Gerard A O'Donohue

US Patent:

7397009, Jul 8, 2008

Filed:

Sep 10, 2001

Appl. No.:

10/363684

Inventors:

Gerard O'Donohue - Centreville VA, US
Lori Johnson - Ijamsville MD, US

Assignee:

United States Postal Service - Washington DC

International Classification:

G06K 9/00
B07C 5/00

US Classification:

209584, 209900, 382101

Abstract:

A system () and method for sorting mail () includes a first database () containing addresses and zipcodes for a plurality of mail item recipients, a second database () containing a plurality of individual and firm names and their associated addresses, and an imaging device () for capturing an image of address information on a mail item (). Based on identified elements from the captured address information image, a subsystem () containing an algorithm compares the elements with the first database () and determines if there is a match of all elements. If one or more address information elements are unmatched, the algorithm compares the elements to the second database (), and applies a set of criteria to the address information elements matched in the second database () to determine if a match exists.