Image analysis – Applications – Mail processing
Reexamination Certificate
1993-12-29
2001-09-11
Chang, Jon (Department: 2723)
Image analysis
Applications
Mail processing
C382S177000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289109
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention is generally concerned with methods and apparatus for processing mailpieces, and more particularly with such methods and apparatus which include means for identifying the location and content of data thereon.
In recent years, postal services throughout the world have been making greater and greater demands upon mailers to conform to prescribed standards for locating different types of information on mailpieces, including, for example, locating data blocks corresponding to information concerning the addressee, addressor and postage value paid or to be paid, and mailpiece processing data including, for example, bar-coded sorting data. Additional standards are being set which dictate the format and content of such data blocks, including, for example, the format and data content of information pertaining to the class of mailing service, identity of each mailpiece of a batch including the number of mailpieces thereof, and the time of preparation and other accounting data. In general, such standards tend to shift at least some of the mailpiece processing burden, historically carried by the postal services, to the mailers, and otherwise enhance the capacity of postal services to rapidly process and deliver mailpieces. Accordingly, there is a worldwide trend amongst postal services to make worksharing demands on their mailing customers to produce mailpieces which can be more efficiently and cost effectively processed when delivered to the postal services.
Although considerable progress has been made in developing postal processing systems technologies, including, for example, optical character recognition and video imaging technologies, the vast majority of such technologies are either aimed at mail processing in a postal environment or are derivatives thereof. As a result, available systems suffer from two important shortcomings, insofar as mailers are concerned. First, they have been designed to process a wide variety of mailpieces at very high speeds, and are therefore overly sophisticated for processing relatively small volumes of standardized mailpieces. And, second, due to the large volume of mailpieces which must be processed by such systems, they must be robustly constructed to withstand long term wear and tear, with the result that their cost of manufacture and maintenance is prohibitively high for use by commercial mailers. Moreover, since the available systems have been designed to print data in accordance with postal service demands, and the majority of commercial mailers are also concerned with marking mailpiece with useful commercial data not demanded by postal services, available systems may or may not be adaptable for use in commercial applications.
With the above thoughts in mind, it has been concluded that there is a need for a simply constructed, low cost, mailpiece-processing, system, which includes structure for locating and interpreting the content of data blocks of mailpiece images at moderate speeds in a non-postal service, ie., mailer's, environment. Accordingly:
an object of the invention is to provide a low cost system for processing mailpieces;
and another object is to provide a low cost system for processing and interpreting the content of data blocks of variable information on mailpieces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Apparatus for processing mailpieces comprising: means for sequentially feeding a plurality of mailpieces in a predetermined path of travel having a downstream direction, each of the mailpieces having a leading edge and a trailing edge in the path of travel, each of the mailpieces including an outer surface having a plurality of blocks of data marked thereon, each of the mailpiece outer surfaces having a longitudinal length thereof extending upstream from the leading to the trailing edge thereof and having a transverse length thereof extending transversely of the longitudinal length; a digital computer; means electrically connected to the computer for obtaining a digital bit map image of the outer surface of at least one of the mailpieces, the image obtaining means including means for unidirectionally raster scanning the mailpiece outer surface under the control of the computer, the image obtaining means including means for sequentially providing a plurality of scan lines of data to the computer, the scan lines respectively extending parallel to one another and transversely of the longitudinal length of the mailpiece outer surface, each of the scan lines including a sequence of a plurality of pixels of data respectively corresponding to a bit of a black and white scale of bits, each of the scan lines having a different first coordinate code assigned thereto for identifying a location thereof longitudinally of the length of the mailpiece outer surface, each of the pixels of any given scan line having a different second coordinate code assigned thereto for identifying a location thereof transversely of the longitudinal length of the mailpiece outer surface, whereby each pixel has a different combination of first and second coordinate codes uniquely identifying the location thereof on the mailpiece outer surface and all of the pixels correspond to a bit map image thereof; and the computer including means programmed for: finding each run of a plurality of black bits of each scan line and determining whether any bit thereof neighbors at least one black bit of another scan line; combining each of the found runs of each scan line with each neighboring black bit of the another scan line to form at least one piece; determining the first and second coordinates defining a location on the mailpiece outer surface of a block of at least one piece and assigning a descriptive value thereto as a function of a plurality of features thereof; and comparing the descriptive value assigned to the block of at least one piece to a list of values identifying the location of a plurality of blocks of data and identifying the block of at least one piece as a particular one of the plurality of blocks of data if the values compare.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4516265 (1985-05-01), Kizu et al.
patent: 4782238 (1988-11-01), Radl et al.
patent: 5129012 (1992-07-01), Abe
patent: 5293429 (1994-03-01), Pizano et al.
Gonzalez et al.Digital Image Processing, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1977, pp. 347-348.
Gocht Ronald E.
Pintsov Leon A.
Capelli Christopher J.
Chang Jon
Melton Michael E.
Pitchenik David E.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
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