Apparatus for intercepting and forwarding incorrectly addressed postal mail

An item processing system, comprising:

• means for reading a delivery destination marking from an item from a stream of items;
• means for comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations;
• means responsive to the comparison for identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• means for generating a item forwarding identification number for the identified incorrectly marked item;
• means for applying the item forwarding identification number to the identified incorrectly marked item;
• means for storing data information related to the delivery destination marking for the identified incorrectly marked item in a memory at an address identified with the item forwarding identification number;
• and
• means for sorting the item from the stream of items in accordance with the item forwarding identification number to divert the identified incorrectly marked item to a designated area.

An item processing system, comprising:

• means for scanning an item to capture a video image of a delivery destination marking;
• means for processing the video image to output the delivery destination marking;
• means for comparing the output delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations, the list further including a forwarding delivery destination corresponding to each incorrect delivery destination;
• means responsive to the comparison for identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• means for retrieving a forwarding delivery destination from the list for the incorrectly marked item;
• and
• means for applying the forwarding delivery destination to the incorrectly marked item to correct the delivery destination marking.

An item processing system, comprising:

• means for reading a delivery destination marking from an item;
• means for generating a unique item identification number for the item;
• means for applying the item identification number to the item;
• means for comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations;
• means responsive to the comparison for storing in a memory, at an address identified with the item identification number, data information related to the delivery destination marking for the item and a notation that the item is incorrectly marked when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• means for scanning the item to read the item identification number;
• means for retrieving according to the read item identification number any notation stored in memory for the item;
• means for processing a retrieved notation for identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item.

An item processing system, comprising:

• means for reading a delivery destination marking from an item;
• means for generating a unique item identification number for the item;
• means for applying the item identification number to the item;
• means for comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations, the list further including a forwarding delivery destination corresponding to each incorrect delivery destination;
• means responsive to the comparison for storing in a memory at an address identified with the item identification number a notation that the item is incorrectly marked and the corresponding forwarding delivery destination when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• means for scanning the item to read the item identification number;
• means for retrieving according to the read item identification number a notation stored in memory identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item along with a forwarding delivery destination for the incorrectly marked item;
• and
• means for applying the forwarding delivery destination to the incorrectly marked item to correct the delivery destination marking.

A method for processing a mailpiece, comprising the steps of:

• scanning the mailpiece to capture a video image of the destination address and addressee name;
• processing the video image to output the destination address and addressee name;
• comparing the scanned destination address and addressee name to a list of incorrect destination addresses and addressee names;
• identifying the mailpiece as an incorrectly addressed mailpiece when the destination address and addressee name on the mailpiece match an incorrect destination address and addressee name on the list;
• and
• applying an identified forwarding address to correct the destination address on the incorrectly addressed mailpiece.

A method for processing an item, comprising the steps of:

• reading a delivery destination marking from an item;
• comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations;
• identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• generating a unique item forwarding identification number for the identified incorrectly marked item;
• applying the item forwarding identification number to the identified incorrectly marked item;
• storing data information related to the delivery destination marking for the identified incorrectly marked item in a memory at an address identified with the item forwarding identification number;
• and
• sorting the item in accordance with the item forwarding identification number to divert the identified incorrectly marked item to a designated area.

A method for processing an item, comprising the steps of:

• scanning an item to capture a video image of a delivery destination marking;
• processing the video image to output the delivery destination marking;
• comparing the output delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations, the list further including a forwarding delivery destination corresponding to each incorrect delivery destination;
• identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination marking on the list;
• retrieving a forwarding delivery destination from the list for the incorrectly marked item;
• and
• applying the forwarding delivery destination to the incorrectly marked item to correct the delivery destination marking.

A method for processing an item, comprising the steps of:

• reading a delivery destination marking from an item;
• generating a unique item identification number for the item;
• applying the item identification number to the item;
• comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations;
• storing in a memory, at an address identified with the item identification number, data information related to the delivery destination marking for the item and a notation that the item is incorrectly marked when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• scanning the item to read the item identification number;
• retrieving according to the read item identification number any notation stored in memory for the item;
• processing a retrieved notation to identify the item as an incorrectly marked item.

A method for processing an item, comprising:

• reading a delivery destination marking from an item;
• generating a unique item identification number for the item;
• applying the item identification number to the item;
• comparing the read delivery destination marking to a list of incorrect delivery destinations, the list further including a forwarding delivery destination corresponding to each incorrect delivery destination;
• storing in a memory, at an address identified with the item identification number, a notation that the item is incorrectly marked and the corresponding forwarding delivery destination marking when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination marking on the list;
• scanning the item to read the item identification number;
• retrieving according to the read item identification number a notation stored in memory identifying the item as an incorrectly marked item along with a forwarding delivery destination marking for the incorrectly marked item;
• and
• applying the forwarding delivery destination marking to the incorrectly marked item to correct the delivery destination marking.

An item processing system, comprising:

• an optical scanner for reading delivery destination markings from each item in a substantially continuous stream of items;
• means for comparing the read delivery destination markings to a list of incorrect delivery destinations;
• means responsive to the comparison for identifying an item as an incorrectly marked item when the delivery destination marking on the item matches an incorrect delivery destination on the list;
• and
• means for sorting the item from the stream of items so that the incorrectly marked item will be diverted to a designated area.

A mailpiece processing system, comprising:

• means for reading a destination address and an addressee name from a mailpiece;
• means for comparing the read destination address and addressee name to a list of incorrect destination addresses and addressee names;
• means responsive to the comparison for identifying an incorrectly addressed mailpiece when the destination address and addressee name on the mailpiece match an incorrect destination address and addressee name on the list;
• means for generating a unique mailpiece identification code for the incorrectly addressed mailpiece;
• means for applying the mailpiece identification code to the identified incorrectly addressed mailpiece;
• and
• means for storing data related to the incorrectly addressed mailpiece in a memory at an address identified with the mailpiece identification code.

A method for processing a mailpiece, comprising the steps of:

• reading a destination address and an addressee name from a mailpiece;
• comparing the read destination address and addressee name to a list of incorrect destination addresses and addressee names;
• identifying the mailpiece as an incorrectly addressed mailpiece when the destination address and addressee name on the mailpiece match an incorrect destination address and addressee name on the list;
• generating a unique mailpiece identification number for the incorrectly addressed mailpiece;
• applying the mailpiece identification number to the identified incorrectly addressed mailpiece;
• and
• storing data information relating to the incorrectly addressed mailpiece in a memory at an addressed identified with the mailpiece identification number.