METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SORTING ARTICLES

摘要

A method of sorting a plurality of articles is disclosed, and an apparatus for carrying out the method. The method comprises the steps of detecting one or more characteristics of each article; sorting any articles whose detected characteristics meet a first set of predetermined criteria to a first destination; sorting any other articles to a second destination; determining both whether any of the articles sorted to the second destination have detected characteristics which meet a second set of predetermined criteria and whether any of the articles sorted to the second destination have detected characteristics which do not meet a second set of predetermined criteria; the second destination contains one or more articles with detected characteristics that meet the second set of predetermined criteria and one or more articles with detected characteristics that do not meet the second set of predetermined criteria, as determined in the previous step, if sorting any articles from the second destination whose detected characteristics meet the second set of predetermined criteria to a third destination; and sorting any other articles from the second destination to a fourth destination.