Operations for product processing
First Claim
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1. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
- grouping product with one or more common attributes into a first group;
sorting the product of the first group to a first level sort;
injecting ungrouped product from a plurality of sort groups into the first group;
sequencing the sorted product and any of the ungrouped product having the one or more common attributes as the sorted; and
cascading any ungrouped product devoid of the one or more common attributes to another sorting and sequencing operation.
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Abstract
An operational process for product distribution includes grouping product into groups when the product is in a first sort level and sorting the groups of product, in a first pass operation, to a second level sort. The method further includes sequencing the second level sort product including late arriving product, in a second pass operation, into a sequence of product. A machine readable code can also be used to implement the functionality of the operational process.
18 Citations
47 Claims
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1. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
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grouping product with one or more common attributes into a first group; sorting the product of the first group to a first level sort; injecting ungrouped product from a plurality of sort groups into the first group; sequencing the sorted product and any of the ungrouped product having the one or more common attributes as the sorted; and cascading any ungrouped product devoid of the one or more common attributes to another sorting and sequencing operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 45)
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9. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
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grouping product with one or more common attributes into a first group; sorting the product of the first group to a first level sort; injecting ungrouped product from a plurality of sort groups into the first group; sequencing the sorted product and any of the ungrouped product having the one or more common attributes as the sorted product, wherein the grouping step further includes grouping the product into a second group, where the product in the second group have a common product attribute; and the sequencing step includes sequencing the first group of product and the second group of product in separate stages, and the sequencing step further comprises; sequencing the ungrouped product and the first group of product all having the one or more common attributes in a first stage of the separate stages; cascading remaining ungrouped product devoid of the one or more common attributes to a second stage of the separate stages; and sequencing (i) the remaining ungroup product, (ii) ungrouped product arriving after the first stage and (iii) product in the second group, all having a common attribute, in the second stage. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
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grouping product with one or more common attributes into a first group; sorting the product of the first group to a first level sort; injecting ungrouped product from a plurality of sort groups into the first group; sequencing the sorted product and any of the ungrouped product having the one or more common attributes as the sorted product, wherein; the grouping step further includes grouping the product into a second group and a third group based on a common product attribute; and the sequencing step includes; (i) sequencing the first group of product and the ungrouped product associated with the first group in a first sequencing operation, cascading the product in the second group and the ungrouped product associated with the second group to a second sequencing operation, and cascading the product in the third group and the ungrouped product associated with the third group to a third sequencing operation; (ii) sequencing the second group of product and the ungrouped product associated with the second group in the second sequencing operation, cascading the ungrouped product associated with the third group, arriving during the sequencing step (ii), to the third sequencing operation, and cascading the ungrouped product associated with the first group, arriving during the sequencing step (ii), to a residual sort operation; and (iii) sequencing the third group of product and the ungrouped product associated with the third group in the third sequencing operation, and cascading the ungrouped product associated with the first group and the second group arriving during the sequencing step (iii) to the residual sort operation. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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21. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
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grouping product into discrete groups based on common product attributes; sorting each product of the discrete groups of product in separate sorting processes to provide a finer granularity of sort level than in the grouping step; and cascading late arriving product, associated with a group yet to be sorted, to another sorting process of the separate sorting processes for sorting or sequencing with the product of the associated group. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 46)
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36. A machine readable medium readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine for an operational process to distribute product, operable to perform programming steps comprising:
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grouping product with one or more common attributes into a first group;
sorting the product of the first group to a first level sort;
injecting ungrouped product from a plurality of sort groups into the first group;sequencing the sorted product and any of the ungrouped product having the one or more common attributes as the sorted product; and cascading any ungrouped product devoid of the one or more common attributes to another sorting and sequencing operation. - View Dependent Claims (47)
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37. A machine readable medium readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine for an operational process to distribute product, operable to perform programming steps comprising:
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group product into discrete groups based on common product attributes; sort each product of the discrete groups of product in separate sorting processes to provide a finer granularity of sort level than in the grouping step; and cascade late arriving product, associated with a group yet to be sorted, to another sorting process of the separate sorting processes for sorting or sequencing with the product of the associated
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38. An operational process for product distribution, comprising:
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sorting product into separate groups of carrier routes; accumulating late arriving product of differing carrier routes; and sequencing the late arriving mail with the sorted product having a same group of carrier routes and cascading remaining of the late arriving product to another sequencing process. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification