Multi-machine mail sorting system

• US 20050247606A1
• Filed: 05/10/2004
• Published: 11/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Logistics LLC (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Norris, Michael O., Redford, Dale E., Worth, Floyd W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,728,245 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 209/584
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/90 Sorting flat-type mail

Abstract

A sorting system using multiple sorters operating as part of a single, multi-sorting machine unified system. The system according to the invention includes a plurality of input sections capable of operating in parallel, each including a feeder that takes in mail pieces one at a time and a scanner that scans each mail piece for destination indicia, a plurality of stackers each comprising at least one row of pockets, a control system that determines a destination pocket in the stacker for each mail piece based on a predetermined sort scheme and the destination indicia, and a routing system effective to route mail in accordance with the sort scheme from any input section to any pocket of a stacker.

Claims

1. A sorting system for postal mail, comprising:

a plurality of input sections capable of operating in parallel, each including a feeder that takes in mail pieces one at a time and a scanner that scans each mail piece for destination indicia;

a plurality of stackers each comprising at least one row of pockets;

a control system that determines a destination pocket in the stacker for each mail piece based on a predetermined sort scheme and the destination indicia read by the scanners of the input sections; and

a routing system effective to route mail in accordance with the sort scheme from any input section to any pocket of a stacker.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the input section comprises a number N of OSS machines and a number N of DIOSS machines, and there are a number N of stackers.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each stacker section comprises a plurality of rows of pockets at different vertical elevations, and the routing system as operated by the control system is configured to route mail in accordance with the sort scheme from any input section to any pocket in any row of a stacker.

4. The system of claim 1, where the routing system includes belt conveyors, diverts, and merges.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein N=4.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the destination indicia comprise postal bar codes.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the destination indicia further comprise mail piece identification codes having a destination associated therewith in the control system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the each stacker comprises 2 or more rows of pockets, and the routing system includes conveyors aligned with each row.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the each stacker comprises four rows of pockets at different vertical heights.

10. A method for sorting postal mail, using a sorting system comprising a plurality of input sections capable of operating in parallel, each including a feeder that takes in mail pieces one at a time and a scanner that scans each mail piece for destination indicia, a plurality of stackers each comprising a row of pockets, a control system that determines a destination pocket in the stacker for each mail piece based on a predetermined sort scheme and the destination indicia read by the scanners of the input sections, and a routing system effective to route mail in accordance with the sort scheme from any input section to any pocket of a stacker, comprising:

feeding a series of mail pieces one at a time into each input section;

scanning each mail piece with the scanner of the associated input section to read destination indicia thereon;

further determining if each scanned mail piece has a facing identification marking thereon;

routing mail having a facing identification marking to one or more predesignated pockets for such facing identification marking mail; and

routing non-facing identification marking mail pieces through the routing system based on the destination indicia.