Document processing system control using document feature analysis for identification
First Claim
1. A mail processing system for uniquely identifying a plurality of documents having minutiae associated with each of the plurality of documents, the plurality of documents to be processed by mail processing equipment of the mail processing system, the system comprising:
- an image extraction module configured to receive an image captured from a post-print representation of the plurality of documents and extract image minutiae from the captured image for each of the plurality of documents;
a minutiae data processing module configured to compare the minutiae extracted from an electronic file associated with each of the plurality of documents with the extracted image minutiae for uniquely identifying each of the plurality of documents; and
a control processor configured to execute mail processing instructions associated with each uniquely identified document processed by the mail processing equipment, wherein the minutiae and the image minutiae are a plurality of document characteristics, wherein;
the plurality of document characteristics are selected from a combination of two or more of font, pitch, key word, numerical sequence, symbol, phrase and coordinates of an area of interest on the document,the document characteristics individually are insufficient to uniquely identify one of the plurality of documents from a second document, but the combination of the two or more document characteristics are sufficient to uniquely identify the one document from the second document, andthe mail processing system is either an inserter system or sorter system.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present subject matter relates to controlling of mail processing equipment. More specifically, the present subject matter allows for unique recognition of a printed document from all other similar documents, without the inclusion of additional purposeful identifying marks, data or barcodes. A document processing system, such as an inserter, printer, postage meter, sorter or other document processing system is controlled based on document identification which does not depend on unique identifiers. Similarly if a document is identified with a unique identifying mark on the first page, the present subject matter allows for identification of each subsequent page in the document without requiring identifying marks on each page. The identification data is then used to control the processing of the printed document based upon the recognition and enables the performance of quality checks. Further, each subsequent page in the document, as part of a quality check, can be verified without requiring identifying marks on each page.
87 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A mail processing system for uniquely identifying a plurality of documents having minutiae associated with each of the plurality of documents, the plurality of documents to be processed by mail processing equipment of the mail processing system, the system comprising:
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an image extraction module configured to receive an image captured from a post-print representation of the plurality of documents and extract image minutiae from the captured image for each of the plurality of documents; a minutiae data processing module configured to compare the minutiae extracted from an electronic file associated with each of the plurality of documents with the extracted image minutiae for uniquely identifying each of the plurality of documents; and a control processor configured to execute mail processing instructions associated with each uniquely identified document processed by the mail processing equipment, wherein the minutiae and the image minutiae are a plurality of document characteristics, wherein; the plurality of document characteristics are selected from a combination of two or more of font, pitch, key word, numerical sequence, symbol, phrase and coordinates of an area of interest on the document, the document characteristics individually are insufficient to uniquely identify one of the plurality of documents from a second document, but the combination of the two or more document characteristics are sufficient to uniquely identify the one document from the second document, and the mail processing system is either an inserter system or sorter system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of controlling mail processing equipment of a mail processing system used to process one document of a plurality of documents, the one having minutiae extracted from an electronic file associated with the document, the method comprising the following steps:
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processing a printed representation of the document on mail processing equipment, the processing including at least capturing of an image of the printed representation of the document; extracting image minutiae from the captured image; comparing the image minutiae with the minutiae for positively identifying the document; and utilizing control data associated with the document to control operation of the mail processing equipment in response to positively identifying the document, wherein; the minutiae and the image minutiae are a plurality of document characteristics, the plurality of document characteristics are selected from a combination of two or more of font, pitch, key word, numerical sequence, symbol, phrase and coordinates of an area of interest on the document, the document characteristics individually are insufficient to uniquely identify the document from a second document, but the combination of the two or more document characteristics are sufficient to uniquely identify the one document from the second document, and the mail processing system is either an inserter system or sorter system. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of controlling a mail processing system comprising:
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defining a super set of minutiae associated with each of a plurality of documents prior to processing on mail processing equipment of the mail processing system, the super set of minutiae including a plurality of minutiae candidates associated with each document which, in combination, provide positive identification of each document; generating a document minutiae database for storing the plurality of minutiae candidates extracted from an electronic file; obtaining control data associated with each document by matching the stored minutiae candidates for each document with image minutiae obtained from an image post-print representation of each document loaded on the mail processing equipment, and applying the control data to control the operation of the mail processing equipment, wherein; the stored minutiae and the image minutiae are a plurality of document characteristics, the plurality of document characteristics are selected from a combination of two or more of font, pitch, key word, numerical sequence, symbol, phrase and coordinates of an area of interest on the document, the document characteristics individually are insufficient to uniquely identify one of the plurality of documents from a second document, but the combination of the two or more document characteristics are sufficient to uniquely identify the one document from the second document, and the mail processing system is either an inserter system or sorter system. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of performing a quality check of a previously identified document (“
- document”
) including a plurality of pages, the method comprising steps of;capturing an image of a printed representation of the document processed on mail processing equipment of a mail processing system selected from an inserter or sorter system, the image including image minutiae for one or more pages of the document; comparing minutiae associated with at least one page of the document which is subsequent to a first page of the document with associated image minutiae; verifying that the at least one page of the document is part of the document; and processing the document based on a result of the verifying step, wherein; the minutiae extracted from an electronic file and the image minutiae are a plurality of document characteristics, the plurality of document characteristics are selected from a combination of two or more or font, pitch, key word, numerical sequence, symbol, phrase and coordinates of an area of interest on the document, the document characteristics individually are insufficient to uniquely identify the document, but the combination of the two or more document characteristics are sufficient to uniquely identify the document. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
- document”
Specification