Patent ID: 8047446
Filing Date: 2011-11-01
Classification: B07C

Abstract:
1. A method of processing mailpieces in a sorting machine, comprising the steps of: forming a digital image of a surface of a current mailpiece; using OCR processing to recognize in said image a recipient postal address; deriving from said image a digital signature for said current mailpiece, wherein said digital signature comprises a first component representative of physical characteristics of said image and a second component indicating at least a spatial position of said recognized recipient address in said image; recording sorting data for said current mailpiece in correspondence with said digital signature in a database; comparing said recognized recipient postal address with incorrect recipient addresses to detect if said recognized recipient postal address is an incorrect recipient address; searching by using said OCR-processing if a predefined OCR-detectable forwarding identification symbol is present in said image, said symbol indicating that said current mailpiece bears a forwarding address; and further comprising one of the steps of: upon detection of the presence of said symbol in said image, recognizing in said image by using OCR-processing a mailpiece identification number juxtaposed to said symbol and using said recognized number as an index in said database for retrieving sorting data corresponding to said current mailpiece; upon detection that said symbol is not present in said image and that said recognized recipient postal address is not an incorrect recipient address, deriving from said image a current digital signature for said current mailpiece and comparing said current signature to candidate digital signatures stored in said database for retrieving sorting data corresponding to said current mailpiece in said database; and upon detection that said symbol is not present in said image and that said recognized recipient postal address is an incorrect recipient address, generating a unique mailpiece identification number for said current mailpiece, placing a forwarding address on said surface of the current mailpiece, further placing on said surface of the current mailpiece a predefined OCR-detectable forwarding identification symbol number juxtaposed to said unique mailpiece identification number.