Patent ID: 8160740

Claim:
A sorting system for flat mail items, comprising: a number of sorting registers; at least one storage module configured to operate on a last-in/first-out principle; a sorting circuit configured to convey a stream of mail items in a stream direction, wherein said sorting registers and said at least one storage module are connected via switch points to said sorting circuit, wherein said at least one storage module has an outlet connected to said sorting circuit downstream of said switch point connections of said sorting registers in said stream direction and said at least one storage module has an inlet connected to said sorting circuit upstream said switch point connections of said sorting registers in said stream direction, and wherein said at least one storage module includes a storage area, an insertion function configured to transfer mail items from the stream of mail items into said storage area and an extraction function configured to extract the mail items from said storage area for a feedback into the mail item stream; and a process controller configured to control the mail item stream and said switch points, wherein said process controller is configured to set, if there is a conveyance fault in a sorting register, at least a part of said switch points so that the mail items intended for the faulty sorting registers are introduced into said storage area of said at least one storage module instead while memorizing a sorting definition of these mail items, and wherein, when the fault is rectified and/or a predefined occupancy level is reached in said storage area, these mail items stored in said storage area instead are extracted by adjusting a remaining feeding of mail items into the mail item stream and fed to said sorting registers corresponding to their initially assigned sorting definition.