Patent Document ID: 8428303
Application ID: 12875943
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A postal indicium detection method comprising: detecting whether or not one of a first face and a second face of a sheet corresponds to a picture card specific face; and detecting a character direction of the second face based on a first detection result indicating that the first face corresponds to the picture card specific face, estimating a first or second postal indicium detection target area of the second face based on a character direction detection successful result of the second face, and detecting the postal indicium candidate from the first or second postal indicium detection target area of the second face; detecting the character direction of the second face based on the first detection result, estimating the first and second postal indicium detection target areas of the second face based on a character direction detection error result of the second face, and detecting the postal indicium candidate from the first and second postal indicium detection target areas of the second face; detecting a character direction of the first face based on the second detection result indicating that the second face corresponds to the picture card specific face, estimating a third or fourth postal indicium detection target area of the first face based on a character direction detection successful result of the first face, and detecting the postal indicium candidate from the third or fourth postal indicium detection target area of the first face; and detecting the character direction of the first face based on the second detection result, estimating the third and fourth postal indicium detection target areas of the first face based on a character direction detection error result of the first face, and detecting the postal indicium candidate from the third and fourth postal indicium detection target area of the first face.