JPH10216646A - Sorting system for paper sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the efficient assembly of collection order by executing sorting control in accordance with read sorting information, collection order table and thickness information and executing the sorting control in accordance with the sorting information and the collection order, number of items and thickness information corresponding to this sorting information at the time of the second and succeeding supplying of paper sheets. SOLUTION: This sorting system for the paper sheets, such as envelopes and postcards, has a supplying section 1 for supplying the assorted paper sheets by one sheet each to a collecting section 9. The transported paper sheets are individually subjected to measurement of their thicknesses by a thickness detecting section 5 and the sorting information, such as machine codes, added onto the paper sheets are read by a reading section 6 and is stored into a memory 13. In the case the paper sheets are subjected to 3-pass sorting by a sorting method serially according to the collection order table, the order and collection quantity are known from the sorting information of the paper sheets sorted in the first pass. The collection order is assembled in such a manner that the collection boxes are not allocated to the item number O in the allocation of the sorting collection boxes for the sorting information in the sorting of the second pass and third pass are allocated to the item number of particularly large in the collection quantity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet sorting apparatus for sorting sheets in a predetermined order.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a paper sheet sorting apparatus for sorting paper sheets such as postal matter in, for example, 1000 sections in a fixed order is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-109062 and 6-106.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 452, there is a supply accumulating section, a 10-section accumulating section having a supplying section, and several overflow accumulating sections exclusively for overflow. For example, in the paper sheets sent from the supply stacking unit 31, the reading unit 34 reads the sorting information added to the paper sheets, collates the information with a predetermined order table, and processes the first stacker to the tenth stacker. (See FIG. 4). After the end of the first supply, the supply unit returns to the supply accumulation unit in order. The second supply is performed in the same manner as the first supply. At this time, the sorting boxes were allocated so that overflow did not occur in the sorting information (the number of categories and the number of items in each category) obtained in the first supply.

[0003]

However, if the stacking amount is predicted and assigned only by the information on the number of objects in the sorting information, the stacking box to which a large amount of thick paper is supplied overflows. there were.

According to the present invention, when performing three-pass sequential assembly based on the radix sort theory, the stacking order and the number of articles to be sorted are known from the sorting information of the paper sheets sorted in the first pass, and the thickness is determined. The thickness of the paper sheet is known from the thickness detection unit to be measured. In the second pass and the third pass, the sorting and stacking is assigned to sorting information. Is allocated to paper sheets having a large stacking amount (number of articles × thickness) and overflowing in one stacking box, thereby enabling efficient sequential assembly and reducing the size of the apparatus.

[0005]

The sheet sorting apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object has a function capable of supplying a set of sheets, such as envelopes and postcards, one by one. A supply unit 1 capable of re-supplying the sheets returned from the sorting unit to the supply unit, a two-sheet detection unit 2 for detecting the two-sheet feeding, an exclusion box 3 for eliminating the detected sheets, and a supplied sheet. Alignment unit 4 for adjusting the transport direction of the leaves, thickness detection unit 5 for measuring the thickness of the paper sheet, reading unit 6 for reading the sorting information (machine code, etc.) added on the paper sheet, reading unit A control unit 11 that performs sorting control based on the collation result between the sorting information read in step 1 and the stacking order table 12, a memory unit 13 that stores the sorting information and the stacking order, number of objects, and thickness corresponding to the corresponding sorting information;
A switchback unit 7 for changing the transport direction of the paper sheets, a stacking unit 9 for stacking the paper sheets conveyed one by one by a branching mechanism 8, and a supply unit without changing the stacking order of the stacked paper sheets. And a re-supplying unit 10 having a mechanism for continuously supplying the re-supplying unit.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A paper sheet sorting apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the sorting apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram thereof.

A radix sorting method is used as a sorting method. Assuming that the number of stacks is ten, sorting up to 1000 sections can be performed by performing cling three times.

Sheets arranged in the supply section 1 which is a main supply / accumulation section having sheet supply / accumulation functions are sent out one by one by a feeding mechanism 1a which is a feeding mechanism. The transport direction of the fed sheets is changed by the switchback unit 7 in order to align the direction at the time of supply with the direction at the time of accumulation. The alignment unit 4 adjusts the direction of the paper sheet transport between the supply mechanism 1 a and the switchback unit 7. The thickness of the paper sheet is measured by the thickness detection unit 5, the sorting information (machine code, etc.) added to the paper sheet is read by the reading unit 6, and the previously created paper sheets are finally arranged. Based on the result of collation with the stacking order table 12 to be replaced, the stacking is performed by the branching mechanism 8 in the corresponding stacking unit. At this time, the control unit 11 causes the memory unit 13 to store the sorting information of the sheets, the number of articles, and the thickness information as needed. That is, the memory unit 13 stores the sorting information, the number, and the thickness of the sheets to be sorted. After the end of the first division, the stacking plate of the stacking unit 9 where the sheets are stacked is lowered, and the sheets are sent out from the stacking units 9-1 to 9-10 by the resupply unit 10 in order. It is returned to the main supply accumulation section 1 again.
Before performing the second pass, based on the sorting information, the number of articles, and the thickness information stored in the memory 13 in the first pass, the accumulation amount (number of articles × thickness) to be assigned to each sorting box, which is the accumulation section in the second pass. When the number of objects to be assigned is 0 as shown in FIG. When the stacking section having a large number of objects in the section is full, the stacking is performed in the above-described assigned stacking box to prevent overflow. After the completion of the second pass, the third pass is performed after the stacking boxes are optimally allocated as in the second pass. After the third pass, the sheets are rearranged in a predetermined order.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the sorting apparatus according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sorting device, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram.

The supply unit 1 has a supply mechanism 1a having a function of supplying a set of paper sheets such as envelopes and postcards to the accumulation unit 9 one by one. It has a function to resupply returned paper sheets. The two-sheet detection unit 2 detects when two sheets are sent at the same time, and discharges them to the exclusion box 3. The alignment unit 4 adjusts the direction of conveyance of the paper sheets sent from the supply unit 1. The thickness of the conveyed paper sheets is individually measured by the next thickness detection unit, and the thickness information is stored in the memory unit 13.

The sorting information such as the machine code added to the paper sheet is read by the reading unit 6 and stored in the memory 13. In this way, the memory 13 stores the sorting information of the paper sheets and the information on the number of articles and the thickness. As shown in FIG. 3, the stacking order table 12 stores a predetermined stacking order table, that is, an order, a machine code, and the like, and stores the table and the sorting information stored in the memory unit. The corresponding order, machine code, number and thickness of the sheets are collated in the control unit 11, and the sorting of the sheets is performed based on the collation result. The switchback unit 7 aligns the transport direction of the paper sheet supplied to the stacking unit 9 with the direction at the time of supply.

The paper sheets supplied to the stacking section 9 are sorted and stacked by the separation mechanism 8 according to the sorting information. The paper sheets accumulated in the accumulation unit 9 are sent out by the re-supply unit 10 and returned to the supply unit 1 again.

[0013]

As described above, according to the stacking order table prepared in advance on the basis of the information added to the paper sheet, three passes are sequentially sorted by the radix sort method.
The order and stacking amount are known from the sorting information of the paper sheets sorted in the first pass, and the stacking box is not assigned to the sorting in the second pass and the third pass in which the number of the assigned stacking boxes for the sorting information is 0. , By assigning to those with a particularly large accumulation amount,
There is an effect that the assembly can be efficiently performed in the order of accumulation without overflow.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a paper sheet sorting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of an allocation of bins according to the sorting information, the number of objects, and the thickness information in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 supply unit 1 a supply mechanism 2 two-pass detection unit 3 exclusion box 4 alignment unit 5 thickness detection unit 6 reading unit 7 switchback unit 8 branching mechanism 9-1 to 9-10 accumulation unit number 9 accumulation unit 10 resupply Unit 11 control unit 12 stacking order table 13 memory unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A supply unit having a function of supplying sheets one by one, a function of resupplying sheets returned from an accumulation unit, and a thickness of the sheets supplied from the supply unit. A thickness detection unit that outputs the thickness information by measuring the thickness information; a reading unit that reads the sorting information added on the sheet; and a reading unit that sorts the sorting information read by the reading unit and a predetermined stacking order table. A control unit that performs sorting control based on the matching result and the thickness information; a memory unit that stores the sorting information, the order and the number of objects corresponding to the thickness information and the sorting information, and thickness information; A switchback unit that changes the direction of conveyance, a stacking unit that stacks the sheets that are conveyed one by one by a branching mechanism, and continuously supplies the stacked sheets to the supply unit without changing the stacking order A re-supply unit having a mechanism for performing In the supply of paper sheets, the apparatus further comprises a function of performing paper sheet sorting control based on the sorting information of the memory unit and the stacking order, number of objects, and thickness information corresponding to the sorting information. Paper sheet sorting device. 2. The sorting of paper sheets according to claim 1, wherein the paper sheets use postal matter, and the sorting information is coded address and address information necessary for sorting the mailing matter. apparatus.