Granted Patent B2

US 8,311,668 · App. 12/581,523 · Granted Nov 13, 2012

Abstract

Claims (60)

1. A method of automatically configuring a feeder system of a mail sorting system to optimize the performance of the sorter in accordance with the characteristics of the customer's mail, the method comprising steps of:

receiving, at a sorter control system associated with the mail sorting system, customer information associated with a processing job, the customer information including a unique customer identifier and parameters for the processing job;

obtaining at the sorter control system, from a database, a feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier, the feeder profile including parameters for controlling the operation of the feeder system of the mail sorting system;

receiving the feeder profile at a feeder control system in communication with the sorter control system, the feeder control system capable of configuring one or more parameters of the feeder system; and

automatically configuring, by the feeder control system, the feeder system according to the parameters of the feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier prior to the execution of the processing job by the mail sorting system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of automatically configuring the feeder control system according to the parameters of the feeder profile includes configuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of:

gap threshold between successive items of the processing job,

pitch threshold between items of the processing job,

vacuum suction pressure to be applied for feeding items of the processing job onto a transport,

magazine feed velocity,

magazine mail stack pressure,

belt motor acceleration rate,

belt motor deceleration rate, and

retard belt speed.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the feeder profile comprises:

sending a request for retrieval of the feeder profile, including the unique customer identifier, over a network from the sort control system to a job management system having access to the database; and

receiving the feeder profile over the network at the sort control system from the job management system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving the customer information associated with the processing job comprises receiving the customer information, over a network from a job management system in communication with the sort control system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feeder profile is a default feeder profile associated with the sort processing device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feeder profile is a customized feeder profile associated with the sort processing device.

7. A document processing system comprising:

a sort processing device having an integral feeder system;

a sorter control system in communication with the sorting device and a database, the sorter control system receiving customer information associated with a processing job, the customer information including a unique customer identifier and parameters for the processing job and obtaining from the database a feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier, the feeder profile including parameters for controlling the operation of the feeder system of the sort processing device; and

a feeder control system in communication with the feeder system and the sort control system, the feeder control system receiving the feeder profile and automatically configuring the feeder system according to the parameters of the feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier prior to the execution of the processing job by the sort processing device.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the database is resident on a communications network.

9. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a job management system in communication with the sort control system, the job management system storing the customer information and parameters for the processing job.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the feeder profile includes configuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of:

gap threshold between successive items of the processing job,

pitch threshold between items of the processing job,

vacuum suction pressure to be applied for feeding items of the processing job onto a transport,

magazine feed velocity,

magazine mail stack pressure,

belts motor acceleration rate,

belt motor deceleration rate, and

retard belt speed.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the feeder profile is a default profile.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the feeder profile is a custom profile.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the feeder profile is represented by a unique identifier.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the machine readable storage medium that when executed by one or more programmable systems in communication with a document processing system having a sorter processing device that causes the one or more systems to perform functions that automatically configure a feeder system of the sorter processing device, the functions comprising:

receiving, at a sorter control system associated with the sorter processing device, customer information associated with a processing job, the customer information including a unique customer identifier and parameters for the processing job to be executed;

obtaining, at the sorter control system, from a database, a feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier, the feeder profile including parameters for controlling the operation of the feeder system of the sorter processing device;

receiving the feeder profile at a feeder control system in communication with the sorter control system, the feeder control system capable of configuring one or more parameters of the feeder system; and

automatically configuring, by the feeder control system, the feeder system according to the parameters of the feeder profile associated with the unique customer identifier upon receipt of the feeder profile prior to the execution of the processing job by the sort processing device.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the function of automatically configuring the feeder control system according to the parameters of the feeder profile includes configuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of:

gap threshold between successive items of the processing job,

pitch threshold between items of the processing job,

vacuum suction pressure to be applied for feeding items of the processing job onto a transport,

magazine feed velocity,

magazine mail stack pressure,

belts motor acceleration rate,

belt motor deceleration rate, and

retard belt speed.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the function of obtaining the feeder profile comprises the functions of:

sending a request for retrieval of the feeder profile, including the unique customer identifier, over a network from the sort control system to a job management system having access to the database; and

receiving the feeder profile over the network at the sort control system from the job management system.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the function of receiving the customer information associated with the processing job comprises the function of receiving the customer information, over a network from a job management system in communication with the sort control system.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the feeder profile is a default feeder profile associated with the sort processing device.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the feeder profile is a custom feeder profile associated with the sort processing device.

Assignments (20)