GB2152260A - Mail sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Destination information on mail is read and recognised. A display (81 or 82) displays the readout data when the recognition fails and the destination information corresponding to the display is input manually. Sorting data is assigned to the mail according to the destination information. The same sorting data is assigned even when the destination information is expressed in different types of characters (e.g. Chinese and others) if it is decided that the information is substantially the same. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Mail sorting apparatus This invention relates to an apparatus for sorting mail, and more particularly to an apparatus for sorting mail according to bar codes which are assigned to the mail according to the results of reading out an address on the mail or codings.

!n a recent mail sorting apparatus, through optical scanning, the address is correctly read out, and a bar code corresponding to the address is assigned to the mail. On the other hand, when the address is incorrectly read out, the result of the readout from the scanned image data is displayed by a display unit of a coding system. An operator, after seeing the display, keys in the address data to assign a bar code to the mail by a keyboard of the coding system. The mail bearing bar codes assigned in this way are sorted and put into corresponding sorting boxes according to the result of the readout or the coding.

The mail sorting apparatus described above has a drawback. When the same address is written in alphabet characters on one envelope or post card and in Chinese characters on another, different bar codes are inevitably assigned to these envelopes after reading or coding the address. In consequence, the envelopes or post cards are sorted and put into different boxes. This results in an increase of the number of sorting boxes.

Further, a complicated keyboard capable of inputting Chinese and alphabet characters is required for coding When using a keyboard for coding. the keying operation used by an operator is troublesome since the address contains alphabet and Chinese characters. This also leads to deterioration of coding efficiency.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for sorting mail which is free from the increase of the number of sorting boxes, even when mail bearing addresses written in different types of characters are sorted.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mail sorting apparatus improved in the coding efficiency.

According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for sorting mail comprising readout means for reading out destination information on mail, discriminating means for discriminating the destination information on the basis of the readout result by the readout means, display means for displaying the readout data by the readout means when the discriminating means fails to discriminate the destination information, input means for enabling the destination information corresponding to the contents of display by the display means to be input, sorting data assigning means for assigning to the mail the sorting data according to the result of discriminating operation by the discriminating means or the destination information by the input means, the sorting data assigning means for applying the same sorting data to the discrimination result by the discriminating means and the destination information input by the input means even when these items of the information are expressed in different types of characters, if it is decided that these items of the information are substantially the same contents, and sorting/collecting means for sorting and collecting the mail into predetermined sorting sections according to the sorting data applied by the sorting data assigning means.

With this arrangement, even when the different types of characters are used for expressing addresses on the mail, if the addresses are identical with each other, the same sorting code data are assigned to the mail and put into the same sorting box. Therefore, the mail sorting apparatus is free from reduction of the number of sortings.

Further, coding desks, each including an input means and a display means, are classified into different groups for different types of characters. Readout result of the address data, which respectively correspond to the address data bearing different types of characters, are distributed to the corresponding display means of the corresponding coding desks, and displayed. This feature improves the coding efficiency.

These and other objects and features of the present invention can be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a scheme of a mail processing system into which the present invention is applied as an embodiment; Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a select/stamper section used in the system of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a plan view illustrating an arrangement used in the system of Fig. 1: Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of a sorting section used in the system of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 shows a perspective view illustrating an outer appearance of a video coding desk used in the system of Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 shows a configuration of a major part of an electric circuitry used in the embodiment.

An embodiment of a mail sorting apparatus according to the present invention will be described referring to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a layout of a mail processing system when mail sorting apparatuses according to the present invention are installed. In the figure, reference numerals 1 and 2 designate mail sorters coupled with select/stamper sections. Numerals 3-6 designate mail sorters not coupled with select/stamper sections. A coding room 7 is composed of a plurality of video coding desks 8I, 82 ..., a distributor 9, and a data proces- sor 14.

In the mail sorters 1 and 2, a select/stamper 10 selects small ordinary mail, which can be handled for sorting by the machine, i.e., the mail sorting apparatus, from mail P (see Fig. 2) fed to a mail feeder 11, and aligns the orientation of the selected mail on the basis of locations of the postage stamps, stamps the mail, and finally feeds the stamped mail to a coupler 1 2. The coupler 1 2 couples the select/stamper 10 with a read/sorter 13.

The read/sorters 1 3 and 1 3 in the mail sorters 1 and 2 are respectively primary and secondary switch sorters. Mail sorters 3-5 are for primary sorting, and a mail sorter 6 is for secondary sorting. Reference numerals 42, 42 ..., 42 are control units for controlling the mail sorters 1-6.

The select/stamper 10 will be described in Fig. 2. In the select/stamper 10, a mail feeder 11 picks up mail P received by the receptacle 21 for mail, and transfers them upwardly toward the thickness selector 22, while uniformly scattering the mail on the surface of the mail feeder 11. A thickness selector 22 selectively removes the mail P other than regular form mail (referred to as irregular form mail), which has the more thickness than a predetermined thickness. For the selective removal of the mail, a known nail belt type selecting system is employed in this embodiment. Width selectors 23 and 23 are provided for selecting the irregular mail P with the thickness thicker than a predetermined width and for removing all of the mail unsuitable for the machine handling in the succeeding stage of mailing/sorting processing.The irregular mail P removed by the thickness selector 22 and the width selectors 23 and 23 are led downwardly to a transfer section 24 and a shooter 25.

The mail P passed through the width selectors 23 and 23 are taken out one by one by a single mail takeout section (not shown) and is transferred to a alignment/stamper 26. In the alignment/stamper 26, a postage stamp on each mail is detected by stamp detectors 27a and 27b of the color sensing type. The mail P is stamped by a stamping mechanism 28 on the basis of the position of the detected postage stamp. Further, a switchback mechanism 29 aligns the orientation of the mail also on the basis of the stamp position. Of the regular mail P as stamped, special mail are collected into a special delivery collector 30.

The remaining mail P are transferred toward the coupler 12. An ordinary mail collector 31 is used when the select/stamper 10 is solely used, not coupled with the coupler 12, or when trouble occurs somewhere in the succeeding stage of the mail sorting system. In this case, the ordinary mail collector 31 collects the ordinary mail P by the ordinary mail collector 31 itself. Reference numeral 32 designates a reject collector. A manual feeder 33 directly feeds previously selected regular mail P to the alignment/stamper 26.

The coupler 1 2 coupled with the select/stamper 10 thus arranged is a known buffer stacker. The stamped regular mail P as transferred from the select/stamper 10 is reliably fed one by one to the read/sorter 1 3, corresponding to the processing ability of the read/sorter 1 3. The coupler 1 2 also stores excessive mail above a predetermined number of supplied mail.

The read/sorter 1 3 will be described in Figs. 3 and 4. The read/sorter 1 3 is composed of an image reader 41, a control unit 42, a delay/print section 43. and a sorting section 45. The image reader 41 converts optical destination information, or address information, on a mail P into electrical image information. and contains an optical character reader and an image pickup. The control unit 42 is coupled with a discriminator 91 (Fig. 6) for discriminating the address information from the image information read by the image reader 41 (see Figs. 1 and 6).The delay/print section 43 delays the incoming mail P from the image reader 41, and prints on the mail P a bar code (sorting data) according to the discrimination result by the discriminator 91 and the address information encoded by the video coding desks 81. 82, . . The sorting section 45 sorts the mail according to the bar codes printed thereon and distributes them into sorting boxes 44.

The image reader 41 and the delay/print section 43 are arranged as shown in Fig. 3.

The mail P fed from a feed section 51 or the mail P transferred from the coupler 1 2 is transferred on a transfer path 52. An image reader 58 reads the information on the mail P transferred on the transfer path 52 by the optical scanner. The mail P passed through the image reader 58 is supplied through a transfer path 53 and a delay/transfer path 54 to the sorting section 45 (Fig. 4). On the terminal portion of the delay/transfer path 54, a printer 55 and stackers 56 and 57 are disposed. The printer 55 prints on the mail P a bar code representing the address information.

The sorting section 45 is arranged as shown in Fig. 4. A feed/read section 61 contains a feeder 62 for setting the mail P printed with bar codes together upstanding.

The mail P stored in the feeder 62 are successively and upwardly taken out sheet by sheet.

In this case, the endmost mail P is first taken out. The mail P taken out are transferred through a takeout transfer path 64 toward a sorter 75 for collecting and sorting. On the way to the takeout transfer path 64, a reader 65 is disposed, which reads the bar code on the mail P being transferred on the transfer path. The takeout transfer path 64 merges at the starting point with a transfer path 66 for carrying out the mail P emanating from the delay/print section 43. The mail P is then sent to the takeout transfer path 64.

The takeout transfer path 64 connects at the end with a vertical sorting transfer path 67. The mail P are selectively directed by a gate mechanism (not shown) to five horizontal sorting transfer paths 68a -68e vertically stacked or to an exit pocket 69. The gating by the gate mechanism is controlled on the basis of the readout result of the reader 65. In the starting end portion of the horizontal sorting transfer paths 68a-68e, a number of sorting boxes 44, for example, 22 boxes, are disposed under the lower sides of the horizontal sorting transfer paths 68a-68e. Closer to the end portion of the horizontal sorting transfer paths 68a-68e, a single auxiliarly collector box 71 and a removal mail collector box 72 are disposed correspondingly.

Further, the remaining mail sorters 3-6 each have the same read/sorter 1 3 as that of each of the mail sorters 1 and 2.

The video coding desks 8" 82 ..., is com- posed of CRT displays 81 and 82 for displaying the image information supplied through the distributor 9 from the control unit 42, and a keyboard 83 for keying in address information corresponding to the image information displayed by the CRT display 81. In the case of the video coding desks 8 ..., the keyboard 83 is provided with alphabet keys. In the case of the video coding desks 82. .., it is provided with Chinese letters keys.

A major portion of an electrical circuitry contained in the mail sorting apparatus will be given in Fig. 6. The control unit 42 provided in the read/sorter 1 3 of the mail sorter 1 reads the image information on each mail P as fed from the image reader 58, to cause a discriminator 91 to discriminately recognize the address information. The control unit 42 further supplies to the printer 55 the bar code data representing the address data discriminated or the bar code data supplied from the data processor 1 4. Upon receipt of the bar code data, the printer 55 prints the bar code on the corresponding mail P. When the discriminator 91 fails to discriminately recognize the address data. the control unit 42 supplies the image data to the data processor 1 4.

More specifically, when the discriminator 91 fails to recognize alphabetic letters, the control unit 42 produces the address data as the Chinese letters address data. When the discriminator 91 fails to write an address in alphabetic letters, the control unit 42 produces the alphabetic address data. Thus, the discriminator 91 decides whether the image data, i.e., the optical pattern data from the image reader 58, is recognized as the alphabetic letter or the alphabet written address.

The electrical circuitry of each of the remaining mail sorters 2-6 has substantially the same arrangement as that as mentioned above.

The data processor 14 drives the distributor 9 to distribute the supplied image data to the respective video coding desks 8" 82, . . For example, the alphabet written address is distributed to the video coding desks 8,, . for alphabet processing. The Chinese letters written address is distributed to the video coding desks 82, ... for Chinese letters processing.

The data processor 14 converts the address data from each of the video coding desks 8,, 82, ... into corresponding bar code data, and supplies the bar code data to the control unit 42 of the corresponding mail sorter 1. In this case, if the contents of the alphabet and Chinese letters address data are identical with each other, the data processor 1 4 produces the same bar code data for the address data.

The operation of the mail sorting apparatus thus arranged will be described. Firstly, a mail P is fed to the mail feeder 11. Then, the select/stamper 10 selects from those mail supplied to the mail feeder 11, small ordinary mail P which can be processed by the mail sorter. By the select/stamper 10, the selected mail P are aligned in orientation on the basis of the positions of the postage stamps as detected. Further, these mail P are stamped.

The mail P from the select/stamper 10 is transferred through the coupler 1 2 to the read/sorter 13, viz., the image reader 41. In the image reader 41, the mail P supplied from the coupler 1 2 or the mail P taken out of the feed section 51 is transported on the transfer path 52. During the transportation, the picture information on the moving mail P is optically read out by the image reader 58.

The result of the readout is supplied to the control unit 42. Then, the control unit 42 checks whether the image data picked up is written by alphabet or Chinese letters by the discriminator 91. If it is Chinese letters written address data, it further checks whether or not that data can be recognized. If the image data is written in Chinese letters and the Chinese letters written address can be recognized, the control unit 42 directly converts the address data into the corresponding bar code. At this time, the mail P is passed through the image reader 58. and is transported by the transfer paths 53 and 54. After a predetermined time, the mail P reaches the printer 55.

It is assumed that the result shows whether or not the image data is the alphabet written address, but the address can not be recognized. In this case, the control unit 42 applies the image data to the data processor 14.

Then, the data processor 14, when receiving the alphabet data, supplies the data to one of the video coding desks 8 ..., through the distributor 9. When receiving the Chinese letters data, it supplies the data to one of the video coding desks 82 ..., through the distributor 9. In the video coding desks 8" ....

supplied with the alphabet data, the image data is displayed by the CRT displays 81.

After seeing the image data displayed, an operator keys in that data by the keyboard 83 for alphabet. In the video coding desks 82 ....

supplied with the Chinese letters data, the Chinese letters image data is displayed by the CRT displays 82. 8imilarly, the operator inputs the data by the keyboard 83 for Chinese letters. The alphabet and Chinese letters address data keyed in by the keyboard 83 are supplied to the data processor 1 4. Upon receipt of the data. the data processor 1 4 converts the address data into a bar code. The bar code is then applied to the control unit 42. If the contents of the alphabet and Chinese letters data are identical with each other, the same bar code is produced. Then. the control unit 42 connects to the printer 55 the bar code data supplied from the data processor 1 4 according to the keyed in data. or the bar code directly converted from the address data as mentioned above.At this time, if the mail P of which the address data is read out and reaches the printer 55, the bar code is printed on the mail P. The mail P bearing the printed bar code is supplied to the sorting section 45.

In the sorting section 45, the mail P bearing the bar code, which is supplied from the delay/print section 43 or taken out from the feeder 62, is transported on the takeout transfer path 64. The bar code on the mail P being transported on the takeout transfer path 64 is optically read out by the reader 65. The mail P is then directed to the corresponding sorting box 44 on the basis of the result of readout by the reader 65.

The above-mentioned operation is correspondingly applied that the mail P are sorted by the mail sorters 2-6. Of those sorters.

the sorters 3-6 perform the operation following the selection and stamping of the mail.

While the above-mentioned embodiment is applied to the address data expressed in the alphabet and Chinese letters, the present invention is applied for the address data written by the combination of other types of characters, for example, alphabet and Arabic. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the discriminator 91 discriminately recognizes the address information written in alphabet. Alternately, it may be modified so as to recognize the address information of alphabet and Chinese letters separately. More specifically, whether the address data is written by using alphabets or Chinese letters is first checked. The alphabet address data is applied to a first discriminator, and the Chinese letters address data is applied to a second discriminator. On the basis of this check, the image data which can not be discriminated by the first discriminator is distributed to a first group of video coding discs. The image data which can not be discriminated is distributed to a second group of video coding discs, In the above-mentioned embodiment. when the coding disk visually provides the Chinese letters image data, the address data is keyed in by the Chinese letters keyboard. If necessary. the operator may key in the Chinese letters data by alphabet. In this case, only the alphabet keyboard is required resulting in simplification of the keyboard.

As described above, even when the mail written in different types of characters are sorted, the mail sorting apparatus according to the present invention is free from the increase of the number of sorting boxes attaining to the coding efficiency.

Claims (9)

1. An apparatus for sorting mail comprising: readout means for reading out destination information on mail; discriminating means for discriminating said destination information on the basis of the readout result by said readout means; display means for displaying the readout data by said readout means when said discriminating means fails to discriminate said destination information; input means for enabling the destination information corresponding to the contents of display by said display means to be input;; sorting data assigning means for assigning to said mail, the sorting data according to the result of discriminating operation by said discriminating means or the destination information by said input means, said sorting data assigning means for applying the same sorting data to both the discrimination result by said discriminating means, and the destination information input by said input means even when these items of the information are expressed in different types of characters. if it is decided that these items of the information are substantially the same contents; and sorting/collecting means for sorting and collecting said mail into predetermined sorting sections according to the sorting data applied by said sorting data assigning means.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which said sorting data is a bar code.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which a keyboard as said input means and said display means form a coding desk.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, in which a plurality of said coding desks are provided for different types of characters, respectively, and when said discriminating means fails to discriminate the address data, the results of readout by said readout means are respectively distributed into said coding desks according to different types of characters, and displayed by said coding desk, while the destination data corresponding to the contents of the display can be input.

5. An apparatus for sorting mail comprising: first readout means for reading out destination data on mail written in a first language; sorting means for sorting and putting said mail into predetermined sorting sections according to the data read out by said first readout means; second readout means for reading out destination data on mail written in another language; and control means for making a control such that when the destination data of a mail readout by said second readout means is the same as that by said first readout means, said mail is sorted and put into the same sorting section.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, in which said second readout means includes image pickup means for picking up destination data on mail, display means for displaying the data picked up by said image pickup means, and input means for inputting for assigning the sorting data corresponding to the data displayed by said display means.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, in which said first language is expressed by alphabet and said another language by Chinese letters.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5, in which said second readout means includes input means for inputting sorting data corresponding to said first language.

9. The apparatus according to claim 5, in which said first readout means is an optical character recognition.

1 0. A mail sorting apparatus, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.