Method and system for the improved manual processing of undeliverable mail

Abstract

A mail sorting system and method process mail pieces that arrive at a feed point. The mail pieces are classified into machinable mail pieces and non-machinable mail pieces. The machinable mail is processed in an automated sorting machine. Mail pieces with incomplete or incorrect addressing information are classified as rejects and diverted for manual processing. A manual processing station receives the non-machinable mail pieces from the feed point and also the rejects from the automated sorting machine. In the manual processing station the mail pieces are scanned in a scanning device and the images are send to an image processing system, which also receives images from the automated sorting machine. Upon receiving the results from the automated image processing system, an operator completes labeling process from each mail piece.

Claims

1. A mail sorting system, comprising: a feed point for receiving a plurality of mail pieces and for classifying the mail pieces into machinable mail pieces and non-machinable mail pieces; an automated sorting machine for receiving the machinable mail pieces and for sorting the mail pieces, wherein mail pieces with incomplete or incorrect addressing information are classified as rejects and diverted for manual processing; an image processing system connected to receive from said automated sorting machine images obtained of the mail pieces; a manual processing station configured to receive selected mail pieces, namely, the non-machinable mail pieces from said feed point and the rejects from said automated sorting machine; said manual processing station having a scanning device for acquiring an image of each of the selected mail pieces received by said manual processing station, and a data connection for transmitting images acquired by said scanning device to said image processing system.

2. The mail sorting system according to claim 1, wherein said manual processing station includes a label writer for generating a label for respective mail pieces after processing in said manual processing station.

3. A mail sorting method, comprising: receiving mail pieces at a feed point of a mail sorting system; classifying the mail pieces into machinable mail pieces and non-machinable mail pieces; forwarding the machinable mail pieces to an automated sorting machine and sorting the mail pieces according to address information carried by the mail pieces, wherein mail pieces with incomplete or incorrect addressing information are classified as rejects by the automated sorting machine; acquiring images of the mail pieces classified as rejects and storing the images in an image processing system; forwarding the non-machinable mail pieces and the mail pieces classified as rejects to a manual processing station; scanning the mail pieces received in the manual processing station and acquiring an image of each of the mail pieces or the address information carried by the mail pieces; transmitting the images acquired by the scanning device from the manual processing station to an image processing system; and manually processing the mail pieces by an operator on the basis of a result received from the image processing system, and labeling and forwarding the mail pieces for delivery, for return to sender, or for wasting.

4. The method according to claim 3, which comprises subjecting the mail pieces to batch processing, which includes: scanning a batch of a multiplicity of mail pieces and forwarding the images thus acquired to the image processing system; during a subsequent labeling process, stepping through the mail pieces of the batch once more, including viewing the image and results received from automated processing by the image processing system; and completing or correcting the results, as needed, and labeling a respective mail piece before moving to a next mail piece of the batch.

5. The method according to claim 3, which comprises, in the labeling process, labeling the mail pieces based on input from the image processing system and manual input from the operator.

6. The mail sorting system according to claim 2, wherein said label writer is configured for generating the label for respective mail pieces based on input from said image processing system and input from an operator at said manual processing station.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) The sole FIGURE of the drawing is a schematic diagram illustrating the semi-automated processing of undeliverable mail.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(2) Referring now to the FIGURE of the drawing in detail, mail pieces 1 are input at a feed point 2 and scanned. The scanning process classifies the mail pieces 1 as being machinable 3 or non-machinable 4. Non-machinable mail 5 is diverted directly to a manual processing station 6. Machinable mail pieces 1 are forwarded to a fully automated process in which the mail pieces 1 are sorted in an automated sorting machine 7. Those mail pieces 1 that have a proper address label that can be deciphered by the sorting machine 7 are processed and provided with a sort code label 8 for delivery into distribution bins.

(3) Mail pieces 1 which fail automated processing by the sorting machine 7 are rejected, categorized as rejects 9, provided with a label carrying a special ID code 10, such as a barcode, which allows later identification in manual handling.

(4) In addition, the automated processing system preserves a related image and partial reading and coding results. These data are forwarded 11 and stored in an automated image processing system 12.

(5) The manual processing station 6 thus has two input streams, namely, an input stream 14 of non-machinable mail 5 and an input stream 15 of machinable, but not fully sortable mail (i.e., rejected, machinable mail).

(6) The novel manual processing station 6 is provided with a scanning device 13, or scanner.

(7) There the operator scans non-machinable mail pieces arriving at the input 14 or rejected mail pieces arriving at the input 15 from the automated processing. A scanned image is sent 16 to the automated image processing system 12. The latter checks for a label allowing identification and either looks up a previously processed image and partial results or processes the new image acquired by the scanner 13.

(8) In both cases, the image and automated processing results are returned to the manual processing station and presented to an operator 17 at the manual processing station 6. There, the operator 17 completes the processing of the respective mail piece. The operator 17 views the image and the results from the automated processing, upon which the operator corrects/completes the results as needed, then generates a label. The manual processing station creates the label with a label printer 18; the label is applied to the mail piece and then sorted for delivery into respective delivery bins 19 (e.g., delivery, mail forwarding, return to sender, waisting).

(9) Finally, the automated processing system can send the processing results together with the image to archive/tracing/diagnostic systems.

(10) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: 1 mail piece(s) 2 feed point 3 machinable classification 4 non-machinable classification 5 non-machinable mail 6 manual processing station 7 automated sorting machine 8 sort code label 9 rejects 10 ID code 11 image forward 12 image processing system 13 scanning device 14 input (non-machinable) 15 input (rejects, machinable) 16 scan image forward 17 manual processing station operator 18 label printer 19 processed mail delivery