Method and apparatus for preparing mail pieces

1. A method for preparing mail pieces comprising:

providing an apparatus for preparing items to be mailed comprising:

at least one feeding station for feeding postal items of a mail set one by one;

a gathering station;

a printer for printing on postal items fed from the feeding station or on envelopes;

an inserting station for inserting postal items into envelopes;

the method comprising, for each mail set:

feeding one or more postal items from the at least one feeding station;

if more than one postal item is fed to the gathering station, gathering the postal items in the gathering station;

if all postal items of the mail set have been gathered or if a predetermined maximum of postal items has been gathered, transporting the gathered postal items to the inserting station;

at the inserting station, inserting the gathered postal items into an envelope;

determining whether the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece; and

if the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece, inserting at least one remaining postal item of the mail set into a next envelope of a next mail piece, and printing an association marking on at least a postal item or the envelope of the mail piece or on a postal item or the envelope of the next mail piece, the association marking indicating that the mail piece or next mail piece carrying the association marking is associated to said next mail piece or, respectively, said mail piece.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein, if the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece, printing a first association marking on a postal item or the envelope of the mail piece, the first association marking indicating that it is associated to a further mail piece carrying a further association marking, and printing the further association marking on a postal item or the envelope of the next mail piece, the further association marking indicating that it is associated to the mail piece carrying the first association marking.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined maximum of postal items is adjusted prior to preparation of a batch of mail pieces.

4. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for each mail set:

determining an address to be printed on the envelope;

printing the determined address on the envelope;

if the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece, reprinting the address on the next envelope; and

wherein the association markings and the addresses are printed by the same printer.

5. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for each mail set:

determining the total number of postal items in a mail set prior to feeding of the postal items to the gathering station.

6. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for each mail set:

if the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece, determining optimum numbers of postal items for a plurality of mail pieces to contain the postal items of the mail set; and

for each mail piece, if the number of gathered postal items in the gathering station is equal to the determined optimum number of postal items for that mail piece, transporting the gathered postal items from the gathering station ( 3 ) towards the inserting station.

7. An apparatus for preparing items to be mailed, comprising:

at least one feeding station for feeding postal items of a mail set one by one;

a gathering station;

a control logic;

a sensor placed downstream of the at least one feeding station and upstream of the gathering station for detecting postal items of a mail set;

a printer for printing on postal items fed from the feeding station or on envelopes; and

an inserting station for inserting postal items into envelopes;

wherein the sensor is connected to the control logic and arranged for scanning markings from documents in the feeding path and generating signals in accordance with the scanned markings;

wherein the control logic is arranged for:

generating a gather signal if a mail set comprises more than one postal item;

generating a transport signal if a mail set is completely fed to the gathering station or if a predetermined maximum of postal items is fed to the gathering station; and

generating a mark signal if a mail set is to include more postal items than a predetermined maximum;

wherein the gathering station is arranged for:

gathering postal items arriving from the at least one feeding station in response to the gather signal; and

transporting the gathered postal items towards the inserting station in response to the transport signal; and

wherein the control logic is arranged for, in response to the mark signal, causing the printer to print an association marking on at least a postal item or an envelope of a mail piece or on a postal item or an envelope of a next mail piece, the association marking indicating that the mail piece or next mail piece carrying the association marking is associated to said next mail piece or, respectively, said mail piece.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the control logic is further arranged for, in response to the mark signal, causing the printer to print a first association marking on a postal item or the envelope of the mail piece, the first association marking indicating that the mail piece is associated to a next mail piece carrying a next association marking, and printing the next association marking on a postal item or an envelope of the next mail piece, the next association marking indicating that the next postal item is associated to the mail piece carrying the first association marking.

9. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the predetermined maximum of postal items is programmable in the control logic.

10. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the control logic is arranged for causing the printer to print an address on the envelope; and

reprinting the address on the envelope of the next mail piece in response to the mark signal.

11. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the control logic further is arranged for generating a mark signal indicating the number of mail pieces to be marked if the total number of postal items in the mail set detected by the sensor is determined.

12. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the control logic is further arranged for:

if the mail set includes or is to include more postal items than the predetermined maximum of postal items of a mail piece, determining optimum numbers of postal items for a plurality of mail pieces to contain the postal items of the mail set; and

for each mail piece, if the number of gathered postal items in the gathering station is equal to the determined optimum number of postal items for that mail piece, transporting the gathered postal items from the gathering station towards the inserting station.