JP2002119927A - Management device for input quantity of mail per pigeonhole of mail sorting shelf - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically manage the input quantity of mail per pigeonhole in each of mail sorting shelves. SOLUTION: Two units 2A and 2B of camera are arranged on each of the mail sorting shelves 1, the obtained image of the sorting shelf 1 is processed by a personal computer 6 to detect the positions of the pigeonholed mail and the positions are collated with the sorting shelf 1 to specify it. Then the input quantities of the pigeonholes are sequentially counted up per sorting shelf. Thus the total input quantity of mail per sorting shelf can be automatically managed, and the labor saving and the operation at low cost are achieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of classifying mails and storing the mails in each of the shelves of the shelves.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for managing the stored number of mail sorting shelves by mouth, which automatically counts the number of times of storage and totals the number of stored shelves, thereby enabling data analysis and the like according to purpose.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Mail sorting by an automatic sorting machine is performed at a large-scale post office, but manual sorting is mainly performed at medium and small post offices. At present, the management of the number of articles depends on humans.

[0003]

For this reason, in the middle and small post offices, the appearance of an automatic management system for the number of sorted mails is desired from the viewpoint of labor cost reduction. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to automate the management of the number of mails for each of the shelves.

[0004]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the invention of claim 1, an illuminating means for illuminating a mail sorting shelves and a mail sorting shelves which are arranged on the right and left sides of the mail sorting shelves, respectively. It comprises two image pickup means for picking up the mail stored in each mouth, and processing means for image processing each picked-up image. The number of mails stored can be automatically managed for each sorting port by sequentially counting up in association with. In the first aspect of the invention, infrared light can be used for the illumination means and the imaging means (the second aspect of the invention).

[0005]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a section shelf having a plurality of section openings 11 (dotted lines indicate cases where there are other section shelves), 2A and 2B denote cameras as imaging devices, and 3 denotes a power supply (DC) Power supply), 4 is USB (U
A cable for interfacing with various I / Os called a universal serial bus (hub), 5 is a USB port, 6 is a personal computer as a processing device, 21 is an IR (infrared transmission) filter, and 22 is a lighting device (LED lighting). is there. Here, a CCD camera or a CM using a CCD (charge coupled device) capable of high-speed processing is used as a camera.
A CMOS camera using an OS element is used, and an LED (light emitting diode) that emits infrared light is used as a light source to reduce the influence of ambient external light. In addition,
Although the infrared transmission filter 21 is provided for the cameras 2A and 2B, an infrared camera with a built-in infrared transmission filter may be used. Alternatively, a LAN may be used for the USB hub 4, and an IEEE 1394 port may be used for the USB port 5.

[0006] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, two cameras are installed above one section shelf 1. FIG. 2 shows a case where three section shelves and six cameras are provided. With such a configuration, the camera can be easily attached later to the existing section shelf, which has an advantage of being able to flexibly cope with the camera, and also has an advantage of processing captured images from the cameras 2A and 2B. By doing so, it is possible to easily and inexpensively detect at which position (sorting port 11) of the sorting shelf 1 the mail is stored. The principle of position detection is as follows.
It uses the well-known trigonometric sine theorem. FIG.
FIG.

[0007] In FIG.
Assuming that the distances b and c to A and 2B and the assumed angles A and B with the X and Y axes are as shown in the figure, c / sinB = b / sinA = a / sinC Holds (sine theorem). Here, a is the distance (constant) between the cameras 2A and 2B, and the angles A and B can be obtained from the image. Therefore, from C = 180−AB, c = a · sinB / sin (180− AB). X and Y can be obtained as X = c · cosA and Y = c · sinA.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flow charts for explaining the operation of FIG. 1. FIG. 4A shows the entire operation, FIG. 4B shows the initial setting operation, FIG. 4C shows the detecting operation, and FIG. The operation will be described respectively. The overall operation is as shown in FIG.
Step S for determining whether or not to perform initial setting
0, an initial setting processing step S1, a detection step processing step S2 for counting the quantity of each sorting port, a step S3 for determining whether or not to end the processing, and a result file for saving the count result as a data file on a personal computer And a creation processing step S4.

As shown in detail in FIG. 4 (b), the initial setting processing step is a camera positioning step S11 for adjusting the direction of the camera so that the entire shelf is imaged. Step S1 for setting the number of horizontal stages
2 and an X, Y reference table creation step S13 indicating coordinate values for each shelf. In step S13, a reference table is created which stores, as data, the range of each position (mouth) of the shelf in the X and Y values. This is for associating the detection position of the mail with the sorting port.

In the detection process, as shown in FIG. 4C, first, each section is photographed by each camera, and a simple input process is performed on the image (steps S21 and S22: details are shown in FIG. 4D). In the next step S23, it is checked whether or not data indicating that "mail has been inserted" has been sent from the camera. At this time, the previous screen is stored in order to count one by one insertion, and it is determined whether or not one insertion has been completed by determining "whether or not there is insertion in the previous screen" in step S24. To check. As a result, if YES (“insertion” on the previous screen), it is determined that the previous operation has not been completed, and the process returns to step S21.
If O, it is determined that the previous operation has been completed and step S25
Proceed to.

In step S25, it is determined whether or not there is an object protruding from the shelf or two or more objects are shown, and it is determined whether or not the insertion is abnormal. If the insertion is abnormal, a message to that effect is displayed in step S262. Then, whether or not to count (whether to invalidate or validate the count) is manually input to the personal computer 6 in FIG. 1, and then the abnormality is cleared (see step S272). On the other hand, if it is normal in step S25, the process proceeds to step S261,
Here, the coordinates of the postal matter are calculated based on the data from the two cameras, and collation with the position of the shelf (section entrance) is performed from the coordinate data (see step S271). In step S28, the collation result is output, and in step S29, the detected shelf position, the count number, and the like are displayed.

As shown in FIG. 4D, the details of the camera input processing in steps S21 and S22 are described below. As shown in FIG. 4D, an area different from the original image of the picked-up image is extracted. The image is binarized as “white” and the same region as the original image as “black” (see steps S201 to S203). Next, if the "white" portion of the image is out of the specified range, it is determined that noise is present, and otherwise, it is determined that a postal matter is inserted (step S20).
4), and calculates the center position (direction viewed from the camera) of the "white" image and sends it to the personal computer as position data (see step S205). In the above, the case of sorting mails has been mainly described, but the present invention is naturally applicable to the general sorting of articles similar to this.

[0013]

According to the present invention, by using the images of the two cameras, it is possible to automatically manage the number of mails stored in each of the shelves, thereby saving labor. Also, 2
Since it is a simple configuration in which only one camera is mounted, not only can the cost be reduced, but also it can be easily mounted on an existing section shelf later, and there is an advantage that a flexible response is possible. Also, if infrared light is used for illumination and detection,
False recognition due to the influence of ambient light can be reduced,
This has the advantage of increased reliability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a mail sorting shelf;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of position detection.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... shelf, 2A, 2B ... TV camera (imaging device),
3 Power supply, 4 USB hub, 5 USB port, 6 Processing device (PC), 10 Mail, 11 Sorting port (shelf port), 21 IR filter, 22 Lighting device (LE
D).

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akira Suzuki 1-1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasuto Ushimaru 1-4-16 Akabane, Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture 3F079 AA01 CB01 DA29 EA19 5B049 BB33 DD00 EE02 EE07

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Illumination means for illuminating mail sorting shelves, two imaging means arranged respectively above and below the mail sorting shelves to image mail stored in each sorting port, and each of the imaging means Processing means for performing image processing on the image, and detecting the storage position of the mail from the image processing result by the processing means, and sequentially counting up in correspondence with each sorting port, so that the number of stored mails is sorted for each sorting port. An apparatus for managing the number of stored mail sorting shelves by mouth, wherein the number of shelves can be automatically managed. 2. The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein infrared light is used for the illumination means and the imaging means.