JPH024485A - Apparatus for processing mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve an efficiency in development of processing operation remarkably by constituting a system, wherein a plurality of indications which indicates modifications in operation of every processing device are received and the modifications in the processing device are executed in time sharing according to the respective indications. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of terminal units 14a-14c are installed corresponding to a plurality of image processors 12a-12c, and modifications of programs in the image processors 12a-12c sent from respective terminal units 14a-14c are made to be executable by a main control unit 11 in time sharing according to the respective indications. The main control unit 11 indicates the modifications of programs to a plurality of image processors simultaneously based on the aforementioned operations. As processing of every task T1-T3 is executed in time sharing as described above, a plurality of terminal units become accessible to a plurality of image processors simultaneously. It is possible, therefore, to improve an efficiency in development of programs largely, because modifications in processing operation such as debugging of program, change of setting, etc., are efficiently carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a mail processing device that is applied to, for example, a mail sorting machine that sorts mail based on postal codes or the like.

(Prior Art) Conventional mail processing devices, such as mail sorting machines, optically scan mail and extract an image that appears to be a postal code from image information. By recognizing and selecting several candidate postal codes, and determining the most suitable postal code from among these candidates,
The above mail items are sorted according to the determined postal code. This type of mail sorting machine has a plurality of image processing processors (processing means) connected by a pipeline system under the control of a main control section as a control means.
Some systems divide each process, such as postal code extraction, postal code recognition and candidate selection, and postal code determination, in a step-by-step manner.

However, in a mail sorting machine with the above configuration, when it is necessary to modify the processing operation (program) such as debugging the program or changing settings in the image processing processor, the main control unit can simultaneously perform one image processing Only the processor program could be modified. For this reason, there has been a drawback that the development efficiency of programs for image processing processors is low.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention connects a plurality of image processing processors under the control of a main control unit using a pipeline method, and each process is divided and processed in stages. In the sorting machine,
When it becomes necessary to modify the program in an image processing processor, the main control section can only modify the program for one image processing processor at a time.

Therefore, this was done to eliminate the drawback that program development efficiency was low, and it is possible to execute corrections of processing operations instructed to multiple processing means at the same time in a time-sharing manner. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a mail processing device that can significantly improve development efficiency.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The mail processing device of the present invention includes a plurality of processing means for step-by-step processing of image information obtained by optically scanning a mail. , a plurality of instruction means that are provided corresponding to the plurality of processing means and instruct the correction of the processing operation in each processing means; and a control means for time-sharing execution according to instructions.

(Function) The present invention provides a mail processing device equipped with a plurality of processing means for processing image information read from a mail piece in stages, in which a plurality of instruction means are provided corresponding to the plurality of processing means; By enabling the control means to time-divide modify the processing operations of each processing means instructed by the instruction means in accordance with each instruction, it is possible to simultaneously instruct multiple processing means to correct the processing operations. It has been made possible.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the main parts of a mail processing apparatus of the present invention, such as a mail sorting machine that automatically sorts mail based on postal codes.

That is, 11 is a host CPU that controls the entire sorting machine.
This main control unit 1 is a main control unit (control means) as
1, for example, three image processing processors (processing means) 12a, 12b, and 12c are connected via a bus 13, and each image processing processor 12a
, 12b.

A terminal device (instruction means) 14a corresponds to 12c.

14b and 14c are connected.

The image processing processors 12a, 12b.

12c is connected to the main control section 11 by a vibrine system, and is configured to perform a plurality of processes in stages. That is, the first-stage image processing processor 12a is equipped with a memory (not shown) and stores image information obtained by optically scanning a mail piece, and also extracts an image that appears to be a postal code from this image information. It is extracted and output to the next stage image processing processor 12b. This image processing processor 12b recognizes a postal code from the image extracted from the first-stage image processor 12a, selects a candidate postal code, and outputs it to the final-stage image processor 12c. This image processing processor 12c determines the optimal postal code from among the candidate postal codes selected by the preceding image processing processor 12b, and outputs the number to the main control unit 11.

Once the postal code is determined in this way, the main control unit 11 sorts the mail according to the postal code from the image processor 12c.

The terminal devices 14a, 14b, 14
cf;! , each image processing processor 12a, 12b, 1
This command instructs modification of the processing operation (program), such as debugging the program 2c and changing settings.

Thus, for example, the terminal devices 14a, 14b.

Image processing processors 12a and 12b from 14c.

12c is instructed to modify the program, the second
As shown in the figure, a task request (task 1) TI is sent from the operation system O8 used on the main control unit 11.
(Task 2) T2. (Task 3) T3 is generated. When a task request TI, T2°T3 is generated, the request is communicated to the task manager TM. This task manager TM is a task management map Km corresponding to each task.
According to this map Km, task requests T, , T2 . Processing is performed according to T.

FIG. 3 shows the task management map Km. The task management map Km is a status table showing the execution status of a task, and for example, "1" indicates that the task is being executed, and "0" indicates that the task is in a ready state. That is, by referring to the task name corresponding to the task request, the task manager TM determines that the status is "0",
In other words, if the task is not being executed, processing is performed in response to the task request. In this case, task requests are prioritized and processed according to these priorities.

In this way, in response to task requests from the operating system O8, the task manager TM controls the number of stages of tasks and executes the processing of each task in a time-sharing manner. Therefore, for example, even when the terminal device 14a is accessing the image processing processor 12a via the main control unit 11, that is, even when the terminal device 14a is used to debug the program of the image processing processor 12a, It is possible to access other processors 12b, 12c using the terminal device 14b.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

For example, when there is a task request from the operation system O8 currently being used on the main control unit 11, the task manager TM first checks whether there is a request T1 for task 1 (in this case, the priority is set to TI). , T2...
・Set as +TN. ). If it is determined through this check that there is a request, the task manager TM refers to the task management map Km and determines whether the status corresponding to task 1 is "0" or "1". As a result of this determination, if it is determined that the task is not executing a process (status "0"), the process according to the request T1 of the task 1 is performed.

Additionally, if it is determined that the task is executing a process (status "1"), wait until the process is completed or interrupted after a certain period of time, and then respond to request T1 of task 1. Perform the appropriate processing.

On the other hand, if it is determined by the above check that there is no request T1 of task 1, or if the processing in response to request T1 of task 1 is completed or interrupted, request T1 of task 2
Check whether 2 exists. If it is determined by this check that there is a request, the task manager TM will
The status corresponding to task 2 is determined by referring to the task management map Km. Based on this determination, if it is determined that the task is not executing the process, the process according to the request T2 of the task 2 is performed.

Further, if it is determined that the task is executing a process based on the above-mentioned determination, the process according to the request T2 of the task 2 is performed after waiting for the process to be completed or interrupted after a certain period of time has elapsed.

Similarly, processing according to the requests T1 to TN of each task 1 to N is performed in a time-sharing manner. In this way, each task can be processed in a time-sharing manner. Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously access a plurality of image processing processors 12a to 12c from a plurality of terminal devices 14a to 14c. As a result, each of the terminal devices 14a to 14c can perform operations as if it were exclusively using the main control section 11.

As described above, in a mail processing apparatus equipped with a plurality of image processing processors for processing image information read from mail in stages, a plurality of terminal devices are provided corresponding to the plurality of image processing processors, and By enabling the main control unit to time-divisionally execute program corrections for each image processing processor instructed by the terminal device, programs for multiple image processing processors can be corrected simultaneously. I am able to give instructions.

In other words, the task manager controls multiple tasks in response to task requests from the operating system, allowing each task to be processed in a time-sharing manner. This allows multiple image processing processors to be accessed simultaneously from multiple terminal devices. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently modify processing operations such as program debugging and setting changes, thereby significantly improving program development efficiency.

In the above embodiment, a sorting machine that sorts mail items based on postal codes has been explained as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be applied to ward-man machines, etc.

It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is possible to time-share the correction of processing operations instructed to multiple processing means at the same time, and the development efficiency of processing operations is greatly improved. It is possible to provide a mail processing device capable of processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the main parts schematically showing the configuration of the sorting machine, Fig. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the main parts, and Fig. 3 is a task diagram. FIG. 4, which is a diagram showing an example of the management map, is a flowchart shown to explain the operation. 11... Main control section (control means) 12a. 12b, 12c... image processing processor (processing means)
14a, 14b, 14c --- Terminal devices (instruction means). Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of processing means for step-by-step processing of image information obtained by optically scanning a postal item, and a method provided corresponding to the plurality of processing means to correct the processing operation in each processing means. A mailbox comprising: a plurality of instruction means for instructing; and a control means for receiving instructions from the plurality of instruction means and time-sharingly executing corrections to processing operations in each processing means according to the respective instructions. Material processing equipment.