Patent ID: 7343219

Claim:
A device for sorting flat mail items according to a predetermined sequence of delivery points associated with recipient addresses, comprising: at least one separating unit, each having a downstream reader unit for identifying address information located on a mail item; a first pocket ring configured to receive the mail items from each reader unit and having a plurality of pockets coupled to a circulating conveyor system, wherein an empty pocket is configured to receive a mail item for sorting the mail items, wherein the pockets are configured to be downwardly opened in a controlled manner, and wherein the first pocket ring circulates in a transport direction at a transport speed; a buffer storage unit arranged between the reader units and the first pocket ring, wherein the buffer storage unit has circulating buffer pockets for receiving read mail items and for delivering the mail items in a controlled manner to empty pockets of the first pocket ring, wherein conveyor means of the buffer storage unit circulate in the same direction as the first pocket ring but at a different transport speed; and a carrying system having a collector belt and arranged below a continuous portion of the first pocket ring, wherein a portion of the carrying system overlaps with the continuous portion within an overlap area, wherein the portion of the carrying system travels at a relative speed to the continuous portion, wherein the collector belt is subdivided into sections for receiving the mail items from the pockets to transport the mail items in a transport direction to a stacking device, and wherein the collector belt moves at a transport speed, wherein the portion of the pocket ring extending beyond the overlap area and not located below the exit points of the buffer storage unit is guided in a plane located above a plane of the buffer storage unit or below a plane of the collector belt, the mail items circulating in the same direction in both planes wherein the transport speed and the transport direction of the collector belt are matched to the transport speed and transport direction of the first pocket ring such that, as each section of the collector belt travels along the overlap area, it passes each pocket of the first pocket ring at least once, and wherein the mail items are emptied out of the pockets of the first pocket ring onto the collector belt according to read recipient addresses such that the mail items leave the collector belt towards the stacking device in the predetermined sequence of the recipient addresses.