Patent ID: 6901312

Claim:
A method for controlling apparatus for assembly of mailpieces, said apparatus including means for assembling said mail pieces, said assembling means including a plurality of stations for accumulating documents or inserts into said mailpieces as accumulations of said documents or inserts move through said stations, said plurality of stations including at least one upstream station and a control insert feeder located downstream of the upstream station, the control insert feeder feeding the initial control insert into an initial one of said accumulations, and a scanner, said scanner reading data from the initial control insert, said method comprising the steps of: a) storing a mailing control file, said mailing control file comprising a plurality of mailpiece records, each of said records defining preparation of a corresponding mailpiece; b) reading data identifying said mailing control file from said initial control insert; c) responding to said data read from said initial control insert to: c1) open said mailing control file identified by said data; c2) initialize said apparatus by forming accumulations in accordance with corresponding records in said opened file at each of said stations upstream of said control insert feeder; and c3) thereafter sequentially process records in said opened file and control said apparatus to form a corresponding sequence of mailpieces.