Method and system for sequentially ordering objects using a single pass delivery point process

• US 20040251179A1
• Filed: 05/03/2004
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Hanson, Bruce H., Roth, J. Edward
• Application Number:
  US10/836,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20040251179A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 209/584
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/02 Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution

Abstract

A method and system using a single pass sequencer having a transport system for transporting the mail pieces to a transport system having a moveable carriage system and a stationary carriage system with a plurality of holders slidable between the moveable carriage system and the stationary carriage system. The plurality of holders hold a mail piece of the mail pieces received from the transport system. The mail pieces are sequenced as they are transported or moved to the stationary carriage from the moveable carriage.

Claims

1. A system for sorting objects, comprising:

at least one feeding station feeding non-sequenced objects to separate holders extending from a carriage movable in at least one direction;

a stationary carriage adjacent the moveable carriage; and

a mechanism for transporting the separate holders with non-sequenced objects therein to the stationary carriage in a delivery point sequence.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the separate holders include a releasable latch mechanism.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising an actuator for disconnecting the releasable latch mechanism at a predetermined time or location.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mechanism for attaching each of the separate holders to the moveable carriage and the stationary carriage.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the transporting mechanism transports each of the separate holders between the moveable carriage and the stationary carriage via sliding or rolling.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the moveable carriage is movable in two directions for loading of the non-sequenced objects and unloading of the objects, in the delivery point sequence.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the objects are mail pieces.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more packagers downstream from the moveable carriage, wherein the objects are unloaded from the separate holders on the moveable carriage, in the delivery sequence, to the one or more packagers.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a reading device and control, the reading device reading information on the objects and delivering the information to the control which assigns sort codes to the separate holders and positions on the stationary carriage based on the information, the control further instructing the movement of the moveable carriage, incrementally, and the mechanism for transporting the separate holders to the stationary carriage in the delivery sequence.

10. A method of sorting, comprising the steps of:

inducting objects separately into separate holders on a moveable carriage and assigning sorting criteria to the separate holders based on each of the objects within each of the separate holders;

moving the separate holders, in a delivery point sequence, from the moveable carriage to respective positions on a stationary carriage based on the sorting criteria, thereby placing the objects in a sequential order on the stationary carriage;

moving each of the separate holders from the stationary carriage to the moveable carriage, incrementally or simultaneously and in the sequential order as on the stationary carriage; and

unloading the sequenced objects from each of the separate holders on the moveable carriage.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of instructing the moveable carriage to incrementally rotate in order to align each of the separate holders with corresponding empty positions on the stationary carriage based on the sorting criteria of the objects and the corresponding empty positions to thereby place the objects in the separate holders in the sequential order on the stationary carriage.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the objects are mail pieces.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising placing a packager or packagers at a predetermined position with respect to the moveable carriage such that the objects are unloaded from each of the separate holders on the moveable carriage in the sequential order into the packager or packagers.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising loading the objects into the separate holders on the moveable carriage concurrently with the unloading of the objects that are in the sequential order.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the sorting criteria step includes assigning codes to the separate holders and positions on the stationary carriage based on delivery information associated with the objects.

16. A method of sequencing objects, comprising:

placing non-sequenced mail pieces in separate holders extending from a first carriage;

assigning codes to the separate holders and positions on a second carriage based on information associated with the non-sequenced mail pieces;

aligning the separate holders on the first carriage with corresponding positions on the second carriage based on the assigned codes; and

moving in a sequential order the separate holders from the first carriage to the second carriage, upon alignment, into a delivery point sequence on the second carriage;

moving the separate holders from the second carriage to the first carriage, in a same sequence as presented on the second carriage.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mail pieces within the separate holders are incrementally moved to be placed in sequence on the stationary carriage.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the first carriage incrementally moves prior to moving the separate holders from the first carriage to the second carriage into the delivery point sequence,

the first carriage remains stationary during the moving of the separate holders from the first carriage to the second carriage, and

the first carriage remains stationary during the moving of the separate holders from the second carriage to the first carriage.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first carriage remains stationary when the holders are moved in the same sequence from the second carriage to the first carriage.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the assigning step is performed previous to the alignment step.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the aligning step includes moving at least one of the separate holders on the first carriage to a position in alignment with an empty position on the second carriage prior to moving the first carriage.