Method and apparatus for sorting and acquiring image data for documents

An apparatus for processing documents contained within envelopes comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents and envelopes along a selected path of movement;
• B) an extractor along the path of movement for extracting the documents from the envelopes;
• C) a system controller for controlling operation of the apparatus wherein documents extracted from each envelope are identified as a separate distinct transaction;
• D) an image acquisition system along the path of movement for acquiring images of at least selected documents of each transaction;
• E) an image storage device for storing the images acquired from the extracted documents;
• and
• F) a document output for conveying selected transactions of documents to a selected output area.

An apparatus for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents in a serial flow along a selected path of movement;
• B) a document feeder located downstream of the serial flow along the selected path of movement for selectively feeding a batch identification piece into the serial flow of documents along the selected path of movement on the document transport for identifying a selected batch of documents;
• C) an image acquisition system along the path of movement for acquiring an image of the batch identification piece and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement;
• D) an image storage medium for storing images of the batch identification piece and the selected documents;
• and
• E) a system controller for controlling the operation of the apparatus wherein the system controller designates selected documents for grouping into the selected batch in response to the batch identification piece.

An apparatus for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) a document feeder for feeding a batch identification piece into the selected path of movement on the document transport for identifying a selected batch of documents;
• C) an image acquisition system along the path of movement for acquiring an image of the batch identification piece and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement, the image acquisition system including an orientation detector for determining the orientation of selected documents along the selected path of movement;
• D) an image storage medium for storing images of the batch identification piece and the selected documents;
• and
• E) a system controller for controlling the operation of the apparatus wherein the controller designates selected documents for grouping into the selected batch in response to the batch identification piece.

An apparatus for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) an orientation detector for determining the orientation of selected documents along the selected path of movement;
• C) a document orientor for selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• D) an image acquisition system along the path of movement for acquiring an image of selected documents conveyed along the path of movement;
• E) an image storage medium for storing images of the selected documents;
• and
• F) a system controller for controlling the operation of the apparatus wherein the system controller designates selected documents for grouping into a selected batch.

An apparatus for sorting a group of documents contained within envelopes into selected batches of documents comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents and envelopes containing documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) an envelope feeder for feeding envelopes containing documents onto the document transport;
• C) an extractor positioned along the path of movement for extracting the documents from the envelopes;
• D) a system controller for identifying the documents extracted from each respective envelope as a single transaction along the path of movement;
• E) an orientation detector for determining the orientation of documents along the path of movement;
• F) a document orientor for selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• G) a document feeder positioned downstream from the envelope feeder along the path of movement for selectively feeding batch identification pieces into the path of movement;
• H) an image acquisition device for acquiring an image of the batch identification pieces and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement to enable the system controller to assign documents of selected transactions into selected batches;
• I) an image storage medium for storing the acquired images of the batch identification pieces and the selected documents;
• and
• J) a document sorter for sorting documents of respective batches into selected output areas.

An apparatus for sorting a group of documents contained within envelopes into selected batches of documents comprising:

• A) a document transport for conveying documents and envelopes containing documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) an envelope feeder for feeding envelopes containing documents onto the document transport;
• C) an extractor positioned along the path of movement for extracting the documents from the envelopes;
• D) a system controller for identifying the documents extracted from each respective envelope as a single transaction along the path of movement;
• E) an orientation detector for determining the orientation of documents along the path of movement;
• F) a document orientor for selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• G) an image acquisition device for acquiring an image of selected documents conveyed along the path of movement to enable the system controller to assign selected transactions of documents into selected batches;
• H) an image storage medium for storing the acquired images of the selected documents;
• and
• I) a document sorter for sorting documents of respective batches into selected output areas.

A method for processing documents contained within envelopes comprising:

• A) conveying documents and envelopes along a selected path of movement;
• B) extracting the documents from the envelopes along the path of movement;
• C) acquiring images of at least selected documents extracted from the envelopes and conveyed along the path of movement;
• and
• D) storing images of the selected documents acquired by the image acquisition device in a non-volatile image storage medium.

A method for processing documents contained within envelopes comprising:

• A) conveying documents and envelopes along a selected path of movement;
• B) extracting the documents from the envelopes along the path of movement;
• C) identifying documents extracted from each envelope as a separate distinct transaction;
• D) acquiring images of at least selected documents of each transaction along the path of movement;
• E) storing the images acquired from the extracted documents;
• and
• F) conveying selected transactions of documents to a selected output area.

A method for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) conveying documents in a serial flow along a selected path of movement;
• B) selectively feeding a batch identification piece into the serial flow of documents along the selected path of movement for identifying a selected batch of documents;
• C) acquiring an image of the batch identification piece and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement;
• D) storing images of the batch identification piece and the selected documents;
• and
• E) designating selected documents for grouping into the selected batch in response to the batch identification piece.

A method for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) conveying documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) feeding a batch identification piece into the selected path of movement for identifying a selected batch of documents;
• C) acquiring an image of the batch identification piece and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement;
• D) determining the orientation of selected documents along the selected path of movement;
• E) storing images of the batch identification piece and the selected documents;
• and
• F) designating selected documents for grouping into the selected batch in response to the batch identification piece.

A method for sorting a group of documents into at least one selected batch of documents comprising:

• A) conveying documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) determining the orientation of selected documents along the selected path of movement;
• C) selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• D) acquiring an image of selected documents conveyed along the path of movement;
• E) storing images of the selected documents;
• and
• F) designating selected documents for grouping into a selected batch.

A method for sorting a group of documents contained within envelopes into selected batches of documents comprising:

• A) conveying documents and envelopes containing documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) feeding envelopes containing documents along the path of movement;
• C) extracting the documents from the envelopes along the path of movement;
• D) identifying the documents extracted from each respective envelope as a single transaction along the path of movement;
• E) determining the orientation of documents along the path of movement;
• F) selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• G) selectively feeding batch identification pieces into the path of movement;
• H) acquiring an image of the batch identification pieces and selected documents conveyed along the path of movement to assign documents of selected transactions into selected batches;
• I) storing the acquired images of the batch identification pieces and the selected documents;
• and
• J) sorting documents of respective batches into selected output areas.

A method for sorting a group of documents contained within envelopes into selected batches of documents comprising:

• A) conveying documents and envelopes containing documents along a selected path of movement;
• B) feeding envelopes containing documents along the selected path of movement;
• C) extracting the documents from the envelopes along the path of movement;
• D) identifying the documents extracted from each respective envelope as a single transaction along the path of movement;
• E) determining the orientation of documents along the path of movement;
• F) selectively changing the orientation of documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation along the path of movement;
• G) acquiring an image of selected documents conveyed along the path of movement to assign selected transactions of documents into selected batches;
• H) storing the acquired images of the selected documents;
• and
• I) sorting documents of respective batches into selected output areas.