JPH0567231A - Address read divider for mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve read performance by uniquely setting an address area, reducing burden on a user and preventing the deterioration of read division owing to a setting error especially in the address reading of a large quantity of the mails in the same format. CONSTITUTION:The pictures of plural mails by individually sending enterprise names and address area information (a position coordinate value, a mentioned direction and the type of a character) belonging to the pictures are previously stored in a storage device 23. The plural stored pictures and address area information belonging to them are retrieved in an editing retrieval part 22 by designating the name of the sending enterprise. They are stored in a picture memory 24 and a coordinate information storage part 29. A display control part 26 displays the picture in the picture memory 24 on a display device with touch key 27 and the displayed picture is designated and selected in a touch key control part 28. Then, corresponding address area information in the coordinate information storage part 29 is transferred to an area setting part 30 and therefore address area information is set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail address reading / sorting machine for automatically reading mail address information in a mail address area uniquely set for mail and sorting mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a postal code reading / sorting machine for a postal matter, which reads the postal code of the postal matter and sorts the postal matter,
When the position where the postal code is to be read is in the prescribed postal code frame position like a normal postal item, the postal code frame position is automatically detected and the postal code is read.

However, there is a method in which a machine automatically detects and reads a postal code, such as a direct mail, which is written at the same position as a mailing address. The unnecessary image is erroneously detected as being in the vicinity, and the reading section is deteriorated. Therefore, with respect to a large amount of postal matter having the same format, such as direct mail, the user designates the postal code position and the writing direction with a cursor and informs the machine of the postal code position.

On the other hand, also in the address reading / sorting machine for mail, the address area is automatically detected for ordinary mail, and a large amount of mail in the same format is designated by the cursor by the same idea. Reading and segmenting.

[0005]

Conventionally, as described above,
Based on the same idea as a postal code reading / sorting machine, from the viewpoint of cost performance against the reading sorting rate, for ordinary mail, the machine automatically detects the address area, and for a large number of mails of the same format, position The address and address are specified with the cursor just before input, and the address is read and classified. In the cursor specification itself, the user can specify the position coordinates and the writing direction in real time, which contributes to the reading classification.

[0006] However, the position coordinates and the writing direction are specified by the cursor, even for a mail piece whose position in the address area is known, the cursor must be specified every time a different kind of mail piece is input. This may impose a burden and a reduction in read classification due to setting mistakes.

Therefore, according to the present invention, particularly in the address reading of a large amount of mails of the same format, the address area can be uniquely set, the burden on the user can be reduced, and the reduction of the read classification due to the setting error can be prevented. An object of the present invention is to provide a mail address reading / sorting machine that can improve the reading performance.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of sender company names are set in a mail address reading / sorting machine that uniquely sets a mail address area to automatically read and classify mail address information. And a registration means for registering a plurality of images of the mail and address area information respectively corresponding to the sender's name, and a search for searching the corresponding mail's images by designating the sender's name Means and
Display means for displaying the images of the plurality of mail items searched by the search means, selection means for selecting the images displayed by the display means, and address area information corresponding to the images selected by the selection means. Is obtained from the registration means.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the address area information (position coordinate value of the address area, address information included in the image of the mail already registered for each sender company when reading the address of a known mail of the same format) (Direction of writing, character type of address information, etc.)
Since the address area can be uniquely set, the address area can be accurately detected, the user's burden in setting the address area can be reduced, and the read division can be prevented from being lowered due to a setting mistake, and the reading performance can be improved.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 schematically shows the construction of the address reading / sorting machine of the mail according to this embodiment. In the figure,
Reference numeral 1 denotes a postal matter input unit that conveys a supplied postal matter (for example, a letter) in a predetermined direction. The image of the surface of the conveyed mail is photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion unit 2 by optical scanning, digitized, and usually as image data.
It is input to the address area detection unit 3. The address area detection unit 3
The address area on the mail is automatically detected from the image of the mail input from the photoelectric conversion unit 2 and is input to the character line detection / cutout unit 4.

The character line detection / cutout unit 4 detects and cuts out character lines in character line units in the detected address area, and inputs the character lines to the character detection / cutout unit 5. The character detection / cutout unit 5 detects and cuts out characters in the detected and cut-out character lines on a character-by-character basis, and inputs the characters to the character identification unit 6. The character identifying unit 6 identifies the detected and cut-out characters on a character-by-character basis, and inputs the identification result to the word matching unit 7. The word collation unit 7 collates and edits word units that form the addressed address based on the character identification result. Then, the mail items are classified based on the result of the matching and editing by the word matching unit 7.

On the other hand, in the case of postal mail of the same format in which the address area is known in advance, such as direct mail, the address area setting unit 8 which can uniquely set the address area.
The address area information is set by the address area setting unit 8
The address area detection unit 3 based on the address area information set in
Is designed to detect the address area.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the address area setting unit 8 in detail, which will be described below. In the storage device 23, images of a plurality of pieces of mail for each sender company name and address area information (position coordinate value, description direction, character type) attached thereto are stored in advance. A plurality of images stored in the storage device 23 and address area information attached to the images are searched and read by the editing / searching unit 22 by designating the sender company name, and the images are stored in the image memory 24 and stored in the address memory. The area information is stored in the coordinate information storage unit 29.

Then, the display control unit 26 displays the image in the image memory 24 on the touch-key-equipped display device 27, and the touch key control unit 28 designates and selects the displayed image to store the coordinate information storage unit. The address area information is set by transferring the corresponding address area information in 29 to the area setting unit 30.

The information of the mail item to be registered is registered in the storage device 23 in advance as follows. That is, after setting the registration mode with a mode setting key or the like (not shown), the mail to be registered is input from the mail input unit 1, the image is stored in the image memory 24, and the display control unit 2
The original image is displayed on the display device 27 with a touch key as it is.

Next, by the cursor control unit 25, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, the cursor 41 is controlled on the display device with a touch key 27, and the position coordinate values (xs, y) of the address area 42 are controlled.
s) (xe, ye) and information 4 indicating their writing direction
Specify 3 and decide. At this time, the type of the written character is also designated by a character type designation key (not shown). Then, the image of the mail in the image memory 24, the determined position coordinate values, the writing direction, and the information on the character type are stored in the storage device 23 in the data structure as shown in FIG. .. That is, the name of the sending company is
Information on the number of registered images, images of a plurality of mail items, position coordinate values attached to each image, description direction, and character type is stored. In addition, in FIG.
X indicates the addressee address, XXXXX indicates the sender address, and ΔΔΔΔ indicates the advertisement diagram or advertisement text.

As described above, the images of the plurality of mail pieces stored in the storage device 23 and the address area information attached thereto are used for setting the mail area when the mail pieces of the same format are processed. Be done.

That is, by setting the address area setting mode with a mode setting key not shown,
The display device 27 with a touch key initially displays a plurality of sender company names, as shown in FIG. In this case, the display device 27 with a touch key displays the company names stored in the storage device 23 as companies A, B, C, .... Further, at this time, as shown in FIG. 6, in addition to the image display, several kinds of function keys F1, F2, F3, F4 are displayed, and the touch information from these function keys F1 to F4 is displayed by the function key control unit 21. It is controlled and sent to the edit retrieval unit 22.

When a company name is displayed on the display device 27 with a touch key, if there is a company name to be selected here, the display part of the company name is directly touched and then the display part of the fixed function key F3 is displayed. Touch to end the selection. Then, the editing / retrieving unit 22 searches the storage device 23 for the images of the plurality of mail items corresponding to the selected company name and the address area information attached thereto, and reads the images, and stores the images in the image memory 24. The area information is stored in the coordinate information storage unit 29. The image stored in the image memory 24 is compressed into, for example, a four-divided image by the display control unit 26, and is displayed on the display device 27 with a touch key as shown in FIG.

When selecting a company name, if the desired company name does not exist in it, the function key F on the previous page is displayed.
By touching the display portion of the function key F2 on the first or next page, it is possible to select from the previous page or the next page. When the setting information is no longer needed, the normal address area detection operation is restored by touching the display portion of the end function key F4.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which four images of postal items owned by the same sending company are displayed at the same time.
If there is a desired image among 2, 53, 54, the touched screen blinks by directly touching the displayed image, and the selection is completed by touching the display portion of the confirmed function key F3. To do.

When an image is selected and the desired image does not exist in the selected image, by touching the display portion of the function key F1 on the previous page or the function key F2 on the next page, the previous page or the next page is selected. You can choose. When the setting information is no longer needed, the normal address area detection operation is restored by touching the display portion of the end function key F4.

When the selection of the image is completed, the touch key control section 28 transfers the address area information corresponding to the selected image stored in the coordinate information storage section 29 to the area setting section 30. The address area information transferred to the area setting unit 30 is transferred to the address area detecting unit 3, and the setting operation of the address area ends therewith.

FIG. 4 shows an example of pointers for accessing information in the storage device 23. For example, in FIG.
When the company A is selected in, the editing / retrieval unit 22 accesses the company A in FIG. 5 with the company A in FIG. 4 as a pointer. Then, the number of images held by the company A is checked, and the image of the mail of the company A is displayed as FIG. Here, when the image is selected and confirmed, the address area information attached to the image is selected and transferred to the area setting unit 30.

When the setting of the address area is completed in this manner, thereafter, the postal matter to be processed (a large amount of postal matter of the same format) is input from the postal matter input unit 1, and the address information is read,
And the division.

In this way, when reading the address of a mail of the same known format, the address area information (position coordinate value of the address area, description of the address information included in the image of the mail already registered for each sender company name is described. Direction, character type of address information, etc.)
Since the address area can be uniquely set, the address area can be accurately detected, the user's burden in setting the address area can be reduced, and the read division can be prevented from being lowered due to a setting mistake, and the reading performance can be improved.

Although the display on the display device with a touch key is divided into four in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be single, six, or eight. Absent.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the address area can be uniquely set, and the burden on the user can be reduced and the setting error can be made especially when reading a large number of mails having the same format. It is possible to prevent the deterioration of reading classification due to
It is possible to provide a mail address reading / sorting machine that can improve the reading performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing in detail a configuration of a destination area setting unit in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a mail address reading / sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting position coordinates and a writing direction by a cursor when registering an image of a mail item.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a pointer for accessing information in a storage device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an image of a mail in a storage device and information attached to the image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a company name and its selection key displayed on a display device with a touch key.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an image of a mail piece displayed on a display device with a touch key and a selection key thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Mail input unit, 2 ... Photoelectric conversion unit, 3 ... Address area detection unit, 4 ... Character line detection cutout unit, 5 ... Character detection cutout unit, 6 ... Character identification unit, 7 ...... Word matching unit, 8 ... Address area setting unit, 22 ... Edit search unit, 23 ... Storage device, 24 ... Image memory, 26 ... Display control unit, 27 ...
... Display device with touch keys, 28 ... Touch key control unit,
29 ... Coordinate information storage unit, 30 ... Area setting unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mailing address reading / sorting machine that uniquely sets a mailing address area to automatically read and classify mailing address information, and supports a plurality of sender company names and the sender company names, respectively. Registration means for registering the images and address area information of the plurality of postal mails, searching means for searching the corresponding plurality of postal mail images by designating the sender company name, and searching by this searching means From the registration means, display means for displaying the respective images of the plurality of postal items, selection means for selecting the images displayed by the display means, and address area information corresponding to the images selected by the selection means An address reading / sorting machine for mail, comprising means for obtaining. 2. The address reading and sorting machine according to claim 1, wherein the address area information comprises a position coordinate value of the address area, a writing direction of the address information, a character type of the address information, and the like.