JPH0739821A - Address reading device and address reading and classifying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for reclassification of postage to be paid on delivery of large- lot enterprises, to improve the classification rate thereof and to lower an erroneous classification rate by providing the device and machine with an address and large-lot Q, enterprise name recognizing section which collates read addresses with the addresses stored in an address dictionary, the addresses and names of the large-lot enterprises or combined information thereof and outputs the results of the collation. CONSTITUTION:This address reading device and address reading and classifying machine have a reading section 4 which reads the addresses from postal matter P and the address dictionary 45 in which the addresses and the addresses to the large-lot enterprises or combined information consisting of the enterprise names or addresses and the enterprise names are stored. The addresses read by the reading section 4 are collated with the addresses and addresses for the large enterprises stored in the address dictionary 45 or the combined information consisting of the enterprise names or addresses and the enterprise names and the results of the collation are outputted by the address and large-lot enterprise name recognizing section 44, Then, the independent classification is made possible by recognizing the ordinary postage to be paid on delivery and the postage to be paid on delivery of the large-lot enterprises. The registration of even the large-lot enterprise in a data base is possible by registering the combined conditions consisting of the addresses and enterprise names as the data base of the large-lot enterprises.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an address reading device for reading an address such as an address written on a mail to be conveyed, and an address for performing classification by using the address read by the address reading device. Reading classifier

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The mail sorting work is roughly divided into a sorting work for sending collected mail to a destination post office and a sorting work for delivering arrived mail. There is a delivery division business.

Conventionally, as for the sorting work, the postal code automatic reading and sorting machine has been largely automated.
Automation was delayed for delivery division work. However, in recent years, in addition to the function of the automatic zip code reading and sorting machine, the address (address) such as the town name, chome, and the kanji of the block code written on the mail, that is, the town name of general mail and the large company name of a large company that receives a large amount A system has been developed in which (large name) is directly read by OCR to automate the sorting of mail items up to the delivery district level (automatic delivery sorting work).

In such a device, the upper left three bars of the mail piece are recognized and sorted into the payee paying pocket which is independent of the normal pocket. In addition, the classification method for large companies is based on only address information or only large company information (large company name).

However, in the above-mentioned apparatus, since the payment and payment categories are independent, it is impossible to extract a large-scale company that receives a large amount. In addition, since recognition of addresses and recognition of names of large companies were independent in large company recognition, erroneous reading of either one led to a reduction in the efficiency of classification processing.

Furthermore, when there are companies similar to the same area (eg, large companies ... ○○ photographic film, similar companies, ○)
○ Photo film annex, etc.) In some cases, classification by company name is not possible.

When another company exists at the same address as a large company, it is impossible to distinguish by address. further,
If there are both cases where there is a similar company in the same area and when there is another company at the same address as the large company, the large company cannot be classified at all.

[0008] Therefore, there is a drawback that the payee payment for large companies must be re-classified, and the classification rate for large companies is poor and the misclassification rate cannot be reduced.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, the payee payout for large companies must be re-classified, and the classification rate for large companies is poor and the misclassification rate can be reduced. Eliminates the drawback of not
An object of the present invention is to provide an address reading device and an address reading / sorting device that do not require reclassification of payee payments to large companies and can improve the classification ratio and reduce the misclassification ratio for large companies. To do.

[0010]

The address reading device of the present invention is composed of a reading means and an address for reading an address described above from a mail, and an address for a large company, a company name or an address and a company name. And the address read by the reading means, the address stored in the address dictionary, the address for a large company, the company name, or the composite information composed of the address and the company name. However, it is composed of an address / large name recognition unit that outputs the collation result.

The address reading / sorting machine of the present invention reads an address written on a mail to be conveyed and classifies it using the read address. An address dictionary that stores a company name or an address and composite information including the company name, an address that the address read by the reading means is stored in the address dictionary, an address for a large company, a company name or an address and a company It is composed of an address / major name recognition unit that collates with composite information including a name and outputs the collation result, and a classification unit that performs classification according to the address recognized by the address / major name recognition unit.

The address reading device of the present invention is a reading means for reading an address described on a mail piece, a detecting means for detecting whether or not the mail piece is paid by the recipient, an address, and an address for a large company. , Or an address dictionary in which company names and the like are stored, determination means for determining whether or not the address read by the reading means is a large-scale company stored in the address dictionary, and mail for payment by the recipient by the detection means. When a large enterprise is determined by the above determination means when an object is detected, data indicating payee payment of the large enterprise is output, and when a large enterprise is not determined by the above determination means, general receipt is received. It is composed of an output means for outputting data indicating payment by person.

In the address reading / sorting machine of the present invention, the address written on the mail to be conveyed is read, and the read address is used for classification. The reading means for reading the specified address, the address and the address for the large company, or the address dictionary in which the company name is stored, whether the address read by the reading means is the large company stored in the address dictionary Judgment means for judging whether the large-scale enterprise is judged by the judging means when the postal matter for the payee is detected by the detecting means, the data indicating the payee's payment for the large-scale company is outputted, and the judgment is made. If the large enterprise has not been determined by the means, an output means for outputting data indicating ordinary payee payment, and the acceptance of the large enterprise output by this output means And a division means for performing division depending on whether a collect or general receive a collect.

[0014]

According to the present invention, in the above-mentioned structure, it is possible to separately distinguish the ordinary payee and the payee of a large company.
By registering a compound condition consisting of an address and a company name as a database of a large company, a large company that could not be registered in the past can be registered in the database.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows an automatic mail sorting machine as an address reading / sorting machine having the address reading device of the present invention, and has the following configuration. That is, the postal items P, such as postcards and sealed letters, are set in the supply unit 1 collectively and in a standing position. The postal matter P in the supply section 1 is sequentially taken out one by one from the frontmost postal matter P by the take-out section 2 and conveyed, and the postal matter P by the reading section 4 arranged in the middle of the take-in conveyance path 3.
The zip code and address information (address information) given to the are read. The reading section 4 photoelectrically converts the postal code and address information on the postal matter P, and photoelectrically converts the postal code and address information by recognizing the character pattern according to the output of the photoelectric conversion section 4a. This is a well-known device including a discriminating section 4b having an address reading device for discriminating.

Next, the postal matter P passing through the reading section 4 is conveyed to the sorting section 11 via the conveying path 3. The sorting section 11 is provided with a plurality of sorting transport paths 5a to 5g vertically provided by a gate mechanism section (not shown).
In addition, it can be selectively distributed based on the above-mentioned postal code, the reading result of the address information, and the like.

A plurality of pockets (collection boxes) 6 are provided below the sectioned conveying paths 5a to 5f along the lower surface side thereof.
.. are arranged in a plurality of stages (stages A to G), and the postal matter P sent to the sorting conveyance paths 5a to 5g is stored in a predetermined pocket 6 based on the reading result of the reading unit 4. It is designed to be collected separately.

A transport detector group (not shown) for detecting the transport of the postal matter P on the transport path is provided on the transport paths 3, 5a, .... Address information and the like are written on the surface of the mail P. The address information is composed of a plurality of lines of character information. Addresses (addresses) such as "prefecture name", "ward, city name", "town name", "street number", etc. to be read as address information A in such a mail P (Roppongi 1-1-1) and companies First name (○○
Photographic film).

An operator panel 7 as an operation panel is provided above the supply unit 1. FIG. 3 shows an electric circuit. That is, the control unit 31 uses the classification designation table stored in the memory 32,
The sorting designation data corresponding to the postal code and address information supplied from the discrimination unit 4b is read out, and the mail is stored in the pockets 6, ... Corresponding to the read sorting designation data (addresses of pockets 6, ...). The object P can be conveyed. For example, by outputting a sorting gate control signal in response to a transportation detection signal from a transportation detector (not shown) in the middle of the transportation path 3, the sorting gate 9, ...
Is controlled. In the memory 32, the address of each zip code, the pocket 6 corresponding to each address information, etc. as the classification designation table (classification designation data)
Is remembered.

Further, the control unit 31 controls the entire transport system by driving the transport mechanism unit 36 such as the transport path 3 by the driver 35. Next, regarding the photoelectric conversion unit 4a and the determination unit 4b of the reading unit 4,
This will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, the photoelectric conversion unit 4a obtains a pattern signal by optically scanning the postal matter P and photoelectrically converting it. For example, a light source for irradiating the postal matter P with light, and It is composed of a self-scanning CCD image sensor which receives the reflected light and converts it into an electric signal.

The output of the photoelectric conversion section 4a is supplied to the discrimination section 4b. The discriminating section 4b is supplied to the address area detecting section 42 and the character recognizing section 43. The address area detection unit 42 is a well-known one that detects the area in which the address information is described from the information described in the mail P by the shape, position, etc. of the area.

The judgment result of the address area detecting section 42, for example, the coordinate value of the judged area is outputted to the selecting circuit 51 in the character recognizing section 43. The output of the photoelectric conversion unit 4a is output to the binarization circuit 50 in the character recognition unit 43.

The character recognizing section 43 includes the photoelectric conversion section 4
a binarization circuit 20 for binarizing the read signal from a, and a selection for selectively outputting the binarization signal from the binarization circuit 20 corresponding to the coordinate information supplied from the address area detection unit 42. The circuit 51 detects the characters of the address information (postal code) corresponding to the address area (postal code area) supplied from the selection circuit 51 one by one, that is, detects the character information corresponding to the address (postal code). A character detection / cutout circuit 52 for cutting out, a normalization circuit 53 for normalizing and sampling the character information that is supplied from the character detection / cutout circuit 52, that is, detected and cutout, and character information supplied from the normalization circuit 53. Is constituted by a recognition circuit 54 for recognizing characters by, for example, a matching method with a reference pattern for each character in the dictionary 55.

The output of the character recognition unit 43, that is, the recognition circuit 54 is supplied to the address / major name recognition unit 44. The address / large name recognition unit 44 uses the address or large name read from the address dictionary 45 for the recognized character supplied from the character recognition unit 43 or the large name (Roppongi 1-1-1, ◯◯).
Photographic film).

The address dictionary 45 is provided with a large company table 45a as a database. As the large company table 45a, for example, the compound condition registration method is used for large companies.

For example, in the past, only the address "1-1-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku" or the company name "○○ photographic film" was registered for a large-scale company, but in the present invention, as shown in FIG. As shown, "Roppongi 1-chome & XXX photo in Minato-ku" and "Roppongi 1-chome & film in Minato-ku" are registered as composite conditions. As a result, the company name can be used as the classification information, and the classification efficiency can be improved.

Other examples of easily erroneous company names existing in this area are "3-4-5 XX Photo Film Annex in Roppongi, Minato-ku" and "2-4-4 XX Photo Film Dormitory in Nishiazabu, Minato-ku".
Has become.

Further, in the large company table 45a,
By using the compound condition registration method (matching of address and company name), other companies exist at the same address,
For example, when there are multiple companies in the same building, it was not possible to register in the past, but in the present invention, it is possible to register.

For example, the address of a large company "1 Higashiazabu, Minato-ku"
"1-1 inside the building" and the company name "Tokyo Automobile" in the same address as other companies "1-1-1 Higashiazabu, Minato-ku Japan inside ○○○○○○" or "Minato Ward" 1-1-1 Higashiazabu
Conventionally, when the "building" exists, it could not be registered in the large company table 45a, but in the case of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, "1 Higashiazabu, Minato-ku & Tokyo ○○" By registering as a complex condition, it is possible to specify a large company and register it in the large company table 45a.

Further, when there are a plurality of companies in the same building and the company names are similar (the company name is two letters "○").
There is a possibility of misreading "○ kyo" if it is "turf" etc.)
It is also possible to register only the compound condition in the large company table 45a without registering only the company name.

In the above example, since the block is removed from the address of the compound condition, the recognition can be performed with a small number of characters. The output from the address / major name recognition unit 44 is supplied to the answer editing unit 48. The answer editing section 48 outputs the classification designation data for the address / major name supplied from the address / major name recognition section 44, that is, the data indicating the pockets 6, ... is there.

The payee payment can be detected by recognizing the three bars at the upper left of the postal matter P by the payee detection means (not shown). It is output to 48.

Next, in the above configuration, the address /
The operations of the major name recognition unit 44 and the answer editing unit 48 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the payee payment detection means (not shown) detects the payee payment, the answer editing unit 48 determines whether the large-sized enterprise is recognized by the address / major name recognition unit 44 or not. decide. That is, in the case of a large-scale enterprise, the latter division section 1
Data showing pockets for payee payments for large companies in 1.
If the company is not a large-scale company, it outputs the data indicating the ordinary payee pocket in the sorting section 11 in the subsequent stage. As a result, the sorting unit 11 separately sorts the above-mentioned mail P into the pockets corresponding to the payees of large companies or the pockets corresponding to the usual payees.

As a result, with respect to the payee, the ordinary payee and the large payee can be realized independently by making the address (company) recognized. Therefore, as in the past, even if there is a company that wants to withdraw, there is no such work in the recognition system, so it avoids the disadvantage that the payee must be divided again at the station side. be able to.

Further, when the payee payment is not detected by the payee detecting means, the address / large name recognition unit 4
If only the building name corresponding to the large company registered in the large company table 45a in 4 is recognized, only the address corresponding to the large company registered in the large company table 45a is registered in the address / large name recognition unit 44. When it can be recognized, or when the address / major name recognition unit 44 can recognize the complex condition (matching a part of the address and a part of the company name) corresponding to the large company registered in the large company table 45a, The answer editing unit 48 outputs data indicating the pocket of the division destination corresponding to the recognized content. As a result, the sorting unit 11 sorts the mail P into pockets corresponding to large companies.

When the address / major name recognition unit 44 does not recognize the large company in the large company table 45a, the answer editing unit 48 indicates the data indicating the pocket of the classification destination corresponding to the recognized address. Execute the normal process that outputs. As a result, the sorting unit 11 sorts the mail P into pockets corresponding to addresses.

If the address cannot be recognized in the above process, the answer editing section 48 determines the reject and outputs the data indicating the pocket of the division destination corresponding to the reject. As a result, the sorting unit 11 sorts the mail P into pockets corresponding to rejects.

As described above, the address, the company name, etc. are used to divide the mail payable by the recipient to the large-scale company and the mail paid by the general recipient into different pockets. The labor of division can be reduced.

When a similar company name exists (example 1 shown in FIG. 4), the company name information cannot be registered by the conventional method, and the information is divided only by the address. By using the registration method, not only the address but also the company name can be used in combination with the classification information (matching each other's information), and the reliability can be improved and the classification efficiency can be improved.

Further, since the large classification can be newly registered under the complex condition, the classification efficiency can be improved. Further, in the case where there are a plurality of companies at the same address and a company similar to the company name exists, it is possible to solve the problem by registering the compound conditions in the present invention, which cannot be registered in the database conventionally.

Further, not only this problem can be solved, but also the large classification rate can be dramatically improved and the misclassification rate can be reduced. That is, conventionally, the recognition of large enterprises was that the address and the large enterprise were independent of each other, so that misreading of either one led to a reduction in classification processing efficiency. Therefore, the address information of the postal matter and the information of the large size (company name) are matched from the composite condition table to improve the reading rate for the large size pocket and reduce the misclassification rate.

The database as a large company table is examined in more detail for the companies in the area, and the complex conditions and the like corresponding to the survey results are registered, whereby the reliability of the database is further improved. In addition, the complex conditions should be set loosely at the time of delivery, a large amount of mail should be flowed at the time of adjustment, the misclassification should be analyzed, and the presence or absence of other companies and the quantity should be adjusted to adjust the database. You can

[0044]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an address reading device and an address reading classifier that do not require reclassification of payee payments for large companies and can improve the classification ratio and reduce the misclassification ratio for large companies.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a reading unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of an automatic mail sorting machine.

3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the automatic mail sorting machine of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of registration of compound conditions in the large company table of FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an example of registration of compound conditions in the large company table of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the answer editing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 ... Reading unit P ... Postal matter 4a ... Photoelectric conversion unit 42 ... Address area detection unit 43 ... Character recognition unit 44 ... Address / major name recognition unit 45 ... Address dictionary 45a ... Large company table 48 ... Answer editing unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An address dictionary in which a reading means for reading an address described on a mail piece, an address, an address for a large company, a company name, or composite information including an address and a company name are stored. And the address read by the reading means is matched with the address stored in the address dictionary, the address for a large company, the company name or the composite information consisting of the address and the company name, and the result of the matching is output. An address reading device comprising a name recognition unit. 2. An address reading / sorting machine for reading an address written on a mail to be conveyed and classifying by using the read address, an address written on the mail from the mail. The reading means for reading the address, the address, and the address dictionary for storing the address, the company name or the composite information consisting of the address and the company name for the large-sized company, and the address read by the reading means are stored in the address dictionary. Address, the address for a large company, a company name or a composite information consisting of an address and a company name, and the address / major name recognition unit that outputs the matching result, and this address / a large name recognition unit recognized An address reading / sorting machine comprising: sorting means for sorting according to an address. 3. A reading means for reading the address described on the mail piece, a detection means for detecting whether or not the mail piece is payable by the recipient, an address, an address for a large-scale company, or a company name. Etc. are stored in the address dictionary, determination means for determining whether or not the address read by the reading means is a large company stored in the address dictionary, and the detecting means detects mail for payment by the recipient. When a large enterprise is determined by the determining means, the data indicating the payee payment of the large enterprise is output, and when the large enterprise is not determined by the determining means, the general payee payment is performed. An address reading device comprising: an output unit that outputs the indicated data. 4. An address reading / sorting machine for reading an address written on a mail to be conveyed and classifying by using the read address, the address written on the mail from the mail to be classified. A reading means for reading the address, an address, an address dictionary in which addresses for large companies, company names, etc. are stored, and it is determined whether the address read by the reading means is a large company stored in the address dictionary. When the mail for the payee payable is detected by the detecting means, when the large company is judged by the judging means, the data indicating the payee payable by the large company is output, and the judging means If the large enterprise has not been determined by, the output means for outputting the data indicating the general payee payment and whether the payee payment for the large enterprise output by this output means or not. The receiving a collect or address reader sorter, characterized by comprising a dividing means for performing classification, the according to.