Patent ID: 6685030
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: B07C,B65H,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of collating a plurality of mail items into a final sequenced set of mail items for delivery to predetermined delivery points of a plurality of carrier routes, comprising the steps of:a) feeding the mail items from a single input stream to a staging station; b) sampling each mail item in the input stream to determine a carrier route identity, and a delivery point thereof; c) pre-staging selected ones of the mail items at the staging station into a plurality of subsets of mail items, said staging station having a plurality of storage units X1 to Xn, wherein n is the total number of storage units, said storage units temporarily storing the mail items in carrier-specific subsets by inserting each mail item into a carrier-specific subset in a selected one of the storage units; d) selectively sorting the mail items of either pre-staged carrier-specific subsets or mail items of a carrier route being fed from the single input stream at the staging station into one or more of subsets of mail items re-sequenced into an intermediate order, as an intermediate step to achieving said final sequenced set, said storage units temporarily storing said items in said subsets by; 1) inserting each mail item into any selected one of said storage units X1 to Xn in accordance with an insertion plan consistent with an extraction plan for the mail items from those storage units for achieving the delivery point sequence (DPS) of the final sequenced set of mail items; and 2) selectively extracting the mail items from any selected one of the storage units X1 to Xn according to said extraction plan; and e) merging the extracted mail items into a single output stream from the respective subsets of mail items into said final sequenced set in delivery point sequence (DPS).