# US 10,321,000 B2 · Methods and systems for automatically sorting documents using a multi-function device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,321,000 B2 - Document ID: US10321000B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/696,218 - Filed: 2017-09-06 - Published: 2019-03-07 - Granted: 2019-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2017-09-06 - Assignees: Xerox Corporation - Applicants: Xerox Corporation - Inventors: Ashok Raj Anbalagan; Angom Pradeep Master - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10321000B2 ## CPC - H04N 1/00641: {Sorting, reordering or inverting (postal sorting or sorting individual articles B07C)} - G06V 30/412: Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables - G06V 30/413: Classification of content, e.g. text, photographs or tables - G06V 30/416: Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors - G06V 30/418: Document matching, e.g. of document images - H04N 1/00331: {with an apparatus performing optical character recognition (character recognition G06V30/10)} - H04N 1/00588: {to the scanning position (H04N1/00572, H04N1/00594 take precedence)} - H04N 1/00803: {Presence or absence of information} - G06V 30/10: Character recognition - H04N 2201/0094: Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING ## Abstract The disclosure discloses methods and systems for automatically sorting a plurality of pages of a document by a multi-function device. The device comprises a document feeder, a document swapper and a document collector. The multi-function device receives a request to sort the plurality of pages in accordance with at least one sorting parameter. The multi-function device scans the pages and identifies one or more character fields for each of the scanned pages and executes a plurality of page swap cycles between the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector until each of the scanned pages are sorted based on the at least one sorting parameter. The sorting is performed by comparing the character fields for each of the scanned pages, a first subset of scanned pages are placed in the document swapper and a second subset is placed in the document collector in each page swap cycle. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method for automatically sorting a plurality of pages of a document, the method being performed by a multi-function device, the multi-function device comprising a document feeder, a document swapper and a document collector, the method comprising: receiving, at the multi-function device, a user request to sort the plurality of pages of the document, the document being placed by a user in the document feeder, wherein the user request comprises at least one sorting parameter; scanning, by the multi-function device, the plurality of pages placed in the document feeder; identifying, by the multi-function device, one or more character fields corresponding to the at least one sorting parameter in each of the scanned pages, the identification being performed by at least one of an optical character recognition technique and a form awareness technique; storing, by the multi-function device, the one or more character fields corresponding to each of the scanned pages; executing, by the multi-function device, a plurality of page swap cycles between the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector, wherein the page swap cycles are executed by comparing the one or more character fields of each of the scanned pages, wherein the execution comprises: placing N pages from the scanned pages in the document feeder to the document swapper; placing M pages from the scanned pages in the document feeder to the document collector; comparing the one or more character fields of the N pages in the document swapper with the one or more character fields of the M pages in document collector, for each swap cycle; placing the N pages and the M pages back to the document feeder in an identified sequence corresponding to the at least one sorting parameter; and repeating the page swap cycles until each of the scanned pages are sorted in the document feeder based on the at least one sorting parameter. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more character fields comprise at least one of a numeric value, an alphanumeric string, a code, a string, and one or more language identifiers. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sorting parameter comprises at least one of a page number, a date, a language, a string, and a code. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identified sequence is dynamically determined by one or more software instructions executed on the multi-function device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the form awareness technique comprises examining a page layout of each of the scanned pages using one or more templates. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein N=1 and N is incremented by one for each swap cycle. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein M=1 for each swap cycle. ### Claim 8 A system for automatically sorting a plurality of pages of a document by a multi-function device, an assembly of the multi-function device comprising a document feeder, a document collector and an additional document swapper, the system comprising: a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable to perform automatically sorting of a plurality of pages of a document by a multi-function device; a processor coupled to the non-transitory memory to execute the instructions stored therein; a user interface module, coupled to the processor, to receive a user request to sort the plurality of pages of the document, the document being placed by a user in the document feeder, wherein the user request comprises at least one sorting parameter; a scan module, coupled to the processor, to scan the plurality of pages placed in the document feeder; a document pre-processing module, coupled to the processor, to identify one or more character fields corresponding to the at least one sorting parameter in each of the scanned pages, the identification being performed by at least one of an optical character recognition technique and a form awareness technique; a sorting engine, coupled to the processor, to execute a plurality of page swap cycles between the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector until each of the scanned pages are sorted based on the at least one sorting parameter, wherein a bi-directional flow of the plurality of pages is facilitated between each of the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector; and a memory module, coupled to the processor, to store the one or more character fields corresponding to each of the scanned pages. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the document pre-processing module further comprises an optical character recogniser and a form awareness module. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the sorting engine executes one or more software instructions for the plurality of swap cycles. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more software instructions are stored in the memory module. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more software instructions are received from a server. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the user request further comprises one or more templates. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector are joined using one or more motor-wheel assembly. ### Claim 15 A system for automatically sorting a plurality of pages of a document by a multi-function device, an assembly of the multi-function device comprising a document feeder, a document collector and an additional document swapper, the system comprising: a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable to perform automatically sorting of a plurality of pages of a document by a multi-function device; a processor coupled to the non-transitory memory to execute the instructions stored therein; a user interface module, coupled to the processor, to receive a user request to sort the plurality of pages of the document, the document being placed by a user in the document feeder, wherein the user request comprises at least one sorting parameter; a scan module, coupled to the processor, to scan the plurality of pages placed in the document feeder; a document pre-processing module, coupled to the processor, to identify one or more character fields corresponding to the at least one sorting parameter in each of the scanned pages, the identification being performed by at least one of an optical character recognition technique and a form awareness technique; a memory module, coupled to the processor, to store the one or more character fields corresponding to each of the scanned pages; and a sorting engine, coupled to the processor, to execute a plurality of page swap cycles between the document feeder, the document swapper, and the document collector, wherein the page swap cycles are executed by comparing the one or more character fields of each of the scanned pages, wherein the execution comprises: placing N pages from the scanned pages in the document feeder to the document swapper; placing M pages from the scanned pages in the document feeder to the document collector; comparing the one or more character fields of the N pages in the document swapper with the one or more character fields of the M pages in document collector, for each swap cycle; placing the N pages and the M pages back to the document feeder in an identified sequence corresponding to the at least one sorting parameter; and repeating the page swap cycles until each of the scanned pages are sorted in the document feeder based on the at least one sorting parameter.