Processing apparatus for mail with stamps

Abstract

An automatic mail processing apparatus comprises a physical quantity detection section for detecting physical quantities of mail with a stamp, such as the weight and dimensions of the mail, a postage determining section for determining the valid postage for the mail with reference to a table in which valid charges are previously stored on the basis of the information items indicating physical quantities, and a stamp detection section for detecting the amount paid on the basis of the information on the stamp contained in the image of the mail, and a processing section for verifying the determined postage with the amount paid to detect a surplus or deficit of the amount paid, and to identify the kind of the mail, classify the mail, and compile statistics data on the mail.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A mail processing apparatus comprising:

means for detecting physical quantities of mail provided with a stamp so as to determine a processing charge of the mail;

first determining means for determining the processing charge of the mail in accordance with the physical quantities detected by said detecting means;

means for storing a plurality of reference images corresponding to images of a plurality of stamps of different postal indicia;

means for extracting the images of the stamps of the mail;

second determining means for determining a postal indicia of the stamp of the mail by comparing the image extracted by said extracting means with the plurality of reference images stored in said storing means;

means for verifying the processing charge determined by said first determining means and the postal indicia of the mail determined by said second determining means; and

third determining means for determining a processing method of the mail based on a verification result obtained by said verifying means.

2. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first determining means comprises means for storing a conversion table denoting a relationship between the physical quantities of the mail and the processing charge; and means for determining the processing charge of the mail from the physical quantities detected by said detecting means based on the conversion table stored in said storing means.

3. A mail object processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third determining means comprises means for classifying said mail according to at least one of a physical quantity detected by said detecting means, the determined processing charge, and the validity of the postal indicia affixed on the mail according to the physical quantities.

4. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third determining means comprises means for collecting statistical data on said mail by using at least one of said physical quantities obtained from said physical quantity detecting means, said charge, said postal indicia obtained from said second determining means, and a verification result obtained from said verifying means.

5. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third determining means comprises means for displaying information items on said mail by using at least one of said physical quantities obtained by said physical quantity detecting means, said charge, said postal indicia obtained from said second determining means, and a verification result obtained form said verifying means.

6. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storing means comprises means for fetching stamp reference image data, postal indicia reference identification values data, and mail class reference identification data.

7. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second determining means comprises means for comparing each of said image of the stamps with the stored images to obtain a postal indicia corresponding to a reference image most similar to the extracted image; means for fetching the postal indicia obtained as a result of the comparison P reformed by said comparing means; and totalizing means for calculating a total sum of the postal indicia for a plurality of stamps on the mail.

8. A mail object processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said third determining means comprises means for comparing the processing charge obtained by said first determining means with the total sum of the postal indicia by said totalizing means, and determining whether the mail is special mail or ordinary mail.

9. A mail processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said fixing means comprises means for determining whether the total sum of the postal indicia of the stamps put on the mail is valid or not, means for putting a postmark indicating "used" on said stamp when the postal indicia affixed on said mail is valid, and means for comparing the processing charge obtained by said first determining means with the total sum of the postal indicia obtained from said totalizing means and putting a postage due mark on the mail.

10. A mail processing apparatus comprising:

physical quantity detecting means for detecting physical information serving as factors that determine processing charges for mail with a stamp, by quantifying the information to obtain physical quantities;

first means for storing a conversion table which shows a relationship between the physical quantities and the charges;

charge determining means for determining a processing charge for said mail with reference to said conversion table on the basis of said physical quantities;

extracting means for extracting image information including the stamp image of said mail;

second means for storing a plurality of reference image data indicating a plurality of stamp images;

means for determining the kind of said stamp image on the basis of the image information extracted by said extracting means using said reference image data;

postal indicia detecting means for detecting the postal indicia from said determined stamps image; and

means for verifying the processing charge for said mail obtained from said charge determining means with the postal indicia affixed on said mail obtained from said postal indicia detecting means.

11. An automatic processing apparatus for mail to be processed, comprising:

means for taking in mail with a stamp put on a surface of the mail to be processed;

a transport path for transporting the mail taken in by said taking means;

physical quantity detecting means having a plurality of sensors which are provided along the transport path in sequence, for detecting a plurality of physical information items serving as factors that determine a processing charge for the mail by quantifying the items to obtain physical quantities;

first means for storing a conversion table representing a relationship between the physical quantities and processing charges;

charge determining means for determining a processing charge for said mail with reference to said conversion table using said physical quantities;

extracting means for extracting image information including the stamp of said mail;

second means for storing a plurality of reference image data items indicating a plurality of stamp images;

means for determining the kind of said stamp image on the basis of the image information extracted by said extracting means using said reference image data;

postal indicia detection means for detecting the postal indicia from said determined stamp image; and

means for verifying the processing charge for said mail obtained from said charge determining means with the postal indicia affixed on said mail obtained from said postal indicia detection means.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an apparatus for processing an object such as mail wherein the type or the kind of the mail, processing/charges, etc. are detected from a postal indicia (like a stamp) and wherein physical quantities such as weight, dimensions, etc. are measured.

2. Description of the Related Art

In connection with a conventional method of determining the processing charges for mail etc., a postage determining apparatus as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-12021 has been proposed. This apparatus enables the postage for a specified piece of mail to be read from a postage table previously stored in a nonvolatile memory and then displayed, and compared with the weight data on the piece of mail weighed at the metering section, thereby indicating the postage and the classification of the mail. With this prior art, however, only the weight is measured as physical information on a piece of mail, but the shape or size, which is one of elements determining the postage, is not measured. The operator is still required to judge and enter the kind of mail (standard-size mail, nonstandard-size mail, etc.) from the keyboard. Furthermore, only the necessary postage for the measured weight is displayed. The apparatus is not constructed so as to detect the postal indicia on a piece of mail, for example, the postal indicia of a postage stamp or an indicia by a postage meter or to automatically classify a piece of mail on the basis of the detection result.

Therefore, with such a conventional apparatus, the valid postage may not be indicated because the operator may make a mistake in judgment of the kind of the mail. Furthermore, there are various disadvantages including a heavy burden on the operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages by providing an object processing apparatus which measures the physical quantity information items about an object in connection with the decision of a processing charge for processing the object, calculates a valid charge on the basis of a charge table with respect to the previously stored physical quantities, detects the amount of money of the postal indicia on the object through an image information process, identifies the type of the object (e.g., the kind of mail) from the relationship between them, displays the information on a display, sorts out the piece of mail by classification, and totals the statistical data on charges, and which is automated so as to alleviate a burden on the operator, thereby preventing charges from being displayed erroneously due to misjudgment.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail processing apparatus comprising: means for detecting physical quantities of mail provided with a stamp so as to determine a processing charge of the mail; first determining means for determining the processing charge of the mail in accordance with the physical quantities detected by the detecting means; means for storing a plurality of reference images corresponding to images of a plurality of stamps of different postal indicia; means for extracting the images of the stamps of the mail; second determining means for determining a postal indicia of the stamp of the mail by comparing the image extracted by the extracting means with the plurality of reference images stored in the storing means; means for verifying the processing charge determined by the first determining means and the postal indicia of the mail determined by the second determining means; and third determining means for determining a processing method of the mail based on a verification result obtained by the verifying means.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mechanical section of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a size sensor;

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram of a size detection section;

FIG. 5 is a timing chart to explain the operation of the size detection section;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for a mail width measuring process;

FIG. 7 is a circuit block diagram of a weight sensing section;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for a mail weight measuring process;

FIG. 9 is an output-voltage characteristic diagram of an angle sensor;

FIG. 10 is a circuit block diagram of a thickness sensing section;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for a mail thickness measuring process;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a line sensor;

FIG. 13 is a timing chart to explain the operation of the line sensor;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an image data generating section;

FIG. 15 shows the pixel arrangement of the overall image memory;

FIG. 16 shows the entire image data on mail stored in the overall image memory;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for processing mail image data;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart for processing mail image data;

FIG. 19 shows a state in which data is stored in a temporary memory section;

FIG. 20 shows a state in which data is stored in a mail image memory;

FIGS. 21A to 21E show various examples of postcard with various types of postal indicia;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart for detecting the postage on the postal indicia from a mail image;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for detecting the postage on the postal indicia from a mail image;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart for detecting the postal indicia area from a mail image;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart for determining the postal indicia candidate;

FIG. 26 shows an example of the postal indicia area in a mail image;

FIG. 27 shows an example of obtaining the postal indicia area in the longitudinal direction of mail;

FIG. 28 shows an example of obtaining the postal indicia area in the lateral direction of mail;

FIG. 29 shows an example of normalizing the postal indicia area;

FIG. 30 illustrates an example of the address map of the postal indicia image memory;

FIG. 31 illustrates an example of the address map of the postal indicia dictionary memory;

FIG. 32 is a flowchart for verifying the normalized postal indicia image with a dictionary pattern;

FIG. 33 shows an example of a postal indicia which has not been entered as a dictionary pattern;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart for entering a new dictionary pattern;

FIG. 35 shows an example of the address map of the postal indicia dictionary memory at the time of entering a new dictionary pattern;

FIG. 36 shows a list of postal rates;

FIG. 37 is a flowchart for determining the kind of mail;

FIG. 38 is a postage look-up table;

FIG. 39 is a flowchart for detecting mail classification information;

FIG. 40 shows the kind of postal matters or mail;

FIG. 41 is a flowchart for instructing the operation instruction section;

FIG. 42 shows a state where statistical data items are stored in the memory;

FIG. 43 is a flowchart for managing statistical data items;

FIG. 44 shows a state where different statistical data items are stored in the memory;

FIG. 45 is a flowchart for managing the different statistical data items;

FIG. 46 is a flowchart for acquiring the statistical data items;

FIG. 47 is a flowchart for acquiring the different statistical data items;

FIG. 48 shows a representation of the process result;

FIG. 49 is a perspective view of the postmark stamper; and

FIG. 50 is a schematic diagram of a mail distributing mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained, referring to the accompanying drawings. This invention can be applied to any object with postal indicia on its surface as well as mail. The explanation below will be given as to an embodiment where the invention is applied to a mail processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the mechanism of a mail processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. To simplify the explanation of the operation of the system according to the embodiment, only the sensing mechanism of the processing apparatus is shown in FIG. 2.

Before the processing apparatus starts an operation, pieces of mail 101 are set in a mail feeder 201 with their postal indicia 102 facing the sensing face of an optical read sensor 103. The postal indicia indicates postage. The mail feeder 201 holds pieces of mail and performs control so that the first or top piece of mail may be pressed against a transport belt 202 at a constant pressure. This control causes pieces of mail to be conveyed one by one with the transport belt 202. The mail feeder 201 contains a weight sensor 105 for sensing the total weight of the pieces of mail put in the feeder 201. The weight sensor 105 measures the total weight of the remaining pieces of mail each time each piece is taken out. A mail weight sensing section (explained later) calculates the difference between the currently measured total weight and the previously measured one to obtain the weight of one piece of mail being sensed.

The piece of mail taken out of the mail feeder 201 and conveyed by the transport belt 202 is illuminated by a light source 203 such as a fluorescent lamp. Its reflected light is read by the optical read sensor 103. In the embodiment, the optical read sensor 103 is a one-dimensional line sensor and produces two-dimensional image information by transporting the mail in the direction perpendicular to the line of the sensor. Then, a thickness sensor 106 measures the thickness of a piece of mail, and a size sensor 104 using, for example, a photosensor array, measures the outer dimensions of a piece of mail. Of those sensors, the optical read sensor 103 is provided to sense the postal indicia impression 102 indicating postage, and the remaining sensors are provided to measure the physical quantities determining postage. The position of the sensors is not necessarily in the order of FIG. 2 as long as they do not affect the system configuration.

A postmark stamper 126 is a device for postmarking the postal indicia to indicate that the stamp is valid and already used, and operates only when the postal indicia is detected from the image information obtained from the optical read sensor 103. The pieces of mail passed through the postmark stamper 126 are distributed to mail stackers 129a to 129e by mail distributors 128a to 128d on the basis of the operation charge information determined according to the measured physical quantities of the pieces of mail. Then, the distributors perform post-processing according to the respective postage. Postage-due mark stamping machine 127 stamps a mark indicating postage due on a postage-due piece of mail.

The processing flow of the postage determining system will be explained using FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, there are roughly six functional blocks. After a general description of each block is given, each block will be explained in detail.

A physical quantity detection section is composed of a sensor for sensing the physical characteristics of a piece of mail to be read and a detection circuit. A size sensor 104, a weight sensor 105, and a thickness sensor 106 are used to sense the size, the weight, and the thickness, respectively. In the detection section, the size signal from the size sensor 104 is quantified by a size detection section 110 to obtain the length and width of a piece of mail. Since the total weight of the remaining pieces of mail in the mail feeder 201 can be known from the weight sensor 105 each time a piece of mail is conveyed, the weight of the piece of mail being transported is calculated by obtaining the difference between the current total weight and that one piece ahead. Because the voltage signal proportional to the thickness of a piece of mail is obtained from the thickness sensor 106, the voltage value is converted into the thickness at a thickness detection section 112. The detected results from the size detection section 110, weight detection section 111, and thickness detection section 112 are all in the form of a digital signal and read by a CPU 113 via a data bus 117.

An image data generating section has the function of determining only the mail image portion from the image data obtained from the optical read sensor 103 in the form of digital signal via an analog signal processing section 107, an A/D converting section 108, and an entire image memory 109. Here, the A/D conversion means converting a continuous analog image signal into a digital image signal which can be processed by a computer. In sensing the shape or size of a piece of mail, the size data from the size sensor 104 is also referred to. The sensed image of a piece of mail is temporarily stored in a mail image memory 118 via the data bus 117.

Data processing section comprises the CPU 113 which performs the main control of the entire system, a program storage section 114 which stores programs for image processing and system operations, a temporary memory section 115 which temporarily stores the processing data during the execution of a program, and a data storage section or a data base 116 composed of a nonvolatile memory. The data storage section 116 stores a system start-up program, OS (Operating System), and other application programs needed for the system, or the history of system operations and sum total data such as the sum total of charges.

An image data storage section comprises a mail image memory 118 for storing the image of the entire piece of mail, a postal indicia image memory 119 for storing the image of the postal indicia portion obtained from the image processing at the data processing section, a postal indicia dictionary memory 120 for storing the dictionary pattern of postal indicia, and a postage LUT (look-up table) 121 which shows the relationship between the sizes and weights of mail and postage.

An input/output section effects an interface (I/F) operation between the present system and the external system and comprises a data input section 122 such as a keyboard, a data output section 123 such as a CRT, and a data communication section 124 such as a modem connected to an external communication line 130.

Lastly, an operation instructing section has the function of receiving the discrimination result from the data processing section and giving the system instructions to operate. When the postal indicia to be stamped such as a postmark is sensed on the current piece of mail, the CPU 113 gives the postmark stamper 126 instructions to affix a seal. The timing of postmarking the piece of mail is adjusted on the basis of the sense signals from a plurality of mail position sensors 125 provided on the transport path. The mail distribution means 128a to 128d distribute pieces of mail to mail stackers 129a to 129d according to whether the postal indicia is valid, higher or lower than the correct value, and when it is valid, whether it is standard-size or nonstandard-size mail on the basis of the shape and size of a piece of mail, its weight information, and the discrimination result of postal indicia. It is determined from the relationship between the postal indicia and the physical quantities whether it is ordinary mail or special delivery. What exceeds the range of mail in terms of size and weight is rejected and collected in the mail stacker 129e. Only when the postage is insufficient, the postage due mark stamping means 127 stamps a mark indicating postage due on the piece of mail.

Hereinafter, each functional block will be described in detail. First, the physical quantity detection section will be explained. FIG. 3 shows an example of the size sensor 104 composed of a light-emitting diode array 301 and a photodiode array 302. Rays of light from the individual light-emitting diodes 303a to 303f are always projected onto photodiodes 304a to 304f facing the light-emitting diodes. The light-emitting diode is an element that converts energy emitted at the time of recombination of carriers into light, making use of the p-n junction of a semiconductor. On the other hand, the photodiode is a photoelectric transducer that generates holes and electrons within a semiconductor and thereby allows current to flow by projecting light on the p-n junction of the semiconductor. Specifically, while the light from the light-emitting diode is being projected onto the photodiode, a current is generated in the photodiode. By allowing the current to flow through a suitable load resistance, a specific voltage is obtained. Binarizing the voltage with a comparator makes it possible to judge whether or not light is being projected on the photodiode. Since a piece of mail is to pass between two arrays 301, 302, it is possible not only to recognize the timing of the piece of mail passing, but also to determine the width of the piece of mail from the number of shaded photodiodes. On the other hand, the length of the piece of mail is computed on the basis of the time during which the photodiodes are shaded and the transporting speed of the piece of mail.

The circuit diagram of the size detection section 110 for detecting the size of a piece of mail is shown in FIG. 4 and its timing chart is shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 4, reference characters 404a indicate a photodiode provided at lower end of the array 302. When light is projected onto the photodiode 404a from the corresponding light-emitting diode in the array 301, current will flow in the base section of the p-n junction, thereby allowing the current amplified according to the characteristics of the semiconductor to flow between the collector and emitter. This signal is further amplified and taken out as the open collector output. The output signal is converted into a voltage at a pull-up resistor 401, and then is compared with a reference voltage 402 at a comparator 403. If it is higher than the reference voltage, then logic "1" is produced from the comparator 403. If it is lower than the reference voltage, logic "0" is produced. In the circuit of the embodiment, when light strikes the photodiode 404a, a bright signal or a current will flow through the diode 404a, thus placing the "+" input of the comparator 403 at almost 0 V. As a result, the output of the comparator 403 becomes logic "0." When no light strikes, a dark signal will be generated.

The bright and dark signals from the photodiodes are outputted via corresponding comparators and supplied to a width detection buffer 404 via inverters, respectively. The output of the buffer 404 is connected to the data bus 117 of the system so as to be accessible from the CPU 113 via a size read signal 405.

A width measuring process stored in the program storage section 114 will be described by referring to FIG. 6. To detect that a piece of mail passes through the size sensor 104, the size read signal 405 is generated to access the width detection buffer 404 (S601). A check is made to see if there is a logic "0" signal indicating that a piece of mail has been sensed (S602) at the input of the buffer 404. If there is no logic "0" signal, the width sensing buffer 404 is accessed. If there are more than one logic "0" signal, the mail will be allowed to enter the shape sensor to some extent (S603), and then the width detection buffer 404 is accessed again to determine the number m of sensors with logic "0" (S604). On the basis of the value of m, the distance between sensors, the sensor installation positions, etc, the width KEIJO.sub.-- W of the piece of mail is determined (S605), and the determined value is stored in the temporary memory section 115. How the sizes of and other information items on mail are stored in the temporary memory section 115 as shown in FIG. 19. Various types of information items are stored in units of two bytes, starting at the offset address (YUBIN.sub.-- INF) in the memory.

Then, the contents of the width detection buffer 404 is read (S606). While sensors remain present with logic "0" ("YES" at step S606), the process is repeated. After the sensors with logic "0" all disappear and it is verified that the piece of mail has passed in front of the size sensor 104 completely (S607), the process is terminated.

The outputs of the comparator 403 and the other comparators are supplied to a NAND circuit 406, the output signal PENA 408 of which is connected to the enable terminal of a length counter 407. The clock terminal of the length counter 407 is supplied with an LSYNC 409 that becomes logic "1" each time the piece of mail advances 1 mm. The counter 407 counts up as long as a PENA signal 408 is "1." The counter output CNT 410 is supplied to the length detection buffer 411.

A count-up timing chart is shown in FIG. 5. After the CPU 113 has verified that all the signals to the width sensing buffer 404 are "1" and the piece of mail has passed through the size sensor 104, CPU 113 outputs a count read signal 412 to read in the value of the CNT 410, thereby storing the length of the piece of mail KEIJO.sub.-- H at a specific address in the temporary memory section 115. In the embodiment, the value of CNT 410 corresponds to the length of the piece of mail in millimeters. Finally, the CPU 113 supplies a counter rest signal 413 to the length measuring counter 407 to clear the counter 407.

For the weight sensor 105, a measuring instrument for converting weight into an electric signal such as a gauge load converter can be used.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the weight detection section. The weight sensor 105 produces a voltage in proportion to the total weight of the pieces of mail placed in the mail feeder 201. After the voltage has been amplified by an amplifier 701, it is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter 702, the output of which is connected to a weight detection buffer 703.

A weight measuring process stored in the program storage section 114 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. With pieces of mail to be processed at a time placed in the mail feeder 201, a weight read signal 704 from CPU 113 is used to read the value of the weight detection buffer 703 to measure the initial weight W.sub.0 (S801). After the mail position detector 125 etc. have detected that a piece of mail has been conveyed ("Yes" in step S802), the weight (Wn) of the remaining pieces of mail is measured (S803). Otherwise, while "NO" is obtained at S802, step S802 is repeated until a piece of mail has been conveyed. The difference W.sub.D between this weight and the previously measured weight (Wn-1) is computed (S804). After the difference W.sub.D is multiplied by constant "a" to convert it into grams, the resulting value is stored as JURYO at a specific address in the temporary memory section 115 (S805). The above calculation is repeated until W.sub.D is zero, or the mail feeder 201 is empty (S806).

Finally, for the thickness sensor 106, an angle sensor using, for example, a magnetic reluctance element, can be used. The angle sensor is a sensor for converting the rotational angle of a shaft into a voltage. Its output characteristics are shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 has the shaft rotational angle on the abscissa and the output voltage on the ordinate, wherein the voltage increases and decreases with the shaft rotation angle, centered at the offset voltage V.sub.OFF. Since there is a proportional relationship between angles and voltages, particularly in an angle area "a" near V.sub.OFF, this area "a" is usually used as a thickness sensing area.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the thickness detection section. In the figure, two rollers 1001, 1002 are placed so as to face each other with a transport path between them. The roller 1001 is a movable roller which is urged by a spring (not shown) to the roller 1002 and moves in the dark arrow direction when a piece of mail passes. The other is a fixed roller 1002. In this case, the movement of the movable roller 1001 corresponds to the thickness of a piece of mail. A free end of a leaf spring 1003 abuts on an axis of the roller 1001 and converts the movement of the movable roller 1001 into a rotational angle of a shaft 106a of the sensor 106, which is transmitted to the thickness sensor 106 acting as an angle sensor. The thickness sensor 106 produces a voltage proportional to the thickness of a piece of mail. After the voltage is amplified by an amplifier 1004, it is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter 1005, the output of which is connected to a thickness detection buffer 1006.

A thickness measuring process stored in the program storage section 114 will be described with reference to FIG. 11. After the mail position detection sensor 125 etc. have detected that a piece of mail is passing through the thickness sensor 106 ("Yes" obtained in step S1101), the maximum value T.sub.MAX of the thickness is initialized (S1102). Otherwise, the process repeats until a piece of mail is detected (while "NO" is obtained at step S1101). Then, a thickness read signal 1007 is supplied from CPU 113 to read the value of the thickness detection buffer 1006 to measure thickness T (S1103). When comparison of thickness T with the maximum value T.sub.MAX (S1104) shows that the former is larger than the latter, the maximum value is replaced with T (S1105). The process returns to step S1103 while the piece of mail is present ("YES" at step S1106). After the mail position detection sensor 125 etc. have sensed that the piece of mail has exited the thickness sensor 106 ("NO" obtained in step S1106), the maximum value T.sub.MAX is multiplied by a constant "a" to convert it into millimeters and then the thickness of the piece of mail KEIJO.sub.-- T is stored at a specific address in the temporary memory section 115 (S1107).

The image data generating section will be explained. CCD sensors widely used as the input device for an image input unit are available as two-dimensional area sensors and one-dimensional line sensors. When an object or a piece of mail to be read is being transported, a two-dimensional image can be formed with a one-dimensional line sensor.

FIG. 12 shows the structure of a line sensor, an example of the optical read sensor 103. In the center of the line sensor, there is a photodiode array 1201 composed of a photoelectric transducer. On either side of the array, a storage electrode 1202, a shift gate 1203, and a CCD analog shift register 1204a are placed. The shift gate 1203 is supplied with the HSYNC signal 1301 shown in the timing chart of FIG. 13. This signal is used to transfer the charges accumulated in a photodiode array 1201 during one-line read time .tau.INT to CCD analog shift registers 1204a (odd-numbered pixels) and 1204b (even-numbered pixels). After the charges have been transferred through two routes to an output gate 1205 with driving clocks .phi.1A, .phi.1B (1302) and .phi.2A, .phi.2B (1303), the charge is initialized pixel by pixel with reset clock RS (1304) and undergoes charge-to-voltage conversion, and the resulting voltage (1309) is supplied from an OS terminal to an outside circuit. In the case of this sensor, the number of effective pixels is 1024. In front of the effective pixels, there are 72 dummy pixels D1 to D72, of which 48 pixels are light shielding pixels for clamping the off-set voltage of the sensor and start and end 12 pixels are blind feeding pixels.

FIG. 14 is a functional block of the image data generating section. The driving clock for the optical read sensor 103 is generated at a clock generator circuit 1402 in the analog signal processing section 107. After the output signal of the optical read sensor 103 is stabilized in signal level at a sample/hold circuit 1401, it is supplied to the noninverting input of a differential amplifier 1406 and a switch circuit 1403. The switch circuit 1403 turns on only in the light shielding portion of the CCD image signal, and charges the voltage during that time in a capacitor 1404. Because the voltage 1405 is applied to the noninverting input of the differential amplifier 1406, only the effective alternating-current component from which the offset voltage of the CCD signal has been removed is extracted and supplied to the A/D converting section 108 in the next stage. The A/D converting section has the function of converting an analog signal into a digital signal. For this purpose, an 8- to 10-bit A/D converter is usually used. The mail image data converted into a digital signal is stored in the entire image memory 109.

Using FIGS. 15 to 18, a mail image extracting process stored in the program storage section 114 will be explained. FIG. 15 shows an image of the entire image memory 109, which is composed of w pixels in the horizontal direction and h pixels in the vertical direction. Data D1 on the top left pixel is stored at the start address in the memory. To the right, w pixels are arranged consecutively in the lateral direction. Following the last pixel Dw in a first low, a first pixel Dw+1 in a second row is arranged. Pixel Dw*h at the bottom right is written at the end address in the entire image memory 109. FIG. 16 shows an image of a piece of mail written on the memory. Reading is effected by the optical read sensor 103 with a dark background to make the background image of the mail dark. The hatched portion in the figure indicates the dark image.

The process of removing the background dark portion from the image will be explained, referring to FIGS. 17 and 18. The projection is computed line by line in the lateral direction of the entire image memory 109 (S1601). The projection is obtained by simple addition of w pixels. Next, projection value Xn in n-th row is compared with threshold value Xt in the lateral direction, then binarization is effected as follows: when Xn<Xt, Xn=0, and when Xn.gtoreq.Xt, X=1 (S1603, S1604). After the same process has been carried out for one line (S1605, S1606), the same projection process is also performed in the vertical or longitudinal direction (S1607 to S1612). Since it can be judged that the area where the binarized projection value is "1" is the range where a piece of mail exists, the starting point (Xs, Ys) of the "1" area and its end point (Xe, Ye) are calculated in either direction (S1613), and then the number of pixels in the width direction YUBIN.sub.-- W=Xe-Xs+1 and the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction YUBIN.sub. -- H=Ye-Ys+1 are obtained (S1614). The YUBIN.sub.-- W and YUBIN.sub.-- H and the image in the area are transferred to the mail image memory 118 in the image data storage section (S1614).

How the image data is stored in the mail image memory 118 is shown in FIG. 20. The data YUBIN.sub.-- W for width is stored in two bytes from the start address, the YUBIN.sub.-- H for length is stored in the next two bytes, and the image in the mail area (W.times.H pixels) is stored in a fifth byte and later.

While in the physical quantity detection section, the width and length of a piece of mail are measured using the size sensor 104 and the size detection section 110, the size may be determined from the above YUBIN.sub.-- W and YUBIN.sub.-- H data. That is, the value obtained by converting YUBIN.sub.-- W into millimeters represents the width and that obtained by converting YUBIN.sub.-- H into millimeters indicates the length.

Using the information processing section and the image data storage section, the process of computing the postage of the postal indicia from the mail image stored in the mail image memory 118 will be explained.

Postal indicia include the postal indicia of postage stamp or government-printed post-card as shown in areas 2001, 2002 in FIG. 21A, a postage meter impression as shown by 2003 in FIG. 21B, a separately paid impression as shown by 2004 in FIG. 21C, a postpaid impression as shown by 2005 in FIG. 21D, and a collect impression as shown by 2006 in FIG. 21E. Information indicating the types or kinds of such postal indicia is defined as follows under INMEN.sub.-- KIND:

    ______________________________________
    Kind of postal indicia
                      INMEN.sub.-- KIND
    ______________________________________
    Not postal indicia
                      0
    Postage stamp     1
    Postage meter impression
                      2
    Separately paid impression
                      3
    Postpaid impression
                      4
    Collect impression
                      5
    Other postal indicia
                      6
    ______________________________________

    __________________________________________________________________________
                                          Practical
                                          value
    __________________________________________________________________________
    1) Numerical values concerning standard-size mail
    TEIKEI.sub.-- K1; Standard-size mail's maximum thickness
                                          10wdarw.
                                             mm
    TEIKEI.sub.-- K2; Standard-size mail's maximum width .fwdarw.
                                          120
                                             mm
    TEIKEI.sub.-- K3; Standard-size mail's maximum length .fwdarw.
                                          235
                                             mm
    TEIKEI.sub.-- J; Standard-size mail's maximum weight .fwdarw.
                                          50 g
    2) Numerical values concerning ranges treated as mail
    GAI.sub.-- K1 ; Mail's minimum width .fwdarw.
                                          90 mm
    GAI.sub.-- K2 ; Mail's minimum length .fwdarw.
                                          140
                                             mm
    GAI.sub.-- K3 ; Mail's maximum length .fwdarw.
                                          600
                                             mm
    GAI.sub.-- K4 ; The maximum total length of three sides
                                          900
                                             mm
    of a piece of mail .fwdarw.
    GAI.sub.-- J ; Mail's maximum weight .fwdarw.
                                          4000
                                             g
    3) Numerical values concerning weight
    JURYO.sub.-- T1 ; Standard-size mail's threshold .fwdarw.
                                          25 g
    JURYO.sub.-- G1 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 1 .fwdarw.
                                          50 g
    JURYO.sub.-- G2 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 2 .fwdarw.
                                          100
                                             g
    JURYO.sub. -- G3 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 3 .fwdarw.
                                          250
                                             g
    JURYO.sub.-- G4 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 4 .fwdarw.
                                          500
                                             g
    JURYO.sub.-- G5 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 5 .fwdarw.
                                          1000
                                             g
    JURYO.sub.-- G6 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 6 .fwdarw.
                                          2000
                                             g
    JURYO.sub.-- G7 ; Nonstandard-size mail's threshold 7 .fwdarw.
                                          3000
                                             g
    4) Numerical values concerning postage
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N1; Postage for standard-size mail (class No. 1)
                                          62wdarw.
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N2; Postage for standard-size mail (class No. 2)
                                          72wdarw.
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N3; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 3)
    .fwdarw.                              120
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N4; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 4)
    .fwdarw.                              175
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N5; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 5)
    .fwdarw.                              250
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N6; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 6)
    .fwdarw.                              360
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N7; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 7)
    .fwdarw.                              670
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N8; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 8)
    .fwdarw.                              930
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N9; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 9)
    .fwdarw.                              1130
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- N10; Postage for nonstandard-size mail (class No. 10)
    .fwdarw.                              1340
                                             yen
    5) Numerical values for special delivery
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R1; Special delivery rate for standard-size mail (class No.
    1) .fwdarw.                           272
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R2; Special delivery rate for standard-size mail (class No.
    2) .fwdarw.                           282
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R3; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 3) .fwdarw.                       330
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R4; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 4) .fwdarw.                       385
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R5; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 5) .fwdarw.                       460
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R6; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 6) .fwdarw.                       670
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R7; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 7) .fwdarw.                       980
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R8; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 8) .fwdarw.                       1500
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R9; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 9) .fwdarw.                       1700
                                             yen
    RYOKIN.sub.-- R10; Special delivery rate for nonstandard-size mail (class
    No. 10) .fwdarw.                      1910
                                             yen
    6) Numerical values for postcard
    HAGAKI.sub.-- K1; Maximum width of postcard .fwdarw.
                                          107
                                             mm
    HAGAKI.sub.-- K2; Maximum length of postcard .fwdarw.
                                          150
                                             mm
    HAGAKI.sub.-- NO; Postage for postcard (class No. 0) .fwdarw.
                                          41 yen
    HAGAKI.sub.-- RO; Special delivery rate for postcard (class No. 0)
    .fwdarw.                              251
                                             yen
    __________________________________________________________________________

• Inventors
  Uno, Teruhiko; Hirasawa, Toshio; Sato, Toshio; Nakagawa, Kazuyo; Takahashi, Hiroshi;
• Assignee
  Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Kawasaki, JP)
• Published
  Jul-9-1996
• Current US Classes:
  356/634
  382/101
  705/406
• Application #
  275420
• International Classes
  G07B 017/00
• Field of Search
  356/379 356/381 356/383 356/384 356/385 364/464.02 364/464.03 382/101
• Examiner
  Cosimano; Edward R.
• Agent
  Cushman Darby & Cushman
• US Patent References:
  3983366
  4138735
  4495581
  4499545
  4506330
  4868757
  5001648
  5019991
  5119306