The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 11, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 10, 1997
Kaori Uno, Aichi-ken, JP;
Akihiro Kawaoka, Owariasahi, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for sorting and rearranging mails in the sequence sorting is disclosed, in which a multiplicity of mails are loaded in a sorter controlled by a computer to cause the sorter to perform a plurality of sorting passes. A delivery information list has recorded therein the delivery information including the sequence sorting and addresses. A serial number list has stored therein two-digit serial numbers including first-order digit of serial numbers for the first sorting pass and second-order digits of the serial numbers for the second sorting pass set in the sequence sorting corresponding to the delivery information list. A recognition unit recognizes the address of each of the mails loaded in the sorter and sorted in the order of the first-order digit of the serial number. A number-of-mails matrix table records the number of mails by the address recognized in the recognition unit in the first sorting pass. Before the sorting operation by the second-order digit, the second-order digit of the serial number is reassigned based on the number-of-mails matrix table to prevent the overflow at any bins or stackers during the sorting operation by the second-order digit. Then, the mails sorted by the first-order digit are loaded in the sorter in the order of the particular serial number to perform the sorting operation in accordance with the reassigned second-order digit of the serial number.