| 摘要 |
<p>A means or system (10) for handling information, for use in a scheme in which vouchers each having a determinable value issued by issuers to users who give them up to providers for value, each voucher having associated with it information identifying the relevant issuer and provider, or a like scheme, comprises means (14, 22) adapted for determining for each voucher its value, which for at least some of the vouchers requires information external to the voucher, associating with said value for each voucher the identities of the parties being the relevant issuer and provider, and producing at least one total of the values of the vouchers relevant to each said party. Subdivided totals of various kinds can be provided, possibly associating with the value for each voucher a time, defining non-overlapping time intervals during which said times occur, and producing said totals separately in respect of each time interval. The vouchers may be airline ticket vouchers. Means (38) are adapted for obtaining from electronic images of the vouchers information for use in determining the said values. Output unit (24) produces a total of the values of the vouchers relevant to a said issuer, a list of identities of such vouchers and a record of the corresponding electronic images. Reader (38) is adapted for handwriting recognition and uses various consistency checks. In particular it uses a hierarchical method of recognition including a prerecognition step with the aid of a method of feature detection which employs Simon neighbours, a first recognition step with the aid of robust features, a second recognition step with the aid of a limited lexicon and a third recognition step with the aid of a library of relational information. For the recognition and evaluation there are used substantially the tables and rules of the IATA Ticketing Handbook, Airline Coding Directory and Prorate Factor Manual. A probability of correct recognition is assigned to information from a voucher, which is rejected if the probability is less than a predetermined value and human intervention is requested in respect of a rejected voucher. Appropriate debit and/or credit instructions may be issued by means (24) in accordance with the totals. Input terminals (12) may be located at airport boarding gates and connected to (or their information transmitted to) a local area network and a global network.</p> |
