Modular mail processing method and control system

• US 5,363,967 A
• Filed: 09/23/1993
• Issued: 11/15/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Transportation Investor Services Corporation
• Original Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Brookfield Asset Management Incorporated)
• Inventors: Deemer, Diane L., Mullenix, James D., San Miguel, Frank J., Wakamiya, Stanley K., Tilles, David J., Bialik, David, Westerdale, Mark W., Grapes, Thomas F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bollinger, David H.
• Application Number:
  US08/126,137
• Time in Patent Office: 418 Days
• Field of Search: 209/584, 209/539, 209/546, 209/551, 209/900, 209/566, 209/555, 209/556, 209/603, 209/604, 209/601, 209/586, 198/460, 198/464.4, 198/502.2, 271/202, 271/263, 271/270, 271/259, 271/260
• US Class Current: 209/539
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/02 Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/082 In which the objects are carried by transport holders and the transport holders form part of the conveyor belts conveyors with carriers B65G47/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/90 Sorting flat-type mail

Abstract

A modular mail processing method and control system that includes a plurality of induction transport modules and a stacker/transport module. The system maintains a real time statistics concerning the mail flowing through the system. The modularity of the system increases its flexibility in adapting to sorting either incoming or outgoing mail. In addition, a variety of readers and printers can be employed in the system to meet the needs of a particular customer.

Claims

1. A method of processing pieces of mail in a system including a stacker module having a number of carriers and bins, a plurality of serially connected induction transfer modules, including a feeder module, that are positioned to transport the pieces of mail from the feeder module to the stacker module, the method comprising the sequentially performes steps of:

(a) monitoring the position of each carrier;

(b) pre-selecting an empty carrier;

(c) feeding a piece of mail from the feeder module to another induction transfer module at a desired time based on the position of the pre-selected carrier;

(d) tracking the position of the piece of mail through the induction transfer modules;

(e) obtaining address information from the piece of mail;

(f) selecting a bin for the piece of mail based on said address information;

(g) transferring the piece of mail from a last induction transfer module to the pre-selected carrier; and

(h) diverting the piece of mail from the pre-elected carrier to the selected bin.

2. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(i) adjusting the position of the piece of mail within an induction transfer module based on the position of the selected carrier.

3. A method according to claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

(j) identifying the piece of mail including its thickness;

(k) detecting a position error of the piece of mail and an induction transfer module in which the position error occurred, based on said tracking;

(l) storing the identification of the piece of mail in response to detecting the position error.

4. A method according to claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

(m) storing the identification of the piece of mail based on said diverting;

(n) repeating steps (a)-(m) to process the pieces of mail.

5. A method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of:

(o) displaying a summary of the identifications of each of the pieces of mail processed.

6. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:

varying the rate at which the pieces of mail flow through the induction transfer modules.

7. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:

accumulating, storing and displaying respective numbers of pieces of mail diverted to corresponding bins.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said address information consists of a mail stop.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said address information consists of an addressee'"'"'s name.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein said address information consists of an addressee'"'"'s name and mail stop.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the pieces of mail are pieces of internal mail received from an internal source and said bins correspond to mail stops.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the pieces of mail are pieces of incoming mail received from an external source and said bins correspond to mail stops.

13. A method of processing pieces of mail in a system including a stacker module having a number of carriers and bins, a plurality of serially connected induction transfer modules, including a feeder module, that are positioned to transport the pieces of mail from the feeder module to the stacker module, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) monitoring the position of each carrier;

(b) selecting an empty carrier;

(c) feeding a piece of mail from the feeder module to another induction transfer module at a desired time based on the position of the selected carrier;

(d) tracking the position of the piece of mail through the induction transfer modules;

(e) obtaining address information from the piece of mail;

(f) selecting a bin for the piece of mail based on said address information;

(g) transferring the piece of mail from a last induction transfer module to the selected carrier;

(h) diverting the piece of mail from the selected carrier to the selected bin;

(i) monitoring the thickness of each piece of mail diverted to the selected bin; and

(j) determining when the selected bin needs to be replaced based on the monitoring of the thickness.

14. A method of processing pieces of mail in a system including a stacker module having a number of carriers and bins, a plurality of serially connected induction transfer modules, including a feeder module, that are positioned to transport the pieces of mail from the feeder module to the stacker module, wherein the system further includes a series of sensor pairs located amongst the plurality of induction transfer modules, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) monitoring the position of each carrier;

(b) selecting an empty carrier;

(c) feeding a piece of mail from the feeder module to another induction transfer module at a desired time based on the position of the selected carrier;

(d) tracking the position of the piece of mail through the induction transfer modules;

(e) obtaining address information from the piece of mail;

(f) selecting a bin for the piece of mail based on said address information;

(g) adjusting the position of piece of mail within an induction transfer module based on the position of the selected carrier;

(h) monitoring the piece of mail arriving at and leaving each of the sensor pairs;

(i) detecting a position error in response to another piece of mail arriving at a sensor pair before the piece of mail leaves the sensor pair;

(j) transferring the piece of mail from a last induction transfer module to the selected carrier; and

(k) diverting the piece of mail from the selected carrier to the selected bin.

15. A modular mail processing control system for controlling the flow of mail through a series of induction transfer modules to a stacker/transport module that includes a number of carriers and bins, said system comprising:

feeder means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for injecting a piece of mail into another induction transfer module at a desired time based on a pro-selected carrier being at a given position, and for identifying the piece of mail;

encoder means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for obtaining address information from the piece of mail injected by said feeder means and for identifying a bin for the piece of mail;

tracking means, located in each of the induction transfer modules, for tracking the position of the piece of mail as it moves through the induction transfer modules, and in response to a position error stopping the series of induction transfer modules, storing the identification of at least the piece of mail involved in the position error and storing the position of the induction transfer modules and the stacker/transport module;

inserter means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for inserting the piece of mail into the pre-selected carrier when the pre-selected carrier arrives at a desired location; and

means for diverting the piece of mail from the carrier to the identified bin.

16. A modular mail processing control system according to claim 15, further comprising:

catch-up means for adjusting the position of the piece of mail within one of the induction transfer modules and in accordance with a desired position of the piece of mail.

17. A modular mail processing control system according to claim 15, wherein the encoder means includes:

an optical character reader;

means for identifying the bin in accordance with a predetermined sort plan; and

means for verifying the obtained address information.

18. A modular mail processing control system according to claim 15, further comprising:

means for storing a plurality of sort plans;

means for selecting a sort plan; and

wherein the encoder means includes;

an optical character reader;

means for identifying the bin in accordance with said selected sort plan; and

means for verifying said obtained address information.

19. A modular mail processing control system according to claim 18, wherein said encoder means further includes:

means for identifying a misread piece of mail, for storing the identification of the misread piece of mail, and for identifying a predetermined bin for the misread piece of mail.

20. A module mail processing control system according to claim 17, further comprising:

means for accumulating, storing and displaying respective numbers of pieces of mail diverted to corresponding bins.

21. A modular mail processing control system according to claim 15 further comprising:

means for varying the rate at which the pieces of mail flow through the series of induction transfer modules.

22. A modular mail processing control system for controlling the flow of mail through a series of induction transfer modules to a stacker/transport module that includes a number of carriers and bins, said system comprising:

feeder means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for injecting a piece of mail into another induction transfer module at a desired time based on a selected carrier being at a given position, and for identifying the piece of mail;

encoder means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for obtaining address information from the piece of mail and for identifying a bin for the piece of mail;

tracking means, located in each of the induction transfer modules, for tracking the position of the piece of mail as it moves through the induction transfer modules, and in response to a position error stopping the series of induction transfer modules, storing the identification of at least the piece of mail involved in the position error and storing the position of the induction transfer modules and the stacker/transport module;

inserter means, located in one of the induction transfer modules, for inserting the piece of mail into the selected carrier when the selected carrier arrives at a desired location; and

means for diverting the piece of mail from the carrier to the identified bin, wherein the tracking means includes;

a series of sensor pairs located amongst the induction transfer modules for sensing the presence of the pieces of mail;

means for identifying the piece of mail arriving at and leaving each of the sensor pairs; and

means for detecting a position error in response to another piece of mail arriving at a sensor pair before the piece of mail leaves the sensor pair.