Patent ID: 8306259

Claim:
A method for assembling mail items from a batch of documents, comprising: providing at least one processing unit for performing at least one processing step with the document and a search unit comprising a memory; for an initial document in the batch: the search unit obtaining image data representing an image of the initial document; the search unit performing a search operation of the image data of the initial document to locate a marking representing document-processing instructions and reading the document-processing instructions; storing a location data set indicative of the location of the marking in the memory; and the processing unit performing on the initial document one or more processing steps according to the document-processing instructions so as to assemble a mail item; for each later documents in the batch: the search unit obtaining image data representing an image of the later document; the search unit performing a search operation of a portion of the image data of the later document corresponding to the location defined by the stored location data set to locate a marking representing document-processing instructions and reading the document-processing instructions; and the processing unit performing on the later document one or more processing steps according to the document-processing instructions so as to assemble a mail item.