Abstract: A method of merging a postal article (3) with machine-sorted mail arriving in a stack and on edge in an ordered sequence of mail articles (12), the method comprising steps consisting firstly in forming a digital image of said postal article (3), the image including a postal delivery address (6), then, on the basis of data produced in said sorting machine and of said digital image, in determining in said ordered sequence of mail articles (12) a location at which said postal article (3) is to be inserted in order to perform the merging, and finally in generating an identification signal that visually designates said location directly in the stack so as to assist an operator (5) with performing said merging.

Abstract: A method of merging a postal article (3) with machine-sorted mail arriving in a stack and on edge in an ordered sequence of mail articles (12), the method comprising steps consisting firstly in forming a digital image of said postal article (3), the image including a postal delivery address (6), then, on the basis of data produced in said sorting machine and of said digital image, in determining in said ordered sequence of mail articles (12) a location at which said postal article (3) is to be inserted in order to perform the merging, and finally in generating an identification signal that visually designates said location directly in the stack so as to assist an operator (5) with performing said merging.

Abstract: A method of measuring the times taken for carrying mail through a network of postal sorting machines between at least a mail departure point and a mail arrival point, which method comprises the following steps, a) using first dummy mailpieces to measure first mail carrying times taken to carry said first dummy mailpieces from the departure point to a certain postal sorting machine of the network; b) using real mailpieces to measure second mail carrying times taken to carry said real mailpieces from said certain sorting machine of the network to another postal sorting machine of the network; and c) using second dummy mailpieces to measure third mail carrying times taken to carry said second dummy mailpieces from said other postal sorting machine to the arrival point.

Abstract: A method of sorting a plurality of articles (A, B, C), in which each article goes through a sorting installation in at least two passes, comprises the steps of recording the image of each article that is generated during the first sorting pass in a memory and in correspondence with a data item indicating a sorting outlet to which the article is directed during the first sorting pass. If an article is misrouted, a correctly routed reference article is chosen in the vicinity of the misrouted article in the sequence of articles obtained during the last sorting pass, the memory is searched (22-28) for an image of said correctly routed reference article, and, on the basis of said reference article image, a set of article images grouped together in the memory and that includes the image of the reference article is looked through (29-34) to identify an image of the misrouted article.

Abstract: A method of processing digital images, in which method a digital image is taken of a mailpiece, which image includes certain information, and certain OCR processing is applied to said image for the purpose of recognizing said information using OCR, the method is characterized in that it further includes a step of applying other OCR processing to said image for the purpose of recognizing said information, and a step of overlaying in said image results of said other OCR processing in a form recognizable by said certain OCR processing. This method makes it possible to obtain reinforced processing capacities by enriching the capacities of the first processing with the capacities of the other processing without calling into question the logical and physical interfaces of the first processing.

Abstract: The invention relates to an article-processing device comprising a conveyor (2) for moving articles (1) in series and on edge, a camera (3) for taking a digital image (4) of each article (1), a data processor unit for performing processing on the pixels of the digital image (4), and means for inspecting/monitoring the quality of the digital images (4), said article-processing device being characterized in that: said conveyor has a back wall (9) of a dark color; said camera (3) takes a digital image (4) within which the article (1) lies against a background (7) corresponding to said back wall (9); and said inspection/monitoring means scan rows of pixels in order to extract, for each scanned row, a pixel having a light intensity extremum, and detect contrast indicative of degradation of the quality of the digital images (4). The invention also relates to a sorting machine including such a device, and to an inspection/monitoring method.

Abstract: In a method of sorting mailpieces in a plurality of sorting passes in a sorting machine having accumulation sorting outlets, use is made of a technique for identifying the mailpieces by image signatures derived from the images of the mailpieces. The mailpieces are transferred in trays between two sorting passes. A match between a current fingerprint in the second sorting pass and fingerprints generated in the first sorting pass is searched for in an exploration memory space containing a limited number of fingerprints. The size of this exploration space is optimized by associating the signatures and the trays with designation data indicative of sorting outlets, and with time data delivered by a clock.

Abstract: The invention relates to an article-processing device comprising a conveyor (2) for moving articles (1) in series and on edge, a camera (3) for taking a digital image (4) of each article (1), a data processor unit for performing processing on the pixels of the digital image (4), and means for inspecting/monitoring the quality of the digital images (4), said article-processing device being characterized in that: said conveyor has a back wall (9) of a dark color; said camera (3) takes a digital image (4) within which the article (1) lies against a background (7) corresponding to said back wall (9); and said inspection/monitoring means scan rows of pixels in order to extract, for each scanned row, a pixel having a light intensity extremum, and detect contrast indicative of degradation of the quality of the digital images (4). The invention also relates to a sorting machine including such a device, and to an inspection/monitoring method.

Abstract: A method of processing digital images, in which method a digital image is taken of a mailpiece, which image includes certain information, and certain OCR processing is applied to said image for the purpose of recognizing said information using OCR, the method is characterized in that it further includes a step of applying other OCR processing to said image for the purpose of recognizing said information, and a step of overlaying in said image results of said other OCR processing in a form recognizable by said certain OCR processing. This method makes it possible to obtain reinforced processing capacities by enriching the capacities of the first processing with the capacities of the other processing without calling into question the logical and physical interfaces of the first processing.

Abstract: In a method of processing mailpieces, a digital image of a surface of a current mailpiece is formed for the purpose of using OCR to recognize a recipient postal address for said current mailpiece, and, if it is determined that the recognized recipient address corresponds to an incorrect recipient address, a forwarding address is placed on said surface of the current mailpiece. In addition to said forwarding address, an OCR-detectable mark is placed on the surface of the current mailpiece, which mark indicates that the current mailpiece bears a forwarding address, and also constitutes an index for retrieving said forwarding address from a database.

Abstract: A method of sorting a plurality of articles (A, B, C), in which each article goes through a sorting installation in at least two passes, comprises the steps of recording the image of each article that is generated during the first sorting pass in a memory and in correspondence with a data item indicating a sorting outlet to which the article is directed during the first sorting pass. If an article is misrouted, a correctly routed reference article is chosen in the vicinity of the misrouted article in the sequence of articles obtained during the last sorting pass, the memory is searched (22-28) for an image of said correctly routed reference article, and, on the basis of said reference article image, a set of article images grouped together in the memory and that includes the image of the reference article is looked through (29-34) to identify an image of the misrouted article.

Abstract: The method of processing postal items comprises the following steps: causing the postal items to advance in series past a camera (120) for the purpose of generating an image (1) of one face of each postal item, which face bears postal address information; filtering the image of a current postal item for the purpose of isolating, in the image, at least one region of interest (ROI) containing the address information; and sending the filtered image to an automatic recognition unit (130) for automatically recognizing postal addresses by means of OCR so as to extract the postal address from said filtered image and so as to direct the current postal item to a sorting outlet. In order to construct a filter mask, the method further comprises causing a card (20) of the “separator” type to advance past the camera (120), which card has a face on which said region of interest (ROI) is represented.

Abstract: In a method of sorting mailpieces in a plurality of sorting passes in a sorting machine having accumulation sorting outlets, use is made of a technique for identifying the mailpieces by image signatures derived from the images of the mailpieces. The mailpieces are transferred in trays between two sorting passes. A match between a current fingerprint in the second sorting pass and fingerprints generated in the first sorting pass is searched for in an exploration memory space containing a limited number of fingerprints. The size of this exploration space is optimized by associating the signatures and the trays with designation data indicative of sorting outlets, and with time data delivered by a clock.

Abstract: In a method of processing mailpieces, a digital image of a surface of a current mailpiece is formed for the purpose of using OCR to recognize a recipient postal address for said current mailpiece, and, if it is determined that the recognized recipient address corresponds to an incorrect recipient address, a forwarding address is placed on said surface of the current mailpiece. In addition to said forwarding address, an OCR-detectable mark is placed on the surface of the current mailpiece, which mark indicates that the current mailpiece bears a forwarding address, and also constitutes an index for retrieving said forwarding address from a database.

Abstract: The method of processing objects, in which method a digital image (1) is obtained of the surface of each postal object, which image includes address information (2), and an identifier or time stamp for the postal object is associated with the digital image of the postal object in a video-coding system, is characterized by the fact that said digital image is processed in order to extract a signature that serves as an identifier. The signature comprises a first component representative of a physical characteristic of the digital image and a second component (SC) which is a textual description of the address block. This method can be used to implement immediate video-coding in a postal sorting machine without requiring a delay line.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for processing postal packets including managing digital impressions of the postal packets. In a method for processing postal packets, during a preliminary sorting of the packets, a digital image of a packet comprising an address information is formed, a digital impression (V-Id) is derived from said image which constitutes a logical identifier for the packet and the packet impression is recorded in memory corresponding to data indicating the packet address information, and during a second sorting of the packets, a digital image of a current packet is formed again (51) comprising an address information, a digital impression for the current packet is derived (52) from said image and a search is performed among the recorded impressions in the preliminary sorting for a match with the current packet impression.

Abstract: A method of handling mail items includes, during a first sorting pass, taking a digital picture of each mail item, directing the mail item towards a sorting outlet bin, and deriving from the picture a digital fingerprint, and, during a second sorting pass, taking a digital picture of a current mail item to derive a fingerprint, performing automatic address recognition, and searching recorded address data for a match with the address data of the current mail item to identify a current bin to which the current mail item corresponds, so that, in order to search for a match between fingerprints, the search for matching fingerprints is conducted in an exploration space formed by the digital fingerprints that correspond to the current sorting outlet bin.

Abstract: The method of processing postal items comprises the following steps: causing the postal items to advance in series past a camera (120) for the purpose of generating an image (1) of one face of each postal item, which face bears postal address information; filtering the image of a current postal item for the purpose of isolating, in the image, at least one region of interest (ROI) containing the address information; and sending the filtered image to an automatic recognition unit (130) for automatically recognizing postal addresses by means of OCR so as to extract the postal address from said filtered image and so as to direct the current postal item to a sorting outlet. In order to construct a filter mask, the method further comprises causing a card (20) of the “separator” type to advance past the camera (120), which card has a face on which said region of interest (ROI) is represented.

Abstract: A method of processing postal articles in which a physical magnitude is measured in order to detect (2) whether the outside surface of a postal article is made of a plastics material, and in which a digital image of said outside surface of the postal article is processed in order to detect (3) whether said surface has a noisy background. On the basis of the results of these two detection operations, it is determined (4) whether the outside surface of said postal article is a printable surface or a non-printable surface.

Abstract: The method of sorting postal items in a plurality of sorting passes using at least one sorting machine having sorting outlets constituted by bins consists in using digital fingerprints (V_ID) identifying the items in a data processor system for automatic address recognition by OCR and/or by video coding. During the first sorting pass, the digital fingerprints of the items are recorded in association with the identification numbers (Bin_ID) of the bins. During the second sorting pass, these digital fingerprints and bin identification numbers are recovered in order to constitute a database (DB) which is updated by counting (46, 47, 48) the fingerprint matches obtained for each loaded bin and by counting consecutive accesses to the database that occur without obtaining a fingerprint match.