Patent ID: 8260455

Claim:
An address label rework station, comprising: a conveyor which can simultaneously transport a series of spaced parcels along a conveyor path in a substantially horizontal stream; a camera positioned to capture an image of a face of each parcel having an original address label thereon; a work space for a human operator to manually position parcels on the conveyor; a microphone usable by an operator in the work space; a targeting device including an indicator directed to a location above the conveyor, which device directs a human operator in the work space that an existing label on a parcel be positioned on the conveyor so that the indicator targets the existing label; a sensor system which detects the position of a parcel on the conveyor; a labeler disposed to apply a label to a parcel on the conveyor at the position indicated by the targeting device; a printer positioned to print shipping information on a label to be applied by the labeler; a computer configured to receive image data from the camera and receive voice data from the microphone; apply optical character resolution program logic to the image data; apply voice recognition program logic to the voice data; determine a shipping address from one or both of the image data and the voice data; operate the printer to apply shipping information including the shipping address to a new label applied to the parcel by the labeler; and receive a sensor signal from the sensor system and operate the conveyor so that a parcel is conveyed past the targeting system and then past the labeler at a speed which allows application of the new label to the parcel by the labeler at the position selected using the targeting system.