CA1272526A - Insertion machine with postage categorization - Google Patents

Abstract

INSERTION MACHINE WITH
POSTAGE CATEGORIZATION
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

In an insertion machine a track 20 moves groups of items past feed stations 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42 during respective machine cycles. The feed stations selectively feed items, onto the track 20 for inclusion with a group of items and eventual stuffing into an envelope to which postage need be applied.
In order for data processing means 102 to calculate the amount of postage necessary an operator uses a keyboard and display 110 to input predetermined per item weight values for items held at select stations. The data processing means 102 uses the predetermined values indicative of the per items weight of items held in the stations to obtain a calculated total weight for each group of items.

Description

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INSERTION ~HINE WIl~l POl3TAGE CA~l~GORIZAq~IO~
8AC ~ OUND

Thls inventlon rela~es ~o an lmproved ~ultl~
5 st~tlon insertlon ~chlne ~nd to a method of oper~ting th~ ~ame.
Unlted Statea Patents 2,325,455 and 3,2611951~;
rel~e to multi-st~lon in~erter~ which ~re presently produced and marketed by he a~lgnee of the pre~ent 10 application and well-known in th~ ~ark~t a~ the Phillipsburg ina~rter~. In the in~ertlon ~achlr~ o~
these patents a r~a~ter control dos:u~n~nt ~ wl'chdr~wrl fro~ a laa~ r control docu~nt ~tatlon ~nd ~oY~d onto ~n lnsert~r tr~ck whlch has a auLtable con-teyor loeana 15 for s~oving the ~aater control docu~ent pa~t ~ plurali~y o~ in~ertion ~t~tion~ the master control docu3~ertt i3 thusly mo~ ed, addltlonal docume.nts ro~ the in~ertion station~ are s~acked wlth ~he xo~st~r control document. The ma~ter control document and lts 20 insertions are then ln~erted into ~ ~iling envelope by -well-known ~neans.
Patent 3,2.60,Sl7 ls part~cularly directed to an 1mprovement of Patent 2,325,455 ~nd related tc~
device foc deriving signals ~rom particular lfla~ter 2S control documents and using ths~ e ~lgn~l~ to control * Trade Mark , .

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the ~ubsequent selective ln~ertion of documents ~rom only selec~ed lnaertion statlon~
Onc~ th~ con~rol document ~nd lts inser~ions hav~ been lnserted into the maillng ~n~lope, a determinatlon must be made regarding the ~mount of post~ge to be ~pplled to the envelope. ~owever, insertion machine~ of the type described a~ove are utili~ed in m~ny environment~ in which ~t i~ dlficult to make ~n ~ccurate determin~tion of ~e correct postage for each envelope.
A8 an exa~ple of thi~ difficulty, in th~
b~nklng industry envelop~ a~e ~lled monthly to cu~tomera ~nd ~nclude ~uch enclosur~s ~ a s~em~nt o~
~ccount, informa~ional enclo~ure~O and e~ncelled 15 check~. ~ith respect to lnfonG~tional ~nclo~ure~, banks may send certain gener~l lntere~t enclosures to all customers while al30 enclosing one or mo~ of m~
speclal interest enclo~ures to select or targete~
custo~er~ ln ~ccordance wlth the b~nk'~ esti~tion of the p~rtinence o the enclo~ure r~la~iv~ to ~ach cu~tomer. ~herefor~, the welght of the @nvelope~
mailed by the bank can vary considerably ~ro~ cu~to~r to cu~tomer depending on, for exa~plo, th~ ~u~ber of cAncelled check~, the length (~nd henc~ ~olght) o~ h ~5 cancelled check, and the nu~b~r of it~s ~uch ~
information~l enclosure~ whlch ar~ rt~d ln a cu~tomer'~ envelope.
United States Patent 3,606,7~8 to ~ugene Sather et al., commonly assigned herewith, provide3 a method and apparatus for removing overweight envelop~
from an inserter track prior to pa~age to ~ p~stage meter. In ~etting up the apparatu~ of Patent 3,606,728, an initial determination is made regarding the expected aver~ge weight of an envelope containlng statement sheet and the maxl~u~ pos~ble weight of the maxi~um number of informational ln~ert3 to be includ~d ',. :.:, : ' ' . :, `:

th~rein. N0xt, b~sed upon the inltlal determin~tlon, ~cond determination i8 mad~ of the nuDbe~ o check~
required ~o increa2~e the overall welgh~ o~ a glven envelope ~nd content~ tc~ an ~ount in excess of the S po3tage for which tho ~neter l~ set. Tbl~ number o~
check~ i~ entered into an o~erwelght 8~ ctor wh~ch i8 operative to produce a signal representative of Zl nunst)er of check~3 in exs::e~ of whlch w~uld r~quire add ~ t i ona l pO8 t age .
In ~ccocdance wlth th~ bAsic t~ac~ing of Pat~nt 3,606,728, ~ome current inserter machinoE~ h~v~
two in-line po~tage meter~ -- a flrs po~tage met~r for applying poRtage to envelopes h~ving a welght ~Yithin flrst range (0.00 ounces to l.00 ounce~, for e~ample) 15 and a ~econd po~tage me~er for applying po~tage to envelopes having 2~ weigh~ within ~ ~econd rarage ~l. 00 ounces to 2. oa ounce~) . In th~ m~nn~r o5~ P~t~nt 3,606,728, the user determlne~ a fir~t pre~t coun'c lndicati~e of the number of ches:k~ which would ~ake th~
20 envelope too he~vy and hence no/c ellglbl~ for ~he 1rat range, as ~ell a~ a s~cond pre~e~t COU51~C ln~lc~tlv~ o~
the numbe~ of s::heclcs wh lch would mako ~he ~nvelopo too heavy and hence not ellgible for the ~econd range, Such inserter machlnes read a binzlry cnde l~dic:a~iv~ o~
25 the number of c:ancelIed checks tha~ ar~ to be ln~erted into th-e envelope and, based Oll a s:oap~rislon of th~
read value to the fi~st and second pre~et counts, divert$ the envelope either toward the flr~t postage . meter, the second post~ge meter, or to a locatlon for 30 ~pec:ial handling.
A~ mentioned above, the preset counts indic:ative of the number of cancelled check~ to be inserted lnto an envelope must take into conslderation the IRaxlmu~ po~sible welght of the n~l~um po~sible 35 number of non-check l~ems which are ~lso lnserted lnto the envelope. ~dhen the actual welght of the non~check~

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l'cem~ in a given envelope 1~ less than this m~ximum, ~nv210p~s czln ~e ~aalgned 3n unnecess~rlly high welght ca tegoe y .
Mo,reover, in ~he lndustry it 1~ common to h~ve commercial ch~ck~ of rel~tively long longth (2~nd h~nce great~r weight~ and checks of ~horter length l~nd hence les~er weight) 0 such as personal check~. If lt i8 imprQperly Assumed ~hat all the check~ ar~ ei~her long length checks or short length ch~ck~, th~
10 envelope0 can ~e a~slgned to an incorrect w~ight c~tego~ y .
~ence, an ob~ect of the present invention 1 the provi~ion of an inserter machine whlc:h accurately dot~rmines the ~iqht of an enve~iope ~nd its ~s~3oct atod lS in~ert~ .
An advantage of the present inventlon i~ ~h~
provlsion o~ an ln~crter machina whlch, by accurate, determlnat~on of ~h~ welgh~ o~E ~n envelope ~nd 11'8 au~oclated insert~, re~ult~ in a subst~nt~l flnanclal 20 8~aving8.
A further advantage of the prQ~ent lnv~ntlon 1~ the p~ovl~ion of an in~er'cer machlne ~dhlch 18 oa~lly operated for d~rmining the accurate weigbt of ~n envelope and lts ~ssoclated content~O
Y~t anothef advantage of th~ pre~ert invention is th~ provi~ion of an in~rt~r ~chlne whlch discr~mina~es between long length in~erts ~nd ~hs~rt length Ln~erts in determining the accur~te welght of a envelope and its a3~0cial:ed contents.
SUMMARY
An in~ertion machlne receive~ keyboard inpu ~
relative to per ltem welghts for selec~ed feed ~ta~ions of the lnsert machlne. In an autom~tic ~ode whereln each ~tation feeds inserts onto a conveyor travelling 35 thereby, a cdlculation o~ the welght of ~n envelop~
~tuffed wlth a group of related ltem~s 18 ~ade upon the ~_~ ?~ rj~

fe~ding of a flrst ite~0 The welgh~ cælculation is c~tegorlzed into one of ~ plurall~y of welght r~nge cla~slfica~ion~ with respect to the appl1c~tion o postage to the stuffed envelope. Stuffed envelopes calculated to be overweight are mar~ed ~nd diverted to an overweight conveyor. Appropriate ones of a plurality of postage meters are activated to apply a suitable amount of pQstage to ~tuf~ed ~n~e}~pes t.ravelling thereby if the oalculated we~ght of the ~tuffed env~lope ls classi~led to be in a ~eight r~ng~
corre~pondlng to the set~ing of th~ partlcul~r po~ta~
~eter. Envelopes having calculated weight~ in particular weight ranges are div~rted :to conveyors other than a ~ain conveyor.
In another mode indlcia on a control docum~nt fed f rom a f irst s~ation determin~s whlc~ partlcul~r down~tream stations are to f~ed lte~0 onto the conveyor~ The indlcl~ ~18~ de~ermin~ how ~any ~te~
are to be fed from a~c least one other st~tion, in . 2d particular ~ fast feeder ~t~tion. The f~st fe~der stAtion is 2~ du~l-length station c~pable o ~edlng both long length and short length ito~ onto th~
conveyor, the long length item~ ~nd ~ho~t lenqth ite~
having d1ffering weights.
In the control ~ode, upon th~ feeding of th~
ind~cia-bearing lte~ fro~ the f~r~t ~tatlon ~
calculated tenative weight i~ derlved by data processing means for the group of rel~t~d lt2n3s to be deposlted on the conveyor on the ba ~8 0~ per item 30 we ight inf ormation input by the user with respect to select ~tations. In th~ regard, the calculated tentative weight is said to be tentative inasmuch:as the ca}culations p~e~ume that all the lte~ fed f ro~ the dual length fast feeder ~tation are shorl: 1ength items. Subsequeni to the tentative calculations the dual length fa~t feeder station feed lt~ ite~ A8 the dual length feeder ~eed~, a length ~ensor proximate the dual length station sen~es the feedlng of long length item~ 80 that a count theceof can be maintained by the data proce~sing means. Once all the ltem~ ha~e S been fed from the dual length fa~t feeder, the calculated weight for the group of related documents i8 modified if 80 required by ~he pre~ence of long length items and an accurate final welgh~ i~ m~lntainedd The p~oce~sing of postage application to the ~tuffed O envelope~ i~ based on the calculated flnal weight.
BRIEF D~SC~IPTION OF T~ DQAWINGS
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular descriptlon of preferred embodlment~ as illustrated ln the ~cco~p~nylng dr~wlngs in ~hlch reference ch~racter~ re~er ~o the ~me p~rt~
throughout the various ~iew~ The drawlng~ are not neces~arily to scale, empha~la in~ead belng placed upon lllu~tratlng ~he princlple~ of the invention.
FIG. 1 i~ a sche~atic view of an ln3ertion ~chlne accordlng ~o an e~bodim~nt of th~ inv~ntlon FIG. 2 i~ a front vlew o~ ~ koybo~rd ~nd dl~play panel o~ ~n in~ertio~ machine o~ ~n e~bodi~ent of the invention;
F~. 3 is a schematlc view ~howing co~ponents included ln data processlng mean~ whlch co~prl~e ~n ln~ertion machlne according ~o an e~bodl~ent o the invention;
FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4~ ~re diayram~
depicting processing 8tep8 executed by a ~p~cl~ ed rou~ine DMP;
FIGS. 5A and 5B (with Fig. 2) are diagrams depicting processing steps executed by a specialized routine OZ~;
FIG. 6 (with Fig. 4E) is a table depicting relationships between inputs and outputs wi-th respect to the keyboard and display panel of Fig. 2;

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FIG. 7 i~ a diagra~ depicting a sequence in which a ma~ter routine calls varlou~ specialized routine~; and, FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting proce~sing ~tep~ executed by a ~pecialized routin~ LCA.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF T~ D~NINGS
Flg. 1 shows a feed track or conveyor 20 which travels past se~en con~ecutive in~ertion stations 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42. In the embodimen~
~hown~ conveyor 20 is intermitten~ly drlven by ~ chaln and sprocket arrangement so that the conveyoc travels generally in the direction 6hown by ~rrow ~5. That i~, during successive machine cycle~ a docu~ent on conveyor 20 travel~ in a le~tward direct1on so th~t durlng th~
~econd mach~ne cycle (MC2~ the docu~ent ls proximate the ~tatLon 32; ln the third machlne cycle (MC3) the document ~ proximate the ~tatlon 34, and 80 forth.
The first station (~tatlon 30) 18 a ~heet feeder ISF) atatlon from which are fed one or more document~ (al80 referred to as ~heets~) for a plurality of cu~tomers. In one mode the docu~ent fed ~rom station 30 ~unction-~ as a control docu~en~ whlch to some extent govern~ down~tream operation~ ~ seen hereina~ter. In a simplified ~o~e the docu~ent fed from ~tation 30 doe~ not govern down~tre~
operations. F19. 1 ~how~ ~ control docurllent 46 in the process of being f~d from the sheet fe~der station 30 and being depos~ted on conveyor ~0 durlng the fir~t machine cycle (MCl)~
The ~econd document feeding st~tlon 32 co~prises means for feeding one or more docu~ents therefrom onto document ~6 when document 46 i8 ln a posi~lon on the conveyor 20 shown ~s MC2. ~n eh~
embodiment shown ln ~ig. 1 ~which concern~ a bank statemen~ ~y~tem), ehe feeding mean~ co~pri~e~ ~ check feeder 32 c~lp~-ble of rl~pldly fe~ldlnq 1- plurl~lley of `

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checks (such as cancelled checks) associa~ed wi~h ~he cu~tomer whose control document 46 wa depoaited onto the conveyor during MCl.
In a simplified mode of the in~en~ion the nu~ber of docu~ents fed fro~ the feedlng ~tation 32 i~
con~tant for each customer and hence need not be specially discerned wi~h re3pect to each CU3tOnlero In another ~ode the documents fed from sheet feeder 30 function as control documentq wh~ch go~ern the number of documents which are fed from the fa~t feeder 32. In the latter regard, the number of documents (in this illu~tratlon, cancelled check~) fed from the fa0t feeder of 3tation 32 is determlned by indlcia borne ln a field 50 on the control d~cument 46. The mark~ in field 50 comprise control and count inaicia whlch are 15 read in conventlonal ~anner by photocell readlng ~eans 52 positioned in proximity to station 30. Pho~ocell reading mean~ 52 is electrically connected by connector 52a to a pho~ocell reading and decodlng clrcuit 54. In the e~bodiment ~hown ln ~lg. 1, the photocell re~ding means 52 18 operative with the circuit 54 to unction as a conventlonal reflective-type reading 8y8tem ¦ particularly adapted to read a bar code. The circuit ! 54 i8 adapted to lnterpret the bar code in lndicia fleld 50 and to appropriately expre~ and tran~it th~
interpreted data vla ~ dat~ buQ to dat~ proc~uin~
mean~.
In the described embodiment wherein a plurality of bank checks are fed rom the fa~t feeder of station 32, ~t is to be noted that ~o~e check~ u~ed in commercial tran~actions are relatlvely long (~uch as business checks) wh~le others are relatively ~hort ~such as personal checks). To thi~ end~ a check length aen~or 53 is ~ounted proximate the fa~ f eeder o~
station 32 fo~ determlning whether a ch~ck ed f ro~ the s~tlon 32 1~ ~ shost check os ~ lon~ cb~ck. The . :. .... :

_9 sensor 53 preferably comprises ~ conventional photocell whlch i~ connected by a sultable electrlcal conn~c~o~
53a to the data proce~sing mean0 h~re1n2~f ~e~
describ~dO The par~icular locat1on o~ th~ sensor 53 5 depends on whether the check ~eeder of station 32 ~eeds from the top of i~ a~ociated hopper or Çro~ the bo'ctom thereof.
As mentioned above ~ in one e~bodi~ent the indlcia f ield Sû borne ~y th~ ma~te~ document 46 10 indicate~ ~rom which Oe the subsequen~ ~tatlon~
documents are to be fed during a corresponding ~hine cycle. If appropriate in~er~ are select1vely fed rom the second lnsert ~tation 34 dur1ng the third machlne cycl~ M~3, rom the third lnsert station 36 during the machine cycle MC4, and ~o Çorth. Alternatively, ln ~
s~mpllf~ed mode the in~ertion machlne can be aet up ~o that one ~nsert i8 automatically fed fro~ each lnsertion station ~4, 36, ~8 and 40 for oach cu s ~omer .
I:ach of the 3tatl0rl8 34, 36, 3~, and 40 comprises suitable gr~pper means (not ~hown) or retrieving from the bottom o the stack in the hoppcr of the ~tation duclng a corresponding ~Achln~ cycle the one or ~ore documents as~oclated wlth ~ glven ~5 customer. In thls regard, the mean~ for re~ovlng docu~ent~ fro~ the hopper of the~e ~tatlonæ i~, in one e~bodiment, that di~closed ln U.~. Pat~n~ 2,325,455 eo Williams, although it should be understood that other types of means for extracting documents from these stations 3n and for depositing the same on conveyor 20 may be employed.
A downstream portion 60 of the conveyor 20 generally travels in the direction of arrow 61 (which is essentially parallel to the direction of arrow 45).
Although not specifically shown in Fig. 1, it should be be understood that in accordance with difering . , .

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embodiments numerous o~her stations are proximate ~he conveyor and upstream from portion 60 thereof.
E~ample~ of unillu~trated intermediate station~ include a ~ealing station (where a ~eiectively operable sealing actuato~ ~eals envelopes), and one or more vertical stacking stations such as an error stacker station oE a type which comprise~ stacking finger~ ~o grasp documents and hold the grasped documents above the conveyor 20.
The down~tream portion 60 of con~eyor 20 compri~e~ diversion ~ean~ 62 which i8 3electlvely activated by ~olenoid valve 68 for pivotal movement into the path of conveyor 60. In thi~ respect, when solenoid S8 actuates diver~ion gate 6~ a stuffed envelope traveling on conv~yor 20 i5 directed by diver~ion gate 62 (sho~n actuated ln broken lines~ off the conveyor 20 and toward ~diver~ conveyor 76.
Conveyoc 76 i~ ~hown at a po~ition oppo~ite diver~on gate 62 and extendc e~entially orthogonally ~rom the

2~ conveyor 20 in order to give envelopes de~l~cted thereto a direction of travel indicated by arrow 78.
Certain envelopes whlch are deflected on~o conveyor 76 are first marked at a marking statlon 79 with an indicia, such as red ink, to indlcate that they are overweight. Marking station 79 1~ salect~vely sc~u~t~d by solenoid 70. All the envelopes travelllng on conveyor 76 are dumped into a ~uitable ~torag~
location, such as bln 80. For purpo~e of illu~tration, stuffed envelopes weighing ~.00 ounces or more are classified ~s "overweight~ and are both diverted onto conveyor 76 and marked. Stuffed envelopes weighing between 1.00 ounce and 1.99 ounces are diverted onto conveyor 76 but are not ~arked~

A first po~tage meter 84 is positioned proximate the conveyor portion 60 in e~sentially in-line fashion or selectively applying an appropriate amount of postage to certain ones of stuffed ~nvelope~
travelling down the conveyor portion 60. In the illustrated embodiment, the first postage meter 84 is pre~et to apply appropriate postage to a stuffed envelope weighing in the range fcom 2.00 ounces to 2.99 ounces. The first postage meter 84 i8 activated by a ~olenoid 85 ~o apply po~tage to a stuffed envelope travelling proximate thereto on conveyor portion 60.
A second po~tage meter 88 i8 po~itioned proximate the conveyor portion 60, al~o in e~entially in-line fashion but downstream from ~he first pos~age lS meter 84. Postage meter 88 selectively appl1es an appropriate amount ot po~tag~ ~o cert~ln others o~
stuffed envelopes travell1ng down the conveyor portion 60. In th,e illustra~ed embodiment, the ~cond postage me~er 38 i~ pre~et to apply poat~ge to a s~uffed 20 envelope weighing in the range from 0.00 ounce ~o 0.99 ounce. The ~econd po~tage meter 88 1B actlva~ed by R
solenoid ~9 to apply po~tage to envelopes p~s1ng proxi~ate thereby on conveyor portion 6Q~
From the foregoing it ~ ~een that four weight classifications have been established wlth respect to the illustrated mode of Fiy. I: an overweight classi~ication (3.0Q ounce~ and greater3; ~
high range classification (2.00 ounce~ to 2.99 ounces~;
a mid range classification (l.Q0 ounce to 1.99 ounce);
30 and, a low range classification (0.00 ounces to 0.99 ounces). Unlike the stuffed overweight envelope~
routed down the overweight conveyor 76, the mid range _ ~ 7~

envelopes on conveyor 76 are not phy~ically marked with an indicia, such as red ink as de~cribed, so ~hat a basis e~ists for vi~ually differentiating between envelopes o~ the two classifications.
It i5 to be understood that further processing, such,as zip code sorting~ for example, takes place in unillustrated stations yet down~tream from conveyor poction 60.
Fig. 1 further shows a keyboard and di~play panel 110 interfacing with an encoder 112 through a four bit bi-directlon~l data bus 114. ~ncoder 112 in turn communicates with the data proce~sor 102 thrcugh a four bit bi-directional data bus 116.
The data proce~sing mean~ 102 i9 shown in Fig. 3 a~ compri~ing a ~icroproces~or 1~0; a clock 122 used by the microproce~qor 120 for tlmin9 purpo~e~5 four RAM chip~ 124~, 124~, L24C, and 124DT Rnd, four, R~ chips 128A, 128B, 128C, and 12~Dv A four bit bl-dlrec~ional data bus 129 connect~ data pins of the microproce~sor 120 to data pins of each oÇ the ~AM~ 124 and to data pin-q of each of the RAM8 12B. Llnes for the RAM bank 3elect signal~ and ~OM bank select ~ignal~
are not expressly ~hown inasmuch as thelr usage will be apparent to tho~e skilled in the artO Line 130 c~rrie~
a synchronization signal generated by the.
~icroprocessor 120 and sent to the RAM chip4 124 and the RO~ chips 128. Line 132 carrie~ clock ~ignals in a conventional manner. Input/output chips 134 and 136 are also connected to the microproce~or chip 120

3~ through the data bus 129. I/O chip 13~ interfaces with the encoder through bu~ 116 and data available llne 138; I/O chip 136 inter~aces with the photocell readlng -: ~; ..: ,-., , .. ~ .. .... . .

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and decoding circuit (th~ough bu~ 100 and da~a available llne 139); the check length sen~or 53 (through line 53a); and, the ~olenoids 68, 85, 70, and 89 (through re~pective lines 68a~ 85a, 70a, and 89a).
In the illustrated e~bodlment, the mlcroprocesao~ 120 of the data processing me~ns 102 i8 a single chip, 4-bit parallel MOS central proces30r known as an INTEL 4040. The characteri8tics of the illustrated microproces~or 120, ~AMs 124, RCM~ 128, and I/O device~ 134 and 136 are described ln a publication entitled INTEL MCS-40 User~ Manual, avallable from the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, C~lifornia. T~e in~truction set summary provided at page~ 1~19 through 1-33 of the March 1976 Third ~dition of the referenced 15 publication iB used in connection with ~he proce~slng routines dlscussed herein.
Referr~ng now to Fig. 2, the keyboard and display 110 co~prises a display console or panel 140 which comprlses a keyboard 142; an "ounc2 display~
20 indicator 144; a ~tation code~ indicator 146~ ~ dlvert mode ~witch 147 J and, a thu~bwheel dl~ 8 . Shown proximate ~che di~play panel 14û in an ~on~ po8it:10n i1 an ounce set-up ms~de switch 150 which i3 ~nually actuated to ~cco~pll0h the purpo~es h~r~lnafter stated.
ounce diaplay indlcato~ 144 h~ a hundr~dth~
d1glt displAy 154 compriu1ng a ~lr~t ~e~n-~g~llk ~D
display and a tenth~ digit displ~y 156 co~pri~ing ~econd ~even-Yegment LED dlsplay. Lik~lse, the ~tatlon code indicator 146 has first and ~e~ond ~even-segment displays for a first digit display 15~ ~nd 3econd digit dlsplay 160, respectively.
The thumbwheel dial 148 i~ onventional thumbwheel dlal which, for the plJrpO8~ of this invention; bears the n~merals O through 9 on it~ out~r circumferential rim. The selected thu~bwheel ~etting * Trade Mark ' .. . . ..
.: , , is indicated by a selector mark 162 on the panel 140.
The keyboard 142 compr ise~ three rows o~ keys 170, each row having four keys therein. ~he ~irst or uppermost row of keys i~cludes:an "ON" key, an l'OFF"
key, a "SEL~ or ~elect key, and a NPGMJ or program key. The ~OFFI' and "SEL" keys al80 double as keys for the numerals ~0" and "l" respectively. Row 2 of the keyboard 142 includes separate keys foF each of the four numerals "2n, ~3'~, ~4~ and ~5~. Row 3, or the lowermost row of ~he keyboard 142 include~ four keys for the numeral~ ~6~ "7--, "8~, and ~gn. The key labeled "9" is also labeled NEL. The keyR are appropriately labeled in the just-described format, each key 170 bearing an appropriate lnd1cia thereon.
Each key 170 has a translucent central portion 172 which overlays a light ~ource, ~uch as ~n LED, as~ociated with the key.
The divert mode 3witch 147 is a manual sw1tch which enables the operator to deter~ine whlch welght classification o~ envelopes i~ ~o be diverted down ~he conveyor 76. In the lllustrated embodi~ent, the ~wi~ch l47 can be ~anually moved to a irst po~itlon (aa shown) 'co indicate that ~tuf ~ed env~lopes ln the mid range (l.00 ounce to l.99 ounce~) ar~ to be divert~d onto conveyor 76~ ~f the switch 141 wer~ ~oved ~o it~
second position ~low range3, then tuffed envelopes ~n the low weight range (0.00 ounce to 0.99 ounce) would be diverted onto conveyor 76 with the p~stage met~r 88 belng preset to process s~uffed envelope~ ~n the ~id range.
'l The operation of various embodiments o~ the insertion machine of the invention will now be describedn ~he mode of operation under discussion generally concerns the reading of a control docu~en erom the sheet feeder station 30 in order to determlne the qtation~ rom which in~erts ~re to be fed and the .: ~: -- ~.~: , :: . .

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number of inserts fed from each. The operation of a ~impllfled mode wherein insert ~tation~ automatically f2ed in~erts withou~ governance by read parameter~ 18 al~o understood from the en~uing di~cus~Lon.
The data processlng means 102 ~xecute~
numerous ~pecial1zed routi~es in connection wl~h the overall operation o~ the entire in~ert~on machine.
These numerou~ routine~ are, ~or the most part, called into executLon by master routine~, lncludlng a ma~ter routine SYS. Theae lengthy and compl~x ma~ter rou~in~s ~upervise execution of the qpeciallzed routlnes, ~any of which are relatively lndependent rathec than lnterdependent. In thi~ respect, mo~t of the speciali2ed routine~3 called by the master routine~
concern proces~ steps which do not form a part of the pre~en~ invention ~uch as, for juat one example, the operation and timing of ~eans used to extract insert~ .
from each of the in~ert ~tDtions along th~ conveyor.
~or thls reason, only the ~peciallzed routln~s p~rtinent to this inventlon are di~cu~d h~rein. Th~
lnt~rface between the pertlnent ~pçcl~llz~d rout~ne~
and ~he approprlate ma~ter routine ~SYS) 1~
~ufficiently discus~ed herein without de~criblng all the collateral a~pects o~ the master routine.
2S Fig. 7 illu5trates the ~anner in which ~a8ter routine SYS superintends processing of thc variou~
speciali2ed routlnes which the data proce~sing ~eans 102 find~ pectinent to the 1nvent~on. It i~ to be understood that the ~pecialized routln~ shown ln F~9.
7 are included at inter~ediate processlng sequence po~itlons between ~tare up and ~hut down of the in~ertion ~achine. The vertical arrange~ent of three dot3 between the routine blocks of Fig. 7 ~ndicate th~t the ~pecialized ~outines are not n~ce~sarily executed 35 one af ter the other, but that calls to o~her ., .
' ' ' ~ ' I ' .. :

~7~a~i ~pecialized routine~ not pertinent ~o the invention may be lnter~persed in the ~equenc~.
Fig. 7 shows that the set up mode includes calls to routine OZM. The routine OZM, as hereinafter de~cribed, enables the operator to store ln memory in the data proces~ing means 102 data p~rtlnent to the pe~
item weight at selected insert ~tations and to display indications of the same on the panel 140. The routine OZM is called repeatedly until the switch 150 i~
manipulated to indicate that the ~et up mode is to be terminated and the PGM key on keyboard 142 ~g pres~ed.
Sometime a~ter the last call to routine OZM
call i~ made to the speclalized routine TOZ. Routine TO2 ba~ically trans~er~ certain values at addres~e~ in one memory location to another memory location, and ln addition determines the diference between the weigh~
of a long length item and the welght of ~ short leng~h item fed ~rom ~he fa~t feeder 32, pu~tlng th~ tenth~
digi~ ~egultg and the hundredths digit re~ult~ ln locations FLOTEN and FLOHUN, re3pect~vely.
As ~urther hown in Fig., 7, in the calculation mode the master routine SYS call~
specialized routine DMP twice per cu~to~er and, if and only if a flag S~SMD~ is on, a ~peci~llzed routin~ ~C~
once per customer.
SET-UP MODE
When the operator desire~ to prepare the insertion machine to process a new batch of documents, such as bank statements, for exa~ple, in the mann~r aforedescribed, the data proce~sor 102 mu~t be aupplied with information relative to the per document weight of the documen~s a~. each of the station~ 30, 3~, 34, 36, 38, 40l and 42. A~ seen hereinater in connec~ion with the DMP routine and rela~ed routine~, this infor~ation is required in order for the data proces~or 102 to ll) :
:: ~ : . ... .

7~

compute the weight of each envelope (including it~
a~ociated conten~s) traveling on the conveyor 20 and to (2) appropriately divert the envelope to conveyor 76, or to activate in timely fa~hion either the fir3t postage meter 84, the second po~age me~er 88, or the marker 79.
As seen hereinafter, the necessary per document weight foc each insert station i9 input using - a ~outine OZM which is called by the mastec routine 1~ 5YS. To commence the set up procedure, and hence appropriate calls to the OZM routlne, an operato~ m~st first manipulate the ounce mode ~et-up switch 150 to be in the "ON" position as shown in Fig. 2. Placing the ~witch 15n in the "ON~ position sets a flag in an OZ~DE
address location which i5 checked by the routine SYS to determine whether one of the two crit~rla have been met for a call to OZM. ~ddltionally, ~he op~rator mu~
depress the PG~ key on th~ keyboard 142. Once the switch 150 and the ~GM key are activat~d, the SYS
routine essentially remains in a clo3ed loop of repeated calls to the routine OZM until th2 following two steps both occur: (1) the switch 150 iB moved to the ~OFF" position, and ~2) the PGM key i~ agaln depressed.
The procedure effected by the routine OZ~ ~a diagramed in Figs. SA and 5~. A call ~o OZ~ tranafers control to an in~truction at addre~s 02~PLP repre~ented by the symbol 200 in Fig. 5A. The irs~ ~tep 202 performed in routine OZM is a check to determine 3~ whether the flag OZMDLT has been ~et. If the 02MDLT
flag has not been previously set, it i8 50 now (in ~tep 204) and a call i~ made (qtep 2~6) to the utility routine ULP~ In essence, the routine ULP clears all lights associa~ed wi~h the keys 172 on keyboard 142 inasmuch as some of the keys may have previou~ly been lit. Upon return from the routine ULP the next ,-; ,. : , ~

.:~ : . : : . .

instructlon ~co be executed i8 at location 02MPTl wh~ch i~ represen~ed by symbol 20~. If it i~ determin~d ln step 202 that the OzMDLT flag h~s alre~dy been sett a jump i~ ade to the in~truction at loc~ on OZ~PTl S ( repre~ented by symbol 2û8 ) .
At loc:ation OZMP~rl a call i~ made to utillty routine UCF (~tep 210). Routine UCP e~ential1y prepare~ a mask that operate~ on a value in location PGMKLP so that the light a~sociated w~th the }~G~ key LO will flat3h on and off. A call to ~he routine UCF
basically increment~ a counter whlch detenalnes the construction of the mask.
In step 212 the bit PGM~LP ~which i9 indicative of the status of the lamp for the PG~ key) 5 i8 turned on and then m~ked w1th the mh~k re~urned from the routlne UCF~ The mask returned fro~ the routine UCF may, dependlng on its construction (and thus the content~ of the counter maintalned by routine UCF), either leave the blt PGMK~P unmodl~led (and thu~
the lamp stay~ on) or may modlfy the bit PGMXLP
(setting it equal to zero ~o that the 1a~p 1R tu~ned off). Upon repeated calls to the routlne OZM, and hence upon a~ociated rep~ated c~ to th~ uti1lty routine UCF, ~he v~lue of th~ cou~ter ln UCF ch~g~ ~o 25 that upon a selected number of rep~ato~ c~ tho ~3k i altered to cau~e the value of tha! blt P<;P~lSLP to e~senti~11y flip-flop. The value of the bit E~ UP ia applied on an output addre~s R~L~tPC to th~ keyboard 142 and the f ll~flop nature of the cont~nts o~ the ~;~I~LP
30 bit caugeg the P~s key ~o flash on al~d off.
During each execùtion o~ th~ OZM routine a call 1B made to routlne OZMr~L aa ~hown ln ~t~p 214.
Execution of ~che OZM~L routlne cau~e~ the value selected on the thumbwheel 148 ~o be input ~ro~ a 35 location T~UMBT. In step 216 a~te~ the return f alm routine 02MTWL, ehe value selected by the th~bb~heel - ~ ~

---19~
(herelnaf~er referred to as of ~WL~ i~ stored in an addr2ss OVFCN~
Once the TWL 3etting for thumbwheel 148 ha~
been determined, a check ls made ~tep 220) to deter~ine whether the selected value o~ ~WL is valid.
That i~, a oheck is made to determlne whether~the selected value is within an accep~able range. The - accepted value~ includ~the numer~cal settings 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. As indicated by Fig. 6, each o~
the~e acceptable settlngs correspond wlth one of the stations Istations 30~ 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, and 42) shown in Fig. 1. For example, TWL ~ O corr~aponds to ~tation 30. TWL ~ 1 and TW~ ~ ~ both concern ~tatlon 32. A~ wlll be seen hereinafter, Rtat~on 32 is ~
~dual-len~th~ ~tatlon in that document~ of two len~ths can be fed ~hereftom with respect to each custo~er. In this regard, a thumbwheel 148 setting TWL ~ 1 correspond~ to long length documents ~such a8 relatl vely long commercial-type ch~cks) whlle a setting 20 TWI, - 2 corresponds to short length document~ (such a~
relatively short personal checks). A ~ettlng ~WL ~ 3 correspond~ to 3tatlon 34, and ~o forth. Although present on the thumbwheel 148, the numeral~ "8~ and ag~
do not correspond to insert statlon~ and h~nce are invalid thu~bwheel entr ies .
In the event tbe value of ~WL i5 determined to be invalld, a call i~ made (step 222) to a r~utlne OZMFLS. The routine OZMFLS e~ ~ntially ~ake~
preparatlons BO that the value "00~ will ~ flz~hed ~t the stat1on code indlcator 146 on p~nel 140. In m~klng the~e preparatlons, routlne OZMFLS make~ a f~r~t of two ¦ C3115 to routlne OZM~5. Routine OZ~F~S pa~es to the ¦ routine OZMWDS on thl~ flr~t call the addre~A SlRDUL
¦ and the value ~00~. Routlne OZMWDS ope~ate~ ~n a l~op to put the value ~00~ lnto the addre~ 51RDUL ~which corre~pond~ to an encoded value ~0~ whlch io to be , .,. . , ~ .
:. ~ ~ - ,, : -5~

-2~-dl~played at the digit 158 o~ the indlcator 146) and al~o plac~ the v~lue ~00~ into ~h~ location ~lRDUL~l ~al~o referred ~o as addres~ ~lRD W) BO that a corresponding encoded value ~0~ can be diaplayed ~n the diglt 160 of the indlcatoc 146. After the fir~t call .to routine OZMWD5, the rou~lne OZMFL~ c~ th~ routlnc UCF which, as discussed above, prepaces a mask ba~ed on a counter. The mask is peepared by routlne UCF ~v that UpOQ the second call ~o routine OZMWDS from routine OZM~LS the diglt di8play 158 and 160 of indicator 146 may be turned either on o~ off. In a similar ~anner a~
with step 212 above, successive c~lls to the routine OZ~, and thu~ the routlne~ 02MFLS and OZMWD5, wlll cau~e the dlsplay unit~ 158 and 16iO to flash in accordance wlth the incrementatlon o the counter of routine UCF and the mask developed by routine UCF.
Upon return f rom the routine OZMFLS, ~ call i8 made in step 224 to the routlne O~MSCD whlch clears (turns off) the lamps a~sociated with the keys 172 on 2~ the keyboard lq2~ Upon return ~rom the subroutin~
OZPSSCD, proce~ing returnq ~rom the routlne OZU to the routine 5YS a~ indicated ~y the ~bol ~26. A~
indica~ed above, unle3s both the ~witch 150 and the k~y PG~ are turned off, the routine SYS wlll again call th~
~5 rcutine O~M. Unle~s a valld TWL ~etting ha~ be~n selected prior to step 220 of the next e~ecutlon of routine OZM, the steps de~cribed above wiIl ~galn be repeated. It ~hould be under~tood th~t the r2p~a~ed execution of routlne OZM causes the various lamps ~.~ociated with the keyboard 142 to fla~h on and off in the manner described above.
In the event that the TWL settlng ha~ been determined to be valid, a routine CZMS~D i8 called ¦ (qtep 228). Routine OZM5TD ~unc~ion~ for thi~
particular call to display in indlcator 1~6 a code ~ee Flg. 6) which repr~ents th~ station ~el~ct~d ln .:-. ,; . ~ , . ' ' .

$~:~

accordance with the thumbwheel 148 se~ting. For example, for a setting of ~3' on thumbwheel 14~, the digit display 160 of the indlcator 146 display~ thé
value S" and the digit di play 158 dlsplay~ the value 5 2~ The compo~ te ~S2" code ahown on di~play 146 lndlcatea to the oper~or ~h~t the d~t~ p~oce~sor 102 ie now operating in a mode in which the per documen~
welght of the document~ at th~ second irl~ert Eltatlon 34 can be programmed. Fig. 6 indicateq the other po~sible 10 8tation display codes which can selectively appear at indlcator 146 depending on ~he varlous correspond$ng settlnga of the thumbwheel 1~8. The operator, ~eeing th~ display code di~played in indicator 146, has ~e optlon a~ discussed herelnaf ~er to eith~r re-progrum lS the per document weight for the dl~play statlon or manipulate the thumbwheel 148 ~co input dat~ r~lat~ve to another station.
After the call to routine OZM5TD, the routine OZ~l call~ a routine OZMOZD ~step 23û~ in ord~r to 20 di~play on display indicator 144 the current per document weight lnformation associa~ed with ~h~ station whose code is belng dlsplayed In indicAtor 146. The rou~ine OZMOZD call~ a rout~ne OZ~ATD which fe'cch~
from an address contained in Regl~ter P~lr 0 (hereina~ter Reglster Pair i5 abbreViAt~d RP3 ~ Y~lUe whlch i~ put into RP 4. I~ thl~ re~pect, routine OZ~ATD constructs ~he addres~ placed into RP O
es~entially by adding the value TWL tstored in lo~:ation OVFCNT~l) to the address of ~he first word SFQZTN of a 3~ table at location OZMA~L. In thi~ respect, the word SFOZTN is an addre~s wherein is stored ~ value indicative of the tenth~ digit of the per document weight for the ~SF~ station (the ~heet feeder atation 30 j . Succe~sive words in the table OZMATL generally corre~pond to address locationa for tenth~ value~ for succe~lve stations. For the purpo~e~ of tahl~ OZ~ATL, however, the insertion machine i~ concoptual~zed as havlng ~ight rather than 3even statlon~ as shown ~n P~g. 1. Thls conceptualizatlon re~ult~ fro~ the fact that the check feeder Rtatlon 32 can f~ed eltber long checks or short checks for a particular ~ode, long and short check.~ no~ n~ces~arily having ~he sa~e wsigh~.
~ence, the table OZMATL i8 con~ructed to have the addre~ses o~ th~ following eight wosds:

Wo~d 0 - SFOZTN
Word 1 - FL02TN
Word 2 - FSOZTN
Word 3 - S20ZTN
Word 4 - s30zr~
Word S - S40~TN
~ord 6 - S50ZI~
Word 7 - ENOZT~ "

ThuE~, for the aetting "3a on the thumb~sh~el 148, routlne OZklATD constructa the addre~l3 820Z~N. Routine OZM~TD ~urther fetche~ data at the addr~s~ S202TN and 20 pu~ the ~ me into RP 4~5 before returning to the rou ti ne OZMOZD .
Upon the return from routlne OZ~D, th~
routlne OZMOZD put~ ~he current tenth~a ounce v;~lue lnto index reglster ~hereln~f~er ~bbrevlated ~ ~XR~) 8 ~nd 25 cc~pute~ the ~ddre~ f rom whlch tl~e curr~nt hunar th~
ounce value can be fetched for the curr~ tly ~el~ct~d ~tation. In this re~pect, the address at which a hundredths ounce value for a particular ~tatls:~n i~
~tored i~ just one word greater than ~he addr ~ at ~hich ~he tenths value was ~tored or th~ ~ame station. With reference to the second ln~ert ~t~tion 34, for example, in order to obtaln th~ hundredth~
value for ~tatlon 34 the routine OZ~OZD determlne~ that the approprlate value ls loc~ted at the ~ddres~

S20ZTN+1 = S20Z~U. The routine OZM~ZD fetches the value at addres~ S20ZHU and puts ~he ~ame in XR 9.
Then, ha~ing put ~he value at address S20ZTN into XR 8 and the value at address S20ZHU into XR 9, the routine S OZMOZD calls the readout display routine O~MROD.
i Rou~ine OZMROD displays on indicator 144 the contents of the addresses which represent tenths ounce and hundredths ounce information for the currently selected station. To do this routine OZM~OD converts the value at ~he address corresponding ~o each ounce digit into a two word code, putting the ~irqt word o~
the two word code into an output address SlRDUL and the second word of the two word code 1nto output addre~s SlRD~U~ In thi~ respect, it should be understood tha~
the two wocd code formulated by the routine OZMROD i8 a code which i8 utilized by the da~a pcocessor 102 ~o that a mean~ngful number can be displayod on th~
lndicator 144.
Once the per document weight information has been displayed at indicat~r 144 for the currently selected station a~ shown at indicato~ 146, the routine OZM determines whether the ~etting ~W~ o~ the thumbwheel 14~ is the sa~e for the current ~xecution o~
routine OZM a~ it wa~ during the next previou~
execu~ion. In pacticular, at step 232 the routina OZ~
determine~ whether the value stored ln locatlon OVFCNT+l (the current TWL setting) l~ ~he ~ame ~ th~t already stored in location OVFCNT ~the settlng of the thumbwheel 148 during ~he next p~eviou~ execution of 3~ the routine OZM~. Unless the operator ha~ changed the settin~ o~ thumbwheel 148 since the la~t execution ~
the routine OZM, the value~ in loca~ions OVFCNT~l a~d OVFCNT will be e~ual and the routlne OZM will execute s~ep 2~4 as described later herein.
Suppose, for example, ~he display 146 had read NSF" on the next previou~ executlon o~ ~he routine ,.
, .
.
- -"` ', ' ~ : ~

OZM in connection with the setting up o~ data for the shee~ feeder qtation 32 but has just been changed to HS21~ by the operator'~ manual selec~ion Oe thumbwheel 148. The Yalue stored in OVFCNT is ~Ou; the value stored in OVFCNT+l is "3" a~suming TWL se~ting 3 for insert station 34 has ju~t been selected. When the operator changed the setting on ~humbwheel 148 in order to input new per document weight data for a ~tatio~
other than the one currently shown at ~tation code indicator 146, the routine 02M executed step 236 to store the old TWL value into the addcess O~CNT.
Storage of the former ~FWL value ls required so that the determination of step 232 can be made during the subsequent execution Oe the routine OZM.
In addition to storing the old TWL value when a new TWL ~etting has been selected on the thumbwheel 14a, the routine OZM executes step 23~ to clear the flags OZMRDS and OZLENT. Having cle~r0~ th~ fl~g~, rou~ine OZM calls the routlne OZ~SCD ~Atep 240), ~hlch at thi~ polnt clear~ appropriate ~ddre~e~ 80 that any keys previou~ly lit on the keyhoard 14~ a~e turned o.
Following the execution of ~tep~ 236, 23B, 240 described above, proces~ing returna from the 25 routine OZM to the routine SYS as indicated by the symbol 242. However, as mentioned be~ore, unl~ss the sw$tch 150 i9 turned to the ~OFFN po~itlon ~nd ~he key PGM aga~n depressed, the routlne SYS lmmedlately recalis ~he routine OZM. During thi~ recall of O~M, 30 the new TWL value i~ put into the address 0VFCNT+l at step 216 following tbe call at ~tep 214 to routine OZMTWL. Also during this call to rou~ine OZM, ~hould the new TWL setting be valid the routine OZMST~ ~tep 228~ causes the newly selected ~ta~ion code to be ¦ 35 displayed at indicator 146. The ro~ti~e OZM02D t~tep 230) causes the currently progra~med ounce weight . -. ' ~ ` , 5~

lnformation a~soclated with the newly selected station to be displayed at ~ndlcator 144. At thl~ point the routine OZM performs the check o~ st~p 232 a~d, assuming the value of TWL has not again be~n ch~nged, S determinea that the thumbwheel etting ~WL has not b~en ch~nged aince the las~ executlon of routine OZM. If such a determlnation i9 m~de, the routlne Oz~ br~nch~
to st~p 23~.
At ~tep 234 the routine 0~ inquire~ whether new data ~8 avallable from the keyboard 142. In thi~
respect, the encoder 112 haa a pin ~A whlch 1B f~lse if 2ata 15 no~ ~vailable from the keyboard 142 but which 18 true if data i8 available. Ba0ed on this sign~l from the encoder 112, the data pr~c~sor 102 ~ets ~n 15. input flag DATAVL lf data iB available. The routln~
OZM expects dat~ from the keyboard 142 ~t thls ~uncture inasmuch the next regular mode of operat~on would be ~to select key~ repre~entlng new informatlon for the per document ounce weight for ~he statlon c~de currently 20 dlsplayed at lndica~or 146. If a key 170 on k~ybo~rd 142 has not been depres~ed, the routin~ OgM br~nchQ~ to location OZMT7 represented by ~ymbol 2~6~ Further~
slnce a key 170 has not been pre~ed ~d since the Elag OZMXDS has not been set a~ter being cle~red in st~p 238, the routine OZM notes at step 248 that the flag 02~DS has not been ~e~ and ~eturna proc~ing to the routlne SYS as lndlc~ted by ~ymbol 250. Glverl the - speed with whlch ~he routines are ex~cutf~d and the . operator's relative slowness in ~electlng ~ key 170 on 30 the keyboard 142~ it can be expec:ted tha~ numerous calls to the routine O~M are made before a new key 170 is selected.
Once a key 170 on the keyboard 142 ha~ been 3elected, however, and ~he routine QZM notes that ~act 35 in step 234 by perceiving that the input DA~VL has been ~et, the routlne OZM execute~ ~tep 2~2 to . '''" ~": ~ , ~'~7~25~

-2~-determine whlch key on the keyboard 142 was depressed. In thl~ respect, data repre8entative o~ ~he depres~ed key is acqui red through input address KBDLOW. Inasmuch as two of the key3 on the keyboard 5 142 do not correspond to numerical inputs -- the ON key and the PGM key -- it would no~ ordlnarily be expec~ed that they would be depres~ed a~ thi~ juncture. In thls regard, the rou~ne OZM check~ the value Oe ~BDLOW at ~tep 2S6 to determine whether the PGM key was depressed. I the P~ key was not depre~edl routine OZM f urther checks at step 25~ to deter~ine whether the ON key was improperly pre~ed. If nelth~r the PGM kay or the ON key were depcessed, the routine OZM ~ets ~
flag OZMKDS (step 260) tG ind~c~te th~t a valid key on the keyboard 142 was pre~sed.
Consldering briefly the po~ib~lity that the PGM key may have been pres~ed by the operator, ~ n 8uch-case the routine OZM branches to a step 262 where it clears both the 0%MXDS and the OZlENT flags. ~hen, at location OZM~X ~repr~sented by symbol 264), the routlne OZ~SCD is called (step 26~). At th~s ~uncture t~e routine OZMSCD functions to turn o~f ~ny of the la~p~
' a~sociated with ~he keys on the keyboaxd 142. After the call to routine OZMSC~, the routine OZM re~urns pcoce~sing to the coutine SYS ~8 repre~ented by ~y~bol 2~.
When a valid key has been pres~ed on the keyboard 1~2 the flag OZ~DS i~ ~et a~ described in step 260 above. Following the setting of the OZMKDS
flag, a call is made (step 270) to routine OZMRED.
Routine OZMKED basically function~ to e~tingui~h all the lamps associa~ed with the keyboard 142 except the lamp associated with the PGM key and the lamp a~sociated with the key just depressed. In orde~ to activate a lamp a~sociated with the key just depre~sed, the routine OZMKED calls a eusther routlne 02~D~L ~hlch ....
. . . :~ , . .
. ~ ~ -. ~
: . . . - . , .
:. .: , . . :

7~

u~e~ a look-up table OZMDÆT to determine an appropriate output address which coerespond~ to the particular key selected. The selection of the appropciate addre~ in the table OZMDET i8 ba~ed upon the value cont~ined in the addr~ss ~DLOW which, as lndicated ~bove, i~
indicative of the parti.cular key presse~.
Upon ceturn from the routlne OZM~ED, the routine OZM check~ (step 248~ to determine whether the OZ~XDS flag has been set. A~suming a valid key on k~yboard 142 wa~ pressed, the 02MRDS flag ha3 in fact been set (see atep 2S0) 50 th~t the rout1ne OZM next jumps to step 272 where it inquir2s whether the fl~S
OZIENT ha~ been previou~ly set. According to specif icatlon, ~he key just depressed r~presents ~o ~he lS operator the de~lred tenths ounce diglt whlch the operator expects to s~e in d~glt 156 of ~ndlcator 144 for the st~tion who~e code ls di~played ln Lndlc~tor , 146. Having already pressed a key fo~ ~he tenth~ ounco d19it, ~he next key whlch the oper~tor ~ill ev~ntually pre~ will repre~ent the desired value ~or the hundredths ounce dlgit ~o be dl~played ln digl~ 154 o~
the indlcator 144 w1th re~pect to the st~tlon whose code i8 dl~played at indlc~eor 146. T~u~, for any given ~tation, t~e first v311d key sel~cted on k~ybo~rd 142 corresponds to the tenths ounce dig~t and the ~econd valid key selected correspond~ to the hundredths ounce d~glt. In thi~ respect, the ~lag O~I~NT 1s u~d to determ1ne when the key ~ust selec~ed on the keybo~rd 142 w~s the first entsy (tenth3 digit) or ~he ~econd 3~ entry (hundredths digit) of an ordered palr of entrie3 for the station ~elected by the ~etting o~ thu~bwheel 148.
In the above regard, if the OZIENT flag ha~
not yet been set, the routine OZM calls routine OZ~lRD
(steæ 274~ ~hich processe3 the new entry for the tenths ounce digit. In it~ executionf routine OZMl~D first ~,. . .

. .: . ,, : . ~ ~ .

~7~rj,r,~

set the flag 02I~:NT so that upon the next execution of routine OZM after step 272 the rou~lne OZM will branch to ~tep 216 to call the eoutlne OZ~2XD ~ath~r than repeat the call to routLne OZMlRD.
After setting the flag OZIENT, the rout~ne OZMl~D calls th~ routine OZMOK~ in order to determine what key on the keyboard l42 was in fact ~elected. The routine OZMOKT pereorm.s a table look-up to detec~ine for eventual display purposes a two word decimal equivalent for the key ~elected on keyboard 142~ In perf orming the look-up, a table OZT13L ~8 ref erenced ., In ~his respect, the routine 02MOKD computes an addr~ss in the table OZTBL whose con~ents i~ the de~ired two word decimal equivalent. The content~ of the ~elected address of the table i~ loaded lnto RP 8.
Ater havlng called the routin~ OZ~O~T, the routine OZMlKD calls the routlne OZMAT~ in order to select the proper ~ddre~a lnto whlch tho conv~rt~d declmal value ln RP ~ ia to be loaded. It will ba 2~ recalled that the proper ~ddre~s i~ dep~ndent upon the partlcular statlon cuerently select~d ~t tho thu~bw~el 1480 Thus, based upon the TWL code t~tored ~t the location OVPCNT+l) the routlne OZ~TD computes a v~lue correspondlng to an addre~s in its tablo. OZPUTL, th~
25 computed address hav~:ng as its con~ent~ th~ ~ddr~s~
into which the two word declmal conver~lon equlv~l~nt of the most recently selected k~y 1~ t~s b~ stor~dl.
Thu3, with re~erence to the table OZT~L of ~outine OZMOKT and a table OZMATI. of the routine O~MATD, if the 3~ routlRe OZMlKD is processing data whlch indlcate~ th~t the key for the number ~3a was most recently selected on the keyboard 142, 'che ~outine OZ~ATD would ~oe~
t the location s2ozrN~
Following a call to routine C)ZMATD, the 35 routine OZMlXD call~ at ~tep 274 a utlllty routin~ UDL
which eso~entially serves a~3 a tlme del~y for keeplng -.. . , :

~1 ~'7~

the lamp associated wlth the mo~t recently ~e1ected key on keyboard L42 lit. After the cDll to utllity routin~
UDL, routine C)ZMlICD call~ routlne OZM~3CD to clear (deactivate) all the lamp~ as~o~::lated wi'ch tbe key~ on 5 keyboard 142. The routlne 02MSCD upon lt~ cc~nclu~ion directs proces~lng from the routLne OZM back to the r ou t i ne SYS as i nd i ca ted by ~ ymbol 2 7 8 .
Having described how routlne OZMl~D (step 274) proce~ea lnformation a~sociated with a newly 8elected key on keyboard 142, and particularly a key selected ~o effect the tenths digit 156 in indicator 144 as well the value in a corresponding memoey addre~s location, concern now centers on the selectlon o a second key on the keyboard 142 ln order to effect the hundredth~ ounce diglt. In this re~pect, after the return represented by symbol 278, the routlne SYS ~galn c~ the routlne OZ~. Routine OZM ~v~ntually ch~ck~ A
to see whether another key 170 on the k~ybo~rd 142 h~o been selected. If not, 02M return~ proces~ing to the SYS routine a~ describ~d above, Onc~ ~ second key as~oclated wlth the currently selected ~ ion h~ been 3elected, the rou~lne OZM repeats the 8t~p8 25S and 258 to determine whethe~ the ~elected key i8 valld, ~nd further se~s the fl~g OZMR~ ln accordsnce wlth ~t~p 260. Further, the routlne O~MRED (~t~ 270) 1~ ~loo c~lled.
At ~hls ~uncture, s1nc- ~ ~lr~t k~y of th~
k~yboard 142 hss alre~dy been select,l2d for eh~ ~a~10n ~f lntere~t ~nd slnc:e the most recently ~electe~ k~y i~
the ~econd key of a pal~ of keys ~ssociated with that station9 at ~tep 272 the routine OZ~; d~terr~ es that the OZIENT flag has already been ~et ~1!18 indeed it w~s durlng the prev~ou~ call to rout1ne OZMlXD (step 274) ) . Since the OZIENT ~lag was set, t)le rout1ne OZM
call~ routlne O~M2KD (~tep 276) ln order to pCOC~81 th 18 second key of the two selected key~, the ~ C ~7~

processing being done in connection with the hundredth~
ounce d1git foc the per document weigh~ ~or the currently selected insert station.
The processing of rou~ine OZM2KD is clo~ely analogous to the processing of OZMlRD but, as de~cribed above, concerns the hundredths ounce digit for the ~elected station rather than the tenths ounce digit.
In thi~ respect, like the routine OZMlRD, the routlne OZM2KD calls rou~ine OZMOKT ~o determine which key on the keyboard 142 wa actually selected and to de~er~ine a two word decimal equivalent of the value represented by the selected key and to put the two word equivalent into RP 8. Further, routine OZM2XD al80 ealls the routine OZMATD which recon~tructs the addre~s into which infocmation relative to the tenths ounce digit for the selected station wa loaded. This addre~3 i~
returned to th~ routine OZM2KD in RP 4. ~owev~r, ~in~c~
the value in RP 8 actually concern~ the hundredths ounce value rather than the tenth~ ounce value, the ~ routine OZM2KD increments the addre~s value in RP 4 80 that ~he numerical value in ~P 8 will be loaded into ~n addre~ indicative of the hundredths ounce value ~or the selected statlon. For ~xample, if the s~cond in~ert station 34 had been selected on the thu~bwheel l48, the routlne 02MATD would h~v~ r~urn~d ln RP ~ ~n addre~ co~reapondlng to the locatlon ~20ZTN. Routlno OZM2KD increment~ thls addre3s by ano wor~ ~o th~t ~h~
addres~ lnto which the value ln RP ~ i~ loaded 18 S20ZTN+1 ~ S20ZHU.
~efore it complete~ lt~ proce~ing, the routine 02M2KD clears the OZIENT flag ~o that upon th~
next execution of ~tep 272 the routine OZ~lRD (step 274) will be called rather than the routine OZ~2~D. In a similar manner with routine OZ~lXD, the routine OZ~2KD la~tly call~ the delay routine UD~ and the ,: ' . ',: .. - . , :~ , .
':. " '~
, ~
: .
: . , ~: : :.
- .
... : , .

routine OZMSCD, af ter which proce~Ring i5 returned to th~ routine S~S a~ indicated by symbol 280.
Although the above description o~ the set-up mode has been described with re~erence to only one ln~ert ~tation, particularly the second in~ert ~t~on 34, it should be understo~d that during the ~et-up mode any one and more than one stations c~n have thelr p~r document weight values changed. In f~ct, ~n commencing a new run or batch throuqh the ln~ertion machine, lt i~
quite likely that per docu~ent weight~ for each o~ the in~ertion station~ will change. In this event, the operatoc likely rotates the thumbwheel to a new value, and then keys in on the keyboard 142 a new ordered pair representing the tenth~ ounce and hundr~dths ounce per document values for each station.
Once ~et-up Oe the insertlon m~chlne ls complete, the opera~or need onl~ move the sw~ch 150, into the OFF position and then depreas the PG~ key on the keyboard 142. A-q a re~ult of the~e two m~nual operatlons, flag~ are set by the data procesaor 102 such that the routine OZM cannot agaln be successfully called by ~aster routine SYS.
TRANS~ER MOD~
As seen in Fig. 7, once the set-up ~ode has been exited (that i5, after the return to ~aster routine SYS from the last call to routine OZM), the master routine SYS calls the specialized routine T~Z.
Routine TOZ e~sentially transfers data from certaln memory locations to other memory locatlon~. In thia regard, but with ~he exception noted in the following paragraph, the transfers are a~ ollows:

3s ~7~

FSOTZIIl ~ FSO'rEN
SF3ZHU ~ SFOHUN
FLOZT~ FI.OTEN
F~:3ZHU~ FLOHUN
S FSOZTe~ ~ ~SOTEN
F~OZ~U--~ FSOHUN
S20ZTN~ S20TEN
S 20ZHU ~ S 20HUN
S30ZHU--~ S30TEN
~ 30ZHU - ,~ 9 3011UN
S40ZTN~ S40TEN
S40ZHU--~ S40E~UN
S50ZTN~ SSOTEN
S50ZHI~ 1~ SSOHUN
ENOZTN--;~ E~OTBN
E:NOZHU~ ~NOHUN

l~OZ c~lls a ~ubroutine TOZS~8 wh~ch put~ lnto th~ location PLOT~:N ~ valu~ equAl to th~ dl~fer~nce b~tween ~he ten~h~ dlgit welght of ~ long l~ngth it~r~
fed ~rwl 0tatlon 32 and ~ J3hor~c length 1tem ~d ~rc~
~t~lt10n 32 l~hR vnlue of FLOZTN le~ tha valu~ o~
~SOZTN), and lnto the locatlon Fr.OH~IN a ~alue equ~1 to the dlfference between th~ hundr~dth~ digit ~eight of long length ltem and ~ short l~ngth ~t~1a (th~ v~lue oi~
FLO2HU le~s the value of FSOZHU).
CALCULATION M5~D~5 Once ~et-up of the ln~ertlon al~chine has be~r acco~pl ished u~1 ng the set up mode ~nd ~:he transer mode, and when document~ are r~ady to be ~ed f ror~ th~
feeder station 3a, the in~ertion mac:hine operat~on 1 ready to enter the calculatlon mod~.
A~ described above, the photoc~ll re~d~ng mean~ 52 reads ~he indicia field 5û on ~ach control document 4~ fed f rom the sheet feeder 30. Th~
electrical ~ignalR providea by tlle photocell re~dlng .
. .

means 52 are processed and decoded by the circuit 54 in a conventional manner. The circuit 54 determines from the indicia field 50 from which insert stations documents are to be fed and, at least with respect to the sheet feeder station 30 and the check feeder station 32, the number of documents to be fed from each station. Values indicative of such information are supplied on data bus 100 to the data processor 102 which stores the values in appropriate memory locations.
The master routine SYS determines that documents are present at the first station 30 and that the appropriate insert stations along conveyor 45 contain their inserts. Once the routine SYS has processed the mark information read by photocell 52 for a just fed control document 46 and that information has been decoded by circuit 54, routine SYS causes the processed information to be stored in a memory array RDHLD. In particular, prior to a call to routine DMP
the first work of array RDHLD (at location RDHLD+0) contains the units digit of the number of checks to be fed from the check feeder of station 32, the location RDHLD+1 contains the tens digit of the number of checks to be fed from the check feeder of station 32. The status of the least significant bit (LSB), also known as the binary 1 bit, of the location RDHLD+2, reflects whether the indicia 50 on the control document indicates that the second insert station 34 is selected for a given customer. The status of the binary 2 bit of the location RDHLD+2 reflects the same for the third insert station 36; the status of the binary 4 bit of the locations RDHLD+2 reflects the same for the fourth insert station 38.
Once the array commencing at location RDHLD
has been filled, the routine SYS calls the routine DMP, the processing steps of which are indicated in Figs.

~ 7~

~34~
4A-4Eo Upon the call to routlne DMP, proces~lng ~ump~
to location DMPDP which ~8 repre~en~ed by symbol 400.
With re~pect ~o each cuqtomer, i~ is expect~d that the routine DMP will be executed ~wice. ProcesRing during the first execution of the routine DMP basically concerns a tentative calcuIation of the expected ~eIght of the stuffed envelope for the particular cu~tomer whose control docum~nt 46 wa~ ju~ fed fcom the feeder 30 on~o the conveyor 20. Execution of the routine DMP
LY done a s~cond time wlth respect to ~ach cu~tomer in order to set approprlate flag~ ~hlch are used in the selectlve activat~on of one of the divester g~te~ 62 and 64 oe of one of the postage metera 84 and 88. I~
this reapect, the second execution of the routine DMP
15 fo~ each cu~tomer provides a preliminary determination o~ whether the stuffed envelope will be eventually routed t~ the first po~tage me~er 8~, the secona po~tage met0r 89, the overwe1ght b~n 80, or th0 d 1 ve r s i on conveyor 9 0 .
In accocdance with the forego1ng, once lt 1~
~n~ered the routlne DMP checks to detormlne whethor the?
flag BGDDP2 ha~ been set ~step 402). If the flag E~GDDP2 has previously been ~et, the ~ett1ng of th~t flag indicate~3 that th1s execut~on of the rout1ne DI~IP
25 i5 a second time execution and that rather than continulng to process ~ep 404 the routine ~hould ~ump to proce~
the step 406.
When the routlne DUP ~ being executed for the first time with reference to a particular customer, 3Q a de~ermination is made in step 404 whether another ~lag -- the BGDDMP flag -- has been set. If the BGD~MP
flag has not been set, a return is made to the ro~tine SYS as indicated by the symbol 408. If thf~ !3GDDMP flag h~d been previously se~, it is noh~ cleared ~tep 35 410).

.

~L~ 7~

After clearing the BGDDMP fl~g ln its fi~st execution, the routine DMP then checka to determin~
whether the SYSMDE flag i~ on (step 412). The iElag SYSMDE: i~ used to di~tingui h between a simplified 5 automatic mode of opera~ng the in~ertion m~chlne and anathsr mode whereln master documents 46 are read for the determination of pcoceB~lng downs~ream along conveyor 20. When the flag S~SMD~ is not on, one insert 19 to be fed from each insertlon ~tatlon rather than a variable number of insert~ which 15 dependent upon a read indicia. When the flag SYS~D~ 1~ on, the indicia 50 on control document 46 18 re~d and governs the number of lnsert3 to be fed from ~t least the sheet feeder station 30 and the check feeder ~tatlon 32~ If lS the flag SYSMDE 1~ not on, processing ~u~p~ to a locatlon DMPlA6 which i pre~ented by ~y~bol 4l6.
In the event the SYSM~ flag la on, ~he contents of address RD~LD+l i8 checked to det~rm~ne a partial indication of the number of check~ fed fro~ the check feeder 32 (~tep 418). The content~ o~ loc~tion RDHLD~ aid to be a partial indicatlon of the number o~ check~ ina~much as the number s~o~ed at that location i8 indic~tive only of the ~en3 dlgit ~f a po~sible two-diglt number repre~enting the nu~ber of check~ fed rom the check feed~r ~2.
Having obtained an indication fro~ locatlon R~HLD~l of the ten~ digit of the numb~r of checks feaO
a d~terminatlon i8 made whether the ten~ dlglt i~ 2ero (step 420)~ In the event that the ten~ diglt i8 not 3~ zeroJ the routine DMP construcl:~ and places into XR 8 ~step 422) a number which, in a ~orthco~ing call to subroutine CAL (step 428) r will cau~e the subro~ltine CAL to execute an internal loop therein ~ number of tim~s equal to the ten~ digi~ value stor~d ~t loc:~lor 3 5 RD~LD+ 1 .

.. . ..
,: ,~ -.: .;~ - :

lX~7~S~&j Also, prior to the call to CAL ln ~tep 428, the routin~ DMP obtains the addr~ss FSOT~ and pU~8 the same in XR 6 (~tep 424~. It will be racalled from the de~crip~ion of the transfer mode that the value contained at addre~s FSOTE~ is the ten~h~ ounce representation of the per check weight of the checks fed from the check feeder 32. The hundredth~ ounce represen~ation is stored ln an addres~
FSOTEN~l ~ FSOHUN.
The routine CAL baslcally adds new tenth ounce data and hundredth ounce data to running to~als of unit~ ounce data, tenths ounce data, and hundre~ths ounce data. In thl~ respect, upon a call to the routine CAL it i~ expected that the address containing the ten~hs ounce information for a ~elected ~tatlon ha~
been loaded into the RP 2. ~nowing the hundredth~
ounce information for the ~tation is the next greate~ -addres~ ~han the addres~ ~tored ln RP 2 ~ routine CA~
puts the hundredths ounce data into X~ 7 after having put the tenth~ ounce data into XR 6. ~he rou~i~e C~L
~dds the tenth~ ounce data to a runnlng total o~ tenth~
ounce data (~tored in X~ OC). The routlne CAh ha~ a loop therein which adds the XR 6 inform~tion to the XR QC to~al, the loop belng ex~cu~ed onc~ ~or each a~ doaum~n~ rom th~ ch~ck ~eeaer 32. In ~his re~pect, t~e routlne CAL knows how many tlmes to execute ~h~ loop in~smuch a~ an index w~ pr~vlously ~et (step 422) in XR 8. The proce~21ng loop ~nd routine CAL further lncludes ~teps wherein tbe hundredths ounce data in XX 7 i9 added to a runnlng of hundredths data ~n XR OD9 this addit~on also be execu~ed on~e per loop. In the cour~e o~ the loop a check is made to determine whether a carry should be made from the hundred~hs total i~ X~ OD to the tenths total in XR OC, and whether a carry should be ~ade fro~

'" ~.' ' :: ,, .

the tenth~ total in XR QC to a unlts total whLch i9 maintained ln XR OA.
After the call to rou~ine CAL in ~tep 428, the routine DMP checks to in~ure that the unit~ ounce total a~ this point is still zero (step 430), meaning that the number of checks fed from the check feeder 32 is not an exorbitant number whlch would already be indlcative of an overwelght envelope. ~f the uni~s ounce va~ue already exceeds zero, the routlne DMP ~ump~
10 to loc~l~tlon DMPlFl whoge locatic:n c~n b~ traced by connec'cor 432.
If ~t 1~ not already determined that the envelope will be prematurely overwelght, the routlne D~P, recaLling that the recent execution of routine CAL
15 (step 428~ concerned the tenths diglt repre~entation for the number of check~ read, multlplle~ the current tenths ounce total in register OC by a factor of 10 (step 434) and multiplle~ the current hundredths ounce total in register OD by a factor of 10 (step 436)~ For 20 example, had regi~ter OC contained a tenths ounce total ~2~ and regi~ter OD had contained a hundredth~ ounc~
total ~3~, after execution o~ ep~ ~34 ~nd 436 the unlts ounce total regi4ter o~ would cont~ln th~ valu~
a2~ and the tanths ounce to~al regi~ter ~C would 25 contain the valuo ~3~, regi~r OD tths hundredths ~ot~l) havlng been cleared.
At th i4 poi nt it should ~e remembered that only the tenths digit has been taken lnto conaider~tion with respect to the number of checks fed fro~ the check 30 feeder 32. That is, if the number ~f checks fed from the check feeder 32 i~ 24, after the execution of step~

4~4 and 436 the weight of only 2~ checks have been taken into con~lderat~on. Accordlngly, routlne DMP now checks the contents of location RDHLD~0 tstep 43B~ to 35 acquire the unit~ digit for ~he number of check~ f~d `from the check feeder 32. A check is then perfor~ed :.: :,: - '`
.

.: :

:',,,:; : ~ .

~'7~

(step 440) to determine whether the unlts dlgit ia zero. I~ the units diglt ~g in fac'c zero, the routine DM~ ~ump& to an instruction at a location represent~d by ~ymbol 446. I~ the units dlgi~ is not zero, an approprlate value i~ placed into XR 8 (step 442) to function a~ an index for an immedia~ely following call to the routine CAL (~tep 444). In much the same fa~hlon a~ the call to CAL at ~tep 42~,.the c~ll at ~tep 444 return~ the un~t~ total in reglster OA, the tenths total in regi3ter OC, and the hundredths total in register OD.
It will be recalled from the discu~sion of the downstream conveyor portion 60 of Fig. 1 th2t four d1stinct weight cla~sifica~ions had been established 15 with re3pect to ~tùffed envelopes belng proce~ed by the insertion m~chlne: an ov~cwelght cla~sific~tlon ~3.00 ounces and greater); a high range cla~slf1catlon.
(2.00 ounce~ to 2.99 ounces)7 a ml~ rang~
clas~if1catlon (l.00 ounce~ to l.99 ounc~ nd, ~ low range classiflcatlon (0.00 ounc~ to 0.99 ounce~). The endpoints o each of the~e ranges are d~r~lned by values ~tor~d in the memory portions of the d~ta pcoce~sor 102. In particular, the followlng three values spec1fy the classieication ~ange endpoi~ts:
OZHI, OZMID, and OZLOW. For the cla~si~Gation ~che~2 deplcted in Plg. l, OZ~I ls set at a3~ OZ~ID i~ aet ~t ~, and OZLOW is ~et at ~la. The value~ of OZ~I9 OZMID, and OZLOW are select~vely changeable a~ deslred by conventional programming ~echniqu~.
In ~tep 450 the routine D~P check~ to determine whether the unit ounce to~al in regi~ter OA
equals or i8 greater than the value O~HI. Step 450 i~
execu~ed aftec step 444 or, if the condition check ln step 440 wa~ true, after ~tep 440. ~xecution of ~tep 450 provides an indication of whe~her the pro~ected weight of the envelope ls already ~o great that lt will .
1, . . .
- .
' ~,rC 7~ ,r;~

~39--be overweight~ In such ca~e DMP jumps to an ln~truction at step 520.
If the value in register OA i~ le~s than the value O~HI, the content o~ addres8 R~HLDt-2 is obtaln~d for sub~equent proces~lng (~tep 452). The L5B of the addre~s RDHLD~2 con~alns, in one mode of op~ration, an indication of whether inserts are to be fed at the second in~ert station 34. Then, the routine DMP input~
a value in regi~ter 9 which functions a~ a loop counter fo~ an upcoming loop (step 454). In this respect, the value loaded into register 9 is ~-3~, meaning that the upcoming loop will be executed three tlmes. The ir~t execution of the upcoming loop concerns the second insert station 34; the second execution of the upcoming loop concerns the third in~ert station 36; and, the third execution of ~he loop concern~ th~ foureh in~ert station 38. . -The loop referred to above commences atlocatlon DMPlA which i8 pc~sented by ~y~bol 460. The steps 461 and 462 ln the loop involve ch~cka ~o determine ~he st~tu~ of a statlon control ~lng or the partlcular station of conceen durlng ~ corre~ponding executlon of the loop. For example, th~ flr~ tlme tho loop i9 executed 3 flag at locatlon STACN2 iB exa~ined wlth reference to the ~econd insertion ~t~on 34.
Durlng a second executlon of the loop ~ compar~ble check i8 made ~egardlng the flag at loc~tlon ~TACN3 (which 1s location ST~CN2+1) for the in~rtlon s~atlon 36, and so forth.
With respect to step 461, and u~lng the fir~t execution of the loop commencinq at location DMPlA a~
an example, the value at location STACN2 is checked to determine wbether it i~ zero. If the ~alue at S~CN2 is zero, then ~he second insert station 34 is ~urn~d oef (not utilized) and no computations need be made with respec~ to thls ~tation.

,~

-. ;. , . ~ :
:, ,: . ~

7~

~40-With respect to step 46~, which is execu~ed only if the corresponding station control 1ag (for th~
fir~t loop execution, STACN2) i~ non-zero, a check i8 made to de~ermine if the most 3ignl~c~n~ bit (MSB) o~
the control flag haQ been set (i.e., i~ non-zero). If the MSB of the control flag has not been ~et, then it i~ recognized that the i~serter machine is operaeing in a mode wherein the corresponding station is to automatically feed one docu~en~ per cu~tomer. If the MSB of the s~ation control flag ha~ been set, then the in~erter machine is operating in a mode wherein feeding of an in~ert from the particular sta~ion i8 not automatic but rather dependen~ upon the.read indicia on a control document 46 as provided by data in the RD~LD
array.
With re3pect to step 463, which i~ executed only if the corre~ponding station control ~lag i~ non-zero and the MS~ of the ~tation control flag i8 ~et, the value at the appropeiate ~DH1D locatlon i8 checked. Por example, the value ~t the L5B of locatlon RUHLD+2 i8 checked or ~he second lna~rt ~t~tlon 34 during the first executlon of the loop. If th~
appcopriate bit (LSB) of the ~DHLD~2 locatlon i8 Zert then it i~ recognized tha~ although thls p~rtlcul~r in~ert station is turned on, an in~ert l~ not fed ~here~rom for thl~ par~lcular customer a~ deter~ined by the cu3tomer'~ master document 46. I~ ~he ~pprop~lat~
bit at the RDHLD+2 location is ~1~, then lt 1~
recognized that, although insert~ are no~ be~g fed automatically from the insert ~tation~ that sre turned on, an insert i~ to be fed from the particular insert station for the given customer a3 deter~lned by the cu3tomer'~ ~aster document 46.
If either (1) the MSB of the ~tation control flag is non~ero, or (23 the MSB of the ~t~tion control flag i~ zero ~nd the appropriate bi~ of the RD~LD~2 : -, tj~j location is nonzero, then a value i~ placed in X~ 8 (step' 464) in pceparation for an upcoming caLl to routine CAL ~step 466). The value in XR 8 indicates the number o~ times in which the internal loop in coutine CAL is to be executed. For each of the three executions for the loop commencing at the loc~tion DMPlA, the value placed into %R B i~ r-l~ ina~much as the particular batch operation being described a~ an example involves the feeding of no more than one document from each o~ the lnsert station~ 34, 36, and 38 for a partlcular customer.
The call to routine CAL (step 466) adds both a tenth ounce value and a hundredth ounce value to the respeotive running totals maintained in register OC and register OD as de~cribed above. With respect to the second execution of the loop DMPlA (th~t is, for the second insertion station 34), during the calls to routine C~L the added tenth ounce and added hundredth ounce values are obtained from locatlsns S20TEN and S20TEN+1 - S20HUN, re~pectively.
Had it been determined at step 461 that the control flag for a particular ~tation were zero, then step 46B must be executed ln order to co~pen~at~ foe not calllng the routlne CAL aa wa~ don4 ln ~tep ~66.
Step 468 e~sentially lncr~m~nts the RP 2 to co~n~ato ~or a slmll~r lncrementa~lon m~de by ~he routln~ CAL ln step 466. A~ter the executlon o~ ~t~ 46~, th~ routin~
DMP jump~ to the locatlon DMPlBl which i8 lndicatod by ~ymbol 470. Routlne DMP also ~umpff to loca~ion D~PlBl up~n a false condltion at tep 463.
At location DMPlBl the contents of XR OB is shifted right one bit (step 472). It wlll be recalled that in the particular loop being executed XR OB
contain~ the va~ue Oe addres~ RDHLD~2 which i~ used to determine the number Oe in~erts at a g~ven ~tation.
Thus, shifting right XR OB is preparatory to ~he next ' ' , ~ :
' " .:..:' ~ ~, ':' ~7~

execution of the loop commencing at symbol 460 or for execution of further loops down~tream. S~milarly, in step 474 RP 4 i8 incremented 80 that an appropcLate addre~ indicatlng the ~tation control flag for the next station will be indicated therein. Lastly, in step 476 the loop counter in regi~ter 9 is incremented. As indicated at step 478, if the loop haa not yet been executed three ti~es, execution branch~
back to location DMPlA (indicated by symbol 460~.
Once the loop commencing at locatlon D~PlA
(indicated by ~ymbol 460) has been executed three times, the routine DMP puts in~o XR 9 a value which will serve as a loop index counter for a loop which commences at location DMPlD (indicated by symbol 484). For the described embodiment, a value n-2~ i~
loaded into XR ~ inasmuch as the loop commenc~ng at address DMPlD ~symbol 48~) is concerned with the proces3ing of the fifth in~ert station 40 and the envelope station 42u Accordingly, the loop DMPlD is to 20 be executed twice -- ~he first executlon for the fifth insert ~tation 40 and the second execution for the envelope ~tation 42. The loop DMPlD ~sy~b~l 484~
e~sentially resembles the lo~p DMPlA ~y~bol ~60). In loop DMPlD, ~ check 1~ mado to d~t~r~ln~ wh~tho~ th~
L9B of the st~tion contr~l ~la~ (st~ 4~6). I~
th~ L~ o~ tho stat~on contr~l ~1~9 1~ ~lr, th~n th~
seatiOn 1~ ~et~mlne~ to b~ on ~nd a~ro~rlat~
processlng stepa (~teps 488 ~nd 490) ~ro e~Gut~d to tak~ into con~ider~tlon the weight o~ ~n lns~rt at th~t station. Otherwise, appropriate compensa~ion is made (step 494) and processing jumps to an instruction at location D~PlE (represented by ~ymbol ~92).
Once the loop commencing in location D~PlD
(sy~bol 484) has been execu~ed twice, ~he da~a processor 102 has processed data fo~ the check ~ed~r 32, the insert atations 34, 36, 38, and 40, and ~h~

. . ... - . ., -':-, :, . ,, :~

envelope statlon 42. The only ~tatlon y~e un~ccounted ~or i~ the ~heet feeder ~tation 30. Thus, routine D~P
turn~ i~s attentlon to ~heet ~eder st~tlon 30 to determine the number o~ control shee~ fed therefrom.
As with the check feeder sta~ion 3~, a particuIar number of sheets fed from the feeder 30 is repre3ented by a two digit number. The unit~ digit ~or the number of contcol sheet~ fed is contained in an addre~
AIMCNT. The cou~ine DMP checks the value o~ the address ~IMCNT to determine whether the unit~ digit i8 zero. If the value ls zero the routine jump8 to an instruction in address DMP1~3 repre3ented by sy~bol 512. If the un1ts digi~ for the number of sheet~ fed from station 30 is not zero, a loop index based on ~he digit value is computed and placed into XR 8 (~tep 508). Immediately thereafter (step 510), the routine CAL is called. The internal loop of routine CAL i9 execu~ed a number of tlme~ corre~ponding to a value ln XR 8 sv that the tenths ounce welght per document (a value given in the addre~s SFOTEN in RP 2) and the hundredths ounce weight ~given in the address SFOTENtl ~ SFOHUN) per document i8 repetltlvely added (accocding to the number of times th~ loop ls executed) to the tenths ~,otal register OC and th~ hundredth~
total regiQter OD, with carries being conducted ~o the units total regi~ec OA as needed.
~ aving just proce~sed the unlt~ digit for the number of control sheets fed from the ~heet feeder 30, the routine DMP must now process the ten~ digit~ In order to do this, the ten~ digit is fetched fro~ an addre~s AIMCNT~l. If it is determined in step 514 that the tens digit representation of the number of control ~ sheets fed from the sheet feeder 30 i~ zero, then i execution branches around step 516 to the in~tructlon at location DMPlF which is indicated by ~y~bol 51B. I~
the tens digit for the number of control ~heet~ fed , . : ,: . . :
:: , ~ 7~

-4~-from feeder 30 is nonzero, then a call 1~ made to routine X10 in ~tep 516. Routine X10 calls routine CAL
which perform~ in the manner de~cribed hereinbe~ore.
~efo~e returning, however, the rou~ine X10 multiplle~
S the value~ returned from routlne CAL by 10. T~l~
~ultlpllcation i8 e~-~entially ~ccomplished by an algorlth~ whlch lncludes placlng the content~ of regi~ter OD (formerly the hundred~h~ ou~ce total) lnto regi~ter GC and ~he former contents of register OC
(~ormerly the tenths ounce total~ lnto regl~ter OA (the unit~ total~.
~ y the time execution reache3 the inseruction at address DMPlF, processing has been co~pleted with re~pect to each of the ~tation~ ~long the conveyor 20. That i8, computations have been made with re~pect to ~heet feeder ~tation 30, the chock fe~der ~tation 32, the ~econd ln~ert statlon 34, the thlrd lnsert ~tatlon 36, the fourth lnsert station 38, th~ flfth insert ~tatlon 40, and the envelope ~t~10n 42.
Having p~oce~ed data wlth resp~ct to each o~
the sta~lons, the routin~ D~P deter~ln~ wh~her the ¦ computed unlt~ ounce total (contained ln registe~ OA) ¦ equals a maxl~um allowed value Oz~ (s~ep 520). ~ an equ$valence i~ found, execu~lon ~ump8 to the in~truction at location DMPlFl trepre~ented by ~ymbol 524) 80 that in 2 sub~equent ~ ep 526 th~ cont~ts of regi~ter OA 1~ set ~o ~3~. If ~n equival~nc~ i8 no~
found, lt i8 next determlned whether the UnitB ounce total in register OA exceed~ the maximum allowed v2~lue 30 in aàdres~ OZ~ the value ~n regi~ter OA i~ found to exceed the value 02HI,. execution ~umps to the in~truction at location D~lPlF2 represented by ~ylabol 528. Otherwise, execution pas~e~ to the lnstruction at location DMPlF1 represented by symbol 524 ~o tha~ step 35 526 ~described above) c:an ~e executed. Proces~ing ther continues to location DMP1~2 (3ymbol 528).

,::
:;

. . .
. .

7~

At location DMPlF2 (symbol 528) the unit ounce total in XR OA is effectlvely ma~ked wlth a word wherein a zip ~ark bit i~ or 18 no~ set ~step 530).
The zip mark i9 later examined ~n routlnes unrelated to this i~vention to determine lf ~he envelope~ are to b~
sorted accord1ng to zip code after po~tage h~s been applled.
A~ it near~ completion of its.fir~t time execution, the routine DMP store3 ounce welght information into appcoprlate location~ in the array RDHLD. In particular, at step 540 the contents of XR OA containing the value of the units digit for the total weig'nt of the stuffed envelope and ~he zip ~ark i8 stored in an address RDHLD+4. In ~tep $42 the tenths digit of the ~otal weight for the envelope in register OC i8 ~tored at addresa RDHLD+5. At ~tep 544, the hu~dredth~ dlglt of the total weight of the ..
envelope in regis~er OD is store~ at addre~ RD8LD~6.
In step 546 OZCNT iff equated with the units ounce d~git of the total weIght.
Upon completlo~ Oe the fir~t ox~cutlon of the routine DMP, the ~lag ~GDDP2 1~ set (~t ~tep 5~8) ~o that upon the ~ollowi~g call to routln~ D~P lt wlll bo realized that a previou~ c~ll ha~ be~n ~de~ A~ter ~etting the flag, proce~sinq r~tuxna to th~ routlno ~YS
a~ indicated by symbol 550.
As mentioned before, routine DMP 1~ called twice for each customer. The proce~s1ng procedur~ for ~he fir~t call having been describea above, a~entlon now focuses on the second call to rou~lne D~P ln connection with a particular custo~er.
On a second call to routine ~P it ~8 determined at step 402 ~hat the BGDDP2 ~lag has be~n 8et ~as indeed it wa~ at ~tep 54a), so control ~3UiapB to 35 ~tep 406 where the BGDDP2 flaq is cle~red. Then, th~
flag SYSMDE 1~ checked l~tep 600). If SYSMD~ 1s no~

. ~; -.

- . .~. : :

~7~

on, processing jumps to an instruction at location DMP2B repcesented by symbol 604 since further calcula-tions and tests need not be conducted with respect to the weight of the stuffed envelope and an output woed determinative of the destination can be prepared by routine OZS. If the SYS~DE flag is on, a determination is made at step 602 whether the value OZHI is equal to the calculated tentative units ounce value wh1ch has been stored in OZCNT. If equivalency is ~ound, pro-cessing branches to the instruction at location DMP2B(symbol 604) since it is apparent that the stuffed envelope will be overweight. In the event equivalency is not found, a test is made a~ step 606 whether OZCNT
is greater than OZHI. If the value OZCNT is greater, lS the processing also jumps to location DMP2B (symbol 604) since again it is apparent that the stuffed envel-ope will be overweight. Otherwise, processing jumps to the instruction at location DMP2C (represented by symbol 612).
When it has already been determined through execution of ~teps 602 or 606 that the stuffed envelope will be overweight, preparations are made for a call to routine 02S which will go ahead and set the LS~ and MSB
of location RDHLD*3 to indicate that the stuffed ~5 envelope is to be marked and diverted onto conveyor 76 and into overweight bin 80. By way of preparation, at step 608 the contents of address RDHLD+3 i5 obtained.
In step 610 the routine OZS i~ called. The processing of routine OZS is described further herein. For the present it is sufficient to know that, when called from DMP, the routine OZS and its subroutine OZSS8 function to set the LSB and MSB of location RDHLD~3 a~ mentioned above.
Subsequent processing steps in the routine DMP (gen~rally indicated as step 614) basically concern the duplication o data in the array beginning at , .: ` ~'' ' ~'~'7~

address RDHLD into another array. After the processing steps 614, proces~ing returns to routine SYS as indicated by symbol 616.
After processing has returned from the second execution of routine DMP (that is, upon the return rep-I resented by symbol 616) to the ma.ster routine SYS, the master routine SYS calls a routine LCA (also known as the long check add routine) if and only if the SYS~DE
flag is on. A diagram of the processing steps of the LCA routine is found in Fig. 8. Basically, the LCA
j routine (I) mo~ifies the caIculated tentative total weight ~alculation for a customer' 5 ~tuffed envelope to take into consideration the fact that a cectain number o~ the items fed from the eeder station 32 may have L5 been long length items (since all the items fed fromstation 32 were considered earlier to be short length items when the tentative calculations were being made), thereby obtaining a calculated final total weight for the customer's stuffed envelope, and (2) calls the OZS
routine which, in conjunction with its subroutine OZSSB, sets an appcopriate bit in an output word which is used to determine which of the following is to occur: (l) diversion onto conveyor 76, for marking.at station 79 and ~or transport to bin 80 (for an overweight envelope); (2) diversion onto conveyor 76 ~or transport into bin 80 (for.a mid range weight envelope); l3) acti-j vation of postage meter 84 (for a high range weight i envelope); or ~4) activation of postage meter 88 (for a low range weight envelope).
Processing for routine LC~ begins at location 1CA~TE (symbol 800), after ~hich a check is made re-\ garding the flag LGCKAF (step 802). If flag LGCKAF is unset, processing returns to routine SYS (indicated by symbol 8181. If the flag LGCKAF is set, the units digit of the previously calculated tentative total ; weight of the stuffed envelope for the particular , ,: . , ,~,: .

..~: . :: :: .
.-.. ..

7~

--~8--customer is obtained and placed in XR OA ~step 804).
If ~he units digit (i.e. the XR OA contents) is greater than or equal to 3, proces~ing jump~ to an in~truction at locatlon LCAEX (symbol 322~ since lt ha already been determined that ~he envelope will be overweight and all that remains is to put an output word indica-tive of the same ~MS~ set) in an appropriate output addr~ss.
After the units digit is obtained in step 804, the tenths digit and hundredths digit of the calculated tenta.tive ~otal stuf~ed e`nvelope`weight for the customer are obtained and put in XRs OC and O~, respectively ~steps 810 and 812). Next, it is neces-sary to obtain the total number of long length items fed from the feeder 32. This number is stored in a two word format, the tens digit of the number being stored at address FDRLCC+l and the units digit being stored at address FDRLCC.
If the tens digit of the number Oe long check items is zero (determined at step 824), then processing can jump to symbol 830 where only the units digit need be considered. If, however, the tens digit is non~ero, then a value representing the per item tenths ounce difeerence between a short length item and a long ~5 length item is obtained from address F~OTEN. It will be recalled that the routine TOZ, described earlier, compu~es the dif~erence between the tenths digit input value of the long length item for stat~on 32 and the tenths digit input value of the short length item for station 32 and puts the difference into location FLOTEN. Tbe difference between the hundredths digit input values was put into location FLO~UN by TOZ.
Havin~ obtained the value from address FLOTEN, routine LC~ calls the routine XlC ~step 828).
Routine X10, described in detail earlier, basically calls the routine CAL (the internal loop o routine CAL
being executed a number of times related to the value . -~

, ' ' " ', '" :~ : ''.

.. ::

at address P'DRLCC+l) and multiple~ the result -~ummation of the respective valueq FLOTEN and FLOHUN, each summed a number of times equal to the value of F~RLCC+l -- by a f actor of ten .
Once ~he tens digi~ of the number o~ long length item~ has been con~ide~ed, a determin~tion i~
made whether th~ unit~ digit is zero (atep 83~). If the unit~ digit is zero, proce~ing jump~ to an in~truction at location LCA4A (~ymbol 838). Otherwi~e, preparatlon~ are made for a call to CAL ~step 840) wlth cespect to the units digit. These pcepara~ions include: (1) putting the value at addre~s FLOTEN lnto RP 2 (step 834), and (2) constructing B loop index for CAL in XR 8 based on the value at address FDRLCC ~step 15 836)~ The routine CAL performs as described above, obtaininq summatlons of the values FLOTEN and FLOHUN, each summed a number o~ times equal to ~he value of FDRLCC. Routine CAL then return~ ~h~ c~lcul~ed Çinal unlt~ dlgit w~ight in %~ OA, the ca~cul~ted flnal 20 tenth~ dig~t we~ght ln X~ OC, and ~he calcul~ted ~in~l hundredths diglt welght ln X~ OD. The~ flnal weighta thus include mo~ifications made by vlrtu~ ~ th~
difference in weight between long length lte~ ~nd short length i~em~ fed from feeder 32.
~5 After routine LC~ call3 the routine CAL ~nd calculated f lnal weight dlgit3 are returned in registers OA, OC, and OD from routine CAL, rou~ine LCA
calls routine OZS. Routine O~S b~ically ~unctions to prepare an output word who~e conten~3 determines the destination of the customer's stu~ed envelope with respect to postage categoriza~ion. In this regard, the routine OZS in conjunc~ion with it~ ~ubroutine 02SSB
~ets a binary 9 in the output word if the xtuffed envelope i8 overweight (thu~ to be directed toward conveyo~ 76 and marked~; the binary 2 bit in the output wocd iE tbe stuffed e~velope is in the 2 .00 ounce ~o ~. . .

:

~7~5~

-so--2.99 ounce range (and thus to be directed toward an enabled first posta~e meter 84); ~he binary 4 bit in the ou~put word if the stuffed envelope is in the 0.00 ounce to 0.99 ounce range (and thu~ to be directed toward an en~bled second postage meter 88); or the binary B bit (MSB) if the stuffed envelope is in the 1.00 to 1.99 ounce range (and thus to be directed toward the conveyor 76 but not marked) ?
In the above regard, the routine 02S (called in step 842) determines which bit in the output word i8 to be set. The determination is based on a compariaion o~ the calculated final units digit weight in XE~ OA
with the pre-set values OZHI, OZMID, and O~LOW. In addition, the contents of DIVMDE (indica~ive of the 15 ~witch 147 which deter~ines whether low range or mid range weight mail is to be diverted onto conveyor 90) i5 taken into consideration. The output word f rom routine OZS i~ then placed into an appropriate output addres~ (step 348). Thereafter, routine LCA returns proces~ing to the ma~ter routine SYS ~aA indlcated by symbol 85~).
~ aster routine SYS checks the output ~ddre~
which contalns the output wo~d return~d ~ro~ routl~
OZS ~t appropriate point~ in the ~chine cycle ~o determine whether the diver~ion ga~e 62, postaqe ~et~r 84, diversion gate 64, or po~tage ~eter 88 should be activated for thi~ customer's stuffed envelope. If, for exa~ple, the output word ha~ lts LSB set, the ~icroproces~or 120 instructs I/O unit 1~6 to activate solenoid 68 to move diversion gate 62 into the path of conveyor ~0 and thu~ divert a stu~fed envelope calculated to be overweight onto the co~veyor 760 ~he foregoing bit-by-bik de~cription of tbe output word from routine OZS enables one skilled in the art to understand how the microprocessor 120 through I/O unit 136 activate~ the ~olenoids 85, 70, ~nd 89 fo~

5~

differillg conEigurations of the output word and with re~pect to the po~tage meters 84 and 88 as well ~~ th~
diver~ion gate 64.
Whlle the invention ha~ been particularly 5 ahown and de~cribed with reference to the preferred embodiment~ thereof, i~c will be under~tood by those skilled in the art that variou~ alteration~ in form ~nd detail may be made herein without depa~ing from the 8pi r i t and scope o f the l nvent i on .

Claims (60)

Claims:

1. In an insertion machine of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations being adapted to selectively feed items onto said track for inclusion with a group of said items, wherein the improvement comprises:
data processing means including memory means and arithmetic logic means;
means for selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight for each group of items; and means for using said calculated indication of weight total to determine how each group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage whereby said diversion device is activated to divert said envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said envelope does not fall within an associated weight range of said postage meter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

5. A method of selectively determining the amount of postage to be applied to each of a plurality of envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine said insertion machine being of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station from which a master control item is fed onto said track and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed in accordance with indicia on said master control item onto said track for inclusion with a group including said master control item, said method comprising the steps of:
reading said indicia;
determining from said indicia on said master control item the particular further feed stations from which items are to be fed onto said insertion track during an appropriate subsequent machine cycle for inclusion with said group including said master control item;
means for determining from said indicia on said master control item the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during said appropriate cycle for inclusion in said group;

storing a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how each group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply appropriate postage for a calculated indication of weight; and actuating said postage meter to apply postage to a stuffed envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

activating a diversion device to divert said stuffed envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope does not lie within an associated weight range of said postage meter, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:
setting each of a plurality of postage meters to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights; and, activating an appropriate one of said plurality of postage meters to apply postage to said stuffed envelope associated with said group of items if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope lies in said associated range, said plurality of postage meters each being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

9. In an insertion machine of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station from which a master control item is fed onto said track and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed in accordance with indicia on said master control item onto said track for inclusion with a group including said master control item, wherein the improvement comprises:
means for reading said indicia;
means for determining from said indicia on said master control item the particular further feed stations from which items are to be fed onto said insertion track during an appropriate subsequent machine cycle for inclusion with said group including said master control item;
means for determining from said indicia on said master control item the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during said appropriate cycle for inclusion in said group;
data processing means including memory means and arithmetic logic means for storing in said data processing memory means a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
means for selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and, means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how each group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage whereby said diversion device is activated to divert said envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said envelope does not fall within an associated weight range of said postage meter.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

13. A method of determining the amount of postage to be applied to envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine, said insertion machine being of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations being adapted to selectively feed items onto said track for inclusion with a group of said items, said method comprising the steps of:
selectively inputting into data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;

using said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed stations to obtain a calculated indication of weight total for each group of items; and, using said calculated indication of weight total to determine how each groups of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:
setting each of a plurality of postage meters to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights; and activating an appropriate one of said plurality of postage meters to apply postage to said stuffed envelope associated with said group of items if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope lies in said associated range, said plurality of postage meters each being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply appropriate postage for a calculated indication of weight; and, actuating said postage meter to apply postage to a stuffed envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:
activating a diversion device to divert said stuffed envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope does not lie within an associated weight range of said postage meter, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

17. In an insertion machine of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations being adapted to selectively feed items onto said track for inclusion with a group of said items, wherein the improvement comprises:
means for selectively inputting predetermined values into a memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a second feed station;
means for calculating a calculated indication of total weight for a group of items, said calculation means being connected to said memory whereby said predetermined values are utilized in said calculation; and, means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be further processed.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said means for using said calculated indication of weight total determines how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

22. A method of determining how envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine are to be further processed, said insertion machine being of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations being adapted to selectively feed items onto said track for inclusion with a group of said items, said method comprising the steps of:
selectively inputting predetermined values into a memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a second feed station;

calculating a calculated indication of total weight for a group of items, said predetermined values being utilized in said calculation; and using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

using at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be further processed.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of using said calculated indication of weight total includes the step of determining how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising the step of:
positioning a plurality of postage meters whereby selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

27. A method of selectively determining the amount of postage to be applied to a plurality of envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine, said insertion machine being of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station from which a master control item is fed onto said track and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed in accordance with indicia on said master control item onto said track for inclusion with a group including said master control item, said method comprising the steps of:
reading said indicia, means for determining from said indicia on said master control items the number of items to be fed from at last one such further feed station during an appropriate machine cycle for inclusion in said group;
storing in a memory a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
selectively inputting predetermined values into said memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said further feed station;
using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said step of using said calculated indication of weight total includes determining how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

29. In an insertion machine of the type in which an insertion track moves groups of items past a different one of a plurality of feed stations during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station from which a master control item is fed onto said track and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed in accordance with indicia on said master control item onto said track for inclusion with a group including said master control item, wherein the improvement comprises:
means for reading said indicia;
means for determining from said indicia on said master control item the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during an appropriate machine cycle for inclusion in said group;
a memory for storing a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
means for selectively inputting predetermined values into said memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of item held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said further feed station;
means for using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
means for using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said means for using said calculated indication of weight total determines how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the application of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

31. A machine of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track for inclusion with a group of said items, wherein the improvement comprises:
data processing means including memory means and arithmetic logic means;
means for selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight for each group of items; and, means for using said calculated indication of weight total to determine how each group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

32. A method of determining the amount of postage to be allocated to envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine, said insertion machine being of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track for inclusion with a group of said items, said method comprising the steps of:
selectively inputting into data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
using said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed stations to obtain a calculated indication of weight total for each group of items; and, using said calculated indication of weight total to determine how each groups of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

33. In a machine of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed onto said track for inclusion with a group, wherein the improvement comprises:
means for determining the particular further feed stations from which items are to be fed onto said insertion track during an appropriate subsequent machine cycle for inclusion with said group;
means for determining the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during said appropriate cycle for inclusion in said group;
data processing means including memory means and arithmetic logic means for storing in said data processing memory means a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
means for selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
means including said data processing arithmetic logic means for using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and, means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how each group of items is to be pro-cessed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage with respect to an envelope associated with said group of items.

34. A method of selectively determining the amount of postage to be allocated to each of a plurality of envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine, said insertion machine being of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed onto said track for inclusion with a group, said method comprising the steps of:
determining the particular further feed stations from which items are to be fed onto said insertion track during an appropriate subsequent machine cycle for inclusion with said group;
determining the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during said appropriate cycle for inclusion in said group;
storing a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
selectively inputting into said data processing memory means with respect to each selected station a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said station;
using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and, using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how each group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage with respect to an envelope associated with said group of items.

35. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage whereby said diversion device is activated to divert said envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said envelope does not fall within an associated weight range of said postage meter.

37. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage whereby said diversion device is activated to divert said envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said envelope does not fall within an associated weight range of said postage meter.

40. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising;
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

41. The method of claim 32 , further comprising the steps of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply appropriate postage for a calculated indication of weight; and, actuating said postage meter to apply postage to a stuffed envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of:
activating a diversion device to divert said stuffed envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope does not lie within an associated weight range of said postage meter, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

43. The method of claim 32,further comprising the steps of:
setting each of a plurality of postage meters to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights; and, activating an appropriate one of said plurality of postage meters to apply postage to said stuffed envelope associated with said group of items if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope lies in said associated range, said plurality of postage meters each being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

44; The method of claim 34, further comprising the steps of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply appropriate postage for a calculated indication of weight; and, actuating said postage meter to apply postage to a stuffed envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising the step of:
activating a diversion device to divert said stuffed envelope if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope does not lie within an associated weight range of said postage meter, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

46. The method of claim 34, further comprising the steps of:
setting each of a plurality of postage meters to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights; and, activating an appropriate one of said plurality of postage meters to apply postage to said stuffed envelope associated with said group of items if the calculated indication of weight of said stuffed envelope lies in said associated range, said plurality of postage meters each being responsively connected to said means which determines how each group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

47. In an insertion machine of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track during each machine cycle for inclusion with a group of said items, wherein the improvement comprises:
means for selectively inputting predetermined values into a memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a second feed station;
means for calculating a calculated indication of total weight for a group of items, said calculation means being connected to said memory whereby said predetermined values are utilized in said calculation; and, means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein said means for using said calculated indication of weight total determines how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising:
at least one postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage, said postage meter being settable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items.

50. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising:
a plurality of postage meters positioned whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

51. The apparatus of claim 47, further comprising:
at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be further processed.

52. A method of determining how envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine are to be further processed, said insertion machine being of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track during each machine cycle for inclusion with a group of said items, said method comprising the steps of:
selectively inputting predetermined values into a memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at a second feed station;
calculating a calculated indication of total weight for a group of items, said predetermined values being utilized in said calculation; and, using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein said step of using said calculated indication of weight total includes the step of determining how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

54. The method of claim 53, further comprising the step of:
positioning a plurality of postage meters whereby a selected one of said postage meters is activatable to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, each of said postage meters being settable to apply appropriate postage for an associated range of calculated indication of weights, each of said postage meters being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the allocation of postage.

55. The method of claim 53, further comprising the step of:
setting at least one postage meter to apply postage to an envelope associated with a group of items, said postage meter responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be processed relative to the application of postage.

56. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of:
using at least one diversion device for diverting an envelope associated with a group of items, said diversion device being responsively connected to said means which determines how a group of items is to be further processed.

57. In an insertion machine of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insertion track during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed onto said track for inclusion with a group, wherein the improve-ment comprises:
means for determining the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during an appropriate machine cycle for inclusion in said group;

a memory for storing a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
means for selectively inputting predetermined values into said memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of item held at a first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said further feed station;
means for using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predeter-mined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
means for using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and means for using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein said means for using said calculated indication of weight total determines how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.

59. A method of selectively determining the amount of postage to be allocated to a plurality of envelopes into which items are inserted by an insertion machine, said insertion machine being of the type in which a plurality of feed stations selectively feed items onto an insert track during each machine cycle, said plurality of feed stations including a first feed station and further feed stations from which items are selectively fed onto said track for inclusion with a group; said method comprising the steps of:

means for determining the number of items to be fed from at least one such further feed station during an appropriate machine cycle for inclusion in said group;
storing in a memory a value indicative of the number of items to be fed from said further feed station for inclusion with said group;
selectively inputting predetermined values into said memory, said predetermined values including at least a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said first feed station and a predetermined value indicative of the per item weight of items held at said further. feed station;
using said stored values indicative of the number of items fed from a feed station and said predetermined values indicative of the per item weight of items held in said feed station to obtain a calculated indication of subtotal weight with respect to said feed station;
using calculated indication of subtotal weights for a plurality of said stations to obtain a calculated indication of total weight; and, using said calculated indication of total weight to determine how a group of items is to be further processed.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein said step of using said calculated indication of weight total includes determining how a group of items is to be processed by the insertion machine relative to the allocation of postage to an envelope associated with said group of items.