Insertion machine with control signals stored on searchable medium

A method of operating an insertion machine system including an insertion machine of a type wherein a plurality of insert stations are positioned proximate conveyor means travelling therealong for feeding inserts onto said conveyor means, said method comprising the steps of:

• accessing a storage medium containing information indicative of customer data for a plurality of customers;
• acquiring a string of user-input characters representative of information to be sought on said storage medium;
• searching said storage medium for a match between a string of stored characters and said string of input characters, said string of user-input characters including in one of its positions a wild card character, said wild card character facilitating the determination of a match when like characters occur for respective positions in said string of stored characters and said string of input characters, said match being affirmatively determined regardless of the character occurring in the position in said string of stored characters corresponding to said wild card position;
• obtaining from said storage medium information indicative of customer data and insertion machine control signals relative to a customer, said information being associated on said storage medium with a string of matched stored characters;
• communicating said insertion machine control signals relative to said customer to at least one insert station;
• and,
• using said insertion machine control siqnals to control the selective feeding of inserts from said at least one insert station.

An insertion machine of a type wherein a plurality of insert stations are positioned proximate conveyor means travelling therealong for feeding inserts onto said conveyor means, said system comprising:

• means for accessing a storage medium containing information indicative of customer data for a plurality of customers;
• means for acquiring a string of user-input characters representative of information to be sought on said storage medium;
• means for searching said storage medium for a match between a string of stored characters and said string of input characters, said string of user-input characters including in one of its positions a wild card character, said wild card character facilitating the determination of a match when like characters occur for respective positions in said string of stored characters and said string of input characters, said match being affirmatively determined regardless of the character occurring in the position in said string of stored characters corresponding to said wild card position;
• means for obtaining from said storage medium information indicative of customer data and insertion machine control signals relative to a customer, said information being associated on said storage medium with a string of matched stored characters;
• means for communicating said insertion machine control signals relative to said customer to at least one insert station;
• and,
• means for using said insertion machine control signals to control the selective feeding of inserts from said at least one insert station.