Method of handling mail items with improved bar-code reading
US7413114B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 24, 2005 |
| Grant date | Aug 19, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 29, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB07C3/14
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
In the method of handling mail items, while a mail item is on its first pass through the machine, the method consists in forming a digital image of the surface of the mail item, in deriving, from the image, a digital fingerprint characterizing the mail item, and in recording said digital fingerprint in a memory in correspondence with the bar code printed on the mail item. While the mail item is on its second pass through the machine, the method consists in reading the printed bar code that is printed on the mail item, and, if it has not been possible to extract completely the information contained in the printed code read off the mail item, in using said correspondence in the memory between the printed code that is printed on the mail item and the digital fingerprint that characterizes the mail item to continue machine-sorting the mail item, thereby contributing to reducing the error rate. The printed bar code that is printed on the mail item may be a mail item identity code, a customer applied identifier, or a sorting code for outward and/or inward sorting.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.