JPH02181269A - Address recognizing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To retrieve the addresses with high accuracy by preparing all possible meanings to an abbreviation and defining the standard forms of words and the inputted words as the recognizing candidates. CONSTITUTION:An input part 11 consists of a photoelectric transducer like a CCD, etc., and converts the pictures drawn on a mail into the picture information '0' and '1'. These picture information obtained via the part 11 are supplied to a character detecting/recognizing part 13. The part 13 extracts the information forming characters out of the picture information and recognizes each character. Based on this recognizing result, a word recognizing part 15 recognizes words by means of a 1st data base 17. In this word recognizing process, the recognizing result is not merely obtained but plural recognizing candidates are obtained in the order of higher degrees of likelihood. Thus plural words are outputted as the recognizing candidates. An address recognizing part 21 recognizes addresses by means of a 2nd data base 19 after the words are recognized. Then the recognized addresses are outputted via an output part 23.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an address recognition method.

(Prior Art) There are various recognition methods, but in the case of address recognition, the following methods are adopted.

First, to perform address recognition, characters are recognized, followed by words. Based on this recognition result, addresses are searched by combining words. During word recognition, if synonyms were found, abbreviations were suggested as candidates. For example, rHiGHWAYJ rHiWAYJ rHW
When the description YJ was read and recognized, its abbreviation rHWYJ was obtained from the dictionary as a recognition candidate. this is,
rHi GHWAYJ rHiWAYJ rHWY
It was very effective when both J's had the same meaning, that is, expressway.

However, after repeated tests and studies by the inventor of the present application, it was found that the meanings of the abbreviations overlapped in some cases, making it impossible to perform correct address searches.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional technology, word candidates are expressed by a single abbreviation, so when the meanings of the abbreviations overlap, correct address retrieval cannot be performed.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an address retrieval method that allows more accurate recognition even when the meanings of abbreviations overlap.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an input means for inputting a search target, and a comparison of the words inputted from this input means with the contents of a dictionary. In the identification method, the standard form of a word for which an abbreviation is used is registered in the dictionary, and the standard form is output when searching for the word, and the standard form is It is characterized in that the words input from the input means are output as recognition candidates.

(Operation) According to the present invention, all possible meanings are assigned to abbreviations and a plurality of candidates are used as recognition candidates, so that address recognition is performed more accurately.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

This embodiment relates to a mail address recognition system in the United States.

This address recognition device has an input section 11 as shown in FIG.
including. This input unit 11 is composed of a photoelectric conversion device such as a CCD, and converts an image on a mail item into rOJ rlJ image information. The image information obtained by this input section 11 is supplied to a character detection recognition section 13. The character detection and recognition unit 13 extracts information constituting characters from image information and performs recognition processing on each character.

The word recognition unit 15 executes word recognition on this result using the first database.

After word recognition, the address recognition unit 21 uses the second database 19 to recognize the address. This recognition result is supplied to the output device 23 and displayed.

Next, details of the operation processing in the above configuration will be explained.

Character detection by the character detection recognition unit 13 is achieved using a well-known technique. First, statistics on the distribution of image information in two axes (horizontal and vertical) are taken. That is, projections are taken in each of the two axis directions and the number of "1"s is counted. Then, since the number of "1"s, that is, the number of pixels is larger in the area where the character is present than in other areas, the detection of the character can be easily realized. However, at this time, the distribution is based on pixels with a coarser density than those used in normal recognition processing. For example, the reading capacity of a CCD is 8 lines/
mm, and if normal recognition processing is performed at a rate of 8 lines/mm, the above detection process is performed with an accuracy of 1 line/mm. Processing using coarse pixels is preferable because it prevents errors in character detection.

In this character detection, projections are taken in the two-axis directions, and there is a break (area with no pixels) in the projection in the - direction, and the interval between the breaks is greater than a certain value. This direction is the first
is called the direction of Projections in other directions are either seamless or closely spaced.

Here, it is considered that "rows" are constructed along the direction of the cut. Therefore, along the above cut,
Cut out the “row”.

Once a row is cut out, a projection is taken along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction with respect to the image of the area constituting this row. As a result, pixels are counted in areas with characters, and pixels are not counted in areas without characters. In this process, the pixel density to be handled may be made more precise than that at the time of line extraction. Similarly to the above, the presence or absence of a character appears as a projection in the second direction. Therefore, characters can be cut out from a line, and character inspection can be achieved.

Following character verification, character recognition is performed. In this embodiment, character recognition is performed using, for example, a composite similarity method.

The processing up to this point is the processing in the character detection and recognition unit 13. From the character detection and recognition unit 13, rHJ riJ rWJ
Information about characters such as rYJ can be obtained.

After this character recognition, the word recognition unit 15 recognizes a word, which is a combination of characters. Regarding recognition, rather than simply obtaining a recognition result, multiple recognition candidates are obtained in descending order of likelihood, and in normal cases, multiple words are output as recognition candidates by reading on a piece of mail. Ru.

For the sake of explanation, please note that rxxx is included in the address on the target mail.
x HiWAYJ, and as a result of character recognition, rHiW
Suppose that AYJ is extracted as a word. This word rHi
WAYJ and the contents of the first database 17 are compared and verified.

The relevant portion of the first database 17 is configured as shown in Table 1 below.

(Margin below) Table 1 Here, the term "letter type" in the left column of Table 1 includes abbreviations.

Therefore, since the word read from the mail is "rHiWAY", this word is compared with the "letter type" in the first database 17 shown in Table 1. In this example, since the second line of Table 1 matches, the standard form is first extracted as a recognition candidate. Furthermore, rHiWAYJ written on the mail is treated as a synonym and one of the recognition candidates. This is because ``HiWAYJ is a ``expressway (
This is because in addition to the case where it is Hi GHWAY) J, it may also be a place name.

In this way, two recognition candidates rHiWAYJrHiGHW
AYJ is output and sent to the address recognition section 21. The address recognition unit 21 uses the second database 19 to narrow down the recognition candidates to one. Specifically, one recognition candidate is determined, including the words before and after the read word. Here, as a place name, rxxxxx HiGHWAY
J is selected.

This result is displayed, etc. by the output unit 23.

Also, assume that the mail has the words "RORORORO HWY XXXX" written on it and is read as such.

In this case, in recognizing the word rHWYJ,
The words “HWYJ” and its standard form “rHi GHWAYJ” are extracted as recognition candidates.

Then, these two candidates are finally narrowed down to one by the address recognition unit 21.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the standard form of a word and the input word are used as recognition candidates, an address search can be performed more accurately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an address recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11... Input unit 13... Character detection recognition unit 15... Word recognition unit 17... First database 19... Second database 21... Address recognition unit 23... Output unit Substitute! Jinben Σ

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a recognition method that includes an input means for inputting a search target and a means for performing recognition by comparing the words input from this input means with the contents of a dictionary, the words for which abbreviations are used are An address recognition method characterized in that the standard form of the word is registered in the dictionary, and the standard form is output when searching for the word, and the word input from the input means is output as a recognition candidate. .