Enrollment apparatus, system, and method

1. An apparatus for enrolling a package on a receiving surface comprising:

the receiving surface;

at least one weight sensor in communication with the receiving surface which generates a weight signal indicative of the weight of the package;

a video camera unit positioned to view the package, wherein the camera unit:

generates a video signal indicative of an image of the package on the receiving surface; and

a processor in communication with the at least one weight sensor and the one video camera unit, said processor comprising:

a weight module which produces, in response to the weight signal, weight data indicative of the weight of the package;

a dimension capture module which produces, in response to the video signal, dimension data indicative of the size of the package, wherein the dimension capture module comprises a tracking module which produces, in response to the video signal, tracking data indicative of the presence and location of the package on the receiving surface, wherein the tracking information comprises length and width dimension data indicative of the size of the package along two axes lying in a plane parallel to the receiving surface; and

a recognition module which produces, in response to the video signal, character data indicative of one or more characters present on the package;

wherein the video signal comprises a stream of two dimensional image frames.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tracking information further comprises height dimension data indicative of the size of the package along an axis transverse to the plane parallel to the receiving surface.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the camera unit comprises a stereoscopic imager.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the dimension capture module produces, in response to a stereoscopic video signal from the stereoscopic imager, the height dimension data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dimension capture module comprises an edge finder module which produces, in response to the video signal, edge data indicative of the location of one or more edges of the package.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the dimension capture module comprises at least one chosen from the group consisting of: a frame differencing module which generates two dimensional difference images from two or more two dimensional images of the video signal; and a color masking module configured to generate information indicative of the presence or location of the package based on color information from the video signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the dimension capture module comprises a Hough transformation module which applies the Hough transformation to one or more images from the video signal, and analyzes the transformed images to determine information indicative of the size or location of edges on the package.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the recognition module comprises:

an image processing module for processing one or more two dimensional images from the video signal; and

an analysis module which analyzes the one or more processed images to produce the character data indicative of one or more characters present on the package.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the image processing module comprises at least one chosen from the list consisting of:

a color manipulating module for modifying the color of the one or more images;

a linear filter module for applying a linear image filter to the one or more images; and

a morphological filter module for applying one or more morphological operations to the one or more images.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the image processing module comprises an image segmentation module for segmenting the one or more images into one or more regions of interest based on the content of the images.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the image processing module comprises an image rotation module which rotates at least a portion of the one or more images.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the image rotation module is in communication with the dimension capture module, and rotates at least a portion of the one or more images based on information from the dimension capture module indicative of the location of the package.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the camera unit comprises at least two cameras each generating a respective video signal, and wherein

the cameras have least partially overlapping fields of view, and

the processor comprises an image stitching module which, in response to the respective video signals, combines overlapping two dimensional images from the at least two cameras to produce a single image of the combined field of view of the cameras.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein substantially all locations on the receiving surface fall within the field of view of the camera unit.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the camera unit includes only a single camera.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising an integrated housing comprising the receiving surface and processor.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a support arm extending between a proximal end connected to the housing and a distal end positioned above the receiving surface, said distal end comprising at least one chosen from the group consisting of: a range finder, and the camera unit.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one weight sensor comprises: a load cell, a MEMs device, a piezoelectric device, a spring scale, and a balance scale.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a postal meter in communication with the processor.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the camera unit comprises an infrared camera.