Patent Application
20080033738
The drawings depict one or more implementations in accord with the present teachings, by way of example only, not by way of limitation. In the FIGS., like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements.
As used herein, the term “mail piece” refers to any document having human or machine readable content generated thereon, and particularly that intended for delivery to a given recipient. The human or machine readable markings may be referred to as address components, and may include but are not limited to barcodes, zipcodes, destination addresses, internal destination points, postal authority distribution data, key line specifications, postage information, etc. In the context of a general mailing facility, mail pieces may include envelopes, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, post cards, packages of varying thicknesses (e.g., flat mail), coupon booklets, brochures, and any other like documents. Such documents may or may not be generated for the purposes of being distributed via a distribution channel (e.g., delivery company, postal authority), but rather, may be generated for direct/personal carry, delivery, or internal distribution. When a plurality of such mail pieces are generated for distribution by a mailer, such as during a job run by a document processing device, the collection of mail pieces is referred to as a “mailing.”
A “document processing system” refers to any high speed transport device(s) capable of processing documents at considerably high rates with considerably high precision. For mail pieces, document processing systems may include, but are not limited to, inbound sorting equipment, outbound mail sorting equipment, and even various forms of inserter machines, mail integrity systems, or the like for office, commercial, or industrial settings.
Document processing systems may employ the usage of various inline (integrated) analysis and mail piece integrity tools and devices, including readers operating in conjunction with intelligence (e.g., software or firmware) for performing optical character recognition (OCR) of address or other printed character components or barcode recognition (BCR) of the various address character components of a mail piece, or envelope reflectance measurement imaging devices for detection of paper quality and reflectivity. While the discussion herein will present the teachings in an exemplary fashion with respect to such devices for mail piece quality analysis, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the teachings may apply to inline (integrated) or offline (standalone) operation or versions of such devices and tools. Indeed, the present teachings may be employed in any fashion compatible with the needs of the entity and/or user desiring mail piece quality analysis capability.
In process automated mail piece quality inspection is a growing requirement in the mail processing industry due to increased automation and impact on mail processing expense if the mail is not prepared in accordance with specifications. The automated mail piece quality analysis tool will be used by a variety of users. These users include but are not limited to mail manufactures, pre-sort operations, private posts, and postal authorities. The tool will be used from design of the mail piece through production and subsequent processing.
With this in mind, the following description refers to numerous specific details which are set forth by way of examples to provide a thorough understanding of the relevant teachings. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present teachings may be practiced without such details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuitry have been described at a relatively high-level, without detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present teachings. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the exemplary teachings provide a convenient means for performing mail piece quality analysis—a determination as to the conformity of mail piece design and/or address component accuracy with respect to postal authority regulations. Specifically, it will be appreciated that such capability may be performed by the mailer directly or indirectly without reliance upon manual analysis by an MDA with his or her myriad of analysis tools.
A new piece of equipment, an automated mail piece quality analysis tool, is introduced to overcome the potential expense of failing a MERLIN inspection or implementing a full in-line verification system. The hardware for the tool includes a data capture device for obtaining or measuring relevant data by sensing of a sample mail piece. Typically, a local computer or other data processing device is associated with the data capture device, although the data processing device may be a communication interface, e.g. LAN card or modem, to communicate with a remote computer. The local computer may run software to analyze the captured data for mail piece quality analysis, or the data communication interface may forward the data to a remote processor system that runs the analysis software. The data capture device can be a relatively small portable device. The associated computer or communication interface also may be relatively small, e.g. a laptop or handheld PC or a modem or LAN card. The data capture device alone or even in combination with its associated computer or data communication interface thus provides a portable tool (e.g. moveable on a cart or by hand), which may be used in and moved about the mail preparation/processing facility for sampling, etc. regarding quality analysis functions.
By introducing a portable quality analysis tool that can be used in a manufacturing environment where a single individual can carry or move the equipment on a small cart to the mail processing line, in process quality checks can be made by removing a mail piece from production, testing the mail piece and returning it to the correct processing group (presorted group). Data characterizing one or more sample mail pieces is captured by sensing or measuring the mail piece(s). Characteristics of the sample(s) are identified from the data and compared to criteria or requirements defined by application postal rules/regulations, in order to determine level of compliance. By automating this process, all features of the mail piece that are visible or otherwise detectable on the piece can be quality tested by sensing the mail piece and processing the sensory data with automated quality analysis software. The quality testing may include either the parameters effecting acceptance of the mailing by the postal authority or the parameters normally checked by the MDA or both. Without the automated mail piece quality analysis tool, only a visual inspection by a person would be possible without interrupting production. The visual inspection could not include any analysis of the printed material since the postal authority standards are very precise in nature. The inspector would be limited to simple items such as, determining whether or not a delivery point barcode is printed on the mail piece. The tool generates a report of sample quality, and thus representing expected quality of the mail run from which the sample was taken. A user or operator of the production/processing facility can use the report for quality assessment and/or control purposes. For example, if the report shows deficiencies or failures to meet one or more applicable rules, the operator may be able to modify the production or processing to correct the deficiency.
The automated mail piece quality analysis tool described herein will be configured in two primary modes. The first is a stand alone mode depicted in
The description now proceeds with a discussion of
A user 100, such as an operator of a mail production machine (e.g., inserter) or other representative of a mailer, provides as input a mail piece 110 that is to be analyzed for quality (event 300,
Once the image and/or optical data representative of the mail piece 110 is collected, the data is passed on to a computing device for storage and/or subsequent processing. The example of
In a first example with local analysis software availability, the mail piece data is passed on to a directly coupled computing device 106, which in may be a laptop computer having stored and operable thereon mail piece quality analysis software 109. A simple functional diagram of representative elements of such a PC type data processing device 106 appears in the drawing. A detailed discussion thereof should be unnecessary at this point, as artisans should be familiar with such hardware. The term “directly coupled device” refers to any computing device that is connected to the chosen mail piece characteristic data capture device 102 or 104, such as through a known peripheral I/O port (e.g., serial, USB, wireless or infrared port connection in the case of some scanners).
As a second local availability example, the directly coupled computing device 106 does not have stored thereon the mail piece quality analysis software 109. The directly coupled data device may again be a PC or a data communication interface similar to that shown in the PC. Hence, the directly coupled data device is capable of interfacing with or communicating with an enterprise application server computer 108—a device for enabling multiple connected devices within an enterprise to access a shared resource over a network (e.g., the mail piece quality analysis software 109). A simple functional diagram of a server implementation of the data processing device 108 appears in the drawing. A detailed discussion thereof should be unnecessary at this point, as artisans should be familiar with such hardware. The user devices, such as the directly coupled computing device 106 and/or any other user terminal that may receive a report, operate as client devices with respect to the server 108.
The interface and/or communication between the directly coupled computing device 106 and the application server computer 108 may be transacted via any known means allowable by the enterprise, including via an intranet or peer-to-peer connection. Likewise, the interface and/or communication may be transacted via any appropriate land line communication link or a wireless protocol/communication channel (e.g., WiFi or Bluetooth) or the like, serving to provide network communications between the devices 106, 108.
This second configuration may be preferred for large facilities with many mail processing lines. If the quality analysis is performed on the server 108, then software updates are only required on the system 108. However, the wireless connectivity may slow down processing since the image may take a long time to transfer, and a longer time may be required for the results to be reported back. If the overall delay for the quality analysis is long, then it will be more difficult to return the mail piece to the correct place in the processing line, such as a specific mail tray.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above described directly coupled computing device 106 may be the application server 108 device itself. In other words, if the application requirements, accessibility and/or flexibility of the user 100 or enterprise for which the user is affiliated allows, the envelope reflectance measurement imaging device 102 or scanner 104 may be directly coupled to the enterprise application server computer 108; enabling the server 108 to process the image data (via the mail piece quality analysis software 109) without the influence or presence of any intermediate computing devices (e.g., the user's computing device 106). As another consideration, the computing device 106 may also be remotely connectable to the enterprise application server 108 using a virtual private network connection (VPN) or the like for accessing the analysis software 109. Of course, various other permutations of the teachings may be contemplated by those skilled in the art.
Once the mail piece characteristic data is received, a check may be performed by the user 100 or by the mail piece quality analysis software/tool 109 (e.g., via an auto-update agent) to determine if the analysis criterion is current (event 304,
Having confirmed or acquired the up-to-date analysis criteria data, the mail piece design analysis software 109 may be updated as well, after which the analysis process is performed on the mail piece characteristic data (event 306). This essentially involves processing the data to identify relevant traits or characteristics of the sample mail pieces. The identified traits are compared to requirements or criteria defined by the applicable postal rules. An exemplary computerized quality analysis is discussed in detail later with regard to
The clear advantage of the automated mail piece quality analysis tool is the large number of quality checks that can be performed as part of production or the ease of doing numerous mail piece design trade-offs that can be performed quickly and efficiently without involving a postal authority employee (MDA). However, full-blown in-line verification of a mailing is not required.
A listing of some of the quality checks that can be performed with the automated mail piece quality analysis tool are: (reference
Those skilled in the art will recognize that this is a limited listing of parameters that can be identified and analyzed on a newly designed envelope or on an envelope that is in the automation process.
As a capability to fulfill a function for the enterprise, the mailer, or user, but not expressly maintained or provided by either of these entities directly, the analysis capability may be provided as a service in accordance with a service and/or use agreement (e.g., subscription service, billing arrangement, contractual agreement, click charge arrangement, partnership agreement, etc.). Turning now to
As before, the user 100 provides the mail piece 110 as input to the envelope reflectance measurement imaging device 102 or scanner 104, and the mail piece characteristic data is captured (event 300). Coupled to the envelope reflectance measurement imaging device 102, scanner 104, or any other device for capturing mail piece characteristic data is a directly coupled computing device 202. Various devices may be employed as the directly coupled computing device 202, such as a laptop computer 204, a network server (e.g., Internet server 206) or standard office computing device 208. In instances where the laptop computer 206 or desktop computer 208 are not able to communicate over the web, such as through a firewall 210, the Internet server 206 may act as a proxy device for enabling such communication. It should be apparent that the hardware of the computers 204, 206, 208 should be similar to that of computers 106, 108 in
Having acquired the mail piece characteristic data (event 302), the process flow at 302 progresses to event 310 because there is no local quality analysis tool software available to this particular mailer. Hence, the user 100 then initiates a web session with the service provider 200 to request that a mail piece quality analysis be performed (event 310). Again, the request is made in lieu of performing the analysis via the utilization of an enterprise available mail quality analysis tool, as discussed above relative to
The service provider 200 will operate a server. A simple functional block diagram appears in the drawing in association with the server, to generally represent components of the web site server. The hardware of the server may be similar to that of other computers discussed herein. However, the server is connected to the Internet for world wide web type data communications. The server runs an operating system and a website program and stores data for web pages so as to implement the service provider's web site. For the quality analysis, the server or another computer associated with the server runs the quality analysis tool software 109. User devices, such as computers like 204 and 208, will run client software, such as a client browser program, so as to operate as client devices with respect to the web server of the service provider 200. The server thus provides a website user interface accessible by a browser or other appropriate client program running on a user's terminal device.
Establishment of the web session may include, but is not limited to, the entering of a login key or password, user name, billing information, profile information, service type to be performed, etc (event 312). Once the user is granted appropriate access to the service provider website (maintained by at least a service provider server 200), the user 100 submits the mail piece characteristic data representative of the mail piece 110 for analysis (event 314). The service provider server 200 has a display system attached that can be used by an analysis to review quality tool results or consult with the user 100 if the automated analysis sofware does an insufficient analysis on a particular image.
Alternatively, the user 100 can submit multiple instances of mail piece characteristic data representative of a plurality of differing mail pieces—i.e., a plurality of images of differing mail pieces. In this way, the mail piece quality analysis service provider 200 may analyze the quality of multiple mail pieces concurrently and/or simultaneously during a single web session, as opposed to conducting a separate analysis of each mail piece individually via multiple separate sessions. If the operational concept does not require near real time response, other modes of operations can be implemented for quality analysis. For example many mail processing systems such as sorters or inserters have imaging systems as an integral part of the system for sorting functions or production control. These imaging systems are capable of storing a sampling of mail piece images that could be processed through the automated mail piece quality analysis tool at a later time in order to maintain a record of quality performance for Mail Piece Total Quality Management MPTQM or for ISO 9001. If the processor106 or 108 is sized correctly, the batch mode could be run either locally (
Returning to the service provider example of
Turning now to
Table 1 below indicates various mail piece quality analysis criteria by which a mail piece may be analyzed, and of course, by which the software may be adapted to perform analysis processing of the mail piece 400. Accordingly, the mail piece characteristic data acts as the input necessary for which to engage the below listed criteria. So, for example, an image representative of mail piece 400 can be provided as input to the mail piece analysis software, and then the image may be evaluated against the various points of analysis indicated in the table.
Mail piece 400 has a plurality of address components, including a return address block 420 and an address correction service (ACS) designation 422. As one point of analysis to be conducted by the service provider 200 on this mail piece 400, an ACS Readability analysis (16) may be performed (e.g., on the return address block 420). In addition, Address Format Accuracy (10), Address Component Completeness (11), Readability (12) analysis may also be performed on the return address block 420. Similar points of analysis may also be performed on the delivery address block 421, as well as Address Move Update (13), Delivery Point Validation (15), and Address Accuracy (14) analysis for determining if the delivery address block 421 matches the POSTNET Barcode 441 data. Also, other forms of analysis capable of being performed on the POSTNET Barcode 442 include Digit String Analysis (1), Barcode Readability (2), Barcode Location (3), etc. Similarly, various points of analysis may be performed on the PLANET Barcode 440 resident upon the mail piece 400.
The mail piece 400 also has an indicia marking, which in this case is representative of permit mail indicia 450. However, other acceptable forms of indicia may include a postage stamp 452 or a meter postage mark 451. Those skilled in the art will recognize that variations of indicia exist and are within the scope of the exemplary teachings herein. While not shown expressly in TABLE 1, a postage analysis may be performed on any applied indicia. The mail piece 400 also includes an endorsement line 423 (Optional Endorsement Line—OEL), which may be analyzed for Readability (12) and/or Address Format Accuracy (10). Finally, the mail piece 400 includes various custom markings, such as a marketing design or image 410 and marketing message or notice 411. The placement of such custom markings may be analyzed to ensure they comply with proper letter mail design criteria (e.g., ensuring that they are not improperly placed in a zone designated as a clear zone).
As discussed before, the various points of analysis identified above as being determinable via the exemplary teachings discussed herein correspond to analysis techniques employed by MDAs and/or any other persons or tools of analysis. One such tool for performing the analysis is shown in
For example, the template 500 allows the MDA to determine whether or not the mail piece complies with acceptable USPS dimensions. The MDA takes the clear template and lays it over the mail piece to do a “visual inspection”—checking to see if any of the mail pieces lay outside of the acceptable dimensional perimeter range. To reproduce this same functionality, the software tool 109 processes data for a received mail piece image to calculate the dimensions of the mail piece, and then it compares those dimensions against known control variables (acceptable USPS dimensions), e.g. corresponding to those shown on the template. If input mail piece dimensions are less than or equal to acceptable USPS dimensions, then the sample mail piece dimension test=PASS. IF not, then the mail piece dimension test=FAIL.
As another example, the template 500 allows the MDA to determine barcode skewing. The skewing of the barcode, be it PLANET or POSTNET, can be no more than 5% skewed from upright/vertical (90 degree) positioning. The MDA would overlay the template over the barcode(s) to determine if 5% skewing has occurred. The software tool 109 processes received data for a mail piece image to calculate the % skew from perfect vertical as indicated by the input image of the mail piece. If barcode skew is greater than 5%, skew test=FAIL. If not, skew test=PASS.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that various other criterion, analysis points, or techniques may be utilized for performing the mail piece quality analysis in a manner suitable for verifying its eligibility for machine automation. More importantly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such techniques may be easily incorporated and employed via software in such a way as to eliminate any manual techniques or methods. In this regard, the aforementioned exemplary techniques and teachings discussed herein enable a user to perform quality analysis conveniently and efficiently. Furthermore, the teachings may be extended to cover other mailing types, such as automation flats mail quality analysis and the like (e.g., as described under Notice 124, Automation Flats Template of the Postal Explorer).
As shown by the above discussion, many of the functions relating to the mail piece quality and integrity analysis are implemented on one or more computers, which of course may be connected for data communication via the components of a network. The hardware of such computer platforms typically is general purpose in nature, albeit with an appropriate network connection for communication with other system elements or equipment and/or for communication via an intranet, the Internet and/or other data networks in the operational manner discussed in detail above.
As known in the data processing and communications arts, each such general-purpose computer typically comprises a central processor, an internal communication bus, various types of memory (RAM, ROM, EEPROM, cache memory, etc.), disk drives or other code and data storage systems, and one or more network interface cards or ports for communication purposes. In a terminal or workstation type implementation, such as a personal computer (PC) as might be used for the computer 106 in
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the operations described above relating to the mail piece quality analysis may be carried out by processing of the data and/or associated execution of software, firmware, or microcode operating on the processors or computers that provide the functionalities of the servers and client devices shown in the system drawings. The code for implementing such operations may be in the form of computer instruction in any form (e.g. source code, object code, interpreted code, etc.) stored in or carried by any computer or machine readable medium.
In operation, the software (executable program code and/or the associated data) is stored within the general-purpose computer platform. At other times, however, the software may be stored at other locations and/or transported for loading into the appropriate general-purpose computer system. Several relevant communications between computer platforms are discussed above, by way of example, including loading of updates regarding applicable postal regulations for mail piece design rules or applicable acceptance standards.
Program aspects of the technology may be thought of a “products,” typically in the form of executable code and/or associated data that is carried on or embodied in a type of medium readable a computer or other machine. Media include any or all of the memory of the computers, processors or the like, or associated modules thereof, such as various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk drives and the like, which may provide storage at any time for the software programming. All or portions of the software may at times be communicated through the Internet or various other telecommunication networks. Such communications, for example, may enable loading of the software from one computer or processor into another. Thus, another type of media that may bear the software elements includes optical, electrical and electromagnetic waves, such as used across physical interfaces between local devices, through wired and optical landline networks and over various air-links. The physical elements that carry such waves, such as wired or wireless links, optical links or the like, also may be considered as media bearing the software. Hence, as used herein, terms such as computer or machine “readable medium” refer to any of the media discussed above or any other media that participates in providing instructions to a processor for execution or providing data to the processor for storage or processing or the like.
While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best mode and/or other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that the teachings may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and all applications, modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present teachings.
