EP3016753A1 - Method for sorting postal objects at the sorting box with display of a virtual stack of object images - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for sorting postal objects (4) in a sorting box (1, 2) comprising sorting bins (3), is characterised in that it comprises the following steps: a) in a sorting pass, storing digital images (8) of the postal objects to be sorted, each comprising a delivery address, in the memory of a command/control unit with a display screen (7), b) producing, from each digital image of a postal object to be sorted, a sorting code (9) identifying a sorting bin of the sorting box, and organising the images of the objects into virtual stacks of images in the memory, each virtual stack of images corresponding to a stack of postal objects placed in a stack in a sorting bin of the box, the images in each virtual stack of images being arranged in the same order as the postal objects in said stack of postal objects, and c) in a subsequent sorting pass, in order to sort a stack of postal objects in the box, displaying the images of these postal objects organised into a virtual stack on the screen, each image having a sorting code embedded in the image.

Description

 Method for sorting postal objects at the locker with display of a virtual stack of object images

Technical area

 The field of the invention is that of postal sorting and more particularly the manual sorting of postal items in several sorting passes, these postal objects being flat objects such as letters, magazines, parcels, etc.

Prior art

 The sorting of postal items has been going on for a long time, particularly in Mail Distribution Stations. Typically, the sorting is done manually by an experienced operator who, first of all, deposits the postal items to be sorted in a receptacle, then picks up the postal items from the receptacle one by one, reads the destination address of each postal item. he has just collected and places it in a sort box sorting folder that corresponds to this destination address. The sorting bin which is generally arranged on a desk in front of the Operator, can be presented with sorting boxes aligned in rows and columns in a two-dimensional matrix. A sorting bin can have dozens of sort boxes.

 Once the sorting is complete, the sorted postal objects can be directly recovered in the sorting boxes of the sorting bin in an orderly manner for example to prepare a postman tour.

Due to an increasing number of mail items to be processed, it is common to have to make several sorting passes to sort the mail according to the postman's tour. However, these sorting passes are time-consuming, prompting Posts to find bin-sorting assistance systems to speed up and increase the reliability of manual bin sorting. Presentation of the invention

 The object of the invention is to improve the sorting of postal items.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a method for sorting postal objects in a sorting box comprising sorting boxes, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

a) in a sorting pass, storing in the memory of a control / command unit with display screen digital images of the postal objects to be sorted, each having a distribution address, b) generating from each digital image of a postal object to sort a sorting code identifying a sorting box of the sorting bin and organizing in memory the images of the objects into virtual stacks of images, each virtual stack of images corresponding to a stack of postal objects placed in a stack in a bin sorting box and the images in each virtual stack of images being ordered in the same order as the postal objects in said stack of postal objects, and

c) in a subsequent sorting pass, display on the screen, for the sorting to a bin of a stack of postal objects, the images of these postal objects organized in virtual pile and with in each image a sorting code embedded in the image.

The idea underlying the invention is therefore to give assistance to the operator based on a display of virtual stacks of images of the postal objects to be sorted in the bin, in particular in the second sorting pass and for any other password. subsequent sorting. Each virtual stack of images is a kind of graphic representation (in virtual reality) of a stack of postal objects to be sorted by the Operator. In each image is embedded a sorting code that has been calculated by the control / command unit according to the current sorting plan, this sorting code legibly identifying by the Operator the sorting box of the locker where must be placed the corresponding postal item. We must understand that at the end of a sorting pass, we have in the sorting boxes of the bin stacks of sorted and sequenced objects. The virtual stacks of images correspond to these Stacks of mail items sorted and sequenced in each bin sort box. On the display screen, each virtual stack of images can be laminated and the images in the stack can be virtually depilated as the Operator places a corresponding mailpiece in a corresponding bin sort box. to the sorting code incrusted in the image virtually depilated, thereby increasing the rate of the Operator and reduce trap sorting errors.

 According to a feature of the method according to the invention, at the end of a sorting pass to the postal items bin, place tabs in the sorting boxes of the rack. These dividers serve as an identifier for the control / command unit to identify the virtual stack of images to be presented on the display screen, which makes it possible to dispense with an identification of the postal objects by barcodes or signature. image.

Brief presentation of the drawings

 The present invention will be better understood and other advantages will appear on reading the detailed description of an implementation mode taken by way of non-limiting example and illustrated by the appended drawings, in which:

 Figure 1 illustrates the method for sorting postal objects to the rack according to the invention;

 Figure 2 illustrates an insert which is used in the method according to the invention;

 FIG. 3 illustrates a virtual stack of images displayed on a display screen for the sorting aid to the rack according to the invention;

 Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the main steps of the method for sorting postal objects to the rack according to the invention.

Description of the embodiments

The method of sorting mailpieces to the locker according to the invention is particularly suitable for sorting the locker in a sorting center, an office distributor or a post office and distribution of objects following the postman's tour.

 For simplicity, we will describe below an implementation of the method according to the invention with a bin sorting in two sorting passes but it is understood that the method according to the invention can also be applied to a sorting in three sort passes or more than three sorting passes. It can also be applied to the sorting of objects having already passed a first sorting pass in an automatic sorting conveyor sorting machine.

 FIG. 1 very schematically illustrates sorting equipment comprising here two sorting bins for sorting in two passes with two operators, each operator performing a single sorting pass of the objects to be sorted. It is understood that the method according to the invention is applicable where it is the same operator who performs the sorting in two passes on the same rack.

 In particular, in Figure 1 there is shown a first sorting bin 1 and a second sorting bin 2 each provided with a plurality of sorting boxes 3 arranged in several rows. In this configuration, the first sorting rack 1 is used by the operator 13 to sort the postal objects 4 according to a first sorting pass and the second sorting box 2 serves the other operator 13 to sort the postal items sorted first. sorting pass following a second sorting pass, for example for their distribution by the factor.

 Each sorting box 3 of a rack is sized to be loaded with a certain number of objects 4 stacked flat on one another as illustrated in FIG. 1 in box B50, for example a stack of a few tens of letters.

 The postal objects 4 to be sorted in the first sorting pass can arrive here in a storage bin 6A or in several storage bins 6A. It is assumed here that they are stacked flat in each storage bin 6A.

For the implementation of the method according to the invention, a display screen 7, 7 'is used next to the rack 1 and also the rack 2, able to display digital images 8 of the postal objects 4. According to the invention, these images are organized in a virtual image stack as described below with, in each image displayed on the screen, a sorting code 9 incrusted in the image and identifying a Bin Sort Box 1 or 2.

 The display screen or screens 7 and 7 'are connected to a control / control unit 10 of the programmable data processing unit type which operates a database 1 1 in which sort data of the postal objects to be sorted are recorded. , the images of the postal objects, the sorting plans with the rack (that is to say the associations between the addresses of distribution of the postal objects and the boxes of sorting of the lockers for each sorting pass).

 In the method according to the invention, it is also possible to use a camera 12 connected to the unit 10 and used to form a digital image of each postal item at the first sorting pass. But these digital images may have been formed during a first sorting pass in a sorting machine with a sorting conveyor known per se as indicated above. In the example, the camera 12 is placed to the left of the rack 1 and above the stacked mailpieces in the tray 6A also located to the left of the rack 1. In practice, the postal objects 4 in the storage bin 6A are stored in a flat stack, with the addressee address oriented on the top visibly by the camera 12. The camera 12 can be designed to form automatically digital images of the top of the stack at a certain rate, for example to form four digital images per second so as to follow the unstacking of postal objects during sorting. It is placed at a suitable distance from the storage bin 6A, for example at a distance allowing it to have the full height of the stack of postal objects in its depth of field, which makes it possible to obtain a clear digital image of each postal item as the Operator 13 takes the postal item from the top of the stack to place it in one of the boxes 3 of the locker 1.

The control / command unit 10 is arranged to evaluate automatically in a digital image produced by the camera 12 a destination address of the corresponding postal object, via an OCR character recognition system and a postal destination address base as is well known to those skilled in the art . It is therefore understood that from a digital image 8 of a postal object 4 produced by the camera 12, the unit 10 is able to determine a postal mailing address, save the image and postal address data. memory distribution in the base 1 1 and also produce from a sorting plane in memory in the unit 10 a sort code which identifies here a certain box 3 of the rack 1 (or also a box 3 of the rack 2 ) where the corresponding postal item is to be placed by Operator 13 or 13 '.

 It will be understood that the camera 12, the display screen (s) 7 and 7 'and the unit 10 communicate via a communication network 15 which may be wired or non-wired.

 In FIG. 1, to facilitate the understanding of the method according to the invention, each box of a rack has been marked with a sorting code comprising a letter A, B, C, D, etc., which designates a column of the rack. and a number 10, 20, 30, etc. which denotes a line of the bin.

 In the process according to the invention, interleavers 5 are also used, one of which is illustrated in FIG. 2. Each interlayer is provided with a sorting code identifying a sorting box 3 in a way that is legible for the operator. In this way at the end of each sorting pass, the Operator can place a tab 5 in each corresponding sorting box of the sorting box. For example in Figure 2, the insert 5 includes a marking that identifies the sorting box A2 according to the same classification of the sorting boxes 3 indicated above. This marking may be placed on an edge of the interlayer 5 so as to be clearly visible by the Operator. It is therefore possible to have as many inserts 5 as there are sorting boxes 3 in a rack for implementing the method according to the invention.

Figure 4 illustrates the main steps of the method of the invention. In step 100, postal items 4 to be sorted are placed in a flat stack in a tray 6A located to the left of the bin 1. The camera 12 forms an image 8 of the postal object 4 placed at the top of the stack of objects 4. The unit 10 recognizes the distribution address in the image, determines a sorting code identifying a box of the bin 1 from the sorting plane in first passes, stores in memory the image 8 of the object and the address and sort data and displays on the screen 7, the image 8 of the object with inlay the corresponding sorting code, here A2. The operator 13 by displaying the sorting code on the image 8 displayed on the screen is thus helped to place the object 4 of the top of the stack in the corresponding sorting box of the bin 1. The sorting process is thus repeated for all the postal objects 4 to be sorted in the first sorting pass.

 At the end of the first sorting pass, the postal objects 4 are divided into stacks of postal objects in the sorting boxes 3 of the rack 1 as shown in box B50 in FIG. Note that the unit 10 can filter the irrelevant images 8 for example by a comparison of two successive images 8 taken by the camera 12. To compare two successive images 8, the comparison of the image signatures can be used.

 According to the invention, the unit 10 organizes in memory in the base 1 1 the images 8 of the objects 4 in virtual stacks of images as illustrated in FIG. 3. Each virtual image stack 8 is associated with a box identifier sort, here the code with a letter and a number, for example A2. Each virtual image stack 8 corresponds to a stack of postal objects sorted and sequenced in a bin sorting box 1, for example box A2, and the images 8 in each virtual stack are ordered in the same order as the objects. in the corresponding mailpiece stack 4 which has been formed in a bin sorting box 1.

In step 200 in FIG. 4, the Operator 13 places in each sorting box 3 of the rack 1, above a stack of postal objects 4, an insert 5 that identifies the sorting box in question. Then the Operator 13 empties the sorting bin 1, box by box, and for example puts each stack of mail items 4 with the interleaf 5 coming from the same sorting box in a storage bin 6B which is then fed to the other operator 13 'on the right in Figure 2. So after emptying the sorting bin 1, a series of stack of mail items sorted in the first pass, each stack of objects 4 being further identified by an interlayer 5 which itself identifies the sorting box of the bin 1 from which the stack of postal objects. Moreover, in memory in the unit 10, there are virtual stacks of sequenced images 8 which are each identified by a sorting box code and which respectively correspond to the stacks of postal objects 4 extracted from the bin 1.

 In step 300, the operator 13 'on the right in FIG. 1 now performs the second sorting pass with the postal objects 4 already sorted and stacked in the bins 6B. For this, he notes on the tab 5 associated with this stack, the identifier of the sorting box and enters this identifier in the unit 10 by keyboard or any other equivalent input means. In response, the unit 10 displays on the screen 7 'the corresponding virtual image stack 8 with inlay in each image of the virtual stack a new sorting code 9, here the code B5, which identifies the sorting box in bin 2 where must be placed the corresponding object (step 400 in Figure 4). It is understood that this new sorting code 9 has been calculated by the unit 10 from a second sorting plane of the objects in memory in the unit 10 and which therefore associates here the distribution addresses of the objects with the boxes of This calculation can take place after the emptying of the bin 1.

 In step 500, the operator 13 'seizes one by one the postal items 4 of the tray 6B and places them each time in one of the corresponding sorting boxes of the rack 2 and each placement of an object in a box of sorting, it virtually slides on the display screen 7, in step 600, the image of the object manipulated so as to display the image of the current object to be sorted with the code of the sort box where this current object is to be placed.

 In Figure 3, there is shown a fan display of a virtual stack of images 8 which gives an overview to the operator of the number of objects to be unstacked. It is understood that the unit 10 may be programmed to allow virtual scanning of the image stack 8 to further assist in manual sorting of the bin.

The second-pass sorting process continues for each Stack of objects sorted in first pass in the bin 1.

 At the end of the second sorting pass, the Operator can engage for example a third sorting pass, in the bin 2. For this, he places tabs 5 in the full boxes of the bin 2 as indicated above and empties the bin 2 to constitute new stacks of objects 4 each identified by a spacer. In particular, the Operator 13 'enters again an identification code of a tab 5 in the unit 10 which in response displays a virtual stack of ordered images with inlay in each image a new code identifying a box sorting which allows the operator 13 'to sort the postal items again in the sorting boxes of the locker 2 according to a third sorting pass.

 It goes without saying that the present invention can not be limited to the foregoing description of one of its embodiments, may undergo some modifications without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the display screen 7 or 7 'can be a touch screen or a mobile phone with high definition screen for example. The method according to the invention can also be applied to mail merging. On each image displayed on the screen 7 or 7 ', the Operator must be able to visualize a destination address so as to visually check it with the destination address affixed to the postal object to be sorted to the locker. The method according to the invention can be further refined by embedding in each image, the sorting code associated with the current object which corresponds to the image and also, in advance of sorting, the sorting code of the object which follows this current object in the stack of objects to be sorted. It is understood that the sorting code is advantageously embedded in the image of the object to be sorted by displaying the destination address block. But the sorting code can also be presented next to the image of the object if the display screen has sufficient display dimensions.

Claims

1. Method for sorting postal objects (4) in a sorting box (1, 2) comprising sorting boxes (3), characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

a) in a sorting pass, storing in the memory of a control / command unit with a display screen (7, 7 ') digital images (8) of the postal objects to be sorted, each having a distribution address,

b) generating from each digital image of a postal object to sort a sorting code (9) identifying a sorting box of the sorting bin and organizing in memory the images of the objects into virtual stacks of images, each virtual stack images corresponding to a pile of postal objects placed in a stack in a bin sorting box and the images in each virtual stack of images being ordered in the same order as the postal objects in said stack of postal objects, and

c) in a subsequent sorting pass, display on the screen, for the sorting to a bin of a stack of postal objects, the images of these postal objects organized in virtual pile and with in each image a sorting code embedded in the image.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that at the end of a sorting pass to the locker of postal items, place dividers (5) in the sorting boxes of the rack.