EP1220721A1

EP1220721A1 - Device and method for classifying flat mail items

Info

Publication number: EP1220721A1
Application number: EP00963878A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rudolf Schuster; Peter Bretschneider
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 1999-09-10
Filing date: 2000-08-07
Publication date: 2002-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2020-08-07
Also published as: DE19943362A1; EP1220721B1; DE50009058D1; ES2234663T3; WO2001019537A1

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to classify flat mail items according to points of delivery which are allocated to a sequence of addresses belonging to addressees, whereby said sequence can be determined. Several containers for receiving, transporting and delivering a mail item respectively to a place of deposit circulate on at least one conveying device, whereby delivery is carried out in a controlled manner. Several mail items respectively are piled in the place of deposit in a classified manner. The mail items are delivered from the containers to the places of deposit in several circulating steps. The order of the mail items in each place of deposit corresponds to the sequence of points of delivery which are allocated to the addresses of the mail items that are situated in the respective place of deposit. The mail items of the respective address area can already be loaded into empty circulating containers when the places of deposit are classified into two groups and when there are still mail items of the previous address area in the containers.

Description

description

Device and method for arranging flat items

The invention relates to a device and a method for arranging flat mail items according to the preambles of claims 1 and 11.

Certain tasks, in particular the delivery of letters, require that the present items be stacked in a certain order, which corresponds, for example, to the sequence of the delivery points (the so-called route sequence of the deliverer). In this case, the address corresponding to a delivery point on the mail item represents the ordering criterion, while the sequence of delivery points represents the order to be produced.

A solution for sorting in a certain order has become known (EP 820 818 AI), which uses an intermediate storage consisting of pockets or similar elements, each of which can take up a program and, on command, can release it again into the actual storage compartment. First, all the items to be sorted are placed in the pockets of the clipboard in any order. The mail items are then removed from the pockets of the intermediate store and transferred to the storage compartments in such a way that they are in the order to be produced in the latter. A separate storage is provided for each shipment. Sorting is carried out with two rounds of the pockets of the intermediate storage, one round for filling the pockets, another for emptying the pockets.

However, this requires a large number of storage compartments, each of which must be equipped with a control mechanism which causes the consignment to be transferred from the correct pocket in the intermediate store. Another method, often used, called multi-pass or radix sort, for arranging mail items is based on the mail items having to pass through the same sorting device several times. animal facility, with a separate control program being used in each run. In this way you can get by with a few stacking compartments based on the number of delivery points. Disadvantages of this method are the high expenditure of time, larger error rates and a greater mechanical load on the mail items due to the multiple pass through the sorting machine (DE 43 02 231 C2, DE 197 14 184 AI).

The invention set out in claims 1 and 11 is based on the object, a device and a method for organizing flat mail items according to the preambles with a reduction in the number of trays and the associated control elements compared to the prior art with only once separating and reading the To create consignments in a sorting run, which also enable a reduction in operator effort and the inclusion of pre-sorted consignments with a low sorting effort.

The formation of the trays for receiving several flat mail items as a stack and the sorting or ordering of the mail items in several rounds of the containers circulating in a closed loop, in which the mail items located in the containers are controlled according to their address information according to a definable sequence assigned by the recipient addresses Delivery points are delivered to the shelves, the order of the items in each shelf corresponding to the sequence of the delivery points assigned to the addresses of the items located in the respective shelf makes a small number of shelves and thus a small number of

Points and control elements necessary for the delivery of the shipments.

Advantageous refinements of the invention are specified in the subclaims. The arrangement of the shelves in two rows parallel to each other and horizontally aligned enables simple removal of the mail items from the shelves.

If certain delivery points are permanently assigned to the respective shelves, all of the items that are intended for a particular delivery stage are always located in a shelf. This assignment is already established before the recipient addresses of the items to be classified are known. This is necessary if these shipments are to be treated separately from shipments for other delivery sections.

If the shelves are to be filled evenly, it is advantageous, after knowing the address, to flexibly assign the consignments to the shelves in such a way that there are approximately the same number of consignments in the shelves or the stacks are approximately the same when measuring the consignment thickness of the individual consignments Have heights.

The further embodiment of the invention, to divide the filing into two groups and, in the case of sequential sorting runs for sorting, to sort the mailings from different address areas alternately into only one of the two filing groups, enables a delayed processing, i.e. while for one address area the mail items are transported from the compartments to the bins, the still full bins of the other address area are emptied. This ensures that only one operator is required, who does not have to empty trays at the same time and enter shipments for separation.

In addition, it is advantageous to carry out the sorting of the mail items of both groups overlapping in time in such a way that mail items of the one group are loaded into already empty containers, while the emptying of the mail items filled with mail items of the other previous group into the bins is still ongoing. This makes it possible to increase the sorting throughput gladly. In order to carry out this overlapped work effectively, in a further embodiment the loading location of the container can be moved in a controlled manner so that the consignment to be loaded in each case can be loaded into an already empty container within the defined range of motion without loading delay.

According to another development, it is possible to include pre-sorted mail items in the ordering process in such a way that as few circulations of the containers as possible are necessary and more mail items can be ordered than there are containers. For this purpose, the pre-sorted consignments are loaded into the containers that are still empty after the unsorted consignments have been loaded into the containers or the containers that become empty due to emptying into the bins. Place numbers are assigned to the delivery points in accordance with their sequence in the respective shelves, and the pre-sorting is carried out in such a way that the items assigned to the delivery points with the lower place numbers can be separated before the items with the higher place numbers.

In connection with the included pre-sorted mail items, it is also advantageous to load the unsorted mail items of the current address area into empty rotating containers if there are still items from the previous address area in containers, i.e. this emptying process has not yet been completed. This can further increase the efficiency during sorting, since container vacancies are largely avoided during sorting.

The invention is then explained in more detail in an exemplary embodiment with reference to the drawings.

Show

1 shows a schematic representation of the loading of the rotating containers without an overlapping working method 2 shows a schematic representation of the emptying of the containers in trays without an overlapping working method

3 shows the chronological sequence of sorting without an overlapping working method

4 shows the chronological sequence of the sorting of mail items from several address areas in two filing groups without overlapping working methods

5 shows the chronological sequence of the orderly sorting of mail items from a plurality of address areas in two storage groups with an overlapping working method

6 shows the chronological sequence of sorting with pre-sorted items without overlapping mode of operation

7 shows the chronological sequence of sorting with pre-sorted mail items in two storage groups with overlapping working methods

8 shows the sequence of the ordering process with pre-sorted mailings in several rounds of the containers.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2, the mail items are sorted in a sorting device with an intermediate store, which consists of containers 1, 4 circulating in a closed loop, and with a series of trays 2, the trays 2 for the orderly reception of more than a shipment 3 are provided so that the number of trays 2 can be kept significantly less than the number of containers 1.4. However, several rotations of the containers 1, 4 of the buffer store are required in order to transfer all the mail items 3 from the containers 1 into the trays 2. The organization takes place in the following steps:

1. Transporting an addressed shipment 3 past a reading device into a free container 4 of the circulating buffer. 2. Determine the address or adequate information on the mail item 3. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all mail items 3 are each in a container 1 of the buffer. 4. As soon as a mail item 3 is located above that shelf 2 into which it must be placed before all others, taking into account the read address information of all mail items 3 located in the containers 1, in order to produce the desired order, the container 1 is opened and the shipment 3 filed in this tray 2.

5. When all the containers 1 are empty, the mail items 3 in the form of partial stacks 5 in the shelves 2 are removed from them in order and, if necessary, put together to form one or more stacks. 6. If necessary Repeat steps 1 to 5 for the next address area. 3 illustrates the chronological sequence of the method steps described for a single address area. Enter = Steps 1 to 3 Stacking = Step 4 Emptying = Step 5

The assignment between the mail items 3 to be classified, which all belong to a defined address area (corresponds to one or more delivery areas), and the filings 2 is determined in a first variant by the assignment of groups of addresses (delivery points) to the filings 2 , so that each address is assigned a shelf 2. The groups of addresses assigned to the individual stores 2 each correspond to a coherent sub-area of the order to be produced. As an example, the following order of mail items 3 is to be produced according to addresses for a single address area: A-Str. 1 -> A-Str. 3 - A-Str. 5 -> A-Str. 7 - »B-way 8 -» B-way 7- B-way 6 - B-way 5

-> B-Weg 3 - »B-Weg 2 - A-Str. 2 - »A-Str. 4 - »A-Str. 6 - »A- Str. 8 - C-Allee 1 -_ C-Allee 2 -» C-Allee 3 - »C-Allee 4 -» C-Allee 5 -> C-Allee 6 - »C-Allee 7 assignment the addresses for the filing:

The assignment of the addresses to the filings 2 is not made dependent on how much and / or what items 3 to be arranged are actually available for the individual addresses. Rather, this assignment is already established before the addresses of the mail items 3 to be classified are known. The advantage of such a fixed assignment is that there are always all the mail items that are intended for a specific delivery section in a storage 2, and these mail items are to be kept separate from the mail items for other delivery sections (no consolidation of the mail items into one) Total stack).

As an alternative to this, for the purpose of optimizing the filling of the trays 2, the assignment between the mail items 3 to be arranged and the trays 2 can only be established after all the mail items are in the containers 1 of the intermediate store.

This determination is made either so that at the end there is an essentially equal number of programs 3 in each of the trays 2, or that in the end it is in each of the Trays 2 located batch 7 consignments are substantially the same thickness.

The advantage of such a flexible assignment is that the risk of overflowing of trays 2 is reduced, or that only as many trays 2 of the sorting device are occupied as is necessary for the given quantity of mail items 3 to be arranged without these overflowing. If the trays 2 are combined into two groups of essentially the same size, each of which is assigned a separate address area for which items 3 are to be arranged, items 3 for a given address area can be placed in the trays 2 of one group at the same time be, while there are programs 3 in the shelves 2 of the other group, which were previously stored in it and can now be removed.

The advantage is that the sorting device can be operated by one person by keeping the emptying of the trays 2 does not have to take place simultaneously with the filling of the buffer, but that the time during which the (automatic ) The consignments are decanted from the containers 1 of the buffer into the bins 2. FIG. 4 illustrates the corresponding chronological sequence of the method steps in the event that mail items for several address areas are to be arranged one after the other.

This method can be carried out more time-effectively if steps 1 to 3 (filling the buffer) are already carried out for the mail items in the current address area while mail items in the previous address area are still in the containers 1 and are being transported to the storage areas 2.

A prerequisite for the advantageous use of this variant is that the sorting device enables filling of the buffer store which is essentially progressive and continuous with the emptying of the buffer store even if there is an essentially variable number between two successively (empty) containers 2 to be filled of (occupied) containers 2, for example, an empty space is followed by 5 occupied compartments, then an empty space, 8 empty spaces on it, an empty space on it, 2 empty spaces on it, etc. This means that significantly more items can be ordered in the same time.

5 illustrates the corresponding chronological sequence of the method steps.

With a fixed filing-address assignment, it is possible to merge such mail items that are already in an orderly state with those that are still to be sorted, so that more mail items can be put into the order to be produced than the sorting device storage locations ( Container). The following conditions are essential for the efficiency of this process:

• Only shipments that are intended for the same predefined address area (corresponds to one or more delivery areas) are processed together.

• The addresses (delivery points) are numbered consecutively within each group of addresses, each of which is assigned to a shelf, according to the order to be created (fictitious location number).

• The order in which the ordered quantity of items must be present is that the addresses (delivery points) with a higher location number are preceded by all addresses (delivery points) with a lower location number. According to the previous example, the order of the addresses to be produced for a single address area is:

A-Str. 1 - »A-Str. 3 - »A-Str. 5 - »A-Str. 7 - B-way 8 - = B-way 7-> B-way 6 - »

B-way 5 - B-way 3 - »B-way 2 -> A-Str. 2 -_ A-Str. 4 - »A-Str. 6 -> A-Str. 8 - ^

C-Allee 1 - »C-Allee 2 - C-Allee 3 ^■ C-Allee 4 -> C- Allee 5 - C-Allee 6 -> C-Allee 7 Allocation of addresses to the filing and fictitious place number:

Example of an order in which there must be an ordered number of items:

A-Str. 1 - »A-Str. 8 - C-Allee 1 -> A-Str. 3 - ^ B-Weg 5 -> A-Str. 5 - C-Allee 3 - »

A-Str. 2 - C-Allee 5 The order then includes the following steps:

1. Transporting an addressed mail item 3 from the unordered group past a reading device into a free container 4 of the sorting device

2.Determine the address or adequate information on the shipment 3

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all unordered mail items 3 are each in a container 1 of the buffer.

4. Transporting an addressed shipment 3 from the set of ordered past the reading device into a free container 4 of the sorting device (starting with the shipment that has the lowest place number). 5.Determine the address or adequate information on the shipment 3

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all ordered items 3 have passed the sorting device.

7. (parallel to 6.) As soon as a first mail item 3 is located above that shelf 2 in which it takes account of the read address information of all mail items 3 in the containers 1 before all others. would have to be placed in order to establish the desired order, and in the event that this consignment 3 does not belong to the set of ordered ones, there is at least one second consignment in one of the containers 1, which is distinguished by the fact that it corresponds to the set of orderly heard and intended for this tray 2, the container 1 is opened, in which the first shipment 3 is located, and the shipment 3 is stored in this tray 2.

8. When all the containers 1 are empty, the mail items 3 in the form of partial stacks 5 in the trays 2 are removed from them in sequence and, if necessary, combined to form one or more stacks.

9. If necessary Repeat steps 1 to 8 for the next address area. 6 shows the corresponding chronological sequence of these method steps with the following assignments:

Enter = steps 1 to 3

Enter-presorted = steps 4 to 6

Stacking = step 7. Empty. = Step 8

Here, too, it is possible to carry out the sorting, including pre-sorted mail items, for the current address area while mail items from the previous address area are still in the containers 1 and are being conveyed to the bins 2. This also increases the throughput or the time available for the shipment removal. The corresponding chronological sequence is shown in FIG. Mean: Enter = Steps 1 to 3

Enter-presorted = steps 4 to 6

Stacking = step 7.

Emptying. = Step 8

A concrete sorting run is as follows:

Order of the unordered consignments (21 pieces) in the bins of the intermediate storage: C2-Aβ-B3-Al-C5-B3-A2-B8-C7-Bβ-A5-C4-B7-A8-Cl-B8-B5-Cβ- A3-C3-A7 Order of the ordered items (9 pieces, lower case indicate that the consignments belong to the amount of the ordered ones): al-a8-cl-a3-b5-a5-c3-a2-c5 The following ordered consignments (3 pieces) are placed in containers of the following the unordered consignments Buffer filled: al-a8-cl

Now the consignments are transported to the shelves. 6 consignments are deposited during the first round of the containers (FIG. 8a). The 6 containers that become empty are replenished with 6 ordered consignments during the same cycle.

5 consignments are then deposited during the second cycle of the pockets (FIG. 8b).

Since there are now no ordered items to fill the containers, the next rounds will only sort into the bins without refilling the containers (the empty containers are marked with **).

During the 3rd round 8 programs, the 4th round 6 programs, the 5th round 4 programs and the β. The rest of the consignments are transported to the shelves in order (FIG 8c - 8f).

Claims

claims

1. A device for arranging flat mail items according to a definable sequence of delivery points assigned to the recipient addresses, with a reading device for determining the direct or indirect address information on the mail items (3) separated by means of a separating device, a plurality of containers (1, 1) rotating around at least one conveyor device. 4) for receiving, transporting and controllably delivering a consignment (3), a plurality of trays (2) arranged along the conveyor, which receive the consignments (3) from the containers (1), and a control device which, to the knowledge of Address information of all the mail items (3) located in the containers (1) controls the delivery of the mail items (3) from the containers (1) to the trays (2) in such a way that the sequence of the mail items (3) is in a definable order Storage (2) corresponds to the sequence of the delivery points assigned to the addresses, thereby marked hnet that in the shelves (2) several consignments (3) can be stacked in an orderly manner and that the delivery of the consignments (3) from the containers (1) to the shelves (2) takes place in several cycles, the order of Mail items (3) in each shelf (2) correspond to the sequence of the delivery points assigned to the addresses of the mail items (3) located in the respective shelf (2).

2. Device according to claim 1, so that the trays (2) are arranged in two rows which are parallel and horizontally aligned at a distance from one another.

3. Device according to claim 1, dadurchgeken nz eichnet that trays (2) or groups of trays (2) are assigned fixed delivery points.

4. Device according to claim 1, d a d u r c h g e k e n n e e c h n e t that the mail items (3) on the shelves (2) can be distributed so that in each shelf (2) there is an approximately equal number of mail items (3).

5. Device according to claim 1, dadurchgeken nz eichnet that a thickness measuring device is provided for measuring the thickness of the mail items (3) and the mail items (3) on the shelves (2) are distributable so that all mail batches (5) approximately are the same height.

6. Device according to one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the trays (2) are divided into two approximately the same size groups and in successive sorting runs to organize the mailings (3) of different address areas alternately only in one of the two storage groups be sorted.

7. Device according to claim 6, so that the mailings (3) of the current address area can already be loaded into empty rotating containers (4), while mailings (3) of the previous address area are still in containers (1).

8. Device according to claim 7, dadurchgeken nz equates that the loading location of the container (4) along the rotating container (1, 4) can be moved within defined limits so that the respective transmission to be loaded (3) without loading delay can be loaded into an empty container (4) located in the defined range of movement of the loading location.

9. Device according to claim 3 and 8, dadurchg e- indicates that after the unsorted mailings (3) in the empty container (4) have been loaded, pre-sorted mailings (3) for the same address area in the empty containers (4) or containers (4) that are just becoming empty as a result of the delivery of the unsorted consignments (3) to the shelves (2), place numbers being assigned to the delivery points in accordance with their specified sequence in the respective shelves (2) and the pre-sorting is carried out in such a way that the items (3) assigned to the delivery points with the lower place numbers can be separated before the items (3) with the higher assigned place numbers.

10. Device according to claim 7 and 9, dadurchg ek indicates that the unsorted mailings (3) of the current address area can already be loaded into empty circulating containers (4), while mailings (3) of the preceding address area are still in containers (1 ) are located.

11. A method for arranging flat mail items according to a definable sequence of delivery points assigned to the recipient addresses, in which the direct or indirect address information on the individual mail items (3) is read, in each case one mail item (3) in one of several at least one conveyor encircling containers (1, 4) are picked up, transported in them and released in a controlled manner into trays (2) arranged along the conveying device, whereby after knowing the address information of all the mail items (3) in the containers (1), they are removed from the containers (1) are delivered to the shelves (2) in such a way that the sequence of the consignments (3) corresponds in a definable sequence of the shelves (2) to the sequence of the delivery points assigned to the addresses, characterized in that in the shelves (2) several consignments each (3) are stacked in an orderly manner and that the delivery of the items (3) from the containers (1) into the trays (2) takes place in several cycles, the order of the mailings (3) in each filing (2) of the sequence of the addresses of the in the respective filing delivery (2) located consignments corresponds to delivery points.

12. The method of claim 11, d a d u r c h g e k e n n- z e i c h n e t that trays (2) or groups of trays (2) are assigned fixed delivery points.

13. The method according to claim 11, so that the mailings (3) are distributed over the storage units (2) in such a way that each storage unit (2) contains an approximately equal number of mailings (3).

14. The method according to claim 11, so that the thickness of the mailpieces (3) is measured and the mailpieces (3) are distributed over the trays (2) in such a way that all stacks of mailpieces (5) are approximately the same height.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 - 14, characterized in that the trays (2) are divided into two groups of approximately the same size and, in the case of sequential sorting runs for ordering, the items (3) of different address areas are sorted alternately into only one of the two storage groups ,

16. The method according to claim 15, so that the mailings (3) of the current address area are already loaded into empty circulating containers (4), while mailings (3) of the previous address area are still in containers (1).

17. The method according to claim 11, so that after the unsorted mailings (3) have been loaded into the empty containers (4), pre-sorted fertilizers (3) for the same address area into the still empty ones after the unsorted mailings (3) have been loaded

Containers (4) or containers (4) just becoming empty as a result of the delivery of the unsorted mailings (3) to the shelves (2) be loaded, the delivery points being assigned to the delivery locations in accordance with their specified order in the respective shelves (2) and the pre-sorting is carried out in such a way that the items (3) assigned to the delivery points with the lower location numbers are in front of the shipments (3) with the higher assigned location numbers can be isolated.

18. The method according to claim 16 and 17, dadurchg ek indicates that the unsorted mailings (3) of the current address area are already loaded into empty circulating containers (4), while mailings (3) of the previous address area are still in containers (1) ,