Automatic address field identification

1. A method for automatically determining a position of an address field on a document comprising:

providing an envelope having a face provided with a window dimensioned and positioned such that an address in the address field of the document inserted in the envelope is visible behind the window;

scanning a face of the envelope provided with the window so as to obtain scan-data representing an image of the scanned face of the envelope;

comparing the scan-data with characteristics indicative of a human-readable address;

selecting a subset of the scan-data meeting characteristics of human-readable address;

determining the position of markings represented by the selected subset of the scan-data; and

calculating the position of an address field on the document from data representing at least the position of the selected subset of the scan-data on the envelope face and a clearance or clearance range between the document and the envelope,

further comprising folding the document, prior to insertion, in accordance with selected fold settings, wherein the data from which the position of the address field is calculated further include the selected fold setting.

2. A method for preparing a plurality of mail pieces, comprising a method according to claim 1 and, subsequently, for each cycle for preparing a mailpiece:

feeding a further envelope to the inserter;

feeding a further document to the inserter;

scanning at least a portion of the further document defined by the calculated position so as to obtain scan-data representing an image of at least a portion of the document defined by the calculated position;

extracting address data from scan data representing the address field defined by the calculated position; and

inserting the document into the envelope.

3. A method as in claim 2 , wherein the further document is scanned only in the address field defined by the calculated position.

4. A method as in claim 2 , wherein the whole of the further document is scanned, and portions of the scanned data outside the address field defined by the calculated position are disregarded.

5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein extracting address data comprises performing optical character recognition and the address data comprise text data.

6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the envelope is scanned only in an area dictated by the UPU standard.

7. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the address field is defined by a single pointer and has fixed predetermined dimensions.

8. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the address field is further defined by dimensions determined from the selected sub-set of the scan data.

9. An inserting system comprising:

at least one document feeder for individually feeding documents from a stack;

an inserter arranged for receiving documents from the document feeder and inserting the received documents into envelopes;

an envelope feeder for individually feeding envelopes from a stack to the inserter;

a document scanner upstream of the inserter, for scanning documents;

an envelope scanner at or downstream of the inserter, for scanning envelopes so as to obtain scan-data representing images of the scanned faces of the envelopes;

a control structure programmed for:

controlling the envelope feeder for feeding an envelope to the inserter;

controlling the document feeder for feeding a document to the inserter;

controlling the inserter for inserting the document into the envelope;

controlling the envelope scanner to scan a face of the envelope provided with a window so as to obtain scan-data representing an image of the scanned face of the envelope;

comparing the scan-data with characteristics indicative of a human-readable address;

selecting a subset of the scan-data meeting characteristics of human-readable address;

determining the position of markings represented by the selected subset of the scan-data; and

calculating the position of the selected subset of the scan-data on the document from data representing at least the position of the selected subset of the scan-data on the envelope face and a clearance or clearance range between the document and the envelope,

further comprising a folder arranged for folding documents prior to insertion by the inserter, wherein the control structure is programmed for obtaining and storing folding data representing a fold setting of the folder, and for calculating the position of the address field on the document from data that further include the selected fold setting.

10. An inserting system, according to claim 9 , wherein the control structure is further programmed for, for each next cycle for preparing a mailpiece:

controlling the envelope feeder for feeding an envelope to the inserter;

controlling the document feeder for feeding a document to the inserter;

controlling the document scanner to scan at least a portion of the document defined by the calculated position;

extracting address data from scan data representing an address field defined by defined by the calculated position; and

controlling the inserter for inserting the document into the envelope.