Patent ID: 7751342

Claim:
A method for deriving a topology of an apparatus for processing physical documents, such as postal items, which apparatus comprises: an upstream document processing module arranged for performing a processing step with a physical document; a downstream document processing module arranged for performing a processing step with a physical document; a central control unit capable of controlling the upstream and downstream document processing modules at least partly; and a data communication network comprising: a central communication connection between the central control unit and at least one of the document processing modules; and a module communication connection connecting the upstream and downstream document processing modules in series, which the module communication connection has a data flow direction with a predetermined orientation with respect to a processing direction of the physical documents, and is arranged at least for transferring network configuration data from the upstream document processing module to the downstream document processing module, which said upstream document processing module is located upstream in the data flow direction with respect to said downstream document processing modules; wherein the method comprises: the upstream document processing module sending first network configuration data over the module communication connection to the downstream document processing modules, which first network configuration data represents the topology of an upstream part of the data communication network that is located upstream of the downstream document processing module and contains the upstream document processing module, the first network configuration data comprising data indicative of the document processing step performed by the upstream document processing module; the downstream document processing module, on the basis of the first network configuration data, generating second network configuration data, which second network configuration data represents the topology of the part of the data communication network that contains the downstream document processing module and the part located upstream of the downstream document processing module, the second network configuration data comprising data indicative of the document processing step performed by the downstream document processing module; the downstream document processing modules sending the second network configuration data to the central control unit over the central communication connection; and the central control unit deriving the topology of the data communication network on the basis of at least the second network configuration data.