KR20060067005A - Automatic postal information capture system and method for registered mail - Google Patents

Abstract

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail and a method thereof.

2. The technical problem to be solved by the invention

The present invention requires a postal information by obtaining a high-resolution image including all the postal information of the addressee and the sender described in the registered mail to be received without additional modifications to the existing post office structure and the existing postal reception equipment The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic postal information acquisition device for registered mail and a method thereof for providing to another system.

3. Summary of Solution to Invention

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic postal information acquisition system for registered mail, comprising: image acquisition means for acquiring an image of the front surface of registered mail; Address recognition means for extracting a postal information area from the postal image obtained by the image obtaining means, and recognizing the postal information based on the extracted postal information area; And information providing means for reconfiguring and providing postal information recognized by the address recognizing means in a form required by another system.

4. Important uses of the invention

The present invention is used as a pre-processing system for receiving registered mail at the existing mail window, or as a base system for interworking with other systems requiring postal information recognition, or building an unmanned mail window.

Automatic acquisition of postal information, image acquisition, postal information, address recognition, registered mail, post office

Description

Automatic postal acquisition device of registered mail and its method {AUTOMATIC POSTAL INFORMATION CAPTURE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REGISTERED MAIL}             

1 is a configuration of an embodiment of an automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention;

2 is a detailed configuration diagram for explaining in detail the image acquisition unit of the automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention;

3 is a detailed configuration diagram for explaining in detail the address recognition unit of the automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

101: information providing unit 102: address recognition unit

103: image acquisition unit 104: registered mail

201: Image capturing unit 202: support

203: Mail Weighing Device 204: Data Exchange Interface

303 internal interface module (keyboard hooking)

304: external interface module 305: address recognition module

306: Scanner Driver 308: Scanner Manager

The present invention relates to a device for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail and a method thereof, and more particularly, to provide a system requiring a postal information by automatically acquiring postal information necessary for receiving a registered mail at a post office. The present invention relates to a device for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail and a method thereof.

At the current post office, users of the postal reception system receive an average of 260 registered mails per day, and all registered mails are manually received, except for diskettes and large-scale mails with a high-speed receiver. At this time, the postal information input operation takes an average time of 16.5 seconds, including a typo and a postal code correction time, and is a heavy burden on the user for receiving the registered mail, and an automated technology for efficient work should be supported.

The prior art is a 'automatic support reception processing device for a large number of records management mail,' the prior art is a method for receiving a large amount of registered mail, such a large amount of registered mail is received at the mail collection China or a separate window There is a problem in terms of the size and cost of the device to install and use at a mailing window that receives one or a small amount of registered mail.

On the other hand, another conventional technology is a 'postal address service method and apparatus using a physically expressed postal image', which includes a technique for imageizing the postal information or the image of the postal information, the sender is Expresses the postal information with a sticker or the like and conveniently records it in the postal medium, and the recipient obtains the postal information from the sender's postal image and uses it for a postal service such as an address book. Since the postal information is obtained and managed by the standard, it must go through the information conversion process in order to apply it to other systems that require the postal information.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a related apparatus and method for automatically acquiring postal information necessary for receiving registered mail at existing post offices and providing the postal information to other systems requiring postal information.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems and to meet the above requirements, and to automatically obtain the postal information necessary to receive the registered postal mail at the post office and provide the postal information to another system requiring the postal information. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic postal information acquisition device and a method thereof.

That is, the present invention obtains a high-resolution image including all the postal information of the addressee and the sender described in the registered mail to be received without applying any modifications to the existing post office structure and the existing postal reception equipment. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic postal information acquiring device for registered mail and a method thereof for providing to another system that is needed.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. Also, it will be readily appreciated that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the claims.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail, comprising: image acquisition means for acquiring an image of the front side of registered mail; Address recognition means for extracting a postal information area from the postal image obtained by the image obtaining means, and recognizing the postal information based on the extracted postal information area; And information providing means for reconfiguring and providing postal information recognized by the address recognizing means in a form required by another system.

On the other hand, the method of the present invention, a method for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail, comprising the steps of: obtaining a mail image by scanning the registered mail; Extracting a sender and a recipient address area from the obtained mail image; A postal information recognition step of recognizing the postal information of the addressee or the sender and the addressee based on the extracted sender and the addressee area; And reconstructing (dividing) the recognized payee or sender and the payee postal information according to an input request of another system and providing the same to the other system.

As described above, the present invention can be installed in the current mailing window without any structural changes, and the mail information can be obtained within a maximum of 4 seconds for registered mails in which the mail information of the recipient or the recipient and the sender is printed. Therefore, the present invention can automate the input work of the postal information that has been manually performed in the prior art can reduce the input work time to within 4 seconds from the current average of 16.5 seconds. In addition, the present invention can prevent the input of incorrect information that may occur due to a typo.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. There will be. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a device for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail according to the present invention includes an image acquisition unit 103 for acquiring an image of the front side of a registered postal mail, and a postal information obtained by the image acquisition unit 103. A system for extracting a postal information area from an image and requesting an address recognition unit 102 for recognizing postal information based on the extracted postal information area, and a postal information recognized by the address recognition unit 102 by another system. It includes an information providing unit 101 for reconfiguring and providing.

Looking at each of the components in more detail as follows.

First, the image acquisition unit 103 can be installed in the existing postal mail weight acquisition apparatus without a separate structural change, and obtains a high-resolution image of the front surface of the registered mail in which the postal information of the registered mail 104 is described.

The address recognizing unit 102 separates and extracts a postal address area of a recipient or a recipient and a sender from the postal image obtained by the image acquisition unit 103, and uses a character recognition technique based on the extracted postal information area. Recognize the recipient's or recipient's postal information (eg, zip code, address, name, etc.) as required by other systems.

The information providing unit 101 reconstructs the postal information of the addressee or the addressee and the sender recognized by the address recognition unit 102 into a form required by another information system and provides the information to the other information system.

2 is a detailed configuration diagram for explaining in detail the image acquisition unit of the automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention.

Referring to Figure 2 look at in detail the image acquisition unit 103 of the automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the image acquisition unit 103 includes an image capture unit 201 including a scanner for generating a mail image of a resolution necessary for address recognition from registered mails of various sizes, and a mail window. Support 202 for fixing the image capturing unit 201 on a postal weight measuring apparatus 203 without any additional modification to a postal weighing apparatus (for example, an electronic scale) 203, the image capturing unit And a data exchange interface 204 for transferring the mail image obtained at 201 to the computer 205 including the address recognition unit 102.

3 is a detailed configuration diagram illustrating the address recognition unit of the automatic postal information acquisition system of registered mail according to the present invention in detail.

As shown in FIG. 3, the address recognition unit 102 of the automatic postal information acquiring device for registered mail according to the present invention, the scanner driver 306 for controlling the image capture unit 201, the state of the scanner A scanner manager 308 for diagnosing and setting up a scanning environment, and extracts the mail information area of the recipient or the recipient and the sender from the mail image acquired by the image capturing unit 201, and texts the extracted mail information area. Address recognition module 305 for recognizing the recipient or the recipient and sender's postal information (eg, zip code, address, name, etc.) required by other systems using the recognition technology, the address recognition module 305 External interface for reconstructing the postal information of the addressee or the addressee and the sender into the form required by the other information system and providing it to the other information system Module 304, and an internal interface module 303 for enabling the address recognition module 305 to be called by the other information system.

At this time, the internal interface module 303 recognizes the keyboard hook input by the user in the operating system 307 when it is difficult to add a calling unit for calling the postal information automatic acquisition device to the information system. On the other hand, the internal interface module 303 can also add a call section for calling the postal information automatic acquisition device to the information system.

Next, the operation of the automatic postal information acquisition device will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for automatically obtaining postal information of registered mail according to the present invention.

First, when the user puts the address on the postal weight measuring device 203 of the mail window so that the surface on which the address of the registered mail is written is directed to the image capturing unit 201 and calls the address recognition unit 102 (402), the postal information automatic The acquisition apparatus scans the registered mail to obtain a mail image (403), and extracts the sender and the recipient address area (404).

Thereafter, the external interface module 304 determines whether the address area requested from the reception system 302, which is an external information system, is the recipient information or the sender and the recipient information (405).

As a result of the determination 405, if both the sender and the payee information are requested, the sender's zip code and name information are recognized (406). After retrieving the address information such as the city / town / county / dong information of the sender from the postal code database (415) using the recognized sender's postal information (407), the process proceeds to “408”. . This sender postal information recognition process is omitted if the information system requires only recipient information.

On the other hand, in the determination result 405, when the recipient information is requested, the recipient's postal code, address (city / town / county / town), and name information are recognized from the recipient's postal information area (408). In operation 409, the misidentified address information is corrected.

Then, it is checked whether the correct three digits of the recognized zip code and the corrected address information match (410), and if it does not match, the new zip code to be assigned to the corrected address according to the recognized postal code database (DB) ( 415, then proceed to process 412. Recipient postal code correction process is a method for obtaining the correct postal code even if the sender misses the postal code or enters the wrong postal code in the process of entering the payee address in the mail.

On the other hand, the check result (410), if the correct postal code is considered to be written if it matches, the recognized recipient or sender and the recipient postal information is reconstructed (divided) according to the input request of the information system (412) provided to the information system (413).

On the other hand, the user may check the recipient or recipient and sender postal information provided to the information system, and may correct the postal information directly in the information system when misidentified information is found.

As described above, the domestic mail reception process at the current mailing window is customer response-> manual input of mail information and reception information into the reception system-> charge settlement and reception work is completed, but in the case of applying the present invention, customer response-> Automatic mail information acquisition-> receipt information manual input-> to settle fee and receive work.

As described above, the method of the present invention may be implemented as a program and stored in a recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.) in a computer-readable form. Since this process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art will not be described in more detail.

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is not limited by the drawings.

As described above, the present invention has the effect of greatly improving the speed and accuracy of information input as compared to the conventional registered mail receiving method in which a user inputs an address using a keyboard while watching registered mail.

That is, the present invention can automate the input operation of the postal information that has been manually performed in the past, thereby reducing the input work time from the current average of 16.5 seconds to less than 4 seconds, and prevent the incorrect input of information that may occur due to a typo. .

In addition, the present invention can be expected not only to reduce the work time of 12.5 seconds or more, but also to reduce the work of the user, improve the accuracy of information, and improve the postal service, such as reducing the waiting time of the customer, and the like.                     

In addition, the present invention can be used as a pre-processing system for receiving registered mail at existing postal counters, and can also be used as a base system for interworking with other systems requiring postal information recognition or for establishing a postal unmanned counter.

Claims (6)

In the automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail, Image acquisition means for obtaining an image of the front side of registered mail; Address recognition means for extracting a postal information area from the postal image obtained by the image obtaining means, and recognizing the postal information based on the extracted postal information area; And Information providing means for reconfiguring and providing postal information recognized by the address recognition means in a form required by another system Automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail including a. The method of claim 1, The image acquiring means may be installed in the existing mail weight acquiring device without any structural change, and acquires an image of the front side of registered mail in which the postal information of registered mail is described, in high resolution, The address recognizing means extracts the postal information area of the addressee or the recipient and the sender from the postal image obtained by the image acquisition means, and requests it from the other system using a character recognition technique based on the extracted postal information area. Automatically obtain postal information of registered mail, characterized in that for recognizing the postal information (for example, zip code, address, name, etc.) of the addressee or the sender. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The image acquisition means, An image capture unit including a scanner for generating a mail image of a resolution necessary for address recognition from registered mails of various sizes; Support means for fixing the image capturing unit on top of a mail weighing apparatus without additional modification to a mail weighing apparatus of a mail window; And Data exchange interface for delivering the postal image obtained by the image capture unit to the address recognition unit Automatic mail information acquisition device of registered mail including a. The method of claim 3, wherein The address recognition means, A scanner driver for controlling the image capture unit; A scanner manager for diagnosing a state of the scanner and setting a scanning environment; Recipient or recipient and sender's postal information area is separated and extracted from the postal image obtained by the image capturing unit, and the recipient or recipient and sender required by the other system by using character recognition technology for the extracted postal information area. An address recognition module for recognizing postal information (eg, zip code, address, name, etc.) of the; An external interface module for reconfiguring the postal information of the addressee or the addressee and the sender recognized by the address recognition module into a form required by the other system and providing the received address to the other system; And Internal interface module for calling the address recognition module in the other system Automatic postal information acquisition device of registered mail including a. In the automatic postal information acquisition method of registered mail, Scanning the registered mail to obtain a mail image; Extracting a sender and a recipient address area from the obtained mail image; A postal information recognition step of recognizing the postal information of the addressee or the sender and the addressee based on the extracted sender and the addressee area; And Reconstructing (dividing) the recognized payee or sender and recipient mail information according to an input request of another system and providing the received payee or sender postal information to the other system Automatically obtain postal information of registered mail including a. The method of claim 5, wherein The postal information recognition step, Determining whether the address area requested from the other system is payee information or sender and payee information; As a result of the determination, when both the sender and the recipient information are requested, after recognizing the sender's postal code and name information, after retrieving the sender's address information from the postal code database DB using the recognized sender's postal information, Proceeding to the next recipient address recognition step; A recipient address recognition step of recognizing the recipient's postal code, address, and name information from the recipient's postal information area as a result of the determination; Correcting misrecognition address information; And If the first three digits of the recognized zip code and the corrected address information are not matched with each other, the new zip code to be assigned to the corrected address is determined from the zip code database DB using the recognized address. Step to search Automatically obtain postal information of registered mail including a.

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