Classifying – separating – and assorting solids – Precedent preparation of items or materials to facilitate... – Sorting special items or sorting by methods and apparatus...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-05
2001-11-06
Bollinger, David H. (Department: 3651)
Classifying, separating, and assorting solids
Precedent preparation of items or materials to facilitate...
Sorting special items or sorting by methods and apparatus...
C209S538000, C209S541000, C209S545000, C209S583000, C209S587000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311846
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing mail and, more specifically, to an apparatus and method for extracting, reordering, reorienting, and sorting documents, and correlating the documents with information from the envelopes from which the documents were extracted.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automated and semi-automated machines have been employed for processing documents in bulk quantities. Due to the volume and scale of commercial transactions routinely processed by many companies, there has long been a need for automated processing of mail. In this regard, automated document processing has become particularly important in the area of remittance correspondence.
Utility companies, phone companies, and credit card companies routinely receive thousands of payment envelopes from their customers on a daily basis. Typically, a customer payment envelope contains an invoice stub and some type of customer payment, usually in the form of a bank check or money order. The contents of each envelope are generally referred to as a transaction, and may consist of one or more documents including one or more invoices and one or more checks. The most common transaction consists of a single invoice stub and an accompanying check. Such transactions are typically referred to as singles transactions.
According to conventional methods of automated or semi-automated remittance processing, documents located within an envelope, such as an invoice and an accompanying check, are processed by being extracted from the envelope, placed in the proper sequence and orientation, and then stacked into groups or batches of documents. The extracting, sequencing and orienting of the invoices and checks has been effected both manually and by the use of automated or semi-automated equipment. The envelope used to carry the documents into the system for sorting is typically directed by the system for disposal upon extraction of its contents.
In certain applications, it is desirable to obtain information from the envelope before discarding the envelope. For instance, insurance renewals are time-sensitive. If a renewal payment is received after a renewal date, then the policy may lapse. In such instances it is desirable to read the post-mark on the face of the envelope to determine when the payment was mailed.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus and method are provided for extracting documents from envelopes, reordering and reorienting the documents, and acquiring and storing data regarding the envelopes so that the association among the documents in the transactions relative to the envelope indicia is known and available for further verification and/or administrative use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an apparatus for sorting a group of documents contained within envelopes into selected batches of documents. The apparatus includes a transport for conveying documents and envelopes containing documents along a selected path of movement. An envelope feeder feeds envelopes containing documents onto the transport. An extractor positioned along the path of movement extracts the documents from the envelopes. An orientation detector determines the orientation of the documents along the path of movement. The document orientor selectively changes the orientation of the documents along the path of movement into a desired orientation. An image acquisition device along the path of movement acquires images of the envelopes. A system controller receives the envelope images and correlates the image of a particular envelope with the documents extracted from the envelope.
The present invention also provides a method for processing documents contained within envelopes. According to the method, an envelope containing a document is conveyed along a selected path of movement, wherein the envelope has indicia on at least one face. The document is extracted from the envelope and the envelope indicia is correlated with the document extracted from the envelope.
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DeWitt Robert R.
Hayduchok George L.
Stevens Albert F.
Bollinger David H.
Dann Dorfman Herrell and Skillman
Eland Stephen H.
Opex Corporation
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