KR101742637B1 - System and method for processing of non-delivered mail - Google Patents

Abstract

And discloses a system and method for automatic return mail processing. In the image setting mode, an image of a mail item for a basic mail item printed with a carrier stamp is received, an image extracting area including a postmarket area and a recipient information area is set according to a user command in the mail image, Wherein the image processing means divides the extracted carrier image into a plurality of carrier reason areas, registers the carrier cause corresponding to each of the divided carrier cause areas, and registers the carrier image as at least one comparison image corresponding to at least one carrier sense technique A mail item image for each of a plurality of mail items conveyed in the conveyed mail item discrimination mode is obtained, and an image of a mail piece obtained according to the set image extracting area is compared with at least one comparison image, Different from each other in the reason for return To determine the reason for carrying area, it recognizes the conveying reasons, and according to the recognized transport reasons including a transport information to determine to modify the customer information.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a system and a method for automatic post-

More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for automatically processing a mail item.

With the development of information and communication technology, the use of e-mail has been popularized, but the number of mail items delivered offline also still accounts for a large amount. Especially, the mail that is delivered offline is mainly used by the enterprise rather than the personal mail. For example, companies such as various communication companies, banks, card companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, etc. use a customer's address information stored in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to send out invoices and invitations in bulk to provide management and services for customers . In other words, companies use mail as a means of providing information directly to customers.

Mail is a means of communication that costs more than other means of communication, such as letters, e-mail, and telemarketing, due to production costs and postage charges. However, because of the high preference of customers, A large amount of mail is sent out.

On the other hand, when a company sends a large amount of mail using the CRM system, mail is frequently returned for various reasons such as unknown address, change of address of the customer, absence of a recipient, and the like. Therefore, the company can reduce the unnecessary expenditure by sending additional mail by correcting the information about the customer stored in the CRM system through the reason management for the returned mail, so that the mail can be correctly delivered to the customer.

Currently, the mailer displays the reason for return by using the pre - designated postmark to the mail to be returned by the carrier so that the mailer can check the reason for the return.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an existing carrier.

As shown in Figs. 1 (a) and 1 (b), when a mail is not printed on a postal matter and the mail delivery can not be delivered by the mail delivery source, the postal mail is directly printed, Respectively. However, there is a problem that the workload of the carrier becomes excessive when the carrier directly signs the return postmark and displays the reason for the return. In addition, even when confirming the reason for returning later, since the position, quality and shape of the postmark are different from each other, the automatic recognition can not be used, Occurs. In other words, the postal personnel must manually classify the returned mail according to the reason for the return, and call the corresponding customer information to record and re-store the respective reason for the return, resulting in a great waste in terms of time and cost.

Fig. 2 shows another example of the conventional carrier stamp.

FIG. 2 is an example of a postmark proposed as a postal information service provided by the postal business headquarters to reduce the problem of the postal items shown in FIG. As shown in Fig. 2, the postal information service provided by the postal business headquarters is a service applicable only to postal matters having a predetermined standard size and in which the postal matter describing the reason for conveyance is printed in a predetermined area in a predetermined format. In other words, the post office designates the type and size of the postal items and the postal items.

The above-mentioned conveyance information service is a service for recognizing and recording the conveyance reason automatically by the conveyance reason recognition system provided in the postal business headquarters and notifying the conveyance reason to the mail delivery destination. It is easier to computerize than the conveyance post office of FIG. 1, The cost of the system can be greatly reduced.

However, since the bounce information service is a paid service, the designated amount per return mail should be paid to the post office. As a result, companies that send large amounts of mail still incur a cost burden. In addition, since it can be applied only to the postal standard of the postal service proposed by the postal service headquarters and the return postage of the designated form, there is a limitation that it can not give unique characteristics and originality of each company. In addition, there is an inconvenience that additional work for matching the return information transmitted from the postal business headquarters to the customer information management system such as the CRM system of the company and storing it is performed.

Korean Patent No. 10-0577031 (registered on April 28, 2006)

It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic return mail handling system capable of automatically recognizing a conveyance reason automatically and correcting customer information even when various types of bearings are used in mail of various standards according to a demand of an enterprise or a user .

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically delivering mail items to achieve the above object.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for automatically delivering and delivering mail in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The system includes an image setting mode in which a mail image of a basic mail is printed, Wherein the control unit sets an image extraction area including a receiver information area, divides an image of a carrier extracted in the image extraction area into a plurality of carrier reason areas, registers a carrier reason corresponding to each of the divided carrier cause areas, A carrier information setting unit for converting the carrier stamp image into at least one comparison image corresponding to at least one carrier sense recognition technique and storing the converted image; And a control unit configured to obtain a postal matter image for each of a plurality of postal matters conveyed in the conveyed postal matter distinguishing mode, compare the image of the conveyance which is obtained according to the set image extracting region with the at least one comparative image, A transport information discriminating unit for discriminating transport cause areas different from each other, recognizing a transport reason, and correcting customer information according to the recognized transport cause; .

Wherein the mail information setting unit comprises: a user interface unit displaying the mail image and receiving the user command; An image area setting unit configured to set an image extraction area including the bearer area and the recipient information area in response to the user command in the mail image displayed on the interface unit; Wherein the image processing apparatus divides the image of the carrier among the extracted images corresponding to the image extraction area into the plurality of carrier reason areas and registers the carrier cause corresponding to each of the carrier reason areas identified, A transportation incident registration unit for setting a technique; And an image information storage unit for converting the image of the carrier station into at least one comparison image corresponding to the set at least one conveyance reason recognition technique and storing the converted image. And a control unit.

Wherein the transport cause registration unit sets a plurality of areas separated by a boundary line in the image of the carrier as the plurality of transport cause areas in response to the user command and transmits a transport cause and a delimiter code Is set.

The transport cause registration unit sets the entire image comparison technique, the area-by-area image comparison technique, and the histogram comparison technique using the at least one transport incident recognition technique.

Wherein the image information storage unit stores all of the transport reason images as total comparison images in correspondence with the entire image comparison technique and divides the transport reason images into the plurality of transport reason areas corresponding to the regional image comparison technique, And stores the converted image as a histogram comparison image in response to the histogram comparison technique.

Wherein the conveyance information determining unit comprises: an image obtaining unit that obtains the mail image for each of the plurality of mail items conveyed; An image extracting unit for extracting the image of the carrier corresponding to the carrier stamping area and the customer information image corresponding to the receiver information area according to the image extracting area; An image correcting unit for correcting the extracted carrier image and the customer information image in a preset manner; A customer information recognizing unit for analyzing the customer information image and recognizing the customer information; The method comprising the steps of: converting the image of the carrier to an image corresponding to the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique; comparing the converted image with a comparison image stored corresponding to the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique; An image comparison unit for generating transfer area information; A conveyance information recognizing unit for discriminating a conveyance cause corresponding to the conveyance area information; And a customer information modifying unit for modifying and storing the customer information recognized according to the determined transportation reason; And a control unit.

Wherein the image comparing unit inverts and inverts the image of the carrier posture if the conveyance reason recognition scheme set by the conveyance information setting unit is the whole image comparison technique, compares the sweep image inverted and the entire comparison image, And if the transport reason recognition scheme is the area-by-area image comparison scheme, the transport posture image is divided into the image of each of the transport reason areas, and the separated image of the transport reason area is divided into the corresponding area of the plurality of area comparison images And comparing the converted histogram image with a histogram comparison image to generate a conveyance area information when the conveyance reason recognition technique is the histogram comparison technique, Generate zone information And that is characterized.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for automatically sending a postal mail, comprising the steps of: setting a conveying information setting unit and a conveying information determining unit, Setting an image extraction area in which a postal image for a basic mail item printed with a postmark is printed in a setting mode and a postmarket area and a recipient information area according to a user command in the mail image; A step of dividing the image of the transfer destination into which the transfer information setting unit is extracted in the image extraction area into a plurality of transfer reason areas and registering the transfer reason corresponding to each of the transfer reason areas in the transfer information setting unit; Converting the carrier-stamp image into at least one comparative image corresponding to at least one carrier sense technique; Obtaining a mail image for each of a plurality of mail items conveyed in the conveyance mail item discrimination mode by the conveyance information discrimination section and acquiring an extracted image according to the image extraction area set in the obtained mail image; Comparing the image of the carrier with the at least one comparison image according to the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique to identify different conveyance cause areas different from each other among the plurality of conveyance due areas; And correcting the customer information according to the recognized carrying case by recognizing the carrying case by the carrying reason area determined by the carrying information determining unit; .

Accordingly, the system and method for automatic postal delivery of the present invention can accurately recognize the reason for the postal matters described in the postal matter even if the size, and the form of the postal items are set to various sizes and shapes of the postal matters, Allows the use of various standardized mailings printed with the reason for the carriage reflecting originality. Also, it is possible to automatically recognize the reason for the return and update the corresponding customer information. Therefore, efficient customer management is possible at low cost. Also, it is possible to variously set the number and contents of classification for the reason for return.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an existing carrier.
Fig. 2 shows another example of the conventional carrier stamp.
3 shows an example of various types of carrier stamps that can be applied in the system and method for automatic postal mail processing of the present invention.
4 shows a system for automatically delivering and delivering mail according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 shows an example of an image extraction area setting screen.
6 shows an example of an extraction area set by the image area setting unit.
Fig. 7 shows an example of a borderline registration screen which is a carrier.
Fig. 8 shows an example of a transportation reason setting screen for each of the divided transportation reason areas.
Fig. 9 shows an example of a transportation reason recognizing method selection screen.
FIG. 10 shows an example of the entire comparison image and the area comparison image obtained according to the entire image comparison technique and the area-by-area image comparison technique among the conveyance reason recognition methods.
11 shows an example of a histogram comparison image obtained according to the histogram comparison technique.
12 shows an example of a postal matter conveyed with a reason for conveyance in the conveyance reason area.
FIG. 13 shows an example of an image subjected to contrast reversal processing on the postal matter of the postal matter carried in the entire image comparison method.
FIG. 14 shows a method for obtaining a conveyance cause by comparing the contrast-inverted image, which has been conveyed in the entire image comparison method, with the pre-stored original image.
FIG. 15 shows a method for acquiring the carrier cause in the area-by-area image comparison method.
Fig. 16 shows a method for obtaining a conveying cause in the histogram comparison method.
Fig. 17 shows a standard example in which the cause of transportation is normally indicated on the carrier.
Fig. 18 shows an example of acceptable transfer stamps in normal processing.
Fig. 19 shows an example of a carrier stamp which is error-processed.
FIG. 20 shows a method for automatically sending and receiving mail items according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to fully understand the present invention, operational advantages of the present invention, and objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention can be implemented in various different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described. In order to clearly describe the present invention, parts that are not related to the description are omitted, and the same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same members.

Throughout the specification, when an element is referred to as "including" an element, it does not exclude other elements unless specifically stated to the contrary. The terms "part", "unit", "module", "block", and the like described in the specification mean units for processing at least one function or operation, And a combination of software.

3 shows an example of various types of carrier stamps that can be applied in the system and method for automatic postal mail processing of the present invention.

As described above, according to the automatic post-delivery system of the present invention, unlike the conventional postal information service, even if the standard of the postal item or the form of the postal item is variously set, it is possible to determine the cause of the return from the postal item, have. Therefore, as shown in Figs. 3 (a) to 3 (d). The transfer stamps applicable to the system and method for automatic postal delivery of the present invention may be embodied in various forms according to the requirements of each company or may include a trademark or mark of the company. Also, the size of the transport post can be freely set. Although not shown, the size of the mail item can also be freely set.

Previously, the postal information service provided by the postal service headquarters can only use postal items of the specified size and a designated size and type of postal items, so that it is difficult to reflect characteristics inherent to the postal items. This makes it difficult to meet the needs of companies to promote their businesses and improve customer satisfaction by using mail.

However, in the case of using the system and method for automatic return and post-processing of the present invention, a company that sends a large amount of mail may use various types of postal items and various types of postal items according to the needs of the company, Since the postmark is placed in a visually well visible position in the mail, it can be used as a means of publicity to inform the recipient of the mail about the company.

The six transfer cases shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (d) are all six identical transfer reasons, but this is an example, and the number and contents of the transfer reasons may be set differently.

4 shows a system for automatically delivering and delivering mail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the automatic sending / receiving system of the present invention includes a conveyance information setting unit 100, a mail conveying unit, and a conveyance information discriminating unit 300.

The conveyance information setting unit 100 designates and stores various settings in advance so that the automatic postal matter processing system can automatically acquire the conveyance information from the conveyed postal matter. The carrier information setting unit 100 receives the image of the basic mail item printed with the carrier stamp in the image setting mode and sets an image extraction area including the carrier stamp in accordance with the user command in the applied image. Then, the sender extracted from the image extraction area is divided into a plurality of conveyance reason areas, and a conveyance reason corresponding to each of the conveyance reason areas is registered. At least one comparison image for comparing with the postage stamp extracted from the returned mail item in the return mail item discriminating mode, which then processes the actual return information automatically, and at least one comparison technique corresponding to at least one comparison image are set together .

The mail transfer unit loads a large quantity of the mail items conveyed and sequentially transfers them to the conveyance information discrimination unit 300. Then, the mail items are classified and stored according to the conveyance reason recognized by the conveyance information discrimination unit 300.

The conveyance information discriminating section 300 discriminates the conveyance cause in accordance with the setting specified by the conveyance information setting section 100 and determines the corresponding customer information according to the determined conveyance reason Modify it. In addition, according to the determined reason for the return, the mail transmission section can classify and store the mail.

The mail information setting unit 100 includes a mail item specification storage unit 110, an interface unit 120, an image area setting unit 130, a transfer reason registering unit 140, And an image information storage unit 150.

The mail specification storage unit 110 stores an image of a reference mail item used by a sender that sends mail items in advance. In the reference mail image, an image set by a sender (in the present invention, an enterprise, for example) who intends to send a mass mail may be stored. Here, in the reference mail image, a sender information area, a recipient information area, and a postmarket area can be specified and stored together with the size and the form of the postal matter. Also, the size and shape of the carrier post and a plurality of carrier islands in the carrier post can be specified and stored in advance.

The interface unit 120 is a user interface device of the automatic postal / deliverable matter processing system, and can be implemented as output means such as a display device and input means such as a keyboard and a mouse. The interface unit 120 receives the mail item specification information about the reference mail item stored in the mail item specification storage unit 110 and displays the mail item specification information to the user. The user interface unit 120 receives the user command, A plurality of transport cause areas can be separately set in the intermediate transfer area. Also, it is possible to set the comparison image according to the image comparison technique and the image comparison technique to determine the cause of the return.

In the above description, the interface unit 120 receives the mail item specification information for the reference mail item from the mail item specification storage unit 110. However, the interface unit 120 receives the image of the reference mail item from the image obtaining unit 310 And display it to the user. In this case, the mail specification storage unit 110 may be omitted.

The image area setting unit 130 sets an image extraction area for an image of the reference mail item in response to a user command applied through the interface unit 120. [ Here, the image extracting area can be set in a plurality of areas, and includes the recipient information area and the postmarket area of the reference mail. That is, an area for confirming the cause of the return and the customer information. And the recipient address area may be set to an area in which a one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar code is printed instead of all the areas in which the recipient address is described in the standard mail.

If the image extraction area is previously specified in the mail specification storage part 110, the image area setting part 130 can utilize a predetermined image extraction area as it is according to the user's approval. If the image extraction area is not designated in advance, If the user desires to modify the image, the area set through the input unit of the user interface unit 120 can be set as the image extraction area.

When the image extracting unit 320 extracts the image extracting region set by the image region setting unit 130 and the corrected image is registered in the image correcting unit 330, The transfer destination area of the extraction area is divided into a plurality of transfer reason areas, and the transfer reason corresponding to each of the plurality of transfer reason areas is registered.

At this time, the carrier reason registering unit 140 may set at least one image comparison technique together. The automatic return shipping system of the present invention may provide a plurality of image comparison schemes so as to ensure accuracy of conveyance reason recognition for various types of carrier stamps, , And at least one of a plurality of image comparison techniques can be selected and set. Here, a plurality of image comparison techniques are used to compare an image of a carrier included in an image of a reference mailer with an image of a carrier contained in an image of an actual mailer. For example, And a histogram comparison technique. A detailed description of each image comparison technique will be described later.

The image information storage unit 150 stores at least one comparison image corresponding to the image comparison technique set in the transport reason registering unit 140. [ The image information storage unit 150 may store a comparison image corresponding to all the image comparison techniques that can be set by the transport incident registration unit 140, considering the case where the image comparison technique is changed. Since the three image comparison techniques are exemplified in the present invention, it is possible to store the comparison image of the entire transfer destination, the comparison image of each of the transfer reason areas, and the histogram comparison image according to the illustrated image comparison technique.

The mail transfer unit includes a mail loading unit 210, a mail transferring unit 220, and a mail sorting unit 230.

First, the mail item loading unit 210 loads the returned mail items. Then, the mail transferring unit 220 sequentially transfers the mail items loaded on the mail loading unit 210 to the conveying information determining unit 300. The mail sorting section 230 classifies and loads the mail items according to the conveyance reason recognized by the conveyance information discriminating section 300. At this time, the mail sorting unit 230 may classify the mail items in a separate loading box according to each of the reasons for carrying and sort the mail items into the mail items for which the reason for the return has been confirmed and the error- .

The transport information discriminating unit 300 includes an image obtaining unit 310, an image extracting unit 320, an image correcting unit 330, a customer information recognizing unit 340, an image comparing unit 350, And a customer information correction unit 370. [

The image obtaining unit 310 obtains the mail image from the mail sent from the mail transferring unit 220. The image acquiring unit 310 is implemented by a high-speed camera, a line scanner, or the like to acquire a postal image of a predetermined file format. The image obtaining unit 310 transmits the mail image obtained in the image setting mode to the interface unit 120 so as to set the image extraction area. In the return mail item discrimination mode, the obtained image is sent to the image extracting unit 320 Thereby extracting an image corresponding to the set image extracting area.

The image extracting unit 320 obtains an extracted image corresponding to the image extracting area from the mail image applied from the image obtaining unit 310 according to the image extracting area set by the image area setting unit 130. [ Here, the extracted image includes a customer information image corresponding to the recipient information area in the extraction area and an image of a carrier corresponding to the carrier stamp area.

The image correcting unit 330 receives and corrects the extracted image extracted by the image extracting unit 320. The image correcting unit 330 may perform operations such as margin elimination, background removal, and decontamination according to a predetermined image correction technique for the extracted image. In addition, the image correcting unit 330 may perform an automatic sorting operation, in which the image obtaining unit 310 corrects an extracted image inclination or the like that may occur due to a mail sorting error at the time of obtaining the mail image.

The image correcting unit 330 transmits the corrected image corrected in the image setting mode to the conveyance reason registering unit 140 while in the conveyance postal matter determining mode it is transmitted to the customer information recognizing unit 340 and the image comparing unit 350. [ The image correcting unit 330 transmits the customer information image to the customer information recognizing unit 340 and transmits the image of the carrier to the image comparing unit 350.

The customer information recognition unit 340 analyzes the customer information image applied by the image correction unit 330 and recognizes the customer information corresponding to the returned mail item. At this time, the customer information recognition unit 340 can recognize the customer information by analyzing the customer information image expressed in the one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode format. At this time, the customer information may not be the information about the recipient displayed in the actual returned mail item, but may be the customer identifier stored in the customer information management system, such as the CRM system of the company as the mail sender. In this case, when the customer identifier is recognized, the customer information recognition unit 340 can call the customer information for the recognized customer identifier in the corresponding customer information management system.

The image comparing unit 350 receives the image of the carrier from the image correcting unit 330 and converts the image of the carrier according to at least one image comparison technique set in the carrier reason registering unit 140. Then, the converted transfer destination image is compared with the comparison image stored in the image information storage unit 150 to discriminate different areas, and the transfer area information is generated.

The conveyance information recognition unit 360 receives the conveyance area information from the image comparison unit 350 and analyzes the conveyance reason area corresponding to the conveyance area information among the plurality of conveyance reason information set in the conveyance reason registration unit 140, Determine the reason. And transmits the determined transportation reason to the customer information collection unit 370 and the mail sorting unit 230. [ At this time, if the conveying reason area corresponding to the conveying area information is not analyzed, the conveying information recognizing unit 360 generates error information and transfers it to the mail sorting unit 230. [

The customer information modification unit 370 receives the customer information called by the customer information recognition unit 340 and corrects the customer information according to the carrier reason determined by the transportation information recognition unit 360. [ Then, the modified customer information is transmitted to the corresponding customer management system and stored.

In the above description, the customer information recognition unit 340 calls the customer information in the customer management system, and the customer information modification unit 370 corrects the customer information and stores the customer information in the customer management system again. However, And may be implemented to be stored in the < RTI ID = 0.0 >

Fig. 5 shows an example of an image extraction area setting screen, and Fig. 6 shows an example of an extraction area set by the image area setting part.

As described above, in the image setting mode, the interface unit 120 outputs the basic mail image to be applied by the mail item storage unit 110 or the image obtaining unit 310. [ At this time, the image area setting unit 130 displays the basic mail image on the image extraction area setting screen. In the image extracting area setting screen, as shown in FIG. 5, the carrying information is displayed together with the area setting button and the customer information barcode area setting button.

If it is determined that the area setting button is selected through the interface unit 120 through the interface unit 120, the image area setting unit 310 sets the area designated by the user using the input means such as a mouse as the forwarding area. If it is determined that the customer information barcode area setting button has been selected, the area specified by the user is set as the recipient information area. That is, a plurality of image extraction areas.

The image extraction area set at this time may be set in the form of coordinates in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction with reference to the lower right position of the mail item as shown in FIG. However, the image extraction area may be set based on another position or may be set in a different form than the X, Y coordinate.

The image area setting unit may further set an area other than the carrier stamp area and the recipient information area as the image extraction area.

Fig. 7 shows an example of a borderline registration screen, which is a carrier, and Fig. 8 shows an example of a transportation reason setting screen for each of the divided carrier cause areas.

In the present invention, the borderless registration of the borders is used for distinguishing the bidding area from the bidding place. When the image extraction area is set by the image area setting unit 130, the image extraction unit 320 extracts the image extraction area, and the image correction unit 330 corrects the extracted image and transmits the corrected image to the transportation cause registration unit 140 send. Then, the conveyance reason registering unit 140 displays the bordered line registration screen, which is an image of the extracted image corrected as shown in FIG. 7, on the interface unit 120.

If the position of the instruction pointer which moves according to the user command is moved into the conveying cause area of the extracted image after the border registering button is selected by the user command, the color of the moved position (For example, an RGB color value) is displayed. When a selection command is applied to the moved position, an area having a color value within a preset range is discriminated on the basis of the color value corresponding to the selected position, and an area divided by the boundary line and the boundary line is discriminated. Each of the areas thus divided is set as a carry reason area.

The carrier reason registering unit 140 also identifies the number of regions divided by the boundary line as shown in FIG. 8, and assigns a delimiter code for setting the carrier reason area and registering it. At this time, the transport cause registering unit 140 may additionally allocate N (N is a natural number, 2 or 3, for example) classification codes to the divided number and display it on the borderless line registration screen of the carrier number, Such as < RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI >

A plurality of transfer reason areas within the transfer stamp area can be set along the border line. When the transfer reason area registration and registration button for the set transfer reason area is selected, the transfer reason registration unit 140 sets the transfer reason area Register. Here, the cause of the registration to be registered may be sequentially registered according to a plurality of preliminarily specified conveying causes, or may be registered with contents to be inputted or selected according to the conveyance reason criteria to be managed by the user.

Fig. 9 shows an example of a transportation reason recognizing method selection screen.

When a plurality of transport cause areas are set and registered, the transport cause registration unit 140 selects a transport cause recognition method as shown in Fig. The conveyance reason recognizing method of the present invention is designated in advance, and the conveyance reason registering unit 140 confirms and sets at least one conveyance reason recognizing method selected by the user command among the plurality of conveyance reason recognizing methods previously specified.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the entire comparison image and the area comparison image obtained according to the entire image comparison technique and the area-by-area image comparison technique among the conveyance reason recognition methods, and FIG. 11 shows an example of the histogram comparison image obtained according to the histogram comparison technique .

When the transport cause recognition method is set in the transport reason registering unit 140, the image information storage unit 150 acquires and stores a comparative image corresponding to the set transport cause recognition method. FIG. 10A shows an example of the entire comparison image obtained when the entire image comparison technique is set for the entire boundary line. FIG. 10B shows an example of the area comparison image obtained when the area- . In addition, the present invention can provide a histogram comparing method for converting images for each conveying reason area into histograms in a predetermined manner and comparing them, thereby obtaining and storing a histogram comparing image as shown in FIG.

However, the image information storage unit 150 may acquire and store all the comparison images corresponding to each of the plurality of conveyance reason recognition methods that can be set by the conveyance reason registering unit 140 regardless of the set conveyance reason recognition method. This is to reduce the inconvenience of newly acquiring the comparison image when the user changes the setting of the conveyance reason recognition method in the returned mail item discrimination mode.

12 shows an example of a postal matter conveyed with a reason for conveyance in the conveyance reason area.

As shown in Fig. 12, unlike the reference mail shown in Fig. 5, the returned mail is returned to the sender area in which the sender indicates the reason for the return. Therefore, there is a difference between the reference mail and the image of the postmark area.

FIG. 13 shows an example of an image obtained by performing a contrast reversal process on the carrier of a postal matter carried in the entire image comparison technique, and FIG. 14 shows a method of obtaining a conveyance cause by comparing the reversed- .

The image comparing unit 350 receives the corrected extracted image as shown in (a) from the image correcting unit 330 in the returned mail item discriminating mode. If the whole image comparison method is set for the conveyance reason recognition method, the extracted image is inverted as shown in (b).

15A, the image comparison unit 350 receives the entire comparison image corresponding to the entire image comparison technique in the image information storage unit 150, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the extracted image is highlighted and inverted.

Then, the extracted image of (a) and the entire comparison image of (b) are merged in a manner of overlapping different layers to obtain a merged image as shown in (c). At this time, the merged image is divided into only the area where the difference between the extracted image and the entire comparison image is separately displayed. The divisionally marked position is matched with the area set at the time of setting the carrier reason area, and the identification code assigned to the matching carrier cause area is generated as the carrier area information. The generated delivery region information is transmitted to the customer information modification unit 370.

FIG. 15 shows a method for acquiring a return reason in a region-by-region image comparison technique.

In the area-by-area image comparison method, the image comparison unit 350 receives the corrected extracted image as shown in (a) from the image correction unit 330 in the return mail item discrimination mode. Then, the area comparison image corresponding to the area-by-area image comparison technique is received as shown in (b), and compared 1: 1 for each area. At this time, the image comparator 350 searches for a transport reason area in which the difference in color ratio is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference ratio, based on the color value used at the border registration in each transport reason area, To the customer information correcting unit 370 as the carry region information.

In FIG. 15, it can be confirmed that the difference in the color ratio is determined as the carrying area information in the carrying reason area (moving feeling) assigned to the classification code 1.

FIG. 16 shows a method for obtaining a conveying cause in the histogram comparison technique.

In the histogram comparison technique, the image comparison unit 350 converts the carrier stamped area into a histogram image shape classified according to a boundary line or a color according to a conveying reason area. The extracted image converted into the histogram image is received from the image information storage unit 150 and compared with the histogram comparison image stored in the form of histogram corresponding to the histogram comparison technique.

The histogram image has a distinct difference in the differentiated parts due to its characteristics, and thus it is possible to easily identify the transport cause area in which the difference occurs.

In FIG. 16, it can be confirmed that a difference occurs in the second transport cause area.

FIG. 17 shows a standard example in which the cause of conveyance is normally indicated in a conveyance post, FIG. 18 shows an example of a conveyance post acceptable in normal processing, and FIG. 19 shows an example of a conveyance post.

The reason for the return shown on the return postmark is manually indicated by the carrier who decides to return the post item. Therefore, it may happen that the conveyance cause displayed on the conveyance post can not be recognized by the automatic postal matter processing system. Therefore, the automated system for return mail should be able to consider the method of error handling.

In order to deal with errors, it is necessary to distinguish between the cause of the error normally displayed and the reason for the error being processed.

Figs. 17A and 17B show a standard example of the most preferable normal processing, in which a case where the conveyance indication is displayed in only one of the plurality of conveyance intent areas is indicated. However, in the case of normal processing only in accordance with the standard example shown in FIG. 17, and in the case of error processing of the rest, there is a problem that the efficiency of the automatic postal mail processing system is deteriorated because the ratio of error-processed postal matters is very high.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in Figs. 18A to 18D, even if the reason for conveyance is displayed up to the area beyond one conveyance reason area, if a plurality of conveyance reason areas are not simultaneously displayed, , It is allowed to be processed normally.

However, as shown in Figs. 19 (a) and 19 (b), when the cause of transportation is displayed simultaneously in a plurality of transport cause areas or the transport cause is set too small as shown in Fig. 19 (c) If the reason for the return can not be recognized, the error is processed.

FIG. 20 shows a method for automatically sending and receiving mail items according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figs. 3 to 19, the automated method of processing the returned mail item of Fig. 20 will be described. The image obtaining unit 310 obtains the mail image from the reference mail item (S11). The image obtaining unit 310 may obtain the mail image for the reference mail item from the mail item specification storage unit 110. [ Then, it is determined whether the currently set mode is the image setting mode (S12). If it is determined that the mode is the image setting mode, the obtained mail image is output through the interface unit 120, and the image region setting unit 130 sets a plurality of image extraction regions in response to the user command (S13). The image extracting area set here includes a receiver information area and a carrier stamp area.

When the image extraction area is set, the image extraction unit 320 extracts the image of the image extraction area (S14), and the image correction unit 330 corrects the extracted extracted image (S15). Then, in response to the user command, the transport cause registering unit 140 sets a plurality of transport reason areas along the border in the image of the transfer destination corresponding to the transfer destination area of the extracted image, and registers the transport reason corresponding to the set transport cause area (S16). The transport cause registering unit 140 can also set the transport reason recognizing method.

On the other hand, the image information storage unit 150 converts the image of the transfer destination according to the conveyance reason recognition method provided by the automatic postal matter processing system, and stores the image as a comparison image. In the present invention, since the three conveyance reason recognition methods are shown as an example, the image information storage unit 150 first stores the entire image as the comparison image, and stores the code corresponding to each conveyance reason area (S17) . The region comparison image for each of the transport reason areas and the code corresponding to each transport reason area are stored (S18). In addition, the histogram comparison image obtained by converting the image of the carrier post into the histogram and the code corresponding to each of the transport cause areas are stored (S19).

Then, the image obtaining unit 310 obtains the mail image from the returned mail (S11). Here, whether the mail image of the reference mail is the mail image or whether the mail image is the mail image of the conveyed mail is not determined by the image obtaining unit 310, but is divided according to whether the currently set mode is the image setting mode or the return mail item discrimination mode.

Then, it is determined whether the current mode is the image setting mode (S12). The image extracting unit 320 extracts an image according to the image extraction area set in the image area setting unit 130 and the image correcting unit 330 corrects the extracted image (S20).

The customer information recognizing unit 340 analyzes the customer information image corresponding to the recipient information area in the corrected extracted image, and recognizes the customer information (S21).

On the other hand, the image comparing unit 350 confirms the image comparison setting for comparing the corrected extracted image with the comparison image (S22). The image comparison setting means the conveyance reason recognition method set by the conveyance reason registering unit 140. [

The image comparing unit 350 determines whether the image comparison setting is the whole image comparison setting (S23). If the whole image comparison setting is set, the corrected extracted image is reversed (S24). Then, an area in which a difference is generated is compared with all comparison images stored in the image information storage unit 150 (S25).

On the other hand, if it is not the entire image comparison setting, it is discriminated whether it is the image comparison setting for each forwarding reason area (S26). If it is determined that the images are to be compared with each other, the image comparing unit 350 compares the extracted images with the area comparison images stored in the image information storing unit 150 to identify different areas (S27) .

However, if it is determined that it is not the image comparison setting for each conveying reason area, it is determined that the histogram comparison setting is set, and the image comparing unit 350 converts the extracted image into a histogram and extracts it (S28). Then, the extracted histogram is compared with the histogram comparison image stored in the image information storage unit 150 to identify different regions (S29).

Thereafter, the carrier information recognizing unit 360 determines whether different areas are normally confirmed according to the image comparison setting, and determines whether the carrier reason information corresponding to the different areas is normally acquired (S30).

If the cause information is normally obtained, the obtained cause is corrected and stored in the recognized customer information (S31). However, if the conveying information is not normally acquired, since an error has occurred in the conveying information, predetermined error processing is performed (S31). The automatic return mail item handling system can perform error handling by separately storing mail items that have failed in the mail items conveyed using the mail item sorting unit 230. [

The method according to the present invention can be implemented as a computer-readable code on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like, and a carrier wave (for example, transmission via the Internet). The computer-readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

Claims (16)

A mail item image is printed on at least one basic mail item that can be implemented in various forms according to the demand of the customer in the image setting mode and is not mailed, Wherein the image processing unit sets at least one image extraction area including an area and a recipient information area, divides the image of the carrier extracted in the image extraction area into a plurality of conveyance reason areas separated by a boundary line, And converts the carrier image into at least one comparative image corresponding to at least one of the carrier image recognition technique and the histogram comparison technique, Many semi-structured Conveying information setting unit for storing the stamp image by sequentially; And
The method comprising the steps of: obtaining a postal matter image for each of a plurality of postal items conveyed in the conveyed postal matter distinguishing mode, and transmitting the various types of the postal dependency images obtained according to the set at least one image extracting region to the at least one comparison image A conveyance information discrimination unit for recognizing a conveyance reason and discriminating a conveyance cause area different from each other among the plurality of conveyance reasons areas in order and correcting the customer information according to the recognized conveyance reason; Lt; / RTI >
The conveyance information setting unit
A user interface for displaying the mail image and receiving the user command;
An image area setting unit configured to set an image extraction area including the bearer area and the recipient information area in response to the user command in the mail image displayed on the interface unit;
Dividing the plurality of types of the transferred image into a plurality of the conveyance cause areas, extracting the conveyance cause corresponding to each of the divided conveyance due areas, A transport cause registering unit configured to register the plurality of transport incidentrecognition techniques for each of the plurality of posture images; And
An image information storage unit for converting the image of the carrier station into at least one comparison image corresponding to the set at least one carrier sense technique; / RTI >
The transport reason registering unit
A plurality of regions divided by boundary lines in a plurality of the plurality of the image of the carrier shots corresponding to the at least one image extracting region in response to the user command are multiplexed into the plurality of transport cause areas, Wherein the control unit sets the conveyance cause and the delimiter code sequentially corresponding to the plurality of set conveyance destination areas. delete delete The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
And said transfer reason and said delimiter code are set to a predetermined number more than said plurality of conveyance purpose areas for error processing. delete 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the image information storage unit
Storing the whole of the transport reason image as a total comparison image corresponding to the whole image comparison technique and dividing the transport reason image into the plurality of transport reason areas corresponding to the area image comparison technique, Wherein the histogram comparison image is converted into a histogram comparison image corresponding to the histogram comparison method and stored. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6,
An image acquiring unit acquiring the mail image for each of the plurality of mail items conveyed;
An image extracting unit for extracting the image of the carrier corresponding to the carrier stamping area and the customer information image corresponding to the receiver information area according to the image extracting area;
An image correcting unit for correcting the extracted carrier image and the customer information image in a preset manner;
A customer information recognizing unit for analyzing the customer information image and recognizing the customer information;
The method comprising the steps of: converting the image of the carrier to an image corresponding to the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique; comparing the converted image with a comparison image stored corresponding to the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique; An image comparison unit for generating transfer area information;
A conveyance information recognizing unit for discriminating a conveyance cause corresponding to the conveyance area information; And
A customer information modifying unit for modifying and storing the recognized customer information according to the determined transportation reason; And an automatic postal / deliverable matter automatic processing system. The image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image comparing unit
And if the conveyance reason recognition technique set by the conveyance information setting unit is the whole image comparison technique, the conveyance area information is generated by inverting and inverting the image of the conveyance flag and comparing the shrunken inverted image with the entire comparison image Automatic return mail system. The image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image comparing unit
If the transport incident recognition scheme set by the transport information setting unit is the area-by-area image comparison technique, the transport posture image is divided into the images of the transport reason area, And the transfer area information is generated in comparison with the corresponding area comparison image. The image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image comparing unit
If the conveyance reason recognition scheme set by the conveyance information setting unit is the histogram comparison technique, the image of the carrier is converted into a predetermined histogram image, and the converted histogram image is compared with the histogram comparison image to generate conveyance area information Wherein said automatic postal processing system comprises: The automatic return mail handling system according to claim 1,
A plurality of mail items to be conveyed are stacked and conveyed to the conveyance information discriminating section in a sequential manner so as to convey the plurality of mail items stacked on the conveyance information discriminating section, Further comprising: an automatic mail processing system for automatically sending and receiving mail. A method for automatically sending and receiving postal matters in a conveying postal matter automatic processing system including a conveying information setting unit and a conveying information judging unit,
Wherein the carrier information setting unit is configured to print a carrier stamp that can be implemented in various forms according to a request of a customer in an image setting mode and receive a mail image for at least one basic mail item that has not been mailed, Setting at least one image extracting area including a bearer stamp area and a recipient information area according to a user command;
Wherein the transport information setting unit divides the various types of the image of the carrier stamp extracted in the at least one image extracting area into a plurality of transport reason areas each separated by a border line, Multiple registration of a corresponding carrier cause;
Converting the carrier-stamp image into at least one comparative image corresponding to at least one carrier sense technique;
Obtaining a mail image for each of a plurality of mail items returned in the return mail item discriminating mode by the conveyance information discriminating section and obtaining an extracted image according to at least one of the image extracting areas set in the obtained mail image;
Wherein the transport information determining unit obtains the image of the carrier stamps of various types among the extracted images and successively compares with the at least one comparison image among the various types of the carrier stray images stored in accordance with the at least one transport incident recognition scheme Determining a transport cause area different from the plurality of transport cause areas; And
Recognizing the cause of the return by the carrying reason area determined by the carrying information determining unit and correcting the customer information according to the recognized carrying reason; Lt; / RTI >
The step of registering the carrier cause
In response to the user command, a plurality of regions, which are distinguished by a boundary line in the image of the carrier, into the plurality of transport cause areas Multiple setting;
When the various types of the carrier stamps are selected, sequentially setting the carrier cause and the delimiter code corresponding to the plurality of set carrier beliefs; And
Setting an entire image comparison technique, a region-by-region image comparison technique, and a histogram comparison technique in the at least one conveyance reason recognition technique in response to the user command; Wherein the automatic postal / deliverable matter automatic processing method comprises the steps of: The method of claim 12, wherein the step of setting the image extraction area
Displaying the mail image; And
Setting an image extraction area including the bearer area and the recipient information area in response to the user command for the displayed mail image; Wherein the automatic postal / deliverable matter automatic processing method comprises the steps of: delete 14. The method of claim 13, wherein transforming and storing the comparison image comprises:
Storing all of the transport reason images as a total comparison image corresponding to the whole image comparison technique;
Dividing the transport cause image into the plurality of transport cause areas and storing the transport cause images as a plurality of area comparison images in correspondence with the regional image comparison technique; And
Converting the transport cause image into a histogram comparison image corresponding to the histogram comparison technique, and storing the converted transport cause image; Wherein the automatic postal / deliverable matter automatic processing method comprises the steps of: 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the transport reason area
Inverting the inverted image of the carrier and comparing the inverted shaken image with the entire comparison image if the set of conveyance reason recognition techniques is the whole image comparison technique;
If the set of the conveyance reason recognition techniques is the area-by-area image comparison technique, the control unit classifies the image of the conveyance posture into the images of the conveyance intent areas, and compares the divided images of the conveyance intent areas with the corresponding areas of the plurality of area comparison images Comparing the image with an image;
If the set conveyance reason recognition technique is the histogram comparison technique, converting the conveyance image into a predetermined histogram image and comparing the converted histogram image with the histogram comparison image; And
Generating transfer area information for an area determined to be different from the comparison result; Wherein the automatic postal / deliverable matter automatic processing method comprises the steps of:

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