Abstract: An automated mail sorting system including a display for displaying the image of an item of mail belonging to a carrier route, and input device for associating the image with any of a plurality of stations in a walking sequence of the carrier route, and a sorter having a reader for identifying the item of the mail, the sorter for placing the item of mail in a location corresponding to the station in the walking sequence.

Abstract: A method for computerized processing of paper forms includes receiving an electronic image of a paper form containing text information from a client having a telephone. The text information is extracted from the form using an optical character recognition (OCR) process. A field of the extracted text information that is suspected of containing an error is identified, and a first text message is automatically communicated to the telephone asking the client to verify the identified field. A second text message is received in response to the first text message, and the text information in the field is validated or corrected according to the response.

Abstract: A counterfeit detection method includes electronically reading a label on a desired item in a store, transmitting an item identification code encoded in the read label to an authentication unit, receiving an indication from the authentication unit whether or not the item identification code is registered to the store and if the indication is positive, generating a certificate of authenticity for the desired item.

Abstract: A method for encoding characters includes identifying one or more sequences of the character codes that are likely to be generated due a segmentation error in application of a pattern recognition process, and associating a respective extension character code with each of the sequences. The area of an image containing characters is divided into segments, such that each segment contains approximately one character. The pattern recognition process is applied to each of the segments in order to generate an input string of character codes. At least one of the identified sequences of the character codes in the input string is replaced with the respective extension character code so as to generate a modified string. The output string is determined by comparing the modified string to a directory of known strings.

Abstract: A method for image separation of an image, wherein the image includes pixels, and the method includes identifying kernels, whereby characteristics of the kernels are reflected by at least one of the following operators, P(x−w,y)−P(x,y)>t AND P(x+w, y)−P(x,y)>t; or P(x, y−w)−P(x,y)>t AND P(x, y+w)−P(x,y)>t; or P(x+d, y+d)−P(x,y)>t AND P(x−d, y−d)−P(x,y)>t; or P(x−d, y+d)−P(x,y)>t AND P(x+d, y−d)−P(x,y)>t, wherein the kernels include at least some of a first group of the pixels. The kernels are associated with a first layer, and pixels that are not associated with the first layer are classified as a second layer. The first layer may be text or graphics and the second layer may be a background. The first layer may be compressed with a high resolution compression technique and the second layer may be compressed with a high lossy compression technique.

Abstract: A method for storing images that are input to a storage system by one or more operators. Some of the images are classified into a plurality of predefined groups, such that the images in each predefined group of the plurality are characterized by respective common information shared by all the images in the predefined group. Other images, which were not classifiable into any of the predefined groups, are processed so as to define a new group containing a subset of the second portion of the images, such that the images in the new group are characterized by new common information shared by all the images in the new group. The images in each group among the predefined and new groups are compressed by extracting from each of the images the common information that characterizes the group.

Abstract: A method for image processing includes analyzing one or more images so as to determine a respective classification for each of a multiplicity of elements in the images, wherein the elements are not individual characters in a language or numerical system. A plurality of the elements that have the same classification and were found at different locations in the one or more images are displayed together for a human operator. An input is received from the operator indicative of whether the computer erred in the classification of any of the displayed elements.

Abstract: A method of binarization used in an OCR system involves in determining text pixels by checking, for each pixel, that the difference between its value and the values of a plurality of pixels located at a predetermined distance therefrom is greater than a relative threshold corresponding to the difference in intensities between the text and the background of the image, subsampling the image at a rate corresponding to at least two pixels in order to detect kernels of text, and then binarizing the image pixels only in tiles of several stroke width sides containing text kernels by using in each tile, an absolute threshold estimated in that tile.

Abstract: A sorting machine has multiple input bins which are used for all passes of sorting. At each sorting pass, each output bin is associated with and receives input from exactly one input bin. A multi-bin sorter has p input bins and n output bins, n being greater or equal to p. A first sort is performed on the basis of at least part of the sorting key which is associated to each article, providing n output groups of articles corresponding to the n output bins. The sorted articles in n output bins are then grouped in p input bins and resorted by the multi-bin sorter providing n new output groups of articles, each output group being associated with and fed by exactly one of the input bins. The first sorting could be based on a first portion of the sorting key, and the second sorting could be based on a second portion of the sorting key, the first and second portions being non-disjoint.

Abstract: The invention locates address indicia on digitized images of mail pieces by dividing the mail piece images into blocks; identifying rows of blocks that are adjacent along a first direction and that have similar defined image features by comparing such image features within adjacent blocks; assembling at least some of the identified rows of blocks that are adjacent along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction into address block candidate regions; and selecting the address block by scoring the various address block candidate regions on the basis of defined criteria. The criteria initially score the candidate regions based on closeness to the center of the rectangle and then reduce this initial score if an edge of the region is close to an edge of the image, the region contains a small or very high number of text rows, or the aspect ratio between the width and height of the region is high.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for sorting a set of mail items according to a predefined delivery sequence, including the steps of generating first sequence number for each subset of mail according to its destination address, sorting the first subset into batches according to the first sequence number, associating one of the first sequence numbers corresponding to the destination addresses of the mail items in the first subset, generating a second sequence number sorting the second subset into batches according to the second and first sequence numbers disregarding N of the most significant digits of the first sequence number, interleaving the batches of mail items from the first and second subset; and sorting the mail items according to the N most significant digits of the first sequence numbers. In this way, all the mail is sorted in sequence, but sorting of the mail can begin prior to all the mail being physically present at the sorter or its location in the sorting scheme being known.

Abstract: The present invention comprises an image processing system to process an array of ultrasonic scanning image data. The image processing system is capable of performing local attenuation estimations by the use of the scanned data and displaying the estimated local attenuations in clearly identifiable images whereby the results of the ultrasonic scan can be accurately and easily interpreted. The estimation process comprises the steps of macro segmentation, micro segmentation, classification, and filtering wherein various techniques of average thresholds, classification and homogenization are used to minimize measurement noises and determine the pixels within a homogeneous geometrical element.

Abstract: A data entry system generates an electronically stored coded representation of a character sequence from one or more electronically stored document images. The system comprising optical character recognition logic for generating, from the document image or images, character data specifying one of a plurality of possible character values for corresponding segments of the document images. The system also has an interactive display means for generating and sequentially displaying, one or more types of composite image, each composite image comprising segments of the document image or images arranged according to the character data, and a correction mechanism responsive to a user input operation to enable the operator to correct the character data associated with displayed segments.