Method and apparatus for processing mail obtain image data of contents

• US 7,537,203 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2004
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Opex Corporation
• Inventors: Hayduchok, George L., DeWitt, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawford; Gene
• Assistant Examiner(s): NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST
• Application Number:
  US10/862,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20050018214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,817 Days
• Field of Search: 270/52.02, 270/58.23, 270/58.29, 270/58.31, 270/58.32, 270/58.33, 270/58.34, 270/45, 270/51
• US Class Current: 270/52.01
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/06 Linear sorting machines in which articles are removed from a stream at selected points
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/987 with the intervention of an operator

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing mail is provided. Mail is placed into an input bin having a conveyor that conveys the mail towards a feeder. The feeder serially feeds the envelopes by engaging the lead envelope in the stack of mail and displacing the lead envelope transverse the stack of mail. The mail is then cut on a side edge and the top edge to cut open each envelope. A transport conveys the cut envelopes to an extractor. The extractor opens the edge-severed mail and presents the contents of the envelopes to an operator who manually extracts the contents. The operator drops the extracted contents onto a conveyor that conveys the contents to an imaging station. The contents are automatically separated and imaged to obtain image data for the contents. The contents are then sorted into a plurality of output bins.

Claims

1. A method for processing documents having folds, comprising the steps of:

manually dropping a plurality of documents having folds onto a generally horizontal conveyor, wherein the documents are in a generally horizontal orientation when the documents are dropped onto the conveyor;

serially feeding the documents from the conveyor to a scanner, wherein the documents are in a generally horizontal orientation when the documents are conveyed to the scanner;

automatically flattening folds of the documents prior to the documents entering the scanner; and

scanning the documents at the scanner to obtain optical image data for the documents.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of storing the image data on a non-volatile storage medium.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of storing the image data comprises exporting the image data to a file server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the documents are contained within an envelope and the method comprises the steps of:

feeding the envelope to a cutting station; and

severing one or more edges of the envelope at the cutting station.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising the step of pulling apart the envelope to present the documents for removal from the envelope.

6. The method of claim 5 comprising the step of reorienting the documents as the documents are conveyed to the scanner.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of reorienting comprises reorienting the documents as the documents are conveyed in a generally horizontal orientation.

8. The method of claim 5 comprising the step of manually grasping the presented documents and withdrawing the documents from the severed envelope.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising the steps of:

transporting the document to a feeder operable to maintain the document in a fixed position; and

feeding the document from the feeder to the scanner.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising the step of reorienting the documents during the step of transporting the documents to the feeder.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of reorienting the documents comprises reorienting the documents while the documents are in a generally horizontal orientation.

12. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of analyzing the image data to determine a characteristic of the documents.

13. The method of claim 12 comprising the step of sorting the documents into one of a plurality of bins in response to the determined characteristic.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of flattening comprises flattening folds in the documents along substantially the entire length of the documents prior to the documents entering the scanning.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of flattening comprises:

positively entraining a first end of each of the documents; and

allowing portions of the documents to slide relative the first end as the documents pass through the flattening element.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of serially feeding the documents form the conveyor to the scanner comprises the step of conveying the documents in a generally horizontal orientation.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of conveying the documents comprises conveying the documents in a generally horizontal orientation while the documents have folds.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of flattening folds of the documents comprises flattening folds of the documents while the documents are in a generally horizontal orientation.

19. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of bending the documents after the step of scanning the documents.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the documents have folds such that the documents comprise first and second parts and the first and second parts are transverse one another.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of flattening folds comprises the step of vertically displacing the first part of a document relative to the second part of the document while the document is in a generally horizontal orientation.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of vertically displacing comprises displacing the first part of the document vertically downwardly relative to the second part of the document.