JPH055554B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention provides a processing device for paper sheets, etc., which is suitable for determining the direction of air mail arriving from overseas and arranging it, for example, in a mail processing device. Regarding.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] Recently, domestic mail has been automatically processed by mail processing equipment. This system selects only regular-sized mail items from mail items collected from various locations, then detects stamps and postage stamps, performs postmark and direction alignment, and then reads postal codes and sorts them by destination. . With this automatic processing,
Significant labor savings and speedy mail processing are being achieved. However, the processing of mail from overseas is still done manually, which is causing problems in the processing of mail that will continue to increase in the future. In particular, when sorting by region within Japan, mail from overseas is not oriented in the same direction (front and back, top and bottom), so it is necessary to turn the mail over, making the work extremely difficult. are doing.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances,
The purpose of this is, for example, to be able to sort airmail from overseas by front or back or top/bottom orientation, add a reception stamp or barcode to the surface of the airmail, and post-process it to automatically read the postal code. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing device for paper sheets, etc., which can be easily processed.

[Summary of the invention]

This invention is for processing sealed paper sheets, etc., in which the surface of the paper sheets is irradiated with light obliquely, and of the irradiated light, the light reflected by the paper sheets is received. At the same time, it is converted into a corresponding signal, and the presence of the seal is detected based on the shape of the seal's shadow using the converted signal.

Further, in the present invention, paper sheets, etc. are conveyed on a conveyance path, the directionality of the paper sheets, etc. conveyed by this conveyance path is detected by a first detection means, and the directionality is detected by this first detection means. For paper sheets, etc. that cannot be detected, the directionality is detected by a second detection means based on the shadow shape of the seal on the surface of the paper sheet using a method different from the first detection means. It is.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show a postal item (airmail) P from overseas according to the present invention, the surface 1 of which usually includes a stamp 2, a postmark mark 3, address information 4, and an airmail mark 5. The stamp 2 on which is present is pasted on the upper right side of the front side 1, and the air mail mark 5 is written on the lower left side of the front side 1 in blue or red. Furthermore, there is almost no printed information on the back side 6, and only a seal (flap) 7 is present. In this way, the above-mentioned postal item P has the front side 1 where the address information is written and the back side 6.
It is characterized by a large amount of information compared to .

FIG. 3 schematically shows the mail sorting device of the present invention. That is, first, a large number of mail items P are set in the supply section 11. Next, by starting the take-out, the mail P is taken out one by one by the suction chamber type take-out device 12.
It is transported on a transport path 13. This conveyed mail P is detected by the front and back/top and bottom detection units 14 and 15, which are arranged opposite to each other with the conveyance path 13 interposed therebetween, to detect the amount of information written on the front and back, and to mark the air mail mark. It is designed to detect whether 5 is written on the left or right side of the center. The above mail P
Then, the flap (seal) 7 is detected by the flap detection units 16 and 17 provided on the conveyance path 13.
detection is now being carried out. Furthermore, a receipt stamp is stamped on the back side 6 of the mail P to confirm the receipt by stamp parts 18 or 19 which are arranged opposite to each other with the transport path 13 interposed therebetween. There is.

Then, the mail P that has passed through the stamping parts 18 and 19
is a gate 20 provided at the end of the conveyance path 13.
Accordingly, when a direction determination result is obtained, the sheet is guided to the dividing conveyance path 21, and when a direction determination result is not obtained, it is guided to the reversal conveyance path 22. After the mail P guided to the reversing conveyance path 22 is reversed, it joins the conveyance path 13 before the front/back/top/bottom detection sections 14 and 15 at its terminal end. Further, the mail P guided to the sorting conveyance path 21 is transported through gates 23, 24, 25,
6, the accumulation units 27, 28,
29, 30, and 31, respectively. The stacking sections 27, 28, 29, and 30 are configured to stack mail P with the front side facing up, the front side facing down, and the back side facing down, respectively. Even if the mail is re-transmitted along the conveyance path 13, the direction of the mail P cannot be determined or the mail P is piled up.

FIG. 4 shows the main parts of the electric circuit. That is, 41 is a comparison section, which compares the amount of written information from the front and back and top and bottom detection sections 14 and 15, and outputs a front side determination signal when the amount of written information from the detection section 14 is larger. If the amount of written information in No. 15 is larger than No. 15, a back side determination signal is output. The front/back side determination signal of the comparison section 41 is sent to the control section 42.
is supplied to This control section 42 controls the conveyance in response to the front/back side determination signal from the comparing section 41, the airmail position detection signal from the front/back/up/down detection sections 14, 15, and the flap detection signal from the flap detection sections 16, 17. This is to determine the direction of the mail P being sent. Further, the control unit 42 drives the gate drive unit 44 according to the direction determination result and the detection signal from the conveyance detector 43 provided on each conveyance path, thereby controlling the gates 20, 2.
3, 24, 25, and 26. Further, the control unit 42 drives the stamping units 18 and 19 according to the determination result, thereby controlling the postal item P.
A receipt stamp will be stamped on the back of the receipt.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the front/back/up/down detection section 14. That is, one side of the mail P being transported is illuminated by a light source 51, and the reflected light is guided to a line sensor 53 as a photoelectric converter via an imaging lens 52. This line sensor 5
3 is operated by a drive signal from the line sensor control unit 54, and optically scans the surface of the mail P in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction to perform photoelectric conversion. The output of the line sensor 53 is sent to an amplification/sample hold circuit 55, where it is amplified to an appropriate value and then sampled and held in accordance with a sampling signal from the line sensor control section 54. The output of the amplification/sample hold circuit 55 is sent to a binarization circuit 56. This binarization circuit 56 binarizes the output signal of the amplification/sample hold circuit 55 using the slice signal from the slice level generation circuit 57,
The binarized signal is output as a written information signal.
The output of the binarization circuit 56 is sent to a data terminal of a counter 58. This counter 58 performs a counting operation in response to a clock pulse from the line sense control section 54 when the input signal at the data terminal is at the "1" level. Thereby, the amount of written information on one side of the postal item P is counted. Therefore, the contents of the counter 58, that is, the amount of information written on one side, is supplied to the comparator 41.

Further, the output of the line sensor 53 is sent to an air mail mark detection circuit 59, which detects the air mail mark 5 depending on whether or not a blue signal exists over a predetermined width. exists in the left half of mail P,
It outputs a signal indicating whether it exists in the right half. A signal output from the air mail detection circuit 59 is supplied to the control section 42.

Further, the front/back/top/bottom detection unit 15 has a similar configuration to the front/back/top/bottom detection unit 14 described above.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the optical system of the flap detection section 16. That is, a light source 61 that irradiates one side of the mail P being transported with light from a direction substantially horizontal to the mail P, and an imaging lens 63 that images the reflected light from the mail P onto the line sensor 62. It is composed of. Thereby, the flap detection section 16 detects the shadow formed by the flap 7 when the mail P is on the upper side based on the output from the line sensor 62, and outputs a flap detection signal to the control section 42. .

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the optical system of the flap detection section 17. That is, a light source 71 that irradiates one side of the mail P being transported with light from a direction substantially horizontal to the mail P, and an imaging lens 73 that images the reflected light from the mail P onto the line sensor 72. It is composed of. As a result, the flap detection section 17 detects the shadow created by the flap 7 when the mail P is on the lower side based on the output from the line sensor 72, and outputs a flap detection signal to the control section 42. be.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained. For example, now, the take-out device 12 is started to operate, and the transport paths 13, 21, and 22 are driven.
Then, the mail items P are taken out one by one from the supply section 21 by the take-out device 12 and conveyed through the conveyance path 13. The amount of written information on each side of the transported mail P is detected by the front and back and top and bottom detection sections 14 and 16, respectively, and is supplied to a comparator 41. As a result, the comparator 41 determines the front and back sides, if the amount of information written in the top and bottom detection section 14 is large, it is the front side 1, and in the opposite case, it is the back side 6, and the judgment result is is output to the control section 42. Further, the front/back and top/bottom detection sections 14 and 15 detect whether the air mail detection circuit 59 is present on the left side or the right side, and output the detection results to the control section 42.

Subsequently, the mail P conveyed by the conveyance path 13 is detected by the flap detection sections 16 and 17 and detected by the flap 7.
is detected, and the detection result is output to the control unit 42.

Therefore, when the control unit 42 is supplied with a surface determination signal from the comparator 41 and a signal indicating that the air mail mark 5 is on the left side from the air mail detection circuit 59, the air mail mark 5 is facing upward on the surface. Each gate is switched by driving the gate driving section 44 according to the result of this determination. As a result, the corresponding postal items P are stacked in the stacking unit 27 after being stamped with a receipt stamp in the stamping unit 19 . Further, when the control unit 41 receives a surface determination signal from the comparator 41 and a signal indicating that the airmail mark 5 is on the right side from the airmail detection circuit 59, it determines that the airmail mark 5 is facing downward. Then, each gate is switched by driving the gate driving section 44 according to the result of this determination. As a result, the corresponding mail P is stamped with a receipt stamp in the stamping section 19 and then stacked in the stacking section 28 . Further, the control unit 42 is supplied with a back side determination signal from the comparator 41, and is also supplied with a signal indicating that the air mail mark 5 is on the left side from the air mail detector 59 of the front/back/up/down detection unit 15. Alternatively, when a flap detection signal is supplied from the flap detection circuit 16, it is determined that the back side is facing upward, and the gate driving section 44 is driven in accordance with this determination result to switch each gate. As a result, the corresponding postal items P are stacked in the stacking unit 29 after being stamped with a receipt stamp in the stamping unit 18 . In addition, the control unit 41 is supplied with a back side determination signal from the comparator 41, and is also supplied with a signal indicating that the air mail mark 5 is on the right side from the air mail detection circuit 59 of the front/back/up/down detection unit 15. Alternatively, when a flap detection signal is supplied from the flap detection section 17, it is determined that the flap is facing downward on the back side, and the gate drive section 4
Each gate is switched by driving 4.
As a result, the corresponding postal item P is stamped at the stamp section 18.
After a receipt stamp is affixed thereon, the documents are accumulated in the accumulation section 30.

Note that if the direction is not determined in the above determination process, the control unit 42 switches the gate 20 to supply the corresponding mail P to the conveyance path 13 again via the reversing conveyance path 22, and performs the determination process. Close.
The mail P whose direction has not been determined in this second determination process is sorted and conveyed to the reject stacking section 31 and stacked.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment has been explained using a mail collection device as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this, but the present invention is applicable to processing other than mail, such as envelopes, parcels, and packaging products in the manufacturing industry, distribution industry, etc. equipment can be provided.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in an apparatus for processing sealed paper sheets, the surface of the paper sheets is irradiated with light obliquely, and some of the irradiated light is absorbed by the paper sheets. The reflected light is received and converted into a corresponding signal, and the presence of the seal is detected based on the shape of the seal's shadow using the converted signal, so the direction of the sealed paper sheet, etc. can be detected. This makes it easy to know the nature of the product, which makes later processing such as procurement easier. Further, paper sheets, etc. are conveyed by a conveyance path, and the directionality of the paper sheets, etc. conveyed by this conveyance path is detected by a first detection means, and paper sheets, etc. whose directionality cannot be detected by this first detection means are The directionality of leaves, etc. is detected by the second detection means based on the shape of the seal on the surface of the paper sheet using a method different from the first detection means, so that It is possible to reliably detect and know the direction of
Post-processing such as adding reception stamps and barcodes, reading postal codes, etc. can be easily performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the invention.
Figures 2 and 2 show the front and back sides of paper sheets, etc., Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration, Figure 4 is a block diagram of the electrical circuit, and Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the front/back/up/down detection section. FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing the structure of the optical system of the flap detection section. P...Postal matter (paper leaves, etc.), 1...Surface, 2...
...Stamp, 4...Destination information, 5...Air mail mark, 6...Back side, 7...Flap, 13...Transportation path, 14, 15...Front and back side/top and bottom detection unit (first detection means), 16, 17...flap detection section (second
detection means), 18, 19... stamp section, 20, 2
3, 24, 25, 26...Gate, 21...Divided conveyance path, 22...Reverse conveyance path, 27-31...Integration unit, 41...Comparator, 42...Control unit, 59...
...Airmail detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A paper sheet processing apparatus for processing paper sheets, etc. having a seal, comprising: an irradiation means for irradiating light obliquely onto the surface of the paper sheet; A light receiving means for receiving light reflected by the paper sheet among the light and converting it into a corresponding signal; and a detecting means for detecting the presence of the seal based on the shape of the seal's shadow based on the signal from the light receiving means. A processing device for paper sheets, etc., comprising: and 2. The apparatus for processing paper sheets, etc., according to claim 1, wherein the paper sheets, etc. are mail items. 3. A conveyance path for conveying paper sheets, etc., a first detection means provided on this conveyance path and detecting the directionality of the conveyed paper sheets, etc., and a directionality detected by the first detection means. a second detection means for detecting the directionality of paper sheets, etc. that cannot be processed using a method different from the first detection means, the second detection means detecting the directionality of the paper sheets etc. diagonally on the surface of the paper sheets, an irradiation means for irradiating light; a light reception means for receiving the light reflected by the paper sheet out of the light irradiated by the irradiation means and converting it into a corresponding signal; and a signal from the light reception means for sealing the paper. processing of paper sheets, comprising a detection means for detecting the presence of a seal based on the shape of a shadow of a seal, and determining the direction of the paper sheets based on the results of the first and second detection means. Device. 4. The apparatus for processing paper sheets, etc., according to claim 3, wherein the first detection means detects the directionality based on the presence or absence of information written on the paper sheets, etc. 5. The paper sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first detection means detects a stamp or an air mail mark. 6. Paper sheets, etc. according to claim 3, wherein the first detection means detects the directionality of the front and back sides based on the amount of information written on both sides of the paper sheets, etc. processing equipment.