Abstract: Improvements are disclosed for automatically routing items, such as mail-piece items (FIG. 2), in support of efficiently and correctly delivering them to an intended destination. A destination address is read by a recognizer (12) but it may be too ambiguous (14,18) initially for routing the piece. The addressee name is also read (24), and the recognizer data is provided to a directory (26) that accesses a name+address database (28). The addressee name is used to disambiguate the recognizer address data (26,30) and thereby properly route the piece (32). In addition, the name+address directory (42,44) can detect incorrect address data (42,50), and notwithstanding the incorrect address, correctly routing the item (52,46) to the intended addressee based on the recognized addressee name (40).

Abstract: Improvements are disclosed for automatically routing items, such as mail-piece items (FIG. 2), in support of efficiently and correctly delivering them to an intended destination. A destination address is read by a recognizer (12) but it may be too ambiguous (14,18) initially for routing the piece. The addressee name is also read (24), and the recognizer data is provided to a directory (26) that accesses a name+address database (28). The addressee name is used to disambiguate the recognizer address data (26,30) and thereby properly route the piece (32). In addition, the name+address directory (42,44) can detect incorrect address data (42,50), and notwithstanding the incorrect address, correctly routing the item (52,46) to the intended addressee based on the recognized addressee name (40).