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US 9,156,063 B2Granted
Method and system for presort break sorting of mailpieces
AssigneeBell & Howell Company
InventorsBrian Bowers, Steven Seburn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present subject matter relates to techniques and equipment for processing mailpieces. The mailpieces have been manufacture on a mailpiece inserter or directly from a printer The manufactured mailpieces are processed on a mail sorter to produce trays of mail that are grouped by zone improvement program. The mailpieces are sorted without a predefined sort scheme loaded on the mail sorter.
Claims27
A method for processing a plurality of mailpieces, the method comprising steps of:
- acquiring mailpiece documentation data for the plurality of mailpieces manufactured on mailpiece production equipment, wherein the acquired mailpiece documentation data identifies the mailpieces in a presort break sequence order and indicates which mailpiece is assigned to a given tray based a unique mailpiece ID printed on the mailpiece;
- sorting and tracking the plurality of mailpieces on the mailpiece sorter without a predefined sorting scheme to one or more bins associated with a mailpiece tray grouping based on the acquired mailpiece documentation data;
- during the sorting step, as mailpieces enter the sorter, dynamically generating a sort scheme by dynamically allocating the mailpieces that belong to the same mailpiece tray grouping to a bin;
- dynamically adding the bin allocation and mailpiece tray grouping to the sort scheme;
- and
- adding an additional bin allocation and mailpiece tray grouping to the sort scheme when the mailpiece entering the sorter, based on the mailpiece unique ID and tray grouping association, belongs to a tray grouping that does not already exist in the dynamic sort scheme.
3 more elements
A system for processing a plurality of mailpieces, the system comprising:
- a sorter configured to receive the plurality of mailpieces manufactured in presort break sequence order, alphabetical order or a combination thereof;
- a processor, associated with the sorter, configured to perform steps of:
- acquiring mailpiece documentation data for the plurality of mailpieces manufactured on mailpiece production equipment, wherein the acquired mailpiece documentation data identifies the mailpieces in a presort break sequence order and indicates which mailpiece is assigned to a given tray based on a unique mailpiece ID printed on the mailpiece;
- sorting and tracking the plurality of mailpieces on the mailpiece sorter without a predefined sorting scheme to one or more bins associated with a mailpiece tray grouping based on the acquired mailpiece documentation data;
- during the sorting step, as mailpieces enter the sorter, dynamically generating a sort scheme by dynamically allocating the mailpieces that belong to the same mailpiece tray grouping to a bin;
- dynamically adding the bin allocation and mailpiece tray grouping to the sort scheme;
- and
- adding an additional bin allocation and mailpiece tray grouping to the sort scheme when the mailpiece entering the sorter, based on the mailpiece unique ID and tray grouping association, belongs to a tray grouping that does not already exist in the dynamic sort scheme.
5 more elements
A method for processing a plurality of mailpieces, the method comprising steps of:
- acquiring mailpiece documentation data for the plurality of mailpieces manufactured on mailpiece production equipment, wherein the acquired mailpiece documentation data identifies the mailpieces in a presort break sequence order and indicates which mailpiece is assigned to a given tray;
- sorting and tracking the plurality of mailpieces on the mailpiece sorter without a predefined sorting scheme to one or more bins associated with a mailpiece tray grouping based on the acquired mailpiece documentation data;
- during the sorting step, dynamically generating a sorting scheme and dynamically allocating the mailpieces to the one or more bins based on the tray assignment of each mailpiece entering the mailpiece sorter;
- and upon confirmation that all mailpieces have been allocated to a bin, setting a tray validation flag and generating a bin sweep notification.
1 more element
A system for processing a plurality of mailpieces, the system comprising:
- a sorter configured to receive the plurality of mailpieces manufactured in presort break sequence order, alphabetical order or a combination thereof;
- a processor, associated with the sorter, configured to perform steps of:
- acquiring mailpiece documentation data for the plurality of mailpieces manufactured on mailpiece production equipment, wherein the acquired mailpiece documentation data identifies the mailpieces in a presort break sequence order and indicates which mailpiece is assigned to a given tray;
- sorting and tracking the plurality of mailpieces on the mailpiece sorter without a predefined sorting scheme to one or more bins associated with a mailpiece tray grouping based on the acquired mailpiece documentation data;
- during the sorting step, dynamically generating a sorting scheme and dynamically allocating the mailpieces to the one or more bins based on the tray assignment of each mailpiece entering the mailpiece sorter;
- and
- wherein the processor is configured to set a tray validation flag and generate a bin sweep notification upon confirmation that all mailpieces have been allocated to a bin.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.