Patent ID: 7071437

Claim:
A system for sorting mailpiece and detecting the presence of harmful materials in the mailpieces, the system comprising: a detection room, including a component for singulating and feeding a mailpiece along a feed path of the system; a detection module positioned downstream of the component for singulating and feeding the mailpiece, the detection module for detecting the presence of harmful material in the mailpiece; and a diverter for diverting the mailpiece into a collection module if harmful material is detected by the detection module as being present in the mailpiece; a clean room adjacent to the detection room including a system for reading the mailpiece and determining a destination bin if the detection module does not detect the presence of harmful material in the mailpiece; and a bin module comprising two or more destination bins for receiving a mailpiece after a destination bin has been determined by the system for reading the mailpiece and determining the destination bin, wherein air flows from the clean room to the detection room.