Validation of mailpiece composition completeness

A system for validating the completeness of a document collation having a first page and a last page, the system comprising:

• a scanner for scanning document pages to obtain information from visible markings on the document concerning the document collation;
• a processor connected to the scanner and operable to process the information obtained from the visible markings to encode information for printing on the document collation in a magnetic ink;
• a magnetic ink printer connected to the processor and operable to print encoded information on the document collation;
• insertion processing equipment connected to receive the document collation with the encoded printed information for inserting the document collation with the encoded printed information into an envelope;
• a magnetic ink scanner connected to receive and operable to scan envelopes having respective inserted document collations with the encoded printed information to retrieve the encoded information printed on each document collation;
• and,
• a scan decode processor connected to the magnetic ink scanner and operable to decode the encoded information to determine if the document collation within the envelope contains a complete document collation.

A method for validating the completeness of a document collation having a first page and a last page, the method comprising:

• scanning document pages to obtain information from visible markings on the document concerning the document collation;
• processing the information obtained from the visible markings using a processor connected to the scanner to encode information for printing on the document collation in a magnetic ink;
• printing encoded information on the document collation using a magnetic ink printer connected to the processor;
• receiving the document collation with the encoded printed information in insertion processing equipment for inserting the document collation with the encoded printed information into an envelope;
• scanning envelopes having respective inserted document collations with the encoded printed information using a magnetic ink scanner to retrieve the encoded information printed on each document collation;
• and,
• decoding the encoded information using a scan decode processor connected to the magnetic ink scanner to determine if the document collation within the envelope contains a complete document collation.