JPH08164365A - Address reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an address information recognizing device which is capable of exactly recognizing the address information on postal matter at a high speed and allows the reduction in the size of the device. CONSTITUTION: The images on the postal matter described with address codes in prescribed format are read by an optical reader 1 and are subjected to labeling processing in an image processing section 2. Line regions and further, address regions are detected from the distribution of the labels in an address region detecting section 3. The characteristics of the formation of the address codes, such as number of the labels, are investigated from the line regions within the detected address regions in an address code detecting section 4, by which the line regions described with the address codes are detected. As a result, the characters in these line regions are segmented by one each in a character segmenting section 5 and the recognition of the characters is executed while a character pattern dictionary 6 is referenced in a character recognizing section 7. A mechanical code printing section 10 and a postal matter classifying section 9 are driven in accordance with the results of the recognition of the address codes from an address recognition result output section 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an address reader for reading and recognizing an address from an address area in which address information on a mail piece is described.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of processing mail, a large amount of mail sent every day must be processed within a limited time. Therefore, postal mechanization is being promoted to reduce the burden on post office staff. One example thereof is to read a postal code on a mail piece by using an optical character reader (OCR), and according to the read result, the mail piece is sent to a post office in another area (a post office of a delivery division, hereinafter, a delivery office). It is an automatic zip code reading / sorting machine that sorts each (postal sorting), which is mainly used in a mail receiving station. Further, each delivery station optically reads the address written on the mail as an image using an optical character reading device (OCR), recognizes the address by performing character identification on the read image, A delivery sorting machine is used that sorts the mail into a plurality of delivery categories based on the recognition result (delivery category). In such delivery categories, mail items such as town names, chomes, and blocks are recognized.

[0003]

Conventionally, for example, in a mail address automatic reading / sorting machine used in each delivery station, when the address information written on the mail is read, the address information is written by image processing. The address information is recognized by detecting an area presumed to be present and performing pipeline processing of character line detection, character detection, character identification, and town name identification for the address area.

In order to perform such address recognition, it is necessary to perform character collation for all characters that may be included in the town name to be recognized. Therefore, a large-scale character pattern dictionary, address dictionary, etc. It required hardware resources and required a lot of processing time. Also, if the town name is not recognized correctly, the location of the street is not clear, so the location of the following chome or town block may not be detected correctly, or even if it is detected correctly, the chome and town block may have various formats. Since they are described, there was a problem that they could not be recognized correctly.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an address information recognizing device capable of recognizing address information on a postal matter at high speed and accurately and reducing the size of the device.

[0006]

The address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an address read by the reading means. A detection means for detecting the address code line based on the circumscribed rectangle data for which the pixel connected component of the information image is obtained, and a recognition means for performing character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by the detection means. It is equipped with.

Further, the address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an image of the address information read by the reading means. Detecting means for detecting the address code line based on the circumscribed rectangle data for which the pixel connected component is obtained, recognizing means for recognizing the character of the address code on the address code line detected by this detecting means, and this recognizing means A printing means for printing a machine code based on the address code recognized in step 1 above on the mail piece, and a sorting means for classifying the mail piece based on the address code recognized by the recognition means. are doing.

Further, the address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an image of the address information read by the reading means. Detecting means for detecting an address code line based on the circumscribing rectangular area obtained by obtaining the pixel connected components and the characteristics of the above format, and character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by this detecting means. It has a recognition means to do.

Further, the address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an image of the address information read by the reading means. Detecting means for detecting an address code line based on the circumscribing rectangular area obtained by obtaining the pixel connected components and the characteristics of the above format, and character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by this detecting means. The recognizing means to perform, the printing means for printing a machine code based on the address code recognized by the recognizing means on the mail, and the mail code based on the address code recognized by the recognizing means. And a sorting means for sorting.

Further, the address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an image of the address information read by the reading means. First detecting means for detecting the area in which the address information is described based on the distribution of the circumscribed rectangular areas obtained by obtaining the pixel connected components, and the area in which the address information detected by this detecting means is described. From the above, based on the number of the circumscribed rectangular areas, second detecting means for detecting an address code line and recognition means for performing character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by the second detecting means. It has and.

Further, the address reading device of the present invention comprises a reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and an image of the address information read by the reading means. First detecting means for detecting the area in which the address information is described based on the distribution of the circumscribed rectangular areas obtained by obtaining the pixel connected components, and the area in which the address information detected by this detecting means is described. From the above, based on the number of the circumscribed rectangular areas, second detecting means for detecting an address code line and recognition means for performing character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by the second detecting means. And a printing means for printing a machine code based on the address code recognized by the recognition means on the mail item, and the mail item based on the address code recognized by the recognition means. And a sorting means.

[0012]

According to the distribution of the circumscribing rectangular area obtained by reading the image of the address information including the address code described in a predetermined format on the mail and obtaining the pixel connected component of the image of the address information, Detecting the area in which the address information is described, further, based on the number of circumscribing rectangular areas from that area, detecting the address code line, by performing character recognition of the address code on the address code line, The address information on the mail can be recognized quickly and accurately, and the size of the device can be reduced.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows an address information reading device according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, a postal matter to be processed is sent to an optical reading device 1 by a conveyance unit (not shown), and an image on the front side is photoelectrically converted by optical scanning, so that an image on the postal matter is changed. It is input and sent to the image processing unit 2.

Here, the mail items to be processed in this embodiment will be described. Generally, mail items are roughly classified into those with hand-written addresses and those with type-printed addresses, but in the present embodiment, in particular, the latter is intended only for mail items with type-printed addresses. . First, a conventional type-printed address of a postal matter is generally composed of a postal code part in which a postal code is printed at the beginning part, and subsequently a part in which a town name, chome / block is printed. Now, when defining the address code for the address printed in print on the postal matter to be processed in this embodiment, there are five possible formats as shown in FIGS.

The first format shown in FIG. 2 extends the postal code part and adds a town area code. That is, FIG.
In addition, in the conventional postal code (3 digits), for example, a 7-digit extended postal code 21 is added by adding a town area code (for example, 4 digits) in which the town name portion 22 of the address is encoded. Depending on the address code, the town name of the address is simply displayed. Therefore, in the address reading device according to the present embodiment, the extended zip code 21 on the mail and the address
If the part (chome / block part) 23 in which the block is described is correctly recognized, the address can be uniquely recognized without having to recognize the part (town name part) 22 in which the town name of the address is described.

The second format shown in FIG. 3 is to further expand the extended zip code of FIG. 2 and add a chome / block code. That is, in FIG. 3, the address chome / block code 24 is added continuously to the extended postal code 21 in which the town area code is added to the conventional postal code. Therefore, in the address reading apparatus according to the present embodiment, if the extended zip code 21 on the mail and the address code including the chome / block code 24 are identified, the address of the mail can be easily recognized. it can.

At this time, the chome / block code 2 has a fixed format such as a postal code, which is composed of only arithmetic digits and hyphens.
It is preferable that the number of digits of 4 is fixed and expressed. But,
Generally, the number of digits in the chome / block is different depending on the address, so it is not possible to unify the number of digits just like a zip code by simply separating the chome / block with hyphens. Therefore, a digit alignment character that is difficult to be misrecognized is added to fix the number of digits of the address code. One of the concrete examples is shown in FIG.
Is the third format shown in.

In the chome / block code 25 shown in FIG. 4, a digit alignment character "0" is added to fix the number of digits in the chome / block code. However, when the arithmetic digit “0” is used as the digit alignment character in this way, there is a high possibility that the arithmetic digit is erroneously recognized by another arithmetic digit when the character identification processing described later is performed. Therefore, the fourth format shown in FIG. 5 is a character in which the digit alignment character is made more difficult to be erroneously recognized.

In the chome / city block code 26 shown in FIG. 5, for example, "X" is added as a digit alignment character to fix the number of digits in the chome / city block code. The fifth format shown in FIG. 6 is to add a check character 27 to the extended zip code 21 and the chome / block code 23. The check character 27 is the sum of the digits of the extended zip code 21, the chome / block code 23, and the check character 17,
For example, the value is set to be a multiple of 10. Hyphens are not treated as numbers. In particular,
In the case of FIG. 6, extended zip code 21, chome / block code 23
The sum of the numbers in each digit is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6
Since + 7 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 34, the check character 27 is “6” so that it is 40, which is a multiple of 10.
Therefore, in the address reader according to the present embodiment, the sum of the digits of each of the address codes composed of the extended zip code 21, the chome / block code 23, and the check character 27 is 10 in the character identification processing described later. Is not a multiple of
You are erroneously recognizing one of the numbers.

In addition, in the case of the above-mentioned first format, it is assumed that a town area code obtained by encoding up to the town name portion 22 is added as the extended zip code 21, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the town area corresponding to the chome area is added. The extended zip code 21 may be configured by adding a code. In this case, in the address reader according to this embodiment, the address can be uniquely recognized by recognizing only the extended postal code 21.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 1, the image processing unit 2 first performs binarization processing on the image on the mail, and then obtains the connected pixel areas on the binarized image. , A rectangular area circumscribing the area is obtained. At that time, the shape, position, etc. of each rectangular area are determined by knowledge prepared in advance, and unnecessary rectangular data (noise) is removed.

Specifically, when a region in which pixels are connected to form a cluster is detected from a binarized image of a mail, the maximum coordinate value and the minimum coordinate value in the x direction and the y direction of the region are calculated,
Furthermore, considering the connection relationship with pixels adjacent to them,
A rectangular area circumscribing a block of pixels is obtained. For the rectangular area thus obtained, for example, data (coordinate data, etc.) of a rectangular area (hereinafter referred to as a label) as a result of removing a rectangle having an area equal to or smaller than a certain set value.
However, as the character detection processing target data, the address area detection unit 3
Sent to

Based on the label data obtained by the image processing unit 2, the address area detecting unit 3 integrates the labels arranged in a straight line into the row region based on the label distribution. That is, for example, the label distribution is independently integrated in the vertical and horizontal directions of the mail in the directions in which the characters are written, and the character lines are extracted. For example, the width of the extracted character lines is extracted. Those within a certain set value range are determined as the line area in which the address is described.

Further, the address area detecting unit 3 integrates the line area into the address area. That is, for example, when the distance between the area in the integration direction and the line is within a certain threshold range, the line areas are integrated to detect the address area, and the data of the address area is sent to the address code detection unit 5. To be

The address code detecting unit 4 judges whether or not each line area in the address area detected by the address area detecting unit 3 is a line area in which the address code is described.
If it is determined that the line area is the address code, the position data and the like are sent to the character cutout detection unit 5.
At this time, by checking the number of labels in each line area or the number of labels corresponding to hyphens, it can be determined whether or not the address code is the line area.

The character cutout detecting section 5 cuts out characters one by one from the image of the line area in which the address code is described, and sends the character image to the character identifying section 7. The character identifying unit 7 compares each character image with the character pattern in the character pattern dictionary 6, identifies the character, and recognizes the address code. The recognition result is sent to the address recognition result output unit 8.

In the address recognition result output unit 8, for example,
When the address code is written on the mail in the fifth format as shown in FIG. 6, the extended postal code 21, the chome / block code 23, and the check character 17 are the sum of the digits and the check character. By comparing the values of 27, it is checked whether or not there is any erroneous recognition of the character, and if it is determined that there is no erroneous recognition, the machine code printing unit 10 and the mail classification are determined based on the recognized address code. The part 9 is controlled to execute a predetermined process.

The machine code printing unit 10 sends a machine code, for example, a bar code or the like, based on the address code in which the characters are identified by the character identifying unit 7, which is conveyed by a conveying means (not shown). To be printed on.

The mail item sorting unit 9 sorts the mail items transported by the transporting means (not shown) into each segment based on the address code in which the characters are identified by the character identifying unit 7. There is.

Next, referring to the flow chart shown in FIG. 7, the operation processing of the address reading device of this embodiment will be described. In FIG. 7, first, in step S1, the postal matter to be processed is sent to the optical reading device 1 by a transporting device (not shown), where the surface image is photoelectrically converted by optical scanning. , The image on the mail is read. That is, an image on the postal matter P as shown in FIG. 8A is obtained.

Next, in the image processing unit 2, for example, the image shown in FIG. 8A is subjected to binarization processing to obtain a connected pixel area on the binarized image, and the area is calculated. A rectangular area (label) circumscribing is determined (steps S2 to S3). That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 8B, a label 30 corresponding to each print character
Is obtained (such image processing is called labeling processing).

In step S4, the label is integrated into the line area from the label distribution obtained in step S3, and in step S5, the line area is integrated into the address area to detect the address area (step S6). As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 8C, a destination area 32 including a plurality of row areas including the row area 31 in which the address code is described is detected.

Next, in step S7, the address code detector 4 detects the line area in which the address code is described. The detection process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 8 detected in step S6.
From the address area 32 as shown in (c), for example, it is determined whether or not the address code is described for the top line area (step S20).

As a determination method, for example, when the address code is described in one of the formats shown in FIGS. 4 to 5, since the number of digits of the address code is fixed, each line area The address code can be detected by checking the number of labels 30 corresponding to the numbers of each digit as shown in FIG.

As another determination method, for example, when the address code is described in any of the formats shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, a hyphen written between each number is used. The address code can be detected by checking the number of labels corresponding to.

As another determination method, the address code can be detected more accurately by using the two determination methods at the same time. When the address code is detected by the address code detection process in step S20, the data such as the position of the line area is output to the character cutout detection unit 5 (steps S21 to S22).

On the other hand, in step S21, for example, as shown in FIG.
If the address code is not detected from the line area at the beginning of the address area 32 of (c), the process proceeds to step S23, and the above-mentioned processing is performed for the next line area in the address area 32 of FIG. After the process of step S20,
Same as above (steps S23, S24, S20, S
21). The process of step S20 is sequentially executed for all the line areas in the address area 32 until the address code is detected.

If it is determined in step S23 that there is no other line area in the address area 32 of FIG. 8C, the process proceeds to step S25, and the address code is written in the address area 32. This means that no line area has been detected. As a result, for example, information indicating that the address code detection has failed is output to the character cutout detection unit 5, and the entire process ends.

Returning to the description of FIG. 7, in step S8, characters are cut out one by one from the image of the line area corresponding to the data at the position of the line area where the address code was detected in step S7. That is, for example, when the address code is detected from the line area 31 in the address area 32 as shown in FIG. 8C, it corresponds to each label in the line area 31 as shown in FIG. 8D. The character image 28 to be cut out is cut out.

In step S9, each character image cut out in step S8 is compared with the character pattern in the character pattern dictionary 6 to identify the character (see FIG. 8 (e)). In step S10, if the address recognition result output unit 8 describes the address on the mail in the fifth format as shown in FIG. 6, that is, if it has the check character 27, it is used. If it is judged that there is no erroneous recognition of characters, and if it is judged that there is no erroneous recognition, the machine code printing unit 10 is driven based on the recognized address code, and, for example, a barcode such as a bar code is displayed on the mail. Print the machine code. When the check code 27 is not included in the address code, the machine code based on the address code recognized in step S9 may be directly printed on the mail. Further, based on the contents of the address code recognized in step S9, the mail piece is classified into the mail piece classification unit 9
Are divided into categories.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the address of the postal matter is expressed as the address code by a number and a small number of symbols in a predetermined format, so that the address of the postal matter can be identified. The number of characters to be used is small, and therefore, unlike the past, it does not require a large-scale character pattern dictionary or address dictionary, and also reduces misrecognition of characters, which reduces hardware resources and mail. It is possible to speed up the process of recognizing the address of an object and accurately identify the address.

In addition, the address code which encodes the street name of the address or even the chome / block is written on the mail item in a predetermined format as shown in FIGS. By labeling the image, detecting the line area and the address area from the label distribution, and checking the characteristics of the address code format, such as the number of labels, from the line area within the detected address area. By detecting the line area in which the address code is written, identifying the characters in the line area, and recognizing the address of the mail, the address on the mail can be recognized at high speed and accurately.

Further, conventionally, the receiving office of the post office reads and classifies only the zip code, and each delivery office further finely classifies based on the chome / block of the address of the mail. However, in order to automate the delivery sorting work in such a delivery office, it was necessary to deploy a large-scale address reader. However, if the address reading device of the present embodiment is provided at the receiving station to recognize the address code of the mail, and based on the recognition result, a machine code such as a bar code is printed on the mail, Since the delivery division work of the delivery station may be performed by reading the machine code on the mail piece to perform the division, it is sufficient to provide a relatively small-sized machine code reader. Thus, according to the present embodiment, the mail receiving station,
It is very effective in automating the postal system including the delivery office.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an address reading device capable of recognizing address information on a mail item at high speed and accurately and reducing the size of the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of a first format of an address code.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of a second format of an address code.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of a third format of an address code.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of a fourth format of an address code.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of a fifth format of an address code.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of the address reading device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an operation process of the address reading device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process for detecting an address code from a line area.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical reading device, 2 ... Image processing part, 3 ... Address area detection part, 4 ... Address code detection part, 5 ... Character cutout detection part, 6
... character pattern dictionary, 7 ... character identification section, 8 ... address recognition result output section, 9 ... mail sorting section, 10 ... machine code printing section.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading an image of address information including an address code written in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a circumscribing rectangle for obtaining a pixel connected component of the image of the address information read by the reading unit. An address reading device comprising: a detecting means for detecting an address code line based on the data; and a recognizing means for recognizing a character of the address code on the address code line detected by the detecting means. . 2. A reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code described in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a circumscribed rectangle for obtaining a pixel connected component of the image of the address information read by the reading means. Based on the data, the detecting means for detecting the address code line, the recognizing means for recognizing the address code on the address code line detected by this detecting means, and the address code recognized by this recognizing means are also included. And a sorting means for sorting the mail based on the address code recognized by the recognizing means. Reader. 3. A reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code written in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a pixel connected component of an image of the address information read by the reading means. And a detection means for detecting the address code line based on the characteristics of the circumscribed rectangular area and the format, and a recognition means for performing character recognition of the address code on the address code line detected by the detection means. An address reading device characterized in that 4. A reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code written in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a pixel connected component of an image of the address information read by the reading means. Detecting means for detecting the address code line based on the characteristics of the circumscribed rectangular area and the format, recognizing means for recognizing the character of the address code on the address code line detected by the detecting means, and this recognizing means. A printing means for printing a machine code based on the address code recognized by the above on the mail, and a sorting means for sorting the mail based on the address code recognized by the recognition means; An address reading device characterized by being provided. 5. A reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code written in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a pixel connected component of an image of the address information read by the reading means. Based on the distribution of the circumscribed rectangular areas, the number of the circumscribed rectangular areas is determined from the first detecting means for detecting the area in which the address information is described and the area in which the address information detected by this detecting means is described. A second detecting means for detecting the address code line based on the above, and a recognizing means for recognizing the character of the address code on the address code line detected by the second detecting means. Address reader. 6. A reading means for reading an image of address information including an address code written in a predetermined format on a mail piece, and a pixel connected component of the image of the address information read by the reading means. Based on the distribution of the circumscribed rectangular areas, the number of the circumscribed rectangular areas is determined from the first detecting means for detecting the area in which the address information is described and the area in which the address information detected by this detecting means is described. A second detecting means for detecting the address code line based on the above, a recognizing means for recognizing the character of the address code on the address code line detected by the second detecting means, and a recognizing means for recognizing the address code. A printing means for printing a machine code based on the address code on the mail piece, and a sorting means for classifying the mail piece based on the address code recognized by the recognition means. Address reading device characterized by.