Mail processing machine and method of sorting mails

Claim 2

A mail processing machine, comprising: (a) feeding means for feeding mails having first and second surfaces one by one; (b) first detecting means for detecting mail address information written on a first surface of a mail; (c) second detecting means for detecting mail address information written on a second surface of the mail; (d) determining means, coupled to said first and second detecting means, for determining a front surface of the mail on which mail address characters are written on the basis of the detected mail address information; (e) third detecting means for detecting mail address character images on the first surface of the mail, when said determining means determines that mail address characters are written on the first surface of the mail; (f) fourth detecting means for detecting mail address character images on the second surface of the mail, when said determining means determines that mail address characters are written on the second surface of the mail; and (g) recognizing means, for recognizing features of mail address character images, said recognizing means being connected to said third detecting means when said determining means determines that the mail address characters are written on the first surface of the mail and to said fourth detecting means when said determining means determines that the mail address characters are written on the second surface of the mail.

Claim 3

The mail processing machine of claim 1, wherein said determining means determines a front surface of the mail on the basis of any one of a mail address window, label, and a quantity of characters.

Claim 4

The mail processing machine of claim 1, which further comprises: (a) first stamp detecting means for detecting a presence or absence of a postage stamp attached to the first surface of the mail; (b) second stamp detecting means for detecting a presence or absence of a postage stamp attached to the second surface of the mail; (c) conveying means for conveying the mail as it is when any one said first and second stamp detecting means detects a presence of a postage stamp on the mail; and (d) reversing means for reversing and conveying the mail when any one of said first and second stamp detecting means detects an absence of a postage stamp on the mail.

Claim 5

The mail processing machine of claim 1, wherein said first and second detecting means each comprises: (a) light emitting means for emitting light onto the surface of the mail for coarse scanning; and (b) photosensitive means, coupled to said light emitting means, for detecting light emitted from said light emitting means and reflected from the mail to obtain mail address information.

Claim 6

The mail processing machine of claim 4, wherein said determining means comprises: (a) first quantizing means, coupled to said photosensitive means, for quantizing the detected mail address information signals in accordance with a first slice level to generate a first address position signal indicative of any one of address window and address label; (b) second quantizing means, coupled to said photosensitive means, for quantizing the detected mail address information signals in accordance with a second slice level lower than the first slice level to generate a second address position signal indicative of address characters; (c) integrating means, coupled to said second quantizing means, for integrating the second mail address position signal indicative of address characters; and (d) comparing means, coupled to said two integrating means of said first and second detecting means, for comparing the second mail address position signals from said integrating means of said first and second detecting means to determine a mail front surface on which many characters are written.

Claim 7

The mail processing machine of claim 1, wherein said third and fourth detecting means each comprises: (a) scanning means for optically scanning and finely detecting an entire surface image on a mail; and (b) quantizing means for quantizing the detected entire surface image signal in accordance with a slice level to generate address character image signals.

Claim 8

The mail processing machine of claim 5, wherein said recognizing means comprises: (a) storing means for storing mail address character image signals detected by any one of said third and fourth detecting means; (b) address position detecting means for detecting a mail address area where an address is written by obtaining an aggregation of one of binarized mail address character image signals stored in said storing means, when said determining means detects no address window and no address label; (c) line detecting means for detecting address character lines at the detected mail address area on the basis of the address character image signals stored in said storing means by checking an absence or absence of a character image signal arrangement in a specific direction within the mail address area; (d) extracting means for extracting plural character feature paramete of mail address character image signals corresponding to only the address character lines; and (e) discriminating means for calculating a difference in dispersion of each character feature parameter between detected value and reference value, totalizing the calculated dispersion differences, comparing the totalized dispersion difference with a predetermined value, and determining that the detected mail address character images are printed character when the totalized dispersion difference is below the predetermined value and handwritten characters when beyond the predetermined value.

Claim 9

The mail processing machine of claim 7, wherein said address position detecting means comprises: (a) W/L detecting means for detecting a presence or absence of a window/label signal detected by said determining means; (b) compressing means, coupled to said W/L detecting means and said storing means, for compressing mail address character image signals stored in said storing means, when said W/L detecting means detects an absence of a window/label signal; (c) address area detecting means for detecting a mail address character area on the basis of the compressed mail character image signal; and (d) reading means for reading mail address character image signals corresponding to only the mail address character area corresponding to any one of the detected window/label signal and the detected mail address character area.

Claim 12

The method of claim 9, wherein said mail front detecting step comprises: (a) detecting a presence or absence of a postage stamp attached to a mail; (b) if a presence of a postage stamp is detected, a surface on which a postage stamp is attached is determined as a mail front on which address characters are written; (c) if an absence of a postage stamp is detected, optically scanning and coarsely detecting character images on both surfaces of the mail; (d) quantizing the detected surface image signals on both sides in accordance with a second slice level to generate character signals; and (e) comparing quantities of address character image signals of both the sides of a mail to determine a surface on which many characters are written as a mail front.