Patent ID: 8442672

Claim:
A method for monitoring a transport of an object, including postal items, to a delivery point, which comprises the steps of: providing the object with a delivery point identification of the delivery point; transporting the object through a sorting office at least once, the sorting office reads the delivery point identification and initiates a continuation of transport of the object to the delivery point; measuring, in the sorting office, parameter values of a plurality of predetermined identifying parameters and generating a first feature vector for the object, the first feature vector containing the parameter values, the first feature vector distinguishing between the object and all other objects which have passed through the sorting office within a predetermined time period; transmitting the delivery point identification that has been read to a central computer; storing in the central computer the delivery point identification; transmitting information about the transport to the central computer resulting in transmitted information; evaluating, via the central computer, the transmitted information for determining from which of the objects which have passed through the sorting office in the predetermined time period the transmitted information originated from; performing the following steps on completion of the transport: measuring once again the parameter values which the predetermined identifying parameters for the object assume; generating a second feature vector for the object, the second feature vector containing the parameter values; and measuring a point in time at which the transport of the object is completed; providing the transmitted information with the following information about a completion of the transport: a measured point in time and the second feature vector; and determining the object via the central computer by comparing the second feature vector with stored feature vectors.