Mail processing tracking system and method

• US 8,608,068 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2008
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korber Supply Chain LLC (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Carpenter, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEDEKEL, TABITHA F
• Application Number:
  US12/315,843
• Publication Number:
  US 20090145967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/385, 235/375, 705/14.24, 705/22, 705/28, 705/29, 700/225, 700/236
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00661 Sensing or measuring mailpieces weighing G01G19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/0004 Determining the location of mailpieces outside apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00629 Circuit, e.g. transponder
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00709 Scanning mailpieces

Abstract

A method is described for tracking position of a mail piece within a facility. It includes steps of scanning a series of mail pieces to obtain identifying indicia therefrom, sorting the series of mail pieces according to a destination-based postal sorting strategy; and placing the sorted mail pieces into a container together with a marker comprising an RFID tag. In a computerized control system, identifiers for the RFID marker are identified with a sequence of mail pieces in the container. The RFID tag is scanned to associate a position of the container at the time of scanning with the mail in the container. The container is then transported, e.g. by loading a tray as the container onto a cart and then moving the cart. The method further includes video tracking the container from the position at the time of scanning to a later, different position at which a further postal operation takes place, such as loading of the trays onto a truck or feeding the mail from the trays onto the feeding ledge of a sorting machine hen a subsequent sorting step is needed.

Claims

1. A method for tracking position of a mail piece within a facility, comprising:

scanning a series of mail pieces to obtain identifying indicia therefrom;

sorting the series of mail pieces according to a destination-based postal sorting strategy;

placing the sorted mail pieces into a container, the container having a separate marker comprising an RFID tag and a barcode which is correlated to the RFID tag, the marker not attached to or containing the mail pieces;

in a computerized control system, associating identifiers for the marker with a sequence of mail pieces in the container;

scanning the RFID tag of the marker to associate a position of the container at the time of scanning with the mail in the container;

transporting the container; and

video tracking the container from the position at the time of scanning to a later different position, including maintaining a map of each position of the container within the facility.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the containers are postal trays, and the transporting step further comprises placing set of trays on a cart, and then moving the cart in order to transport the set of trays, whereon the scanning step is executed for all markers in the set of trays.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scanning step further comprises moving the cart through an RFID tag detecting gateway, and the video tracking step further comprises starting tracking of a cart as it leaves the gateway, and using a control computer, associating the mail pieces identified by the markers detected as the cart moves through the gateway with the position of the cart tracked by the video tracking system.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein an interior space of the postal facility is divided into two or more zones each having a video tracking system and an RFID gateway at an entry location for that zone, further comprising

video tracking each cart as it moves within a zone;

scanning RFID tags on each cart as it passes through a gateway from one zone to another; and

using the results of each scan to initiate video tracking as a cart leaves one zone and enters another.

5. A computer-implemented process of tracking mail during postal handling at a postal processing facility, comprising:

initially sorting an incoming stream of mail on an automated sorting machine to a series of pockets based on a sort scheme;

during sorting, introducing separate RFID-tagged, machine-sortable markers into the incoming mail stream at intervals and sorting the RFID-tagged markers with the mail into pockets of the sorter, the markers not attached to or containing individual mail pieces, wherein the RFID tagged markers are identified during sorting by reading a barcode on the marker;

sweeping the mail and RFID-tagged markers from the pockets into trays, wherein the markers are introduced such that at least one marker is swept to each of a set of trays containing the sorted mail;

transporting the trays containing the mail and RFID-tagged markers from the automated sorting machine;

during a postal operation subsequent to the initial sorting, scanning one or more of the RFID-tagged markers; and

identifying mail from the initial sorting from the scanned RFID-tagged markers; and

tracking the position of each tray during the transporting step using a video tracking system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transporting step further comprises placing the set of trays on a cart, and then moving the cart in order to transport the set of trays, whereon the scanning step is executed for all markers in the set of trays.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the scanning step further comprises moving the cart through an RFID tag detecting gateway, the video tracking step further comprises starting tracking of a cart as it leaves the gateway, and using a control computer, associating the mail pieces identified by the markers detected as the cart moves through the gateway with the position of the cart tracked by the video tracking system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein an interior space of the postal facility is divided into two or more zones each having a video tracking system and an RFID gateway at an entry location for that zone, further comprising:

video tracking each cart as it moves within a zone;

scanning the RFID tagged markers on each cart as it passes through a gateway from one zone to another; and

using the results of each scan to initiate video tracking as a cart leaves one zone and enters another.

9. A system for tracking position of a mail piece within a facility, comprising:

markers each comprising an RFID tag and a barcode;

an automated sorting machine which scans a series of mail pieces to obtain identifying indicia therefrom and sorts the series of mail pieces according to a destination-based postal sorting strategy, and that also sorts the markers with the mail pieces, using the barcode to identify the markers;

containers for holding mail sorted by the sorting machine and one or more separate markers;

carts for transporting a number of containers of mail at a time;

a computerized control system associating identifiers for each RFID marker with a sequence of mail pieces in the container;

an RFID gateway which scans RFID tags present on a cart passing through the gateway, which gateway is connected to the control system to associate a position of the container at the time of scanning with the mail in the containers on the cart; and

a video tracking system which tracks the cart from its position at the time of scanning to a later different position.