advance. A delivery name determining means for determining a line in which the most probable delivery name is described by using a parameter for determining a delivery name line, and the delivery area code recognition A delivery destination specifying means for searching delivery address information corresponding to a delivery name line determined by the delivery destination name determining means from the first storage means, for a delivery area of a delivery area code obtained from a step; By using the image data input by the first input means and the delivery address information and the like searched by the delivery destination specifying means, it is possible to request the operator for correct / incorrect information and parameter update for the search result of the delivery address information. Second input means for performing an input operation such as the above, a second storage means for storing the correctness information input by the second input means, and a parameter input from the second input means. A determination element updating unit for updating a parameter of the delivery destination name determining unit by referring to the contents of the second storage unit in response to an update request;

[0013] According to the first aspect, for each line information passed as the delivery destination name, the range of the line on which the delivery destination name is described is specified using information such as a title and a trade name.
The search range can be narrowed down. For example, the search can be performed at a higher speed than a method of searching for all the lines written in the delivery without any index. Therefore, it is possible to quickly specify a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail.

[0014] According to the second invention, for each line information passed as the delivery destination name, the line in which the delivery destination name is described is specified by using information on characters included in the line, thereby narrowing the search range. For example, a search can be performed at a higher speed than a method of searching for all the lines written in a delivery without an index. Therefore, it is possible to quickly specify a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the line in which the delivery name is described is specified by using the information on the position information of the line described in the delivery among the candidate lines of the delivery name line,
The search range can be narrowed down. For example, the search can be performed at a higher speed than a method of searching for all the lines written in the delivery without any index. Therefore, it is possible to quickly specify a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the first to third aspects of the present invention are combined to specify the line on which the delivery destination name is described, thereby respecting the advantage of each invention and absorbing the disadvantage. Can be. Therefore, the delivery destination name line can always be specified stably, and the delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail can be specified at high speed.

According to the fifth invention, when the determined delivery destination name line is wrong, the correction is made and the wrong cause is stored in the storage means. By appropriately reflecting the search, the delivery destination name can be determined according to the situation. This facilitates adjustment and helps reduce costs.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of a destination specifying apparatus according to the first embodiment. The destination specifying device according to the first embodiment searches for each line information passed as the delivery destination name by specifying the range of the line in which the delivery destination name is written using information such as a title and a trade name. The range is narrowed down and specified at high speed. The characteristics of the line with the delivery name include proper nouns, such as "sama" and "dono"
There is a feature that a title such as "(corporation)" is added, and that a sender name does not have a title. Therefore, here, the delivery destination name line is specified by checking whether or not there is an honorific title and whether or not there is an organization name identifier.

First, the outline of the apparatus will be described. In FIG. 1, a destination surface of a mail 1 as a delivery is optically read as an image using an image input unit 2, and image data is input. The image data input by the image input unit 2 is transferred to the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, respectively. In the delivery area code recognition unit 3, the mail 1
The area code such as the postal code is obtained from the image data of the mail 1 using the character recognition unit 5.

The destination line recognizing unit 4 cuts out a character string other than the area code (postal code) as a line, and recognizes the characters included in the line as characters using the character recognizing unit 5.
In this case, the recognition line numbers are assigned in order from the right side when the mail 1 is vertical writing, and from the top when the mail 1 is horizontal writing.

As described above, the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4 are used to input the image of the mail 1 as a group of characters to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. The delivery destination specifying unit 6 can perform a high-speed search by narrowing down a plurality of delivery destination name candidates, and can accurately and quickly search for a delivery destination name even if there is some misreading. is there.

At this time, after determining which line is to be searched using the range designating character inspection unit 9, the line is read from the delivery destination database (delivery destination DB) 8 by the preceding delivery area code recognition unit 3. The delivery address information is searched for the area of the character string (postal code) using the delivery destination name as a key and output as delivery address information 7.

Next, each part will be described in detail.

For example, the delivery area code recognition unit 3
The destination reading technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-29179 is used. In this destination reading technology, a portion constituting a postal code is cut out of an image image of a letter read optically, decomposed into characters, and recognized. Note that the recognition part is separated as a character recognition part 5 so as to be shared with the destination line recognition part 4.

For example, if an image image as shown in FIG. 2 is input, as shown in FIG. 3, the delivery area code area E1 is recognized as an area where the delivery area code is written, and the character " “2108501” is recognized as a character using the character recognizing unit 5 and output to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

The destination line recognizing section 4 cuts out a portion (line) of the optically read image data of the postal matter 1 other than the postal code, decomposes it into characters, and recognizes it. The destination line recognizing unit 4 includes a delivery area code recognizing unit 3.
The character recognition unit 5 is used in the same manner as described above. For line segmentation and character recognition, for example, a mail address area detection technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-30739,
The address area detection technique described in Japanese Patent No. 3747 is used.

For example, if an image image as shown in FIG. 2 is input, as shown in FIG. 4, six lines 0801 to 0806 are cut out as address areas, and character recognition is performed. In this example, reference numeral 080
It is assumed that erroneous recognition is performed one character at a time on each line of 2,080,0805. Each line is output to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.
At the same time, information related to the line (coordinate information, positional relationship information, handwritten print type information, etc.) and information related to characters (character size information, character spacing information, etc.) are sent to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

The delivery destination specifying unit 6 narrows down the delivery destination name candidates from the delivery area code (postal code) and the delivery destination name candidates input from the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, and provides a delivery destination database. 8 is to extract delivery address information corresponding to the delivery destination name. Note that the line narrowing means such as the range designation character inspection unit 9 is used for this narrowing.

The operation of the delivery destination specifying unit 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, step S
In step 1, it is checked whether a delivery area code has been input. If the delivery area code does not exist, the search target area cannot be narrowed down. Therefore, the area is rejected in step S2, and the fact that it failed is output in step S9, and then the processing is terminated. If the delivery area code exists, the process proceeds to step S3, and a search target area is selected.

Next, all the input line information, coordinate information, positional relationship information, handwritten print type information, character size information, and character spacing information are input to the search determination unit in step S4, and the search target line and its evaluation are input. Get the value. This search determination unit can be changed according to the application, and in this embodiment, the range designation character inspection unit 9 corresponds to this.

After the search target line and its evaluation value are obtained by the range designating character inspection unit 9, it is determined in step S5 whether or not the search is actually performed. The determination is made based on the evaluation value obtained in step S4. If it is determined that the search is not performed, the process proceeds to step S9, and a message indicating that the search has failed is performed, and the process ends. If it is determined that the search is executed, step S
The process proceeds to step S6, and the delivery destination database 8 is searched for delivery address information. Regarding this search, for example,
The technique described in the word recognition technique of Japanese Patent No. 2566842 is used.

After the search, if it is determined in step S7 that the delivery destination has been specified, the process proceeds to step S8, where the delivery address information is output, and the process ends. If it is determined that it has not been specified, the process proceeds to step S9, in which a failure is displayed and the process ends.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, the delivery destination database 8 has a table in which a large number of records (delivery records) in which the delivery destination household is one unit are stored. The record includes an ID, a delivery area code (a zip code in this example), block information, and a delivery destination name (usually a person's name, a trade name, etc.). In addition, it has a table for searching. The details are described in the word recognition technology of Japanese Patent Application No. 9-256842 as described above. However, in brief, in order to search this delivery record at high speed, which ID corresponds to which area , A kanji table for storing which kanji is included in which record for each area, and a dictionary table.

The range designating character inspection unit 9 includes a delivery destination identification unit 6
When all the line information, coordinate information, positional relationship information, handwritten print type information, character size information, and character spacing information are received from, the line most likely to be the delivery destination name is selected based on these information and set as a search target. Delivery destination specifying unit 6 with evaluation value
To send to.

The operation of the range designation character inspection unit 9 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S11, a counter for counting rows is initialized,
Hereinafter, the processes from step S12 to step S21 are performed for the number of input lines. That is, step S1
In step 3, it is checked whether the range designation flag is set in another line. Here, it is assumed that two large and individual range designation flags exist for each row.

If it is determined in step S13 that the range designation flag has been set, it is checked whether a character string indicating a company or organization exists at the head of the target line (the line counted by the counter) (step S14). ), If present, sets a large range designation flag for the target line (step S1)
5). In this case, the character strings indicating the company and the organization include, for example, “stock company”, “(stock)”, “limited company”,
"(Yes)" and "Foundations". After setting the range designation flag (large), the counter is advanced and the target line is changed to the next line.

If it is determined in step S13 that the range designation flag has not been set, the flow advances to step S16 to check whether the last few characters indicate a cohabitant or a stopover destination. In this case, the character string indicating the cohabitant or the drop-in destination includes “samakata”, “notice”, and the like. As a result of checking, if it is, the process proceeds to step S21, and the target is changed to the next line. If not, the process proceeds to step S17, and it is determined whether a character string indicating a company or an organization exists in the last few characters. In this case, the character strings indicating the company and the organization are, for example, “stock company”, “(stock)”, “KK”, “limited company”,
"(Yes)" and "Laboratory".

If there is a check in step S17,
This range designation flag (large) is set (step S1).
8) In step S21, the counter is advanced to change the target line. If not, the flow advances to step S19 to check whether or not a character string indicating a title is present at the end. In this case, the character string indicating the title is "like", "lord", "gochu", or the like. If there is, a range designation flag (individual) is set in step S20, and the flow advances to step S21 to change the target line.

After checking the presence or absence of the range designation character for all the lines in this way, in step S22, the line having the range designation flag and the type thereof are checked. Output with the evaluation value added. The presence or absence of the range designation flag is output (step S23), and the process ends.

Next, the overall operation will be described with reference to the image of the mail 1 shown in FIG. When the image shown in FIG. 2 is input from the image input unit 2, the delivery area code recognition unit 3 recognizes the delivery area code (in this case, a postal code) together with the character recognition unit 5 as shown in FIG. The delivered delivery area code (2108501) is output to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

At the same time, the destination line recognizing unit 4 recognizes the destination line constituting the mail 1 and its characters using the character recognizing unit 5, and as shown in FIG.
Recognize the six lines from 0806 to the characters contained therein. At the same time, the destination line recognition unit 4 acquires the position of the line in the mail 1, the size of each character, and the pitch between characters in the line, and outputs these information to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

The delivery destination specifying unit 6 specifies a line considered to be a delivery destination among the lines 0801 to 0806 based on the input information. First, after checking whether the delivery area code is specified, various information obtained from the destination line recognition unit 4 is input to the range designation character inspection unit 9.

The range designating character inspection section 9 checks whether or not each line has a character string indicating a company or a group at the beginning, a character string indicating a company or a group, a character string indicating a cohabitant, a stopover, and a title at the end. Check if there is a character string indicating In the example of FIG. 4, the character string of “(corporation)” indicating a company is at the beginning of the line 0803 and the character of “sama” indicating the title is at the end of the line 0804. Therefore, the range designation flag (Oguchi ) And the range designation flag (individual) in line 0804
Stand up. The evaluation value is added based on the raised flag,
Here, an evaluation value of “2” is added to the row 0803 because the range designation flag (large) is set, and an evaluation value of “1” is added to the row 0804 because the range designation flag (individual) is set. The designated flag is also different between large and individual. The range designation character inspection unit 9 sends the evaluation value for each line to the delivery destination identification unit 6, and sends information indicating that the range designation flag is present to the delivery destination identification unit 6.

The delivery destination specifying unit 6 uses these evaluation values to
It is checked whether delivery address information corresponding to the line exists in the delivery destination database 8. At this time, a range corresponding to the delivery area code previously recognized by the delivery area code recognition unit 3 is searched. Here, assuming that a delivery record as shown in FIG. 6 is stored in the delivery destination database 8, the delivery record with the ID “2682454” has the same delivery area code, and the character string constituting the line 0803 , "Stock", "east", and "Kyo", it is assumed that it was adopted as a delivery destination.

Similarly, it is assumed that the delivery destination database 8 is searched from the character string constituting the line 0804, and the delivery address information cannot be obtained. In this case, the delivery record whose ID is "2682454" extracted from the delivery destination database 8 is selected as the delivery destination, and the delivery destination name "Tokyo Co., Ltd." is obtained.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
By searching for information showing titles and large items for the determination of the delivery name line, the delivery name line can be narrowed down, there is no index, compared to the method of searching all lines written on mail , It is possible to search at high speed. This method is considered to be highly effective because it usually searches for characters in a letter. In addition, it is considered that the effect is high in the case of print type characters having a relatively high character recognition rate.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 8 schematically shows a configuration of a destination specifying device according to the second embodiment. The destination specifying device according to the second embodiment specifies, for each line information passed as a delivery destination name, a line in which the delivery destination name is written using information on characters included in the line, thereby obtaining a search range. Are narrowed down and specified at high speed. Normally, in the case of mail using handwritten characters, the delivery destination name tends to be written in characters larger than characters in other lines, and this is used.

First, the outline of the apparatus will be described. In FIG. 8, the destination surface of the mail 1 is optically read as an image using the image input unit 2, and image data is input. The image data input by the image input unit 2 is transferred to the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, respectively. The delivery area code recognition unit 3 acquires the area code (postal code) of the mail 1 from the image data of the mail 1 using the character recognition unit 5.

The destination line recognizing unit 4 cuts out a character string other than the area code (postal code) as a line, and recognizes the characters included in the line as characters using the character recognizing unit 5.
In this case, the recognition line numbers are assigned in order from the right side when the mail 1 is vertical writing, and from the top when the mail 1 is horizontal writing.

As described above, using the delivery area code recognizing unit 3 and the destination line recognizing unit 4, an image of the mail 1 that is recognized as a character group is input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. The delivery destination specifying unit 6 uses the character-related information research unit 10 to determine which line is to be searched, and then reads the character string (postal mail) read from the delivery destination database 8 by the previous delivery area code recognition unit 3. For the area of (number), the delivery address information is searched using the delivery destination name as a key and output as delivery address information 7.

Next, each part will be described in detail.

The delivery area code recognition section 3, destination line recognition section 4, character recognition section 5, delivery destination specifying section 6, and delivery destination database 8 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted here, and only the character related information investigation unit 10 will be described.

The character-related information investigating section 10 is, among various information input from the delivery destination specifying section 6, line information such as the position of the line on the destination surface of the postal matter 1, the size and pitch of characters included in the line. The line which constitutes the delivery destination name is specified from information related to characters such as.

The operation of the character-related information investigating section 10 is as follows.
This will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, in step S31, various information is obtained from the delivery destination specifying unit 6. Next, in step S32, the counter for counting the rows is initialized, and thereafter, the processing from step S33 to step S40 is performed for the number of input rows.

That is, in step S34, a target line is selected. In step S35, it is determined whether the target line is a line of handwritten characters or a line of print characters. If the target line is a line of handwritten characters, the handwriting flag of the line is turned on in step S36. To If the line is not a line composed of handwritten characters, step S37
Turn off the handwriting flag with.

Next, in step S38, the average value of the size of the character (the diagonal length of the minimum rectangle surrounding the character) included in the target line is obtained, and at the same time, the difference between the maximum size and the minimum size is obtained. Is the deviation. In step S39, the character spacing of the target line (the shortest distance of the minimum rectangle surrounding each character of two adjacent characters) is checked, and the average value is obtained. Measure the deviation.
Then, the process proceeds to step S40 to change the target row.

After the average value and the deviation regarding the character size and the average value and the deviation regarding the character spacing are obtained for all the lines, the evaluation value e of each line is calculated in step S41. Here, it is assumed that the evaluation value e is higher as the variation in the character size is larger, and is higher as the variation in the character interval is larger. In addition, it is assumed that the evaluation value is higher in the case of a handwritten character line than in the case of a print type line. Thus, the evaluation value e is calculated by the following equation.

Evaluation value e = (α × (character size deviation /
Average value of character size) + β × (deviation of character spacing)) ×
γ This evaluation value is calculated for all rows, and
Takes the variance s of the evaluation value. The variance s is calculated by the following equation in the same manner as the standard deviation.

Variance s = (Σ (Evaluation value of each row e−Average value E of evaluation values of all rows) ² / (Number of all rows n−1)) ^1/2 After the above calculation, at step S 43, The rows are sorted in the descending order, and the evaluation values e and the variances s of all the rows are output in step S44, and the process ends.

Next, the overall operation will be described using the image of the mail 1 shown in FIG. As in the first embodiment described above, after the delivery area code and the line information are recognized as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the respective information is input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

Here, it is assumed that the information on each line and character used in this apparatus is as shown in FIG. 11, and that the evaluation value e is calculated at the right end in FIG. When the average evaluation value E is obtained from the group of evaluation values e, it becomes “0.43” by the calculation of the following equation 1. When the variance s is obtained from the group of evaluation values e and the average evaluation value E, the calculation of the following equation 2 It becomes "0.545". The evaluation value group e and the variance value s are sent to the delivery destination specifying unit 6.

[0065]

(Equation 1)

[0066]

(Equation 2)

The delivery destination specifying unit 6 determines which row is to be searched from the obtained evaluation value group e and the variance value s.
Specifically, a row having the largest value obtained by multiplying each obtained evaluation value by a variance value or a row having a value equal to or more than a certain value is set as a search target. In this example, it is assumed that the rows 0804 and 1803 having high evaluation values are to be searched. A search is performed for each of these lines using the delivery destination database 8 to obtain a solution. Since the retrieval of these rows is the same as the retrieval performed in the first embodiment, the description here is omitted, but the delivery record of the ID “2682454” extracted from the delivery destination database 8 is omitted. Is selected as the delivery destination, and a delivery name of “Tokyo Co., Ltd.” is obtained.

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
By using the information of the character size, character spacing, and character type to determine the delivery destination name line, the delivery destination name line can be narrowed down. In the second embodiment, usually, handwritten characters which are relatively frequently described by changing the size of characters included in each line of a delivery address line, a delivery name line, a sender address line, and a sender name line are described. It is considered to be highly effective for the composed letter of mail, and the delivery address can be specified at high speed.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.

FIG. 12 schematically shows a configuration of a destination specifying apparatus according to the third embodiment. The destination specifying device according to the third embodiment includes a delivery destination name candidate line,
By specifying the line on which the delivery destination name is written by using the information on the position of the line described in the mail 1, the search range is narrowed and the line is specified at high speed. In particular, in the case of mail, in general, a delivery destination name tends to be written in the center of the delivery destination description surface, and this is used.

First, the outline of the apparatus will be described. In FIG. 12, the destination surface of the mail 1 is optically read as an image using the image input unit 2, and image data is input. The image data input by the image input unit 2 is transferred to the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, respectively.
The delivery area code recognition unit 3 acquires the area code (postal code) of the mail 1 from the image data of the mail 1 using the character recognition unit 5.

The destination line recognizing section 4 cuts out a character string other than the area code (postal code) as a line, and recognizes the characters included in the line as characters using the character recognizing section 5.
In this case, the recognition line numbers are assigned in order from the right side when the mail 1 is vertical writing, and from the top when the mail 1 is horizontal writing.

As described above, the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4 are used to input an image of the mail 1 that is recognized as a character group to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. The delivery destination specifying unit 6 uses the line location information investigation unit 11 to determine which line is to be searched, and then reads the character string (postal mail) read from the delivery destination database 8 by the delivery area code recognition unit 3. For the area of (number), the delivery address information is searched using the delivery destination name as a key and output as delivery address information 7.

Next, each part will be described in detail.

The delivery area code recognizing unit 3, destination line recognizing unit 4, character recognizing unit 5, delivery destination specifying unit 6, and delivery destination database 8 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted here, and only the row position information checking unit 11 will be described.

The line position information investigating section 11 has a delivery destination specifying section 6
Of the delivery destination name is specified from the information related to the position of the line among the various information input from.

The operation of the row position information checking section 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S51, information on the position and size of a character included in each line is obtained to obtain outline information. The size in this case is different from that of the second embodiment described above in that it is the size of the character in the X-axis direction and the size in the Y-axis direction. For each line, a minimum rectangle including all characters is formed from the size of all characters forming the line. The coordinates of the four corner points of this minimum rectangle are defined as outline information. The minimum rectangle is defined as a contour.

Next, in step S52, a representative line segment of a row is determined from the outline information. In the case of vertical writing, a representative line segment of a line refers to a side having a length of a line segment parallel to the Y-axis among sides constituting the contour and passing through the center of four points constituting the contour. In the case of horizontal writing, it is parallel to the X axis. After the representative line segment is determined, the coordinates of the endpoint of the line segment are obtained.

Further, in step S53, step S53
From the representative line segment group obtained in 52, the central point of the whole is obtained. First, a representative point of a line segment is determined from the coordinates of the center point of the representative line segment group, and the average value of the representative points is set as the center point. Next, in step S54, a score is assigned to each row. This score is determined by the distance from the center point to the representative point of the representative line of each row, and is determined to be higher as the distance is closer and lower as the distance is longer. Specifically, it is determined by the following equation.

Score = δ / (distance from center point to representative point) In step S 55, a certain value is subtracted from the score for the line corresponding to the 0th line. Then, after outputting the scores for all the rows in step S56, the processing is terminated.

Next, the overall operation will be described using the image of the mail 1 shown in FIG. As in the first embodiment described above, after the delivery area code and the line information are recognized as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the respective information is input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. The delivery destination specifying unit 6 calls the line position information checking unit 11 here. The row position information checking unit 11 operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
51 is skipped, and the outline information is set to the outline information in the second column from the left end in FIG.

In step S52, a representative line segment is calculated.
This is omitted, and the representative point of the representative line is shown instead. Since the image image of FIG. 2 is written vertically, the coordinates of the representative line segment are represented by the X coordinate of the representative point of the line segment and the Y coordinate of the end point of the outline information.
And coordinates. If the representative point shown in FIG. 14 is used to obtain the center point in step S53, the center point becomes "82, 55" by the calculation of the following equation (3).

[0083]

(Equation 3)

When the distances from the center point to the respective line segments are obtained, the values in the column indicating the distances to the center point in FIG. 14 are obtained. This is used to calculate the score. Assuming that δ is “100”, the score of each row is a value at the right end of FIG. However, in step S55, the 0th line is to subtract a certain value from the score, so that the constant value (1.
0) is subtracted from 0804, 0 in descending order of the score.
803, 0802, 0805, 0806, 0801. These scores are output to the delivery destination specifying unit 6, and the line position information investigating unit 11 ends the processing. Delivery destination identification unit 6
Is for the delivery destination database 8 in order from the row with the highest score obtained or for rows having a score equal to or higher than a certain value.
Is used to retrieve delivery address information to obtain a solution.

As described above, according to the third embodiment,
By using the positional relationship of each line constituting the delivery destination to determine the delivery destination name line, the delivery destination name line can be narrowed down. In the third embodiment, the representative line segment of each row is calculated by a simple calculation, and the value obtained by multiplying the reciprocal of the easily calculated value of the distance from the central point of the entire line to each representative line segment by a constant is used as the evaluation value. , It is possible to narrow down at a higher speed.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.

FIG. 15 schematically shows a configuration of a destination specifying apparatus according to the fourth embodiment. The destination specifying device according to the fourth embodiment includes a range specifying character inspection unit 9 according to the first embodiment and a character-related information inspection unit according to the second embodiment, for each line information passed as a delivery destination name. 10. By using the line position information investigating unit 11 in the third embodiment, the line in which the delivery destination name is written is more surely specified, thereby narrowing the search range and specifying the line at high speed.

First, the outline of the apparatus will be described. In FIG. 15, the destination surface of the mail 1 is optically read as an image using the image input unit 2 and image data is input. The image data input by the image input unit 2 is transferred to the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, respectively.
The delivery area code recognition unit 3 acquires the area code (postal code) of the mail 1 from the image data of the mail 1 using the character recognition unit 5.

The destination line recognizing unit 4 cuts out a character string other than the area code (postal code) as a line, and recognizes the characters included in the line as characters using the character recognizing unit 5.
In this case, the recognition line numbers are assigned in order from the right side when the mail 1 is vertical writing, and from the top when the mail 1 is horizontal writing.

As described above, using the delivery area code recognizing unit 3 and the destination line recognizing unit 4, the image of the postal matter 1 recognized as a character group is input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. At this time, the delivery destination specifying unit 6 determines the delivery destination name
2 is used. The delivery destination name determination unit 12 determines the delivery destination identification unit 6.
The information obtained from is assigned to the information required for each of the name and line specifying means of the range designation character inspection unit 9, character-related information inspection unit 10, and line position information inspection unit 11, and the line information to be searched is determined from each of the assigned destinations. After they are obtained, they are processed to select the row to be searched most.

The number of the selected line is passed to the delivery destination specifying unit 6, and the delivery destination specifying unit 6 first determines which line is to be searched and then reads the delivery area code from the delivery destination database 8. For the delivery area read by the recognition unit 3, the delivery address information is searched using the delivery name as a key,
Output as the delivery address information 7.

Next, each part will be described in detail.

The delivery area code recognizing unit 3, destination line recognizing unit 4, character recognizing unit 5, destination specifying unit 6, destination database 8, range designating character inspecting unit 9, character related information investigating unit 10, line position The information investigation unit 11 is the same as that of the first, second, and third embodiments described above,
Here, the description is omitted, and only the delivery destination name determination unit 12 will be described.

[0094] The delivery destination name judging section 12 is provided with a delivery destination specifying section 6.
16 is used to specify which line is most likely to be the delivery destination name by using all of the various information input from FIG.
Specific processing will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S61, a counter i for counting rows is initialized, and thereafter, processing from step S62 to step S68 is performed for the number of input rows. That is, first, in step S63, the evaluation value ai of a line determined to be a line having a title or a large mouth is calculated using the range designation character inspection unit 9, and then, the step S63 is performed.
In step 64, the evaluation value bi of the line determined to be most likely to be the name line is calculated from the character size and the character interval using the character-related information inspection unit 10, and then in step S65, the line position information inspection unit 11 Is used to calculate the evaluation value ci of the row determined to be the most likely name row from the positional relationship of the rows.

Next, in step S66, an overall evaluation value vi is calculated using the evaluation values ai, bi, and ci according to the following equation. Note that α,
β and γ are parameters for determining how much each evaluation value ai, bi, ci calculated in steps S63, S64, S65 is used.

Vi = αai + βbi + γci Next, in step S67, the total evaluation value vi calculated as described above is stored in a buffer. Then, the process proceeds to step S68 to change the target row.

Thus, the total evaluation value v
After obtaining i, in step S69, the overall evaluation value vi having the highest evaluation value is searched from the buffer. Next, in step S70, the number i of the row corresponding to the retrieved comprehensive evaluation value vi having the highest evaluation value is output, and the process ends.

By using the fourth embodiment, it is possible to output a line which seems to be the name of a mail which could not be sorted out by the simple application of the first, second and third embodiments. become. In the fourth embodiment, for example, FIG.
As shown in (1), the evaluation values obtained from the respective name line specifying means are linearly combined, and the line that is considered to contain the name most is output.

In FIG. 17, a score is calculated by multiplying the score obtained from each name line specifying means by a ratio. Here, the range designation character inspection by the range designation character inspection unit 9 is given the greatest weight, and the line position information by the line position information inspection unit 11 is viewed as a reference level. According to this, the delivery destination database 8 can be actually searched and found in line 0
Since 803 is the most evaluated, by inputting this information into the delivery destination specifying unit 6, the name line is specified by the range designation character checking unit 9, character related information checking unit 10, and line position information checking unit 11 alone. It is possible to specify a delivery destination faster than in the case where the user has been waiting.

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment,
The evaluation values of the first to third embodiments are combined by combining the evaluation values of the first to third embodiments described above, and parameters obtained by linearly combining the evaluation values are adopted as the evaluation values. Respect and be able to absorb weak points. For this reason, the delivery destination name line can always be specified stably.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described.

FIG. 18 schematically shows a configuration of a destination specifying apparatus according to the fifth embodiment. The destination specifying device according to the fifth embodiment is, for example, a case where the delivery destination name line specified in the fourth embodiment is wrong and the wrong delivery destination name is searched from the delivery destination database 8. , Correct this mistake and make a decision
Each of the evaluations of the range designation character inspection unit 9, the character related information inspection unit 10, and the line position information inspection unit 11 used in the delivery destination name determination unit 12 are appropriately stored using the determination element update unit 15. Change the parameter that determines the specific gravity of the value,
By correcting the tendency of mistakes, it is possible to flexibly cope with a change in the tendency of mail.

First, the outline of the apparatus will be described. In FIG. 18, the destination surface of the mail 1 is optically read as an image using the image input unit 2, and image data is input. The image data input by the image input unit 2 is transferred to the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4, respectively.
The delivery area code recognition unit 3 acquires the area code (postal code) of the mail 1 from the image data of the mail 1 using the character recognition unit 5.

The destination line recognizing section 4 cuts out a character string other than the area code (postal code) as a line, and recognizes the characters included in the line as characters using the character recognizing section 5.
In this case, the recognition line numbers are assigned in order from the right side when the mail 1 is vertical writing, and from the top when the mail 1 is horizontal writing.

As described above, the image data of the mail 1 is recognized as a character group using the delivery area code recognition unit 3 and the destination line recognition unit 4 and input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. At this time, the delivery destination specifying unit 6 determines the delivery destination name
2 is used. The delivery destination name determination unit 12 determines the delivery destination identification unit 6.
The information obtained from is assigned to the information required for each of the name and line specifying means of the range designation character inspection unit 9, character-related information inspection unit 10, and line position information inspection unit 11, and the line information to be searched is determined from each of the assigned destinations. After they are obtained, they are processed to select the row to be searched most.

[0107] The number of the selected line is passed to the delivery destination specifying unit 6, and the delivery destination specifying unit 6 first determines which line is to be searched and then reads the delivery area code from the delivery destination database 8 For the delivery area read by the recognition unit 3, the delivery address information is searched using the delivery name as a key,
Output as the delivery address information 7.

At the same time, the specified delivery destination and the line information used for the specification are transferred to the input unit 13. In the input unit 13, the operator determines right or wrong from the line information used for identification and the search result or the image image of the mail, and accumulates the result in the determination database 14. In addition, the operator inputs an update request from the input unit 13 to the determination element update unit 15 from time to time to prompt the change of the determination parameter of the delivery destination name line based on the information of the determination database 14 when necessary. Can be.

When the update request is input to the judgment element update unit 15, the judgment element update unit 15 determines the parameters used in the delivery destination name judgment unit 12 based on the information stored in the judgment database 14. Make changes.

Next, each part will be described in detail.

The delivery area code recognizing unit 3, destination line recognizing unit 4, character recognizing unit 5, destination specifying unit 6, destination database 8, range designation character inspecting unit 9, character related information investigating unit 10, line position Information investigation unit 11, delivery destination name judgment unit 12
Is the same as that of the above-described first, second, third, and fourth embodiments, and the description is omitted here.
Input unit 13, judgment database 14, judgment element updating unit 1
Only 5 will be described.

The input unit 13 includes not only the determined delivery destination information output from the delivery destination specifying unit 6 but also the delivery destination specifying unit 6.
The operator determines whether or not the delivery address is correct based on the line information input to the user and the image of the mail 1 input by the image input unit 2, and determines whether the delivery name line used for the determination is correct. Is input. Also, it is an input means for requesting an update of a search line determination parameter of the delivery destination name determining unit 12 which is a means for determining a line used for search based on an operator's parameter adjustment request, and changing a tendency to select a search target line. .

As a function for the operator to determine whether the delivery destination name is correct, for example, as shown in FIG. 19, the display unit 21 attached to the input unit 13 displays the image 22 of the mail 1 and the delivery destination. A read result 23 of the name and a line (search result) 24 searched from the line information are displayed. The operator determines whether the display is correct or not by visually observing the displayed contents, and if the determination is incorrect, inputs the cause from the item described in the reason. Also, enter the correct delivery destination and end. Further, the parameter adjustment request is executed by enabling the parameter update in FIG.

The determination database 14 stores the delivery address information determined by the present apparatus, which is information on the mail 1 input from the input unit 13, whether or not the address information is available, and the reason for determining whether or not the address information is not available.
This is a database in which corrected delivery address information in the case of no is stored as one record. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 20, the information is stored as a record in which an ID (identification information) is added to the above information.

When a parameter change request is input from the input unit 13, the judgment element updating unit 15 uses the range designation character inspection unit 9, character related information inspection unit 10, And row position information investigation unit 11
The parameter indicating the specific gravity of each delivery name line determination is changed.

In determining the parameters, statistics of information in the case where the row used for retrieval stored in the determination database 14 is incorrect are obtained, and the parameter is determined based on the degree of the error. The determined new parameters are input to the delivery destination name judging unit 12 and used for the subsequent evaluation value determination.

Next, the overall operation will be described using the image of the mail 1 shown in FIG. As in the first embodiment described above, after the delivery area code and the line information are recognized as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the respective information is input to the delivery destination specifying unit 6. Here, the delivery destination name line is determined by using the delivery destination name determination unit 12, but in this example, the line 08 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the line 0806 is recognized as the delivery destination name line instead of the line 03. It is also assumed that address information corresponding to the delivery destination name exists in the delivery destination database 8 and that the recognition has been performed. As a result, it is assumed that display is performed on the display unit 21 of the input unit 13 as shown in FIG.

The operator reads the image 22 of the postal matter 1 displayed on the display unit 21, the line read as the delivery destination name (line enclosed by a rectangle) 23, and the search result 24
To determine whether the search was performed with the correct line. In this example, a line different from the delivery destination is recognized as a line of the delivery destination name, and the search result is also different. Therefore, the operator selects negative (×) in the determination result input unit 25 of the display unit 21 ( click).

Next, in the reason input section 26 of the display section 21, the operator inputs a reason for which a negative determination is made from four items. In this example, "3" is input (clicked) because it corresponds to the third reason "I am reading the sender's name or address". And
Finally, enter the correct address information and exit.

At this time, it is also possible to select whether to update the parameters. In this case, the parameter is updated in the parameter update determination input unit 27 of the display unit 21, that is, by selecting (clicking) affirmative (circle), the determination element update unit 15 is stored in the determination database 14. Take statistics on negative information that you have. Here, for example, the denial of “reason 1” is “100”, “reason 2”
Denial by "50" and denial by "Reason 3" are "2"
Assume that the negation due to “0” and “reason 4” is “5”.

Further, it is assumed that the parameter of the range designation character checking unit 9 in the delivery destination name judging unit 12 is α, the parameter of the character related information checking unit 10 is β, and the parameter of the line position information checking unit 11 is γ. A large number of "reason 1" as a reason for denial means that the title of the title and the parameters of the large number are strong.
Further, the second largest number of “reason 2” means that the parameter related to the character-related information is strong. Further, "reason 3" means that the parameter relating to the line position information is strong. In view of these, the parameters are adjusted from the many reasons for the negative. For example, the current parameters α, β, and γ are changed as follows.

Α → (α−10 × δ) / Σ = α ′ β → (β−5 × δ) / Σ = β ′ γ → (γ−2 × δ) / Σ = γ ′ where Σ = ( α−10 × δ) + (β−5 × δ) + (γ
−2 × δ). The parameter change result is transferred to the delivery destination name judging unit 12 and exchanged with that of the delivery destination name judging unit 12.

Hereinafter, the flow of processing when a display as shown in FIG. 19 is performed on the display unit 21 of the input unit 13 will be specifically described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, in step S71, the input unit 1
3 is displayed on the display unit 21 of FIG. Next, in step S72, it is checked whether or not a parameter update has been input.
Go to 73. In step S73, it is checked whether or not the determination input is negative. If not, the process proceeds to step S74. If not (if affirmative), the process proceeds to step S7.
Go to 5. In step S74, it is checked whether or not a reason input has been made. If not, the process proceeds to step S75. In step S75, it is checked whether an end request has been made. If not, the process returns to step S71. If there is, the process ends.

In step S72, when there is an input for updating the parameter, the process proceeds to step S76. In step S76, the determination database 14 checks whether or not it is empty. If it is empty, the fact that it is empty is displayed on the display unit 21 of the input unit 13 in step S77, and the process returns to step S71.

In step S76, if it is not empty,
Proceed to step S78. In step S78, the frequency of each event stored in the determination database 14 is checked. Next, in step S79, a change value α 'for the parameter (noted as weight in the figure) α of the range designation character inspection unit 9 is calculated by the following equation.

Α ′ = (α−frequency × δ) / Σ Next, in step S80, the character-related information research unit 1
A change value β ′ for a parameter 0 (represented as a weight in the figure) β is calculated by the following equation.

Β ′ = (β−frequency × δ) / Σ Next, in step S81, the row position information checking unit 11
Γ ′ is calculated by the following equation.

Γ ′ = (γ−frequency × δ) / Σ As described above, the changed values α ′, β ′, and γ ′ are calculated in steps S79, S80, and S81. In this case, after updating, “α ′ + β '+ Γ' = 1 "is determined.

Next, in step S82, the input unit 1
A confirmation of change is displayed on the display unit 21 of No. 3 (S83). If no change is made, the process returns to step S71. If a change is made, the process proceeds to step S84. In step S84, step S7
9, the changed values α ′, β ′, γ ′ obtained in S80 and S81
Is input to the determination element updating unit 15 to update the current parameters α, β, γ to the changed values α ′, β ′, γ ′, and the process returns to step S71.

If there is a reason input in step S74, the flow advances to step S85. In step S85,
It is checked whether or not the input reason is “reason 1”, and if so, the process proceeds to step S86, where “1” is added to the entry of the determination database 14 and step S71 is performed.
Return to

If the inputted reason is not "reason 1" in step S85, the flow advances to step S87.
In step S87, it is checked whether or not the input reason is "reason 2". If so, the process proceeds to step S88, where "2" is added to the entry of the determination database 14, and the process returns to step S71.

If it is determined in step S87 that the input reason is not “reason 2”, the flow advances to step S89.
In step S89, it is checked whether or not the input reason is "reason 3". If so, the process proceeds to step S90, where "3" is added to the entry of the determination database 14, and the process returns to step S71.

If it is determined in step S89 that the input reason is not “reason 3”, the flow advances to step S91.
In step S91, it is checked whether or not the input reason is "reason 4". If so, the process proceeds to step S92, where "4" is added to the entry of the determination database 14, and the process returns to step S71. In step S91,
If the input reason is not “reason 4”, the process directly returns to step S71.

As described above, steps S85, S87, S
After judging the reason inputted in 89 and S91, the reason is stored in the judgment database 14 in steps S86, S88, S90 and S92, respectively.
For example, there is a counter corresponding to "reason 1 to reason 4", and the value of the corresponding counter is increased every time a reason is added.

As described above, according to the fifth embodiment,
The output destination name is compared with the destination name line used for the search. As a result, if it is incorrect, the correction is made. By reflecting the information in the name search, the delivery destination name can be determined according to the situation. This facilitates adjustment and helps reduce costs.

[0137]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a destination specifying apparatus capable of specifying a delivery destination of a delivery such as a mail at a high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a destination specifying device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image image of a target mail item.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a postal code recognition result of the postal matter shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a line recognition result and an example of a character in line recognition result for the mail in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a delivery destination specifying unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a delivery destination database.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a range designation character inspection unit.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a destination specifying device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a character-related information investigation unit.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a character-related information investigation unit.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of information about each line and characters used in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a destination specifying device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a row position information checking unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of line information used by a line position information investigation unit, a calculation process thereof, and a score.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a destination specifying device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a delivery destination name determination unit.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a score for each line output by a delivery destination name determination unit.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a destination specifying device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on the display unit of the input unit.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in a determination database.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a main part.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a main part.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... mail (delivery), 2 ... image input unit, 3 ... delivery area code recognition unit, 4 ... destination line recognition unit, 5 ... character recognition unit, 6 ... delivery destination identification unit, 7 ... delivery address information, 8 ... delivery destination database, 9 ... range designation character inspection unit, 10 ... character related information investigation unit, 11 ... line position information investigation unit, 12 ... destination name judgment unit, 13 ... input unit, 14 ... determination database, 15 ... determination element update unit.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data, an area indicating a delivery area code is detected from the image data input by the image input means, and the detected area is detected. A delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code existing in the area, detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, and a character string included in the detected area Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line that is a set of the above, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; a storing means storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information; and a destination line recognizing means. From the lines other than the delivery area code and the character strings contained therein, the name line identification characters contained therein are detected, and the range designation character detection is performed to identify the character string as the delivery destination name line. Means, for a delivery area of a delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognition means, a delivery destination for searching delivery address information corresponding to a delivery name line specified by the range designation character inspection means from the storage means. A destination specifying device, comprising: a specifying unit. 2. An image input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data, an area indicating a delivery area code is detected from the image data input by the image input means, and the detected area is detected. A delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code existing in the area, detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, and a character string included in the detected area Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line that is a set of the above, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; a storing means storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information; and a destination line recognizing means. Character-related information research that specifies a character string that is considered to be a delivery destination name using information accompanying the character from lines other than the delivery area code and the character string included in the line And a delivery destination which retrieves delivery address information corresponding to the delivery destination name line specified by the character-related information searching means from the storage means for the delivery area of the delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognition means. A destination specifying device, comprising: a specifying unit. 3. An image input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data, an area indicating a delivery area code is detected from the image data input by the image input means, and the detected area is detected. A delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code existing in the area, detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, and a character string included in the detected area Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line that is a set of the above, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; a storing means storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information; and a destination line recognizing means. A line position information investigation unit that specifies a character string that is considered to be a delivery destination name based on the positional relationship of the character string from a line other than the delivery area code and a character string included therein, A delivery area specifying means for searching delivery address information corresponding to a delivery name line specified by the line location information investigation means from the storage means, for a delivery area of a delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognition means; A destination specifying device, comprising: 4. An image input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data, an area indicating a delivery area code is detected from the image data input by the image input means, and the detected area is detected. A delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code existing in the area, detecting an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code from the image data input by the image input means, and a character string included in the detected area Destination line recognizing means for detecting a line that is a set of the above, and recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; a storing means storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information; and a destination line recognizing means. From the lines other than the delivery area code and the character strings contained in them, the name line identification characters contained therein are detected, and the character strings are identified as the delivery destination name lines and their evaluations are made. From the range designation character inspection means for outputting the value and the line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means and the character string contained therein, it is considered that the delivery destination name is obtained by using information accompanying the character. A character-related information investigating means for specifying a character string and outputting its evaluation value; and a line other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing means and a character string contained in the line. A line position information investigating unit that specifies a character string considered to be a name and outputs an evaluation value thereof; and each of the line position information inspecting unit, the character-related information inspecting unit, and the line position information inspecting unit that identifies the character string. A delivery name determining means for determining a line in which the most probable delivery name is described by evaluating these elements from the delivery name line and its evaluation value; A delivery area specifying means for searching, from the storage means, delivery address information corresponding to a delivery name line determined by the delivery name determining means, for a delivery area of the delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognizing means; A destination specifying device comprising: 5. The delivery destination name judging means linearly combines each evaluation value obtained from the range designation character inspection means, character related information inspection means, and line position information inspection means as an evaluation value calculation. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein
The destination identification device as described. 6. A first input means for reading an image on a destination surface of a delivery and inputting image data, and detecting an area indicating a delivery area code from the image data input by the first input means. A delivery area code recognizing means for recognizing a delivery area code present in the detected area; and an area consisting of a character string other than the delivery area code is detected from the image data input by the first input means. Detects a line that is a set of character strings contained in the area,
Destination line recognizing means for recognizing a character string included in each of the detected lines; first storage means for storing a plurality of pieces of delivery address information; lines other than the delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognizing means And a character string contained therein, a name line identification character contained therein is detected, a range designation character inspection means for specifying the character string as a destination name line, and a delivery area code obtained from the destination line recognition means Character-related information investigation means for specifying a character string that is considered to be a delivery destination name using information accompanying the character from the lines other than and the character string contained therein, and a delivery area obtained from the destination line recognition means A line position information investigating unit that specifies a character string that is considered to be a delivery destination name based on the positional relationship of the character string from a line other than the code and the character string included therein, The most probable delivery destination name is determined by using a parameter for determining a delivery destination name line set in advance from each delivery destination name line specified by the column, character-related information checking means, and line position information checking means. And a delivery name corresponding to the delivery name line determined by the delivery name determination unit for the delivery area of the delivery area code obtained from the delivery area code recognition unit. Delivery destination specifying means for searching for destination address information from the first storage means, image data input by the first input means, and
Second input means for allowing the operator to perform input operations such as correct / incorrect information and a parameter update request for the search result of the delivery address information by using the delivery address information and the like searched by the delivery destination specifying means; A second storage unit for storing the correct / incorrect information input by the second input unit; and a content of the second storage unit in response to a parameter update request input from the second input unit. And a determination element updating unit that updates a parameter of the delivery destination name determining unit by referring to the destination identification device. 7. The destination specifying method according to claim 6, wherein when the second input means inputs information indicating that the search result of the delivery address information is incorrect, the reason is also input. apparatus. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining element updating means refers to the contents of the second storage means after the previous updating when updating the parameters of the delivery destination name determining means. Item 7. The destination specifying device according to Item 6.