Document processing system

Claim 1

A DOCUMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM COMPRISING: (A) CONVEYING MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING LOOSELY HELD ARTICLES (B) A SERIES OF GROUPS OF SERIALLY ARRANGED OUTPUT SORTING POSITIONS ARRANGED AT GIVEN INTERVALS ALONG THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID CONVEYING MEANS, ONE OF SAID OUTPUT POSITIONS CONSTITUTING A REJECT POSITION, (C) A CORRESPONDING SERIES OF REGISTER UNITS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SERIES OF OUTPUT POSITION GROUPS, EACH SAID UNIT INCLUDING A GROUP OF SERIALLY CONNECTED REGISTERS CORRESPONDING TO THE ASSOCIATED OUTPUT POSITION GROUP, AND ALL BUT THE LAST SAID UNIT INCLUDING A BUFFER REGISTER CONNECTED BETWEEN THE LAST REGISTER IN SAID UNIT AND THE FIRST REGISTER IN THE NEXT UNIT, (D) MEANS FOR STORING INFORMATION DESIGNATING THE OUTPUT POSITION DESTINATION OF EACH ARTICLE BEING TRANSPORTED ON SAID CONVEYING MEANS TOWARDS THE FIRST OF SAID OUTPUT POSITIONS, (E) AN ARTICLE DETECTING DEVICE ASSOCIATED WITH EACH SAID OUTPUT SORTING POSITION, AND THUS WITH EACH SAID REGISTER IN SAID GROUPS OF REGISTERS (F) ADVANCING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID ARTICLE DETECTING DEVICES FOR ADVANCING THE OUTPUT DESTINATION INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH DETECTED ARTICLES INTO THE SAID ASSOCIATED REGISTERS FROM THE PRECEDING REGISTERS IN SAID SERIES OF REGISTER UNITS, SAID ADVANCING MEANS BEING OPERATIVE IN RESPONSE TO THE DETECTING DEVICE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAST REGISTER IN EACH SAID UNIT TO TRANSFER THE SAID DESTINATION INFORMATION FROM THE SAID LAST REGISTER INTO THE SAID BUFFER REGISTER OF THE SAID UNIT AT A PREDETERMINED TIME AFTER THE TRANSFER OF SAID INFORMATION INTO THE SAID LAST REGISTER, AND (G) MEANS ADJACENT EACH SAID OUTPUT POSITION FOR DIVERTING AN ARTICLE FROM SAID CONVEYING MEANS INTO SAID ADJACENT OUTPUT POSITION AFTER THE INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH SAID ARTICLE HAS BEEN ENTERED INTO THE REGISTER ASSOCIATED WITH SAID ADJACENT POSITION, IF THE SAID INFORMATION IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SAID ADJACENT OUTPUT POSITION.