JPH04271879A - Address reading and classifying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the flexible dealing with the specific characteristics of the address description of every specific enterprise and to allow the execution of classification processing without degrading processing efficiency even if there are many special address descriptions. CONSTITUTION:This machine has address reference tables 45b,... for each of the specific enterprises and recognizes the addresses in accordance with the contents of these address reference tables 45b,... at the time of recognizing the addresses.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an address reading and sorting machine that reads addresses, such as addresses, written on mail to be transported and sorts the mail using the read addresses.

0002

[Prior Art] Postal sorting operations can be roughly divided into dispatch sorting operations, which are the sorting operations for sending collected mail to the destination post office, and sorting operations, which are the sorting operations for delivering the arrived mail. There is a certain delivery classification business. In the past, dispatch sorting operations have been largely automated using automatic postal code reading and sorting machines, but delivery sorting operations have lagged behind in automation.

However, in recent years, in addition to the function of automatic postal code reading and sorting machines, by directly reading the address, such as the town name, chome, and kanji of the block code written on the mail, using OCR, mail can be sorted at the delivery district level. Automate the classification up to (
Automation of delivery sorting operations) has been developed.

[0004] However, mail from a specific company that is sent in large quantities has addresses printed in the same format and in almost the same condition, but the contents of the addresses are unique depending on the circumstances of the sending company. There are cases.

[0005] For example, mail sent by a specific company has the following characteristics regarding the notation of town names. If the official name of the town is ``Adachiku Senju Kotobukicho'' (Senju Kotobukicho, Adachi Ward), the name printed on the mail is ``Adachi Senju Kotobukicho.'' This is because the ``ward'' and ``town'' are pre-printed on the mail, and the ``ku'' is printed on the database that is the basis for printing the address.
It is possible that the words ``cho'' and ``cho'' were left out. Then, before I knew it, the pre-printed ``ward'' and ``town'' on the mail disappeared, but because the address was printed based on a database, the address was missing the ``ku'' and ``cho'' characters. It appears to be printed.

[0006] Furthermore, in conventional automatic postal code reading and sorting machines, the reading target was the postal code, so the reading field position and printing condition level were set for printed letter mail pieces of the same format that are sent out in large quantities. There was only a reading mode.

[0007] Therefore, in the above-mentioned system, only the reading field of view position and printing condition level are set for printed letter mail pieces of the same format sent out in large quantities from a specific company, and the address notation is If it is correct, it can be read, but the disadvantage is that processing efficiency decreases if there are many special address notations.

[0008]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, this invention eliminates the drawback that processing efficiency decreases when there are many special address notations, and there are many special address notations. To provide an address reading and sorting machine that can perform sorting processing without reducing processing efficiency even in cases where there is a problem.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The address reading and sorting machine of the present invention reads the address written on the mail being conveyed and sorts it using the read address. a storage means for storing a reading mode for each specific sender; an instruction means for instructing the reading classification of the mail for a specific sender; a reading mode for the specific sender instructed by the instruction means is read from the storage means; The apparatus is comprised of a reading means for reading the address according to the address, and a sorting means for sorting the address according to the address read by the reading means.

0010

[Operation] The present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, reads the address written on the mail to be transported, and sorts the mail using the read address.
The reading mode for each specific sender is stored in the storage means, the reading classification of the mail for the specific sender is specified, the reading mode for the designated specific sender is read from the storage means, and the reading mode is set according to the read reading mode. The system reads the address and classifies the address according to the read address.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an automatic mail sorting machine as an address reading and sorting machine of the present invention, which has the following configuration. That is, postal items P such as postcards and sealed letters are set in the supply section 1 all at once in an upright position. The mail items P in the supply unit 1 are taken out and conveyed one by one from the frontmost mail item P by the take-out unit 2, and then added to the mail item P by the reading unit 4 disposed in the middle of the taking-in conveyance path 3. The postal code and address information (address information) are read. The reading unit 4 has a photoelectric conversion unit 4a that photoelectrically converts the postal code and address information on the postal item P. The reading unit 4 converts the postal code and address information on the mail P by recognizing character patterns according to the output of the photoelectric converting unit 4a. This is a well-known device consisting of a discriminating section 4b for discriminating. Next, the mail P that has passed through the reading section 4 is transferred to the sorting section 11 via the transport path 3.
It is designed to be transported to

[0013] The dividing section 11 has a dividing conveyance path 5a provided in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction by a gate mechanism section (not shown).
, ~5g can be selectively sorted based on the above-mentioned postal code, address information reading results, etc.

A plurality of pockets (accumulation boxes) 6 are provided below each of the divided transport paths 5a and 5f along the lower surface thereof.
... are arranged in multiple stages (stages A, ~G), and the mail P fed into the sorting transport paths 5a, ~5g is placed in a predetermined pocket 6 based on the reading result of the reading section 4. It is designed to be collected separately. Note that the transport paths 3, 5a,
...A group of conveyance detectors (not shown) for detecting the conveyance of mail P on the conveyance path is provided above.

Address information A and the like are written on the surface of the mail P. Each of the above address information is composed of multiple lines of character information. In such a postal item P, the "prefecture name", "
Address such as ward, city name, town name, street address (Tokyo)
1-2-3 Senju Toshicho, Adachi Ward) is listed.

Further, an operator panel 7 as an operation panel is provided above the supply section 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the operator panel 7 includes a power on switch 11, a power off key 12, a delivery classification switch 13, an interlocking/single acting changeover switch 14, an automatic supply switch 15, a high speed/normal changeover switch 16, a jam clear switch 17,
Operation preparation, supply switch 18, stop switch 19, power supply, drive, discrimination, photoelectric, abnormality point display 20 that displays the point of abnormality in the sorting section, ..., sorting total key 21, number clear key 22, system clear key 23. A display section 24 that displays the specified status of various modes and abnormal conditions such as jams, a total display key 25, a mode selection key 26 that allows you to select modes such as reading mode, digit, type direction, confirmation, etc.
. . , category designation selection keys 27 from which four category designation contents, A to D, can be selected.

The mode selection keys 26, . . . select dispatch classification and delivery classification as the basic mode, select mixed reading, printed stamp reading, and New Year's card reading as the reading mode, and select no cursor and specific company as the print direction. designation, address length,
Address short hand, long hand reversed, address vertical, designated as a specific company: 1: AAA, 2: BBB, 3: Electricity, 4: Water, 5:
Gas, 6:○○○○○,...'' can be selected respectively. The selection contents are displayed on the display unit 24 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an electrical circuit. That is, the control section 31 uses the category specification table stored in the memory 32 to read the category specification data corresponding to the postal code and address information supplied from the discrimination section 4b, and uses the category specification table stored in the memory 32. The mail P is conveyed to the pockets 6, . . . corresponding to the specified data (addresses of the pockets 6, . . .). For example, the sorting game may
By outputting the gate control signal, the driver 33 is used to control the division gates 9, . The memory 32 stores the address (
(category designation data) is stored. Further, the control section 31 controls the entire conveyance system by driving the conveyance mechanism section 36 such as the conveyance path 3 using a driver 35. Next, the photoelectric conversion section 4a and the discrimination section 4b of the reading section 4 will be explained using FIG.

That is, the photoelectric conversion unit 4a obtains a pattern signal by optically scanning the postal item P and performing photoelectric conversion, and includes, for example, a light source that irradiates light onto the postal item P; It is composed of a self-scanning CCD image sensor or the like that receives the reflected light and converts it into an electrical signal.

The output of the photoelectric conversion section 4a is supplied to a discriminating section 4b. This discrimination section 4b is supplied to an address area detection section 42 and a character recognition section 43. This address area detection unit 42 is a well-known device that detects an area where address information is written based on the shape, position, etc. of the area from among the various pieces of information written on the postal item P. The determination result of the address area detection section 42, for example, the coordinate values of the determined area, is output to the selection circuit 51 in the character recognition section 43. Further, the output of the photoelectric conversion section 4a is transmitted to a binarization circuit 50 in the character recognition section 43.
It is now output to .

[0021] The character recognition unit 43 includes the photoelectric conversion unit 4
A binarization circuit 20 that binarizes the read signal from a, a binarization signal from the binarization circuit 20 corresponding to the coordinate information supplied from the address area detection section 42, or the mode selection key 26. , a selection circuit 51 that selectively outputs the binarized signal from the binarization circuit 20 of the area according to the selection content selected by , . . . , an address area (postal code area) supplied from this selection circuit 51; A character detection and extraction circuit 52 detects and extracts the characters of the address information (zip code) corresponding to the address (zip code) one by one, that is, detects and extracts the character information corresponding to the address (zip code), and is supplied from this character detection and extraction circuit 52 A normalization circuit 53 normalizes and samples the detected character information, and the character information supplied from the normalization circuit 53 is converted into, for example, alphabetic characters in the dictionary 55,
It is comprised of a recognition circuit 54 that recognizes characters such as alphabets and numbers by matching the numbers with a reference pattern.

The output of the character recognition section 43, that is, the recognition circuit 54, is supplied to a town name/large name recognition section 44. The town name/large name recognition unit 44 recognizes the town name/large name (Senju Hisashi-cho, Adachi-ku, Tokyo) based on the address read from the address dictionary 45 in response to the recognized characters supplied from the character recognition unit 43. It is. The address dictionary 45 is divided into multiple tables, including a reading standard table 45a used when no specific company is specified, a reading standard table 45b used when "AAA" is specified as the specific company, and a reading standard table 45b used when "AAA" is specified as the specific company. A reading standard table 45c, . . . used when “BBB” is specified is provided.

The output from the town name/large name recognition section 44 is supplied to an address recognition section 48 . This address recognition unit 48 is
This system recognizes an address based on the town name and large name supplied from the town name and large name recognition unit 44, and outputs classification designation data for the address, that is, data indicating pocket 6, etc. in the subsequent classification unit 11. be.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained. First, the operator turns on the delivery classification switch 13 on the operator panel 7. Then, the control section 31 displays various designation guides on the display section 24 of the operator panel 7, as shown in FIG. For example, for the address information of the mail P supplied from the supply unit 1 to be read, printed type, designation of a specific company, and specific company name "AAA" are selected. Other conditions are also set using keys on the operator panel 7.

In such a state, the control section 31 drives and controls the conveying mechanism section 36 in response to operation preparation and turning on of the supply switch 18, so that one piece of mail P accumulated in the supply section 1 is delivered. Each piece is taken out by the take-out unit 2, and transferred to the conveyance path 3.
is transported. During this transportation, the address information on the mail P is read by the reading section 4. Then, the control unit 31 reads the category designation data corresponding to the address information supplied from the reading unit 4, and selects the pocket 6, which corresponds to this category designation data.
The conveyance of the mail P is controlled in...

Note that when reading the address information, the reading standard table 45b is used because "AAA" is specified as a specific company in the address dictionary 45. As a result, the town name/large name recognition unit 44 recognizes it as “Adachi Ward” regardless of whether the recognition result of the character recognition unit 43 is “Adachiku” or “Adachi”.
, ``Senju Kotobuki'' is recognized as ``Senju Kotobuki Town''.

Then, the control section 31 controls the sorting gate 9 in response to the read sorting designation data and the detection signal of the conveyance detector.
By controlling . . . , the mail P is accumulated in the pockets 6, . . . corresponding to the address information.

Further, if a specific company name is not specified, the reading standard table 45a is used as the address dictionary 45. As a result, the town name/large name recognition section 44 recognizes "Adachi-ku" when the recognition result of the character recognition section 43 is "Adachiku", and disables recognition when it is "Adachi".
In the case of 'Senju Kotobukicho', it is recognized as 'Senju Kotobuki-cho', and in the case of 'Senju Kotobuki', it is recognized as unrecognizable.

As mentioned above, when recognizing an address,
Since each specific company has an address standard table and addresses are recognized based on the contents of this table, it is possible to flexibly deal with the uniqueness of address notation for each specific company. Even if there are a large number of items, it is possible to process them separately without reducing processing efficiency.

[0030] A special feature of the address description was that the words "ku" and "town" were missing, but the address was not read in the official way, but in the customary way. Alternatively, an old address display that is no longer in use may be used.

[0031]

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention,
To provide an address reading and sorting machine capable of sorting without reducing processing efficiency even when there are many special address notations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an automatic mail sorting machine in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the automatic mail sorting machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of the operation panel in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the display unit in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the reading section in FIG. 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Supply part, P... Mail, 2... Takeout part, 3... Takeout conveyance path, 4... Reading part, 4a... Photoelectric conversion part, 4b... Discrimination part, 5a
, 〜...Divided conveyance path, 6, 〜...Pocket, 7...Operator panel, 9-...Divided gate, 11...Divided section, 24...Display section, 31...Control section, 32...Memory, 33, 35...Driver, 36 ...Conveyance mechanism section, 43...Character recognition section, 44...Town name/large name recognition section, 45...Address dictionary, 45a, -...Reading standard table, 48...Address recognition section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An address reading and sorting machine that reads the address written on the mail being conveyed and sorts it using the read address, comprising: a storage means for storing a reading mode for each specific sender; , an instruction means for instructing the reading classification of the mail for a specific sender, a reading mode for reading the specific sender instructed by the instruction means from the storage means, and reading the address according to the read mode; 1. An address reading and sorting machine comprising: means for reading addresses; and sorting means for sorting addresses according to addresses read by the reading means.