Apparatus for sorting documents

Claim 1

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) an override selector for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the group selector while the documents are on the selected path; and (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 2

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) an override selector for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the group selector while the documents are on the selected path; and (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 7

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) a staging area positioned along the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys the documents from the viewing area to the staging area upon activation of the group selector and temporarily pauses the documents in the staging area to allow the operator to redirect the documents; and (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 8

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) a staging area positioned along the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys the documents from the viewing area to the staging area upon activation of the group selector and temporarily pauses the documents in the staging area to allow the operator to redirect the documents; and (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 9

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the pairs of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each pair of documents to an operator for visual detection of pairs of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of pairs of documents having the desired characteristic while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; (d) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing pairs of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing pairs of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area; (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; and (f) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the override button for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area.

Claim 10

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the pairs of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each pair of documents to an operator for visual detection of pairs of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of pairs of documents having the desired characteristic while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; (d) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing pairs of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing pairs of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area; (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; and (f) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the override button for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area.

Claim 11

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys documents to a first selected area in response to activation of the selector and the document transport automatically conveys documents to a second selected area in response to the absence of activation of the selector; and (d) a gate along the selected path, wherein the gate has a first position for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator and wherein the gate has a second position for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area responsive to the absence of the activation of the selector by the operator.

Claim 12

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each of the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys documents to a first selected area in response to activation of the selector and the document transport automatically conveys documents to a second selected area in response to the absence of activation of the selector; and (d) a gate along the selected path, wherein the gate has a first position for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator and wherein the gate has a second position for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area responsive to the absence of the activation of the selector by the operator.

Claim 13

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising; (a) a document transport for conveying the pairs of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each pair of documents to an operator for visual detection of pairs of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of pairs of documents having the desired characteristic while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; (d) gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing pairs of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing pairs of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area; and (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector.

Claim 14

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising; (a) a document transport for conveying the pairs of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting each pair of documents to an operator for visual detection of pairs of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of pairs of documents having the desired characteristic while the pairs of documents are on the selected path; (d) gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing pairs of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing pairs of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area; and (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector.

Claim 15

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying at least a pair of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) anioptical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of at least one selected area from each document of the pair of documents; (c) a display monitor for simultaneously displaying the captured images of the pair of documents; (d) display monitor control for causing the display monitor to simultaneously display the selected area from each document of the pair of documents for simultaneous visual inspection of the selected areas of the pair of documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (e) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 16

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying at least a pair of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) anioptical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of at least one selected area from each document of the pair of documents; (c) a display monitor for simultaneously displaying the captured images of the pair of documents; (d) display monitor control for causing the display monitor to simultaneously display the selected area from each document of the pair of documents for simultaneous visual inspection of the selected areas of the pair of documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (e) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 22

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying at least a pair of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the pair of documents; (c) a display monitor for simultaneously displaying the images of the selected areas of the pair of documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area; and (f) enlarging means for enlarging the images of selected areas on the pair of documents and wherein the display monitor simultaneously displays the enlarged images of the selected areas of the pair of documents for visual inspection by the operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator.

Claim 23

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying at least a pair of documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the pair of documents; (c) a display monitor for simultaneously displaying the images of the selected areas of the pair of documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area; and (f) enlarging means for enlarging the images of selected areas on the pair of documents and wherein the display monitor simultaneously displays the enlarged images of the selected areas of the pair of documents for visual inspection by the operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator.

Claim 24

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document feeder for holding the pairs of documents and for feeding each pair of documents from the document feeder; (b) a document transport for conveying the pair documents from the document feeder along a selected path of movement; (c) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path at an imaging area for capturing images of selected areas on the pair of documents; (d) a display monitor for displaying the captured images of the pair of documents to permit visual inspection of the captured images of the pairs of documents to enable detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by an operator; (e) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for holding the pair of documents to permit visual inspection of the actual pair of documents by the operator; (f) a manual selector for activation by the operator in response to visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents and in response to visual detection of an absence of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; (g) a staging area positioned along the selected path for holding documents conveyed by the document transport from the viewing area in response to the activation of the manual selector by the operator; (h) an override switch for activation by the operator while the pair of documents are held in the staging area for overriding the activation of the manual selector by the operator; and (i) a gate responsive to the manual selector and the override switch for directing a pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing a pair of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area.

Claim 25

An apparatus for sorting pairs of documents comprising: (a) a document feeder for holding the pairs of documents and for feeding each pair of documents from the document feeder; (b) a document transport for conveying the pair documents from the document feeder along a selected path of movement; (c) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path at an imaging area for capturing images of selected areas on the pair of documents; (d) a display monitor for displaying the captured images of the pair of documents to permit visual inspection of the captured images of the pairs of documents to enable detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by an operator; (e) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for holding the pair of documents to permit visual inspection of the actual pair of documents by the operator; (f) a manual selector for activation by the operator in response to visual detection of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents and in response to visual detection of an absence of the desired characteristic on the pair of documents; (g) a staging area positioned along the selected path for holding documents conveyed by the document transport from the viewing area in response to the activation of the manual selector by the operator; (h) an override switch for activation by the operator while the pair of documents are held in the staging area for overriding the activation of the manual selector by the operator; and (i) a gate responsive to the manual selector and the override switch for directing a pair of documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area and for directing a pair of documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second selected output area.

Claim 26

A method for sorting documents comprising: (a) conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) optically imaging the documents conveyed along the selected path of movement; (c) displaying images of the documents to permit visual inspection of the images by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents; (d) activating a selector upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; (e) pausing the documents at a staging area along the selected path of movement to permit the operator to redirect the documents along the selected path of movement; and (f) directing documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area.

Claim 27

A method for sorting documents comprising: (a) conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) optically imaging the documents conveyed along the selected path of movement; (c) displaying images of the documents to permit visual inspection of the images by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents; (d) activating a selector upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; (e) pausing the documents at a staging area along the selected path of movement to permit the operator to redirect the documents along the selected path of movement; and (f) directing documents having the desired characteristic to a first selected output area.

Claim 30

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second output area; (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector; and (f) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to the selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second output area.

Claim 31

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) a viewing area positioned along the selected path for presenting the documents to an operator for visual detection of documents having a desired characteristic; (c) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (d) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second output area; (e) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector; and (f) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to the selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second output area.

Claim 32

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the plurality of images of the selected areas of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents, wherein the document transport conveys documents to a first selected area in response to activation of the selector and the document transport automatically conveys documents to a second selected area in response to the absence of activation of the selector; and (e) a gate along the selected path, wherein the gate has a first position for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator and wherein the gate has a second position for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area responsive to the absence of the activation of the selector by the operator.

Claim 33

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the plurality of images of the selected areas of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents, wherein the document transport conveys documents to a first selected area in response to activation of the selector and the document transport automatically conveys documents to a second selected area in response to the absence of activation of the selector; and (e) a gate along the selected path, wherein the gate has a first position for directing documents having the desired characteristic to the first selected output area responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator and wherein the gate has a second position for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second selected output area responsive to the absence of the activation of the selector by the operator.

Claim 34

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the plurality of images of the selected areas of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area; and (f) enlarging means for enlarging the images of selected areas on the documents and wherein the display monitor displays the enlarged images of the selected areas of the documents.

Claim 35

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing a plurality of images of selected areas on the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the plurality of images of the selected areas of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (d) a selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area; and (f) enlarging means for enlarging the images of selected areas on the documents and wherein the display monitor displays the enlarged images of the selected areas of the documents.

Claim 36

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing an image of the documents; (c) enlarging means for enlarging the images of the documents; (d) a display monitor for displaying the enlarged images of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (e) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 37

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path wherein the optical scanner includes capturing means for capturing an image of the documents; (c) enlarging means for enlarging the images of the documents; (d) a display monitor for displaying the enlarged images of the documents for visual inspection by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the documents by the operator; (e) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the desired characteristic on the documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 38

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) an override selector for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the group selector while the documents are on the selected path; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 39

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) an override selector for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the group selector while the documents are on the selected path; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 40

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) a staging area positioned along the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys the documents from the viewing area to the staging area upon activation of the group selector and temporarily pauses the documents in the staging area to allow the operator to redirect the documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 41

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying the documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a group selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) a staging area positioned along the selected path, wherein the document transport conveys the documents from the viewing area to the staging area upon activation of the group selector and temporarily pauses the documents in the staging area to allow the operator to redirect the documents; and (f) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the group selector by the operator for directing documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area.

Claim 43

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second output area; (f) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector; and (g) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to the selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second output area.

Claim 44

An apparatus for sorting documents comprising: (a) a document transport for conveying documents along a selected path of movement; (b) an optical scanner positioned along the selected path for capturing an image of the documents; (c) a display monitor for displaying the captured image of the documents for visual inspection of the documents by an operator to permit detection of a desired characteristic on the pair of documents by the operator; (d) a manual selector for activation by the operator upon visual detection of the documents having the desired characteristic while the documents are on the selected path; (e) a gate along the selected path responsive to the activation of the manual selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to a selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to a second output area; (f) an override button for activation by the operator for overriding the activation of the manual selector; and (g) an override gate positioned along the selected path responsive to the activation of the selector by the operator for directing the documents having the desired characteristic to the selected output area and for directing documents lacking the desired characteristic to the second output area.