Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and system for collating a plurality of groups of mail items, each group being pre-sequenced according to prioritized delivery addresses, into a final sequenced set of the mail items from the groups, utilizing the prioritized delivery addresses. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process and system that merges several sequenced bundles of flats mail into one sequenced set of mail for delivery by a mail carrier according to a prioritized delivery address sequence, commonly known as a delivery order sequence (DOS) or walk sequence (WS).
• DOS delivery order sequence
• WS walk sequence
• Flats mail routinely delivered by mail carriers, includes magazines, newspapers, padded envelopes, single sheet fliers, compact disks in boxes, poly-wrapped items, and miscellaneous other types of mail items.
• Mailers may drop ship saturation mailings (mass mailings) two to seven days prior to the dehveiy per an agreement with the local Postmaster. Other mailings can arrive on pallets (periodicals, national advertisements or catalogs) after passing through the postal network of facilities as cross-dock material. Other material may be broken down from pallets at an upstream facility if a pallet was shipped as three-digit material. Other flats may have been processed on flats sorting equipment known in the art, and are then processed according to carrier route. Still more material can pass through bulk mail centers as bundles before arriving at the dehveiy unit (DU).
• DU dehveiy unit
• Carriers case the flats, along with other mail types (this activity is performed in the morning usually from 6:00 AM or 7:00 AM to sometime between 9:00 AM and 11 :00 AM, depending on route size and the amount of mail).
• the current postal standard for casing unsequenced flats is 8 per minute.
• carriers do not case saturation mailings and treat them as an additional bundle during dehveiy.
• Other carriers may split saturation mailings and deliver portions of them on consecutive days to load level the amount of mail to be delivered.
• Cased mail is removed and placed in trays to be delivered.
• the carrier leaves the facility and delivers the mail.
• activities 1 and 2 above can overlap 0 with the casing operation and may extend until after the carrier has left the facility leaving mail to be cased either later that day or the next morning. All cased mail is removed in carrier walk sequence, and carriers carefully case flats so that all address labels are on the same edge of the mail (even if this means that the label is upside down relative to other addresses in the 5 bundle) to ensure easy reading while doing deliveries.
• marriage mailings may case either the address card or both the address card and the mailing cased (some prefer to case only the card and pull the mailing at each house that has a card in the dehveiy).
• the objects of the present invention are fulfilled by providing a method and apparatus for collating a plurality of groups of mail items, such as flats, each group being pre-sequenced according to prioritized delivery addresses (dehveiy order sequence DOS), into a final sequenced set of the mail items from the groups, utilizing the prioritized dehveiy addresses (DOS), comprising the steps of: separating each bundle of mail seriatim into a single input stream of the individual mail items; transporting the mail items from the input stream to a staging station; sorting the mail items at the staging station into a plurality of subsets of mail items re-sequenced as an intermediate step to achieving said filial sequence sets; merging the mail items into a single output stream from the respective subsets of mail items in said final sequenced set; and collecting portions of the output stream of the mail items consistent with the sequence of the final sequenced set to form batches of mail
• the staging station includes a plurality of juxtaposed vertical stacks in staging towers, each stack including a plurality of vertically stacked and spaced shelves for supporting the flats mail thereon.
• the flats are stored in the stacks of the respective staging towers in a last-in- first-out sequence (LIFO).
• LIFO last-in- first-out sequence
• Each flat has a machine-readable number thereon representative of the dehveiy order sequence (DOS) with lower numbers representing higher dehveiy priorities.
• DOS dehveiy order sequence
• a reader is provided for generating control signals for routing the flats to predetermined ones of the vertical stacks or towers at the staging station, the flats in each stack being positioned in ascending order number from the bottom to the top of the stack.
• the unloading of each stack to form the output stream of mail items in the final sequenced set is fed out in reverse order, mainly from the lower numbers at the bottom of the respective stacks to the higher numbers in the stacks, until all items are merged into the final output stream.
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a modular flats bundle collator
• FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views illustrative of the flats diverter module of the system of Fig. 1 ;
• FIG. 2C is an exploded view of the embodiment of a combined orienter and reader module for use in the system of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 2D is a perspective view of the orienter/ reader module of Fig. 2 depicting the module assembled
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the staging tower modules of Fig. 1 illustrating details of the elevator mechanism thereof;
• Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the transport conveyor of the flats bundle collator system illustrating how the flats are edge- justified as they traverse the surface of the conveyor within the staging towers;
• Fig. 5 is an alternative embodiment of conveyor roller structures of a transport conveyor suitable for use in the system of the present invention;
• Fig. 6 is a top perspective view of the interleaved shelf and conveyor structures of the present invention in the region of the staging towers;
• Fig. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a detail of the shelves within the staging towers and their operative association with the timing belts of the elevator mechanisms of the towers;
• Fig. 8 is a side elevational view illustrating the shelf transfer from one belt to another of the elevator mechanism
• Fig. 9 is a side elevational view showing the transfer of shelves between the belts of the elevator mechanism in slightly more detail than illustrated in Fig. 8;
• Figs. 10A and 10B are perspective views illustrating two options of the present invention for storing mail in standard United States Postal Service mail tubs;
• Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a dual containerizer module of the present invention and a reject tub;
• Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic end view of a preferred method of edge justifying flats mail in order to achieve a uniform stack profile
• Fig. 13 is a block diagram of the hardware architecture for controlling the flats bundle coUator system of the present invention.
• Fig. 14 is a block diagram of the software architecture for controlling the hardware of Fig. 13;
• Figs. 15A and 15B are illustrative of an operational block diagram of the method performed by the flats bundle collator system of the present invention;
• Fig. 16 is a flowchart of the collation logic software of the flats bundle collator system of the present invention
• Figs. 17, 18A, 18B and 19A to 19L are diagrammatic illustrations of the flow of the pre-sequenced bundles of flats through the flats bundle collator system of the present invention
• Figs. 20 through 23 are illustrative of flats position and jam detection control parameters of the flats bundle coUator system of the present invention.
• DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing figures, Fig. 1 depicts the overaU flats bundle coUator system of the present invention.
• the system includes the following components: a feeder assembly 10; a combined orienter/ reader assembly including a transport conveyor TC, a flats orienter module 12, a barcode reader module 14; a staging tower assembly 16 including multiple staging towers 16-1, ..., 16-n; and a containerizer module 18 including two containerizer assemblies 18-1 and 18-2.
• Bundles of mail in the United States Postal System m ⁇ l tubs T are loaded onto the feeder assembly 10 by an operator O.
• the mail is first oriented to have the mailing label up by the orienter module 12.
• the address is then read by the barcode reader module 14.
• AU of the mailings F except for the last, are staged in the staging tower assembly 16.
• Mail is removed from the multiple staging towers as the last mailing is fed from the feeder 10 in such a way as to make the mail stream in a desired final sequence.
• the mail is conveyed out of the staging tower assembly 16 to the containerizer module 18, where it is stacked in selected ones of United States Postal Service (USPS) tubs, not shown.
• USPS United States Postal Service
• Multiple pre- sequenced mailings can be fed into the machine.
• Each mailing can consist of several bundles of mail, each bundle containing several pieces.
• Each mailing is in dehveiy point sequence (DPS) or walk sequence (WS).
• DPS dehveiy point sequence
• the operator O places aU but the last mailing in the feeder 10 with the lower number stop in the first position.
• the feeder 10 then removes one piece of flats maU F at a time from the stack and injects it into the flats orienter module 12.
• the feeder 10 wiU feed all of the maU in this manner until it reaches the last mailing.
• the last mailing is loaded with the lowest number stop in the last position.
• the operator If there is not a saturation mailing (a mass mailing) to be included in the sorting process, the operator notifies the system that loading is complete by pressing a button on the system control panel to be described hereinafter. However, if there is a saturation mailing, the operator notifies the system and begins loading the saturation mailing into the feeder 10.
• the system compares the contents of the staging tower assembly 16 to the carrier's walk sequence and calculates the output sequence to coUate the system contents into the sequence. If there is not a saturation mailing, the system calculates the output sequence directly from the tower contents. If a saturation mailing is included, the system calculates the output sequence from the towers 16-1, ..., 16-n and includes the feeder 10 saturation output in the coUation calculation.
• the tower assembly 16 outputs the flats F, and the feeder 10 inputs saturation flats if they are present, such that they are transported into the maU tubs in the containerizer module 18.
• the operator O then removes the tubs and prepares to input the next carrier route bundles into the system.
• the flats bundle collator occupies about 75 square feet of floor space with a ten tower configuration.
• the system weighs about 8000 pounds, and exerts floor loading not to exceed 42 psi.
• the coUator requires 3-phase electric power for operation.
• the feeder module 10 for use with the system of the present invention, is a commercially avaUable component manufactured by Alcatel, known in the industry as the "Alcatel TOP Feeder". This feeder is highly rehable and easy to maintain.
• the feeder has a throughput of 3 flats per second; a jam rate of 1/2500 flats; a jam recovery in 5 seconds; accepts aU USPS flats mail sizes; feeds on demand with a 20 ms response time; and is well accepted in the user community.
• the flats orienter module 12 receives the output of the feeder module 10. Its operation is illustrated in Figs. 2A and 2B.
• the orienter module 12 places them label up on the transport conveyor TC using one of two tillable conveyor sections 12A and 12-B.
• Flats F to be staged are processed on one path as Ulustrated in Fig. 2A and saturation mailings are processed on the other path Ulustrated in Fig. 2B.
• the flats orienter module 12 indexes conveyor section 12A via a traversing carriage which moves in the direction of the double arrow in Figs. 2A and 2B to move the section 12A between the respective left-hand and right-hand positions Ulustrated in these figures.
• the carriage remains in a "home" position for all mail to be staged in the towers, as illustrated in Fig.
• the orienter module 12 then reorients the flats for reading by the reader 14 as they exit the feeder 10. That is, all of the maU flats F but the last mailing leave the feeder 10 with the bound side of the flat (assuming there is a bound side) and the address label facing right.
• the orienter 12 tips the mail over to the left, so that maU leaves the orienter with the bound side to the right and the label side up.
• the maU in the last mailing leaves the feeder with the bound edge down, and the label facing the left side.
• the orienter 12 tips this maU over to the right, so that the maU leaves the orienter with the bound side to the left and the label facing up.
• the mail leaves the flat orienter section 12 and then enters the barcode reader module section 14.
• the barcode reader module 14 is typicaUy a reader, such as the AccuSort Model No. AVI 200. This type of barcode reader is a high quality off-the-shelf reader, which has proven to be very rehable in service to the USPS.
• a barcode including the destination point sequence (DPS), carrier walk sequence printed on the flats F is read by the reader 14 and the address is sent to the main computer controller to be subsequently described.
• the location that is assigned to the flat wiU be used later to determine the output order of the flats F with, the lowest number on the top of the output stack..
• the flats maU then leaves the barcode reader section 14 and enters the staging tower assembly 16.
• Each piece of mail F is inducted into the staging tower 16 that has the closest, lower number flat. If there is no tower that fits this requirement, the flat is inducted into the first empty tower.
• the last mailing is loaded in the feeder 10 as described hereinbefore.
• the mail F is processed normally until it reaches the staging tower assembly 16.
• a coUation algorithm stored in the control system operates the unloading of the staging towers to form the final maU stream.
• the mail is fed from the barcode reader module 14 and/or the staging tower assembly 16 to achieve a final sequenced set of flats with the highest number stop first.
• the maU is sequenced, and the maU uniformly spaced.
• the containerizers 18-1 and 18-2 stack maU in the sequence in which it was received, and maintains that sequence.
• Two containerizers 18-1 and 18-2 are preferably utilized so that when the operator is emptying one, the machine can continue to fiU the other. Referring now to Figs. 2C and 2D, the flats items are fed between the feeder 10 and the staging tower assembly 16 through the orienter module 12 and the reader module 14 via the transport conveyor TC.
• the detaUs of the combined orienter/ reader assembly is Ulustrated in the exploded view of Fig. 2C.
• the assembly includes an open frame structure F having four juxtaposed sections for receiving the orienter/ diverter module 12, the barcode reader module 14, a power distribution module 11 and system input/ output electronics assembly 13. These components are enclosed within a top panel TP and two side panels SP in the upper two sections of the frame structure. Side panels SP also include one or more observation windows OW therein so that the flats items can be observed as they pass through the modules 12 and 14 from the feeder 10 to the staging tower assembly 16. Observation windows, not shown, can also be provided in the sections of the staging towers 16-1, ..., 16-n.
• Fig. 2D depicts the orienter/ reader modules 12 and 14 in an assembled condition. It can be seen that the path of flats items fed from feeder 10 to the staging tower assembly 16 via the orienter/ reader modules 12 and 14 passes the items along a horizontal path via the conveyor TC at the output side of the module into the staging tower assembly 16.
• staging towers 16-1, ..., 16-n may be utilized and any number of containerizers 18-1, ..., 18-n without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
• an advantage of the system of the present invention is its modularity, which facilitates the addition or deletion of staging towers and containerizers as needed to satisfy the footprint requirement of the space in which it is to be utilized.
• DetaUs of one of the staging towers 16-1 is shown in Fig. 3.
• Staging tower 16-1 includes a section of a roUer conveyor TC, a shelving assembly S, a shelf drive system including a motor EM, a chain and sprocket drive assembly 24, and drive shafts 26 coupled to the elevator mechanism, timing belts 20A, 20B, 20C.
• Each tower also includes a housing H formed from the frame and body panels.
• the conveyor drive systems are designed to be "daisy chained” together aUowing the system to function with a single drive motor and providing easy expansion by simply adding more towers 16-m to the drive line through the use of universal joint couplings.
• the shelf drive system including motor EM, chain and sprockets assembly 24, and drive shafts 26 is located in a bottom section 16M of the tower for easy access.
• Each tower has an access door, not shown, that fuUy exposes the interior of the tower when open to provide easy access by an operator.
• the tower roUer conveyors TC transport flats mail F through the tower assembly 16.
• the shelves S include outwardly projecting fingers 17 which are designed to interleave with and pass through a plurality of cantilever mounted roUers 28 of the conveyor TC as illustrated in Fig. 6, allowing the shelves S to lift flats off the rollers 28 of the conveyor TC. This will place the flats F onto or off of the roUers as the shelves S are indexed down or up, respectively.
• the roUers 28 of the conveyor TC-16 are skewed to the direction of travel by 2 degrees, as Ulustrated in Fig. 4 to facilitate edge justification of the flats F against a C-shaped channel 30 for rehable mail orientation.
• An alternative configuration for the interleaved numbers 17 and 28 is shown in Fig. 5 where the finger members 17A and roUer members 28A include transversely oriented projections P.
• Tower shelves S are supported by a set of guides 31 as shown, for example, in Fig. 7 which engage slotted arms 29. Guides 31 maintain orientation and the belts determine the vertical position of the shelves S. Further as shown in Fig. 3, each staging tower, such as tower 16-1, has three zones 16A, 16B, 16C through which the shelves S move. 16A designates the shelfs storage zone, 16B the maU stream or transfer zone, and 16C the maU staging zone. Shelf position is determined by the operation of the respective endless timing belts 20A, 20B, 20B in the respective zones. Each shelf S is driven by a tooth or lug protruding from the endless timing belts in a manner Ulustrated in more detaU in connection with Figs. 7 to 9.
• the timing belts 20A, 20B, 20C coUectively constitute an elevator mechanism for raising and lowering the shelves S and flats F thereon within each tower of the tower assembly 16.
• Each timing belt comprises an endless belt with protruding lugs L thereon spaced in predete ⁇ nined pitches which differ between the respective vertical zones between the tower.
• These endless belts are wound around puUeys 22.
• Pulleys 22 are driven by the drive mechanism in zone 16.
• the drive mechanism includes an electric motor EM coupled to drive shafts 26 via a chain and sprocket drive assembly 24.
• the respective endless belts of the timing belts are wound around the drive shafts 26 and are selectively driven in response to rotation of those shafts, which are under control of the central computer of the system to be described further hereinafter.
• the shelves S are moved up and down the support guides 31 and are transferred from one belt to another.
• the shelves S are engaged by the lugs L on the respective timing belts to effect movement and transfer of the shelves from one belt to another.
• a shelf S comes to the top of a zone, its supporting belt curves around a puUey 22.
• As the shelf S rises, its support tooth or lug L begins to disengage from the shelf S.
• timing belt 20A in the shelf storage zone is a low- speed timing belt with a narrow pitch to accommodate a plurality of shelves S in close, juxtaposed, stacked positions.
• the timing belt 20B, in the transfer zone in the maU stream region of the towers 16, is a high-speed timing belt with a coarse or wide pitch between the lugs L.
• the pitch of the timing belt 20B is chosen to be wide enough to accommodate the maximum thickness of a piece of flat mail moving along the conveyor.
• the upper timing belt 20C is not shown in Fig. 9 for clarity, but it preferably includes a low-speed timing belt with a pitch wide enough to accommodate both the shelves S and flats maU F disposed thereon.
• a stream of flats mail arranged in dehveiy point sequence emerges from the staging towers and approaches the containerizers 18, which maintain the sequence of the stack.
• the flats may be stacked in maU tubs 40, either as Ulustrated in Fig. 10A with the edges facing up, or in Fig. 10B with the edges extending horizontaUy and vertically stacked.
• Fig. 10A depicts the flats maU being stacked on edge in a USPS mail tub 40.
• This method is desirable because it is a preferred arrangement for letter carriers, since the maU standing on edge in the tub is similar to the arrangement of file folders in a filing cabinet and lets the carrier flip through the mail easUy.
• the containerizer stacking arrangement illustrated in 10B can be used. This type of output gives a tub of maU that looks simUar to the tubs produced by popular flats sortation machines for other types of maU.
• Flats F are diverted into either of two output tubs 40-1 or 40-2. This diversion is achieved by movement of the pop-up conveyor sections 42-1 and 42-2 up or down in response to activation of fluid motors 44-1 or 44-2. This up or down movement of the conveyor section 42-1 or 42-2 permits the flats F to shde down one of the respective angular shoots 46-1 or 46-2, which communicate with the open sides of the maU tubs 40-1, 40-2.
• Each maU tub 40-1 and 40-2 includes an angular guide flap 40A-1 and 40A-2 in order to capture and guide the flats entering the tub for assembly into a stack.
• the shoots 46-1 and 46-2 constitute acceleration ramps, which are shaped to justify the flat to one side of the ramp.
• There flats F are accelerated to the end of the ramp where they enter either the tub 40-1 or tub 40-2, and slip onto the maU stack being formed therein as they are guided by the flaps 40A-1 and 40A-2.
• the relative height of the stack at the end of the acceleration ramp 46-1, 46-2 is controUed by sensing the stack height and indexing the tubs 40-1, 40-2 downward as the stack height grows. This indexing of the tubs 40-1 and 40-2 is affected by an elevator mechanism including motors Ml, M2 and a plurality of belts 48-1, 50-1 driven by the motors Ml, M2.
• the tubs 40-1, 40-2 are supported on the belts 48-1, 48-2, 50-1 and 50-2 at 52 by appropriate teeth or lugs protruding from the belt.
• a third tub 40-3 is provided at the end of conveyor section 42-2 for system rejects, which is selectively loaded by operation of the pop-up conveyor sections 42-1 and 42-2 described herein before.
• Edge justification of the flats within the tubs is preferably performed by justifying the unbound edges of flats, rather than the bound edges. As the maU stack grows in height in a tub 40-1, 40-2, the uniformity of the stack is maintained by the tilt of the tub, and the type of edge justification.
• Fig. 13 depicts the hardware architecture of the system of the present invention
• a system controUer 50 is the heart of the hardware and in a preferred embodiment is a commercially avaUable IBM compatible, Pentium class computer, with monitor and keyboard.
• the various control devices are coupled to the system computer 50 and include an operator interface 54, and a power controUer 52.
• the other operative components of the system including the feeder 10, barcode reader 14, staging towers 16, conveyor TC, containerizer 18, reject tub 56, and diverter module 12 are also operatively connected to system computer 50.
• the system controller 50 is a computer containing the application programs and databases. It also contains a controUer card for a commerciaUy avaUable high-speed daisy chain controUed bus. This bus is used throughout the system to activate and sense the other control components. For position tracking, the computer 50 also contains a counter card to interface with conveyor encoders to be described hereinafter.
• the operator interface 54 allows the computer 50 to display information on its monitor to the operator and to receive inputs.
• the computer also includes a standard keyboard. Also included are emergency stop controls. These controls consist of buttons and indicators.
• the power controller 52 provides the 3-phase electrical connection to the buUding power source. It includes power on/off indicators, circuit breaker protection, phase load balancing, and motor power emergency stop capability.
• the computer senses when an emergency stop has occurred.
• the components of the subsystem are located throughout the flats bundle coUator modules, and wiU be described hereinafter with reference to Figs. 20 to 23.
• the barcode reader 14 is a commerciaUy avaUable item as described hereinbefore.
• the computer 50 interfaces to the barcode reader 14 through the control bus.
• the computer controls the operation of the mail transport conveyors TC.
• the first section TC-1 is located between the feeder 10 and the first staging tower 16.
• the second section TC-2 runs from the first tower 16 to the end of the system.
• the computer reads an encoder from each section. These encoders wiU be described further hereinafter with reference to Figs. 20 to 23.
• the staging towers 16 handle the insertion and extraction of mail pieces to the staging towers 16-1 to 16-n, wherein n represents the total number of modular staging towers assembled for a given configuration.
• Mail F is inserted or extracted by indexing the towers 16 up or down.
• the controls interface to the computer 50 is a commerciaUy avaUable control bus described hereinbefore.
• the computer 50 controls the indexing of the shelves S within the towers 16. It reads a sensor position on a conveyor and keeps track of the locations of maU pieces travelling on that section.
• the components of the staging tower 16 have been described hereinbefore and include a shelf lift motor, position sensors, limit switches, and override switches.
• the containerizer module 18 is also coupled through the control bus to the system computer 50. This provides the controls for the loading of the maU pieces into the output tubs 40-1, 40-2.
• the computer 50 diverts the conveyor section to pass the maU into a tub 40 or allows it to continue along the conveyor through the use of the pop-up conveyor sections in containerizer 18.
• the elevation of the maU tub is controUed locaUy and the operator has manual override controls.
• the computer 50 senses when an output tub is present and when it is full.
• the reject tub 56 receives nonconforming maU pieces. It is simUar to the maU tubs 40 and is Ulustrated at the output of the containerizer module 18 in Fig. 11.
• the elevation of the reject mail tub 56 is controlled locaUy and the operator has manual override controls.
• the computer 50 can sense when a reject tub is present and when it is fuU.
• the components include a tub elevation motor, position sensors and indicators, limit switches and override switches.
• AU of the control hardware of the system, illustrated Fig. 13, is run by appropriate software architecture.
• the computer 50 runs under the standard Microsoft NT operating system, with a commerciaUy avaUable realtime kernel. Parts of the application software are interrupt driven, from the conveyor encoders, and need to be executed soon after they interrupt the curves. Because NT is not a true real-time operating system, it does not have a consistent or fast capability in this area. The purpose of the real-time kernel is to provide this capability.
• Application software is programmed using high-level
• the operator O interacts with the system using the computer 50, its associated keyboard and monitor, and the feeder control panel. There are also emergency stop buttons within easy reach. Operator displace grains conform to standard usage guidelines and lead the user with appropriate prompts through the task to perform.
• the application software is grouped into modules iUustrated in Fig. 14. These modules include a main control sequencer (software of computer 50) 57 initialized by appropriate initialization procedures 58, a data manipulation module 62, operational process module 64, and machine control interface modules 66.
• modules include a main control sequencer (software of computer 50) 57 initialized by appropriate initialization procedures 58, a data manipulation module 62, operational process module 64, and machine control interface modules 66.
• Initialization includes the tasks such as reading hardware sensors, and setting actuators, setting software data tables and configurations.
• the main control sequencer software 57 is then started.
• the main control sequencer software 57 has primary control over aU the tasks to be performed. It starts tasks, controls the sequence of events, and stops tasks.
• the type of tasks performed include; user logon/ logoff, accessing carrier route data for display or update, initiating carrier route sortations, generating reports, accessing machine performance statistics, and initiating maintenance tasks.
• the machine control interface software modules 66 are the interface and low level drivers for the system. These are used by the software to sense and control the operation of the hardware components of Fig. 13. Examples of these operations include: feed a single mail piece; start conveyor section one; and check to see if the maU output tub is full.
• the data manipulation software 62 handles the storage and retrieval of various types of data.
• Examples of this data include: number of stops on a route; the DPS code for each stop on a route, in order of dehveiy; the number of pieces misread by the barcode reader; and total number of maU pieces fed by the feeder.
• the operational processing software modules 64 handle the operations associated with several larger tasks. These are identified in each of the blocks within block 64 in Fig. 14, and include: flats insertion sort algorithms; flats extraction sort algorithm; error /jam handler; maintenance trouble-shooting routines; and report generation.
• main control sequencer software 57 As the main control sequencer software 57 executes, it caUs functions in the various modules. The hardware 50 and software 57 work together to lead the operator through the completion of desired tasks.
• a typical carrier route sortation includes the foUowing sequence of steps.
• the operator enters the route ID and sets up an output tub 40-1 or 40-2 to be fiUed. This data is stored in database 86 and fed to the computer 50 for processing at step 94 to be described hereinafter.
• the operator loads the bundles of flats into the feeder 10. The bundles are separated according to mailings.
• the operator teUs the computer 50 to start the sortation.
• the feeder 10 singulates and feeds the flats F to the diverter module 12.
• step 76 the barcode reader 14 reads the barcode on the flats F, including the dehveiy point sequence (DPS), namely, the walk sequence of the route carrier (WS).
• step 78 the system computer 50 checks the barcode for validity and identifies the tower for staging. This information is stored in the database 88 for comparison with the database 86 at step 94 by the computer 50.
• step 80 the flats F travel on the conveyor to the target tower 16 and are inducted therein.
• step 82 the system computer 15 waits for the last flat to be inducted into the towers 16.
• step 84 the operator removes tub 56 of rejected flats, which have been processed in step 86 to include misreads on the conveyor placed in the reject tub. The process continues onto Routine A in Figs. 15A and 15B.
• step 90 of routine A the operator loads saturation (mass mailing) bundles into the feeder 10.
• step 92 the operator notifies the computer 50 to begin coUation.
• step 94 as described hereinbefore, the computer 50 checks the inventory in the towers against the carrier sequence and determines the proper output sequence.
• step 96 the flats F are moved onto the conveyor TC in carrier walk sequence (WS).
• step 98 the flats F travel to a selected one of the output tubs 40-1, 40-2 in containerizer module 18.
• step 100 the system notifies the operator that the coUation process for unloading tower 16 is complete.
• the operator in step 102 removes the tub of coUated flats and substitutes the next tub to be filled.
• any rejected flats in the reject tub 56 are manuaUy placed in proper sequence for the mailings.
• the mailings are fed through the FBC of the present invention. If there is a mailing with pieces thicker than .375", the operator feeds those first. The normal thickness mailings are fed next. If there is a saturation mailing, it is fed last. This provides better utilization of the tower capacity. The saturations are fed last, because they can be coUated directly from the feeder 10 and do not have to be stored in the tower 16. This increases the actual capacity of the system, as weU as increasing the system throughput.
• the FBC system operation consists of two phases. During the induction phase, maU pieces are fed into the system and stored in tower locations 16. During the coUation phase, an algorithm determines the extraction sequence; maU pieces are extracted from their storage locations in towers 16 and placed in a selected one of output maU tubs 40-1, 40-2, 56. If a saturation mailing is to be sorted, it is fed into the system during the coUation phase. As the regular pieces are extracted, the system interrningles the saturation pieces at the proper times to achieve the desired output sequence. This aUows the system to handle a larger volume of maU and have higher throughput.
• a flowchart of the coordination of the induction and coUation phases of the system of the present invention is iUustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 16.
• maU induction is performed.
• the operator has selected the carrier's route.
• the computer 50 has retrieved this route information from the internal databases and performed necessary utilizations.
• step 106 the operator places the mailings into the feeder. If there is a saturation or other large mailing, the operator wiU feed that during the performed maU extractions, step 114, to be described hereinafter.
• the computer 50 examines the carrier stops of the last piece in each tower. It determines the tower whose last piece is closest, but stiU earlier, to the fed piece and sends the pieces down the conveyor to be conducted into that tower.
• AU barcode misreads and pieces that the system is unable to stage are sent to the reject tub 56, as iUustrated in Fig. 15. This operation continues for all non-saturation pieces.
• the computer 50 tracks where each piece goes and all other relevant information about it.
• the operator informs the computer and loads the saturation, or large mailings, as iUustrated in Routine A of Figs. 15A and 15B. This is done at the beginning of the coUation phase.
• step 108 is a decision block as to whether or not a saturation mailing is being processed. If "NO”, the process proceeds to step 112 to deteimine the extraction sequence. If "YES”, the process proceeds to perform maU feed at step 110. In step 110, this function is only performed if there is a saturation or large mailing. If a piece needs to be fed, the feeder wiU feed pieces until the barcode reader 14 has read a vahd piece for the carrier's route. This piece travels down the first conveyor connected to the output of the feeder 10 and stops just before the first upstream tower 16. At this time, the feeder 10 wiU stop feeding the pieces.
• step 112 the determination of the extraction sequence consists of several steps.
• the end result is an ordered list describing the extraction and move events. This list begins with the current events and continues until the last piece is placed in the tub selected.
• FIG. 17 A general indication of the flow of maU is iUustrated in Fig. 17. This figure depicts only three towers for simplicity to provide a coherent overview of the coUation of pieces of maU through the system.
• the three towers are indicated as Tower 1, Tower 2, and Tower 3.
• the pieces of maU are inserted as designated mailings M, bundles B, and pieces, represented by a numeral, 1, 2, 3, etc.
• Tower 1 includes mailings M3, bundles Bl, and pieces 1, 2 and 3 of those mailings and bundles.
• Tower 2 stores mailings M2, bundles Bl, and pieces 1 and 2.
• Tower 3, stores mailings Ml, bundles Bl, and B2, and pieces 1 and 2 from the respective bundles.
• the mailings, bundles, and pieces of the left-hand section are designated by the dehveiy point sequence numbers (carrier walk sequence) obtained from the ZIP code on the pieces of mailing as read by reader 14. It can be seen that the pieces are stored in descending order from bottom to top in the respective towers in the walk or dehveiy point sequence.
• Fig. 17 depicts the coUation output sequence of the pieces of maU, which is in reverse of the dehveiy point or walk sequence in the center portion of the figure.
• the determination of the extraction sequence consists of several steps. The end result is an ordered list describing the extraction and move events. The hst begins with the current events and continues until the last piece is placed in the output tub.
• the carrier's walk sequence is stored in the system database. Using this sequence and the known piece information, the algorithm calculates through aU avaUable pieces and creates an output sequence table Ulustrated in Fig. 18A. This table shows the sequence each piece wiU be in, in the final output stack and the pieces' current location.
• the coUation rules are iUustrated in the left-hand column of Fig. 18, the sequence number in the next column, the current time in the next column, the calculation in the next column, and the resulting feed time in the final column.
• the last piece to be dehvered by the carrier wiU be the first piece into the selected maU tub. Exactly what time to extract a maU piece from its storage location is dependent on several factors. If the current piece tower 16 is downstream from the previous piece tower, then the current tower has to postpone extraction until the previous piece has passed by. If the current piece tower is upstream from the previous piece tower, then the current tower may possibly extract before the previous piece is extracted, because current piece wiU be on the conveyor for some time before it reaches the previous piece's tower.
• step 114 perform maU extraction.
• the extraction events in the extraction time hst of Fig. 18B are performed.
• the mail pieces are numbered in Fig. 19 in correspondence to the numbers assigned in Figs. 17, 18A, and 18B described hereinbefore.
• the computer 50 at step 116 checks to see if there is more maU in the system to be processed. If there is, the computer needs to get ready to perform another extraction of maU. At this point, the routine is done and the coUation of this particular carrier's mailings is complete. The operator can then start another carrier's route and the input associated bundles of maU therefor.
• FIG. 20 there is iUustrated in diagrammatic form, tracking information for the pieces of flats mail passing through the system; and Figs. 21 and 22 fllustrate tracking data obtained from the system of Fig. 20.
• the computer 50 needs to track where they are. It needs to know when a piece is at a tower 16 and can be inserted into that tower, when a piece is not at a tower and one can be extracted, and when a piece did not arrive when it was supposed to and may be jammed.
• Each conveyor section TC-1, TC-2 has an encoder PE that generates a pulse as the conveyor system moves. There are a fixed number of pulses during an inch of conveyor travel. Therefore, by counting pulses, the computer 50 can determine how far along the conveyor TC-1, TC-2 a piece should have traveled. Since the position is derived directly from the conveyor, instead of by timing the pieces based on a speed calculation, the system automatically accounts for start and stop accelerations, as weU as running speed variations.
• photo sensors PS are placed along the conveyor to detect when a piece F actuaUy passes by. They are spaced such that only one maU piece F would be between them.
• the distance from the feeder 10, for each sensor, can be determined and expressed as a number of encoder pulses from pulse encoder PE.
• This hardware provides information on where the piece should be and where it actuaUy is or is not to the computer 50.
• This tracking information is Ulustrated in the tables of Figs. 21 and 22.
• the software adds information about the piece to a temporary tracking table. As the piece travels along the conveyor, the table in Fig. 21 is updated. This is used to track the piece and detect abnormal conditions.
• the table in Fig. 22 includes information such as the last known position of the piece, the next expected sensor position, the gap between adjacent pieces, and the destination tower for that piece.
• the maU pieces are not physicaUy constrained on the conveyors TC-1, TC-2, they may slip and move slightly slower than the conveyor itself. At a given sensor PS, this effect appears as a larger actual pulse.
• the system is very tolerant of slippage because it initiates tower motion based on the actual location of the piece. If the difference in pulse counts from the encoders is too large or the gap too small, then something significant must have happened to the piece, which is interpreted as a jam condition.
• the test threshold conditions for determining a jam are Ulustrated in Fig. 23. When a jam condition is detected, the computer 50 stops the system and describes the problem to the operator. In addition, there are a series of indicator hghts along the length of the machine. These wiU hght at the location of the jam. When the operator has cleared the jam condition, he/she notifies the computer to continue with the sortation.
• the present invention has been described for sorting flats mail, which are the preferred items to be coUated. However, other items of manufacture requiring orderly sequencing could be sorted in accordance with the present invention, such as circuit boards, and other electrical components.

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• 2001
  • 2001-01-26 JP JP2002559180A patent/JP2005503908A/ja active Pending
  • 2001-01-26 EP EP01910361A patent/EP1353763A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-01-26 WO PCT/US2001/002725 patent/WO2002058855A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

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