JPH10192790A - Image shaping device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to read vertically written postal code numbers and to improve the efficiency of sorting work by reading and storing the character images of the postal code number parts, then segmenting the postal code numbers by one character each, deciding whether vertical writing or horizontal writing from the aspect ratio of respective characteristic images and rotating the characters according to the results of the decision. SOLUTION: The postal code number parts are read as image patterns by an image reading section 101 constituted of optical sensors and are temporarily stored in an image memory section 102 when the postal code numbers are read prior to sorting of postal items. The individual characters are then segmented from the read images in a character segmenting section 103 and the results thereof are sent to a character direction deciding section 104. The character directions are decided in accordance with the ratios of the heights to widths of the characters from individual pieces of the segmented rectangular information in this character direction deciding section 104. Numeral patterns are generally smaller in the width than the height and, therefor, the characters are decided to be vertical writing if the aspect ratio is large and to be horizontal writing when the aspect ratio is small. The character images are rotated at need by an image rotating section 105 and are outputted to the ensuing stage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for reading a postal code written on a postal matter, determining a writing direction of the postal code, and performing an image shaping process such as rotating the postal code if necessary. Related to a shaping device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when sorting mail items, there is known an automatic sorting apparatus which reads a postal code written on the mail item, recognizes the postal code from the read information, and sorts the mail at high speed. I have. In the near future, a new postal code system is planned to increase the postal code from the current five-digit number.

Further, when the new postal code system is implemented, a method of reading a postal code and then printing a corresponding bar code on a postal matter has been studied. As described above, automation of postal code sorting processing by postal code is further advanced, and its role is greatly expected.

[0004]

However, in the prior art as described above, in order to sort postal codes by postal code using a current sorting apparatus, the postal code must be written horizontally. Therefore, if the postal code is written in vertical writing, the postal code must be manually sorted, which hinders the efficiency of the sorting operation.

Further, the above problems will be described in detail. In particular, when printing an address using a Japanese word processor, the address is often printed using a vertical zip code. For example, a word processor that does not have an address printing function (prints the entire document horizontally or vertically) is used, but the entire postal code is vertically written for each postal code because you want to print the address in a handwritten font. There is a case to print with.

Although a word processor having an address printing function (capable of printing a postal code horizontally and printing an address vertically) is used, the number of input digits of the postal code is fixed to 5 and the number of digits increases. The new system cannot be accommodated. Therefore, enter the postal code in the first line of the address part,
There are other cases where vertical printing is used as part of the address.

In any of the above cases, the printing result is as shown in FIG. 5, for example, so that it is necessary to manually separate the printing results, thereby reducing the work efficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and can be used as a pre-processing of a mail sorting apparatus based on a current postal code, realizes reading of a vertically written postal code, and realizes a postal code direction. It is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of sorting work by zip code even if the gender is different.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an image shaping apparatus according to claim 1 reads a zip code, determines a writing direction of the zip code, and if necessary, the zip code. Image reading means for reading a character image of a zip code part written on a postal matter in a predetermined direction, image storage means for storing the image read by the image reading means, A character extracting means for reading out the image stored in the storing means and extracting a zip code from the character image one character at a time, and an aspect ratio of each character image extracted by the character extracting means.
Character direction determining means for determining a character direction, and image rotating means for rotating each character image cut out by the character cutting means based on the determination result of the character direction determining means;
It is provided with.

That is, a character image of a postal code portion described in a postal matter is read in a predetermined direction, temporarily stored, read out, and the postal code is cut out from the image one character at a time. Whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal is determined from the aspect ratio of the image, and the determined character is rotated according to the determination result of the character direction.
Thus, for example, when a postal code is written in vertical writing, it can be used as pre-processing of the postal mail sorting device based on the current postal code by turning to horizontal writing and changing the character direction after judging the vertical writing. It is possible to provide a simple device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image shaping apparatus for reading a postal code, determining a writing direction of the postal code, and rotating the postal code as necessary. Image reading means for reading a character image of the written zip code portion in the horizontal direction, image storage means for storing the image read by the image reading means, and an image stored in the image storage means for reading the character image. A character extracting means for extracting a zip code from an image one character at a time, and the character image extracted by the character extracting means is written vertically if the aspect ratio is large with respect to a predetermined reference value. A character direction determining means for determining a character direction, and an image rotation for rotating each character image determined to be vertical writing by 90 degrees as a result of the determination by the character direction determining means. Those with a stage, a.

That is, after a character image of a postal code portion described in a postal matter is read in the horizontal direction and temporarily stored, the image is read out, the postal code is cut out from the image one by one, and each cut out character is read out. By determining whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal based on the aspect ratio of the image, and by rotating the character determined to be vertical in the character direction determination result by 90 degrees, the postal code can be written vertically. The described zip codes can be rearranged horizontally, and a device can be provided which can be used as a pre-processing of the mail sorting device using the current zip code.

3. An image shaping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said character direction judging means does not use a predetermined digit of the postal code as character direction judging information.

That is, by not using a predetermined digit of the postal code as the character direction determination information, it is possible to avoid the inversion of the aspect ratio which occurs when the delimiter character existing in the postal code portion is included in the determination character. Erroneous determination can be eliminated.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image shaping apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail in the order of [Embodiment 1] and [Embodiment 2] with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment] (Configuration of First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to a first embodiment. In the figure, 10
Reference numeral 1 denotes an optical sensor 101, an image reading unit as an image reading unit that reads a postal code portion on a paper surface as an image pattern, and 102, an image storage unit as an image storage unit that stores an image read by the image reading unit 101. Part, 10
Reference numeral 3 denotes a character cutout unit serving as a character cutout unit for cutting out individual characters included in the image, and 104 denotes a character-to-character ratio extracted from the character cutout unit 103 based on the height-width ratio (aspect ratio) in the rectangular information. Character direction determining unit as character direction determining means for determining a character direction, 1
Reference numeral 05 denotes an image rotating unit as image rotating means for rotating the cut-out character image as required and outputting it to the next step (automatic sorting device).

(Operation of the First Embodiment) In the above configuration, first, the image reading section 101 reads the postal code portion on the paper as an image pattern. The read image is temporarily stored in the image storage unit 102. further,
The character cutout unit 103 cuts out individual characters included in the image from the image, and outputs the result to the character direction determination unit 10.
Send to 4.

The character direction determination unit 104 determines the character direction based on the ratio of the height and width of the character (aspect ratio) from the individual rectangular information (height and width) cut out. The image rotation unit 105 rotates the cut-out character image as necessary, and outputs the rotated character image to the next step (not shown). For example, the character image may be sent directly to the image storage unit in the sorting device.
Further, the information may be temporarily printed on paper.

Here, an operation that is a feature of the first embodiment will be described based on the above configuration and operation. First, the postal code portion on the mail is read in a predetermined direction. In this case, for example, reading is performed in a direction parallel to the horizontal line. The image pattern read in this manner is a pattern as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B depending on whether the image is written horizontally or vertically.

In the above stage, the character direction is not determined, and individual characters are cut out as they are, and the aspect ratio (width / height) is calculated from the height and width obtained for each character. Generally, since the width of a number pattern is smaller than the height, it is assumed that if the aspect ratio is large, vertical writing is performed, and if the aspect ratio is small, horizontal writing is performed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the arithmetic average of the aspect ratio of each character is larger than a certain threshold value T, it is determined that the character is written vertically. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, assuming that the aspect ratios of the numeral patterns "2" and "0" when not rotating are all 2/3, the aspect ratio average in this case is 2/3.
/ 3. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, assuming that the aspect ratios of the numeral patterns "2" and "0" when rotated 90 degrees are all 3/2, the aspect ratio average in this case is 3/2. Here, if the threshold value T = 1, it can be determined that the former is a row of horizontal writing and the latter is a row of vertical writing.

In the above description, a criterion other than the average of the aspect ratio may be used for the determination of the character direction, that is, the determination of the vertical writing or the horizontal writing. Further, for example, a threshold value for the minimum value or the maximum value of the aspect ratio or the median is provided, and the present invention can be applied to a process of judging vertical writing or horizontal writing based on the threshold.

Subsequently, when it is determined that the characters are arranged vertically, the extracted character images are rotated by 90 degrees.
That is, by this processing, as shown in FIG. 3, vertical writing can be converted into a horizontal writing arrangement. This gives
If the vertical postal code is converted into a horizontal postal code, it can be automatically sorted by the sorting device in the next process.

(Effect of First Embodiment) Therefore, a preprocessing means for converting postal codes side by side is provided with a relatively small configuration having no pattern recognition means. Without the need, vertical postal codes can be automatically processed.

[Embodiment 2] In this embodiment 2,
An example will be described in which a predetermined digit of the postal code is not used for determining the character direction.

Depending on how to write the postal code, a delimiter may be inserted in the fourth digit. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, there is a case where the character is separated by a minus sign and written as “222-0000”.

The negative character pattern is horizontally elongated when not rotating. Assuming that the aspect ratio is 5, and according to the first embodiment, the average aspect ratio of the entire postal code is (7 × 2/3)
+5) / 8 = 29/24> 1, so that it is erroneously determined that the lines are vertically written despite horizontal writing.

On the other hand, the vertical writing delimiter cannot be said to have a common writing style, and some word processors print "-" as it is without rotation, and print a rotation pattern "|" in consideration of vertical writing. Some word processors do this. In the case of handwriting, the same writing method as described above is mixed. That is, the aspect ratio of the delimiter does not contribute to the determination of the character direction, and can be regarded as noise information.

Therefore, if the aspect ratio of the fourth digit character in which a delimiter character can be written is excluded from the character direction determination, the character direction can be determined with higher precision because there are only digits in the other digits.

(Effect of Second Embodiment) Since a predetermined digit of the postal code (in this case, a delimiter such as a minus sign) is not used as the character direction determination information, the delimiter existing in the postal code part is not used. It is possible to eliminate erroneous determinations caused by the inversion of the aspect ratio that occurs when the characters are included in the determination characters.

[0031]

As described above, according to the image shaping apparatus according to the present invention (claim 1), the character image of the postal code portion described in the mail is read in a predetermined direction and temporarily stored. Later, the image is read, the postal code is cut out from the image one character at a time, and it is determined from the aspect ratio of each cut out character image whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal, and according to the determination result of the character direction. Rotate the character determined. Thus, for example, when a postal code is written in vertical writing, it can be used as pre-processing of the postal code sorting device based on the current postal code by turning to horizontal writing and changing the character direction after judging the vertical writing. Therefore, even if the direction of the postal code is different, the efficiency of the sorting operation by the postal code can be improved.

Further, according to the image shaping apparatus according to the present invention (claim 2), after the character image of the postal code portion described in the mail is read in the horizontal direction and temporarily stored, the image is read out. From the image, the postal code is cut out one character at a time, and it is determined from the aspect ratio of each cut out character image whether the character direction is vertical or horizontal, and the result of the character direction determination is determined to be vertical writing. By rotating characters 90 degrees, it is possible to rearrange postal codes in which the postal code is written in vertical writing in horizontal writing, and to provide a device that can be used as preprocessing of the mail sorting device using the current postal code. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of sorting work by postal code even if the postal code has different directions.

Further, according to the image shaping apparatus of the present invention (claim 3), a predetermined digit of the postal code is not used as the character direction determination information. It is possible to avoid the inversion of the aspect ratio that occurs when the character is included, and eliminate the erroneous determination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing when a postal code is horizontally oriented according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of rotation of vertically written characters according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where a delimiter is entered according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an address printed in vertical writing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 Image reading unit 102 Image storage unit 103 Character cutout unit 104 Character direction determination unit 105 Image rotation unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shinobu Yamamoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Toshio Miyazawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Inside the company Ricoh

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image shaping device for reading a postal code, determining a writing direction of the postal code, and rotating the postal code as necessary, wherein the character image of a postal code portion described in a postal matter is read. Image reading means for reading in a predetermined direction, image storage means for storing the image read by the image reading means, and character extraction for reading out the image stored in the image storage means and cutting out the postal code one by one from the character image Means, a character direction determining means for determining a character direction based on an aspect ratio of each character image cut out by the character cutting means, and a character direction determining means for determining a character direction based on a determination result of the character direction determining means. And an image rotating means for rotating each of the character images. 2. An image shaping device for reading a postal code, determining a writing direction of the postal code, and rotating the postal code as needed, wherein a character image of a postal code portion described in a postal matter is formed. Image reading means for reading in the horizontal direction, image storage means for storing the image read by the image reading means, and character extraction for reading out the image stored in the image storage means and cutting out the postal code one by one from the character image Means for judging the character direction by judging the character direction by assuming vertical writing if the aspect ratio is large and horizontal writing if the aspect ratio is small with respect to a predetermined reference value for the aspect ratio of each character image extracted by the character extraction means. And an image rotating means for rotating each character image determined by the character direction determining means as vertical writing by 90 degrees. Shaping equipment. 3. The image shaping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the character direction determining unit does not use a predetermined digit of a postal code as character direction determination information.