Patent ID: 7069247

Claim:
An improved system for authentication of mail pieces bearing bar-coded indicia, the system comprising first and second bar-code readers, said first and second bar-code readers differing in that said first bar-code reader has a lower rate of successful reading of bar-coded indicia than said second bar-code reader, said system defining a first paper path through said first bar-code reader and subsequently through a first collator, said system disposed to collate a mail piece bearing an indicium in a second paper path in the event of a successful reading of said bar-coded indicium by said first bar-code reader, said system disposed to collate mail pieces in a third paper path in the event of an unsuccessful reading of said bar-coded indicium by said first bar-code reader, said third paper path leading to said second bar-code reader, said system disposed to collate mail pieces in a fourth paper path in the event of a successful reading of said bar-coded indicium by said second bar-code reader, said system disposed to collate mail pieces in a fifth paper path in the event of an unsuccessful reading of said bar-coded indicium by said second bar-code reader.