JP3724906B2 - Character direction determination device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Technical field to which the invention belongs]
The present invention reads the zip code listed on the postal matter, to determine the direction according to該郵flight number, about the character direction determination equipment for performing image shaping process such as rotating the zip code as needed.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic sorting apparatus that reads a postal code written on a postal item, recognizes the postal code from the read information, and sorts the postal item at a high speed is known. In the near future, a new postal code system is planned to further increase the postal code from the current 5-digit number.
[0003]
In addition, when the above-mentioned new postal code system is implemented, after reading the postal code, a method of printing the corresponding bar code on the postal matter is being studied. In this way, the mail sorting process by postal code is further automated, and the role it plays is highly expected.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the prior art as shown above, there is a restriction that the postal code must be written horizontally in order to perform the postal processing of the postal code using the current sorting device. For this reason, when postal codes are written in vertical writing, they must be manually sorted, which hinders the efficiency of sorting work.
[0005]
Furthermore, the above problems will be described in detail. In particular, when a mailing address is printed using a Japanese word processor, it is often printed with a vertical postal code. For example, if you are using a word processor that does not have an address printing function (prints the entire document in horizontal or vertical writing), but wants to print the address in a handwritten font, the entire address is written vertically for each zip code. There is a case to print with.
[0006]
In addition, while using a word processor that has a mail address printing function (prints zip codes horizontally and addresses can be printed vertically), the number of digits entered in the zip code is fixed at 5, which is a new system that increases the number of digits. Can not respond. Therefore, there are other cases in which a zip code is entered in the first line of the address part and printed vertically as part of the address.
[0007]
In any of the above cases, the printing result is as shown in FIG. 5, for example, so that it must be manually sorted, reducing the working efficiency.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and can be used as a pre-processing of a mail sorting apparatus based on the current postal code, realizes the reading of a vertical postal code, and the directionality of the postal code is different. The purpose is to improve the efficiency of sorting work by zip code.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, a character direction determination apparatus according to claim 1 reads the zip code, to determine the direction described該郵flight number, a character direction determination device for rotating the postal code if necessary An image reading unit that reads a character image of a postal code portion described in a mail piece in a predetermined direction, an image storage unit that stores an image read by the image reading unit, and the image storage unit A character cutout unit that reads an image and cuts out a zip code character by character from the character image; a character direction determination unit that determines a character direction based on an aspect ratio of each character image cut out by the character cutout unit; and the character based on the determination result of the direction determination means, and an image rotation means for rotating each character image extracted by said character segmentation means, the character direction determination means, postal Characterized in that it does not use a predetermined digit No. as the determination information of the character direction.
[0010]
That is, after the character image of the zip code portion described in the mail piece is read in a predetermined direction and temporarily stored, the image is read out, the zip code is cut out from the image one character at a time, and the vertical and horizontal directions of each cut character image are extracted. Whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal is determined from the ratio, and the character determined according to the character direction determination result is rotated. As a result, for example, when a postal code is written in vertical writing, it can be used as preprocessing for a mail sorting device based on the current postal code by rotating to horizontal writing and changing the character direction after determining that the writing is vertical writing. Such a device can be provided. In addition, by not using a predetermined postal code digit as character direction judgment information, for example, the reverse of the aspect ratio that occurs when the delimiter character existing in the postal code part is included in the judgment character, the erroneous judgment is avoided. Can be eliminated.
[0011]
The character direction determination apparatus according to claim 2 reads the zip code, to determine the direction described該郵flight number, a character direction determination device for rotating the postal code if necessary, according to mailpiece An image reading means for reading the character image of the postal code portion in the horizontal direction, an image storage means for storing the image read by the image reading means, an image stored in the image storage means, and reading the character image A character cutout means for cutting out a zip code one character at a time, and the aspect ratio of each character image cut out by the character cutout means is vertical writing if the aspect ratio is large, and horizontal writing if it is small. , Character direction determining means for determining the character direction, and image rotating means for rotating each character image determined by the character direction determining means as vertical writing by 90 degrees , Wherein the character direction determination means is characterized in that it does not use a predetermined digit postal code as the determination information of the character direction.
[0012]
That is, after the character image of the zip code portion described in the mail piece is horizontally read and temporarily stored, the image is read out, the zip code is cut out from the image one character at a time, and the vertical and horizontal directions of each cut character image The postal code is written in vertical writing by determining whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal from the ratio, and rotating the character determined to be vertical writing by 90 degree rotation The postal code can be rearranged horizontally, and it is possible to provide a device that can be used as a pre-processing of the mail sorting device based on the current postal code. In addition, by not using a predetermined postal code digit as character direction judgment information, for example, the reverse of the aspect ratio that occurs when the delimiter character existing in the postal code part is included in the judgment character, the erroneous judgment is avoided. Can be eliminated.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, about the character direction determination equipment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, [Embodiment 1] will be described in detail in the order of [Embodiment 2].
[0016]
[Embodiment 1]
(Configuration of Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to the first embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes an optical sensor 101, an image reading unit as an image reading unit that reads a postal code portion on paper as an image pattern, and 102 an image storage unit that stores an image read by the image reading unit 101. The image storage unit 103 includes a character cutout unit serving as a character cutout unit that cuts out individual characters included in the image, and 104 represents a ratio between height and width (rectangular and horizontal) of the rectangular information of each character cut out by the character cutout unit 103. The character direction determination unit 105 serving as a character direction determination means for determining the character direction based on the ratio) rotates the clipped character image as necessary and outputs the image to the next step (automatic sorting device). An image rotation unit as means.
[0017]
(Operation of Embodiment 1)
In the above configuration, first, the postal code portion on the paper surface is read as an image pattern by the image reading unit 101. The read image is temporarily stored in the image storage unit 102. Further, the character cutout unit 103 cuts out individual characters included in the image from the image and sends the result to the character direction determination unit 104.
[0018]
The character direction determination unit 104 determines the character direction based on the ratio between the height and width (aspect ratio) of the character from the cut out pieces of rectangular information (height and width). The image rotation unit 105 rotates the character image cut out as necessary, and outputs it to the next step (not shown). For example, the character image may be sent directly to the image storage unit in the sorting apparatus. Alternatively, it may be once printed on paper.
[0019]
Here, based on the above-described configuration and operation, an operation that is a feature of the first embodiment will be described. First, the postal code portion on the mail is read in a predetermined direction. In this case, for example, the reading is performed in a horizontal direction. The image pattern read in this way is a pattern as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B depending on whether it is horizontal writing or vertical writing.
[0020]
In the above stage, the character direction is not determined, and individual characters are cut out as they are, and the aspect ratio (width / height) is calculated from the height and width obtained for each character. In general, the number pattern has a smaller width than the height, so if the aspect ratio is large, it is written vertically, and if it is small, it is written horizontally.
[0021]
Therefore, in this embodiment, when the arithmetic average of the aspect ratio of each character is larger than a certain threshold value T, it is determined that the character is vertically written. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, if the aspect ratios of the numeric patterns “2” and “0” when not rotating are all 2/3, the average aspect ratio in this case is 2/3. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, if the aspect ratios of the number patterns “2” and “0” when rotated 90 degrees are all 3/2, the average aspect ratio in this case is 3/2. Here, if the threshold value T = 1, it can be determined that the former is a horizontal writing sequence and the latter is a vertical writing sequence.
[0022]
In the above description, a criterion other than the aspect ratio average may be used for the determination of the character direction, that is, the determination of vertical writing or horizontal writing. Further, for example, a threshold value with respect to the minimum value or maximum value of the aspect ratio or the median may be provided, and the present invention can be applied to processing for determining whether the writing is vertical or horizontal based on the threshold.
[0023]
Subsequently, when it is determined that the vertical writing is arranged, the extracted character images are rotated by 90 degrees. That is, by this processing, as shown in FIG. 3, vertical writing can be converted into a horizontal writing sequence. As a result, if the vertically written postal code is converted into the horizontal writing sequence, it can be automatically sorted by the sorting device in the next process.
[0024]
(Effect of Embodiment 1)
Therefore, since a pre-processing means for converting side-by-side zip codes is provided with a relatively small configuration that does not have pattern recognition means, vertical zip codes are automatically processed without significant changes to the sorting device. can do.
[0025]
[Embodiment 2]
In the second embodiment, an example will be described in which a predetermined digit of a postal code is not used for character direction determination.
[0026]
Depending on how the zip code is written, a delimiter may appear in the fourth digit. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, it may be written as “222-0000” separated by a minus sign.
[0027]
The negative character pattern is elongated horizontally when it does not rotate. The aspect ratio is set to 5, and according to the first embodiment, the average aspect ratio of the entire postal code is (7 × 2/3 + 5) / 8 = 29/24> 1, so that the horizontal writing is performed. Therefore, it is erroneously determined that it is a vertical writing sequence.
[0028]
On the other hand, vertical delimiters cannot be said to have a common way of writing, and some word processors print "-" as it is without rotation, while other word processors print rotation pattern "|" considering vertical writing. is there. In addition, the same way of writing is also mixed for handwriting. That is, it can be said that the aspect ratio of the delimiter is noise information without contributing to the determination of the character direction.
[0029]
Therefore, if the aspect ratio of the fourth digit in which the delimiter can be written is excluded from the character direction determination, the character direction can be determined with higher accuracy because there are only numbers in the other digits.
[0030]
(Effect of Embodiment 2)
Therefore, since a predetermined postal code digit (in this case, a delimiter such as a minus sign) is not used as character direction judgment information, the aspect ratio generated when the delimiter existing in the postal code part is included in the judgment character It is possible to eliminate misjudgment caused by reverse rotation.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the character direction determination device (claim 1) of the present invention, after the character image of the zip code portion described in the mail is read in a predetermined direction and temporarily stored, the image The zip code is cut out from the image one character at a time, and whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal is determined from the aspect ratio of each extracted character image, and is determined according to the determination result of the character direction. Rotate characters. As a result, for example, when a postal code is written in vertical writing, it can be used as preprocessing for a mail sorting device based on the current postal code by rotating to horizontal writing and changing the character direction after determining that the writing is vertical writing. Therefore, even if the direction of the zip code is different, the efficiency of sorting work by the zip code can be improved. In addition, by not using a predetermined postal code digit as character direction judgment information, for example, the reverse of the aspect ratio that occurs when the delimiter character existing in the postal code part is included in the judgment character, the erroneous judgment is avoided. Can be eliminated.
[0032]
In addition, according to the character direction determination device of the present invention (Claim 2), the character image of the zip code portion described in the mail piece is read in the horizontal direction and temporarily stored, and then the image is read out. Cut out the zip code one by one from the image, determine whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal from the aspect ratio of each extracted character image, and determine whether the character direction determination result is vertical writing. By rotating 90 degrees, postal codes written in vertical writing can be rearranged in horizontal writing, and it is possible to provide a device that can be used as a pre-processing of mail sorting device by current postal code Therefore, even if the direction of the postal code is different, the efficiency of sorting work by the postal code can be improved. In addition, by not using a predetermined postal code digit as character direction judgment information, for example, the reverse of the aspect ratio that occurs when the delimiter character existing in the postal code part is included in the judgment character, the erroneous judgment is avoided. Can be eliminated.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a processing example according to the first embodiment when the postal code is in a horizontal direction.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of rotation of vertically arranged characters according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a case where a delimiter is entered according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an address printed in vertical writing.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 Image Reading Unit 102 Image Storage Unit 103 Character Extraction Unit 104 Character Direction Determination Unit 105 Image Rotation Unit

Claims (2)

A character direction determination device that reads a zip code, determines a writing direction of the zip code, and rotates the zip code as necessary.
Image reading means for reading the character image of the postal code portion described in the mail in a predetermined direction;
Image storage means for storing an image read by the image reading means;
A character cutout means for reading out an image stored in the image storage means and cutting out a zip code character by character from the character image;
A character direction determination means for determining a character direction based on an aspect ratio of each character image cut out by the character cutout means;
An image rotation means for rotating each character image cut out by the character cutout means based on a determination result of the character direction determination means;
With
The character direction determining device does not use a predetermined digit of a zip code as character direction determination information. A character direction determination device that reads a zip code, determines a writing direction of the zip code, and rotates the zip code as necessary.
Image reading means for horizontally reading a character image of a postal code portion described in a mail piece;
Image storage means for storing an image read by the image reading means;
A character cutout means for reading out an image stored in the image storage means and cutting out a zip code character by character from the character image;
A character direction determination means for determining a character direction, assuming that the aspect ratio of each character image cut out by the character cutout means is vertical writing if the aspect ratio is large and horizontal writing if the aspect ratio is small, with respect to a predetermined reference value;
Image rotation means for rotating each character image determined to be vertical writing by 90 degrees as a result of determination by the character direction determination means;
With
The character direction determining device does not use a predetermined digit of a zip code as character direction determination information.

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