EP3272430A1 - Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln - Google Patents

Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3272430A1
EP3272430A1 EP16180628.6A EP16180628A EP3272430A1 EP 3272430 A1 EP3272430 A1 EP 3272430A1 EP 16180628 A EP16180628 A EP 16180628A EP 3272430 A1 EP3272430 A1 EP 3272430A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
postal
camera
stack
address information
postal item
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP16180628.6A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Luciano GIUGNO
Zhe Li
Samuel X. RICHARDSON
Eberhard RÖHM
Abdul Hamid Salemizadeh
Jürgen Schad
Matthias Schulte-Austum
Stanley W. Sipe
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Siemens AG
Siemens Corp
Original Assignee
Siemens AG
Siemens Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Siemens AG, Siemens Corp filed Critical Siemens AG
Priority to EP16180628.6A priority Critical patent/EP3272430A1/de
Priority to EP17734676.4A priority patent/EP3487638B1/de
Priority to PCT/EP2017/065272 priority patent/WO2018015097A1/en
Publication of EP3272430A1 publication Critical patent/EP3272430A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C7/00—Sorting by hand only e.g. of mail
    • B07C7/005—Computer assisted manual sorting, e.g. for mail

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method for providing sorting information for postal items, such as letters, brochures, parcels and the like, each comprising an address information.
  • Postal processing applications require reading and recognition of the address of the postal items being processed, in order to prepare the items for delivery. For example, all of the postal items that will be delivered on the same delivery route would be separated from all of the other postal items, so that they can be loaded into a delivery vehicle in preparation for the delivery route.
  • Manual methods of reading and recognition of postal items during processing requires a great deal of labor and expertise.
  • Fully automatic methods of processing postal items can be large, inflexible, and can require significant volume of postal items to justify their cost. When space and volume of postal items are limited, the ideal system is small, flexible, adds productivity to manual processing steps, and reduces the expertise required to perform the processing. Automatic scanning and recognition equipment can be applied to postal processing in these situations.
  • the scanning equipment captures an image of a postal item, automatic recognition software extracts and derives relevant processing information, and the information is provided in the form of simple instructions to the operator regarding processing of that postal item.
  • An example for this postal processing is given in the European Patent Application EP 2 906 367 A1 .
  • Traditional methods of manually scanning postal items for automatic reading have required complex methods and systems to determine when a new item requires scanning, representing a signal to the automatic recognition software to extract and derive new processing information to be presented as instructions to the operator.
  • the solution disclosed in EP 2 906 367 A1 exactly suffers the same problem.
  • the present invention therefore has the objective to provide a method for providing sorting information for postal sorting items allowing postal sorting centers to reduce manual labor and scheme knowledge throughout its networks, including but not limited to last mile delivery optimization.
  • the invention shall further allow sortation of mail items to final destination or next destination via non-schemed trained personnel at very high throughputs from many different physical streams. This will represent a significant decrease in direct labor cost as well as training.
  • the sorting information thereby may comprise an optical and/or acoustical indication where to sort the current postal item.
  • the image recognition is triggered to recognize the address information of the next postal item present on the top of the stack. Therefore, this process is more reliable as compared to prior art processes where low contrasts images of subsequent postal items have to be compared in order identify the presence of the subsequent postal item on top of the stack. In the present invention, just high contrast images taken from the optical mark have to be compared.
  • a preferred embodiment provides for an optical mark being in form of a symbol, such as a cross, an X or the like, having high contrast as compared to the surrounding area.
  • a symbol such as a letter or a cross, printed in black on a white paper or white underlay are a suitable pair of high contrast for the recognition of the occlusion and the re-appearance of the optical mark.
  • the address information is provided in form of hand-and/or typewriting and/or fluorescent bar code being readable on one surface of the postal item.
  • Preferred embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter explained more detailed with respect to the attached drawing that depicts schematically the method for providing sorting information 6 for postal items 2, such as letters, brochures, newspapers, magazines and the like, each comprising an address information 4.
  • the drawing shows an overhead positioned camera 8 having a field of view 10 illustrated by dotted lines 12. This camera 8 is used to take images of the postal items 2.
  • the images taken by the camera 8 are processed by an image recognition module 14.
  • the processing of the image recognition module 14 lead to the extraction of the address information 4 which is part of the video image taken by the camera 8.
  • the address information 4 can be handwritten or machine-written but may also comprise a bar code 16 printed onto the postal item 2a in a preceding sorting process.
  • the image recognition module 14 forms logically a part of a process control module 16 which is enabled to assign the sorting information 6 to the postal item 2 in response to the extracted address information 4.
  • the sorting information 6 is contained in a database 18. The sorting process now works as follows:
  • the sorting information 6 is assigned to the postal item 2a.
  • the sorting information 6 in this example is materialized in terms of a lamp 30 being illuminated in order to indicate to the operator the exact position for the postal item 2a in a sorting register 32.
  • the optical marks 28 are temporarily occluded during the movement for removing the postal item 2a which shall be indicated by arrow 34.
  • the image recognition module 14 detects that the optical marks 28 have been disappeared temporarily during the removal movement of the postal item 2a by an evaluation of the images taken by the camera 8.
  • the re-appearance of the optical marks 28 in the images taken by the camera 8 for the specific area which domiciles the optical marks 28 leads to the deduction that the successive postal item 2b is now present on the top of the stack 20.
  • the camera 8 takes a new image (or a number of images) of the stack 20 and in particular of the postal item 2b now present on the top of the stack 20.
  • the address information 4 for this postal item 2b is then extracted and the respective sorting information 6 is assigned to the successive postal item 2b. Consequently, a lamp 30 is illuminated thereby indicating the correct sorting position for the postal item 2b when being removed from the stack 20 and sorted into the sorting register 32.
  • This removal movement triggers then again a capture of a new image taken from the postal item 2c now on top of the stack 20. This process can repeated until all postal items 2 contained in the stack 20 are sorted into the sorting register 32.
  • the sorting register 32 is only one possible recipient for the postal items 2.
  • the postal items 2 can be sorted into all kind of suitable containers and the like according to the sorting logic applied by the process control module 16.
  • the present invention therefore utilizes a novel approach to detecting that the postal item being scanned has been changed.
  • the components involved in this method are mobile allowing it to be used in more than one location and operation.
  • Flexible destination sortation to cases, bins, trays or tubs based upon the postal operation requirements and the respective sorting logic is easily achievable.
  • the method can easily be integrated into postal operations both physically and through IT networks.
  • the destination sortation is programmable or can be supplied by the customer (visual point to light, graphic screens, Heads Up Displays and overlays, voice, etc) based upon customer specific requirements. This can be in the form of carrier designation, physical address location, geo-coordinates and a variety of other schemes such as What3Words.
  • the present invention therefore provides a self-contained scanning system with camera and lighting. It further provides for adjustable lighting for different environments (natural light, florescent, etc). It also provides height adjustment of the board 22 to accommodate the operator stature.
  • the system and the method are adjustable with respect to the field of view 10 and the image resolution.
  • One can provide a designed background pattern for the scanning camera 8. It allows the camera 8 to continuously scanning the surface of the board 22 with a certain frame rate and provides a mechanism for automatic brightness regulation of the camera.
  • the image recognition module 14 can provide a method of automatically selecting the best image of each postal item 2 which is visible in the field of view 10 for further processing.
  • the sorting items 2 can be fed individually or - as shown - can be fed as a stack 20.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
  • Character Discrimination (AREA)
EP16180628.6A 2016-07-21 2016-07-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln Withdrawn EP3272430A1 (de)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP16180628.6A EP3272430A1 (de) 2016-07-21 2016-07-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln
EP17734676.4A EP3487638B1 (de) 2016-07-21 2017-06-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln
PCT/EP2017/065272 WO2018015097A1 (en) 2016-07-21 2017-06-21 Method for providing sorting information for postal sorting items

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP16180628.6A EP3272430A1 (de) 2016-07-21 2016-07-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3272430A1 true EP3272430A1 (de) 2018-01-24

Family

ID=56511381

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP16180628.6A Withdrawn EP3272430A1 (de) 2016-07-21 2016-07-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln
EP17734676.4A Active EP3487638B1 (de) 2016-07-21 2017-06-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP17734676.4A Active EP3487638B1 (de) 2016-07-21 2017-06-21 Verfahren zur bereitstellung von sortierinformationen zum sortieren von postartikeln

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (2) EP3272430A1 (de)
WO (1) WO2018015097A1 (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN116629761A (zh) * 2023-07-24 2023-08-22 北京京东乾石科技有限公司 物品分拣方法、装置和系统

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5794789A (en) * 1995-12-13 1998-08-18 Payson; William H. Semi-automated integrated sort system
US6748294B1 (en) * 2000-10-23 2004-06-08 Bowe Bell + Howell Postal Systems Company Flats bundle collator
EP2260952A1 (de) * 2009-06-12 2010-12-15 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Steuern des Transports eines Gegenstands zu einer Aufnahmeeinheit
WO2014057185A1 (fr) * 2012-10-11 2014-04-17 Solystic Procédé et dispositif d'aide pour trier des objets dans un casier de tri

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5794789A (en) * 1995-12-13 1998-08-18 Payson; William H. Semi-automated integrated sort system
US6748294B1 (en) * 2000-10-23 2004-06-08 Bowe Bell + Howell Postal Systems Company Flats bundle collator
EP2260952A1 (de) * 2009-06-12 2010-12-15 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Steuern des Transports eines Gegenstands zu einer Aufnahmeeinheit
WO2014057185A1 (fr) * 2012-10-11 2014-04-17 Solystic Procédé et dispositif d'aide pour trier des objets dans un casier de tri
EP2906367A1 (de) 2012-10-11 2015-08-19 Solystic Verfahren und vorrichtung zur unterstützung bei der sortierung von objekten in einem sortierbehälter

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN116629761A (zh) * 2023-07-24 2023-08-22 北京京东乾石科技有限公司 物品分拣方法、装置和系统

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2018015097A1 (en) 2018-01-25
EP3487638A1 (de) 2019-05-29
EP3487638B1 (de) 2020-05-27

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