Method for tagging mail

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6675065
  • Patent Number
    6,675,065
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, May 1, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 6, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A method for tagging the mail pieces in a mail tray and validating the integrity of the mail pieces in the tray. The method is accomplished by: determining the measurement of an edge of each mail piece that will be placed in a tray; determining the thickness of each mail piece that will be placed in the tray; determining the number of mail pieces that will be placed in the tray; calculating an incremental pattern dab that is going to be placed on the edge of each mail piece; placing a portion of the pattern on the edge of each mail piece that is going to form the mail pieces of the tray; and placing the mail pieces in the tray in an ordered manner so that the edges having dabs will be visible, and the dabs will form a pattern that indicates only the determined number of mail pieces are in the tray.
Description




CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS




Reference is made to commonly assigned copending patent application Docket No. F-480 filed herewith entitled “A Method For Printing A Manifest Or Statement Of Mailing Having A Pattern That Matches A Pattern Printed On The Edges Of Mail Pieces Contained In A Tray” in the names of Kenneth G. Miller, Thomas J. Foth, Brian M. Romansky, Richard W. Heiden and Ronald Reichman.




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The invention relates generally to the field of mailing systems and, more particularly, to systems for tagging mail.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




Initially, the processing of mail involved a mailer dropping letters or mail pieces into a mail box, having the post office pick up the mail from the mail box, transporting the mail to a post office and dispatching the mail to its ultimate destination, whether this destination be local or out of town. As time progressed, large mailers would deliver the mail directly to the post office where the mail would be inspected, sorted and forwarded. The post office found that if the mailers were given postal discount rates for performing certain acts, such as the presorting of mail, i.e., by zip code, bundling the mail and the like, a great deal of time would be saved by the post office. As a result of such discounting, large mailers were encouraged to preprocess their mail, and mail processing equipment such as scales, inserters, folders, sorters and the like were developed to assist the mailer in their mailing operation.




Mailing equipment has been developed to accomplish the foregoing. In equipment for processing large amounts of mail, it is frequently a practice to determine the weight of inserts of a mail piece, and together with the weight of the envelope, the total weight of the mail piece is calculated and postage paid in accordance with the calculated weight. The mail pieces are placed in trays, and these trays are delivered to the post office. Sometimes the mailing equipment, mailing software, or the mailer produced written records automatically or manually indicating information about the mail pieces in the tray. The post office verified written documentation supplied by the mailer by randomly sampling the mail pieces in trays to determine if the correct postage was paid.




Some mailers practiced a procedure known as “salting”. The practice involved inserting mail pieces into the tray for which no postage was paid. Salting has caused the post office to loose a great deal of funds.




Another problem encountered by the prior art resulted when one or more mail trays dropped, and the contents of the mail trays were no longer in order. A large amount of labor was required to properly re-order the mail pieces in the dropped trays, or the post issued discounts for mailer tasks that were not performed by the mailer.




An additional problem encountered by the prior art was that, oftentimes, personnel placed tray label tags on the incorrect tray.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by utilizing a method that improves the post office's ability to verify the mail pieces in a tray and reduce the ability of someone to insert mail pieces into a tray for which no postage is paid. The invention also insures the integrity of mail trays and makes it easier to place mail pieces in the tray after the mail pieces have fallen from the tray. This invention also makes it easier for personnel to place the proper tray label tag on the proper tray.




The foregoing is accomplished by: determining the measurement of an edge of each mail piece that will be placed in a tray; determining the thickness of each mail piece that will be placed in the tray; determining the number of mail pieces that will be placed in the tray; calculating an incremental pattern dab that is going to be placed on the edge of each mail piece; placing a portion of the pattern on the edge of each mail piece that is going to form the mail pieces of the tray; and placing the mail pieces in the tray in an ordered manner so that the edges having dabs will be visible, and the dabs will form a pattern that indicates the determined number of mail pieces are in the tray in the correct order. The pattern for each mail tray is added to each mail tray is added to and saved in a mail manifest or a statement of mailing. The mail manifest or statement of mailing will subsequently submitted to the post.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a block diagram showing the environment of this invention.





FIG. 2

is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.





FIG. 3

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with some mail pieces


101


not in the correct sequence order.





FIG. 4

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with mail pieces


111


,


112


and


113


added to tray


100


after the sequence order was determined by create mail run


9


of FIG.


1


.





FIG. 5

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with one or more mail pieces


101


being removed from tray


100


after the sequence order was determined by create mail run


9


of FIG.


1


.





FIG. 6

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with some mail pieces missing from tray


100


.





FIG. 7

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with additional mail pieces


101


from another tray being placed in tray


100


.





FIG. 8

is a drawing of a flow chart of configuration block


200


of FIG.


1


.





FIG. 9

is a drawing of a flow chart showing the operation of this invention.





FIG. 10

is a drawing of a flow chart showing in detail the process that begins in block


500


(FIG.


9


).





FIG. 11

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of arched shaped sections drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.





FIG. 12

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a triangle drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.





FIG. 13

is a drawing of a mail manifest


136


that has images of the patterns placed on the mail pieces contained in trays


120


and


130


.





FIG. 14

is a drawing of a statement of mailing


147


that has an image of pattern that was placed on the mail pieces contained in tray


120


.





FIG. 15

is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces with two rejected mail pieces shown in the tray.





FIG. 16

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. a





FIG. 17

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line and a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to

FIG. 1

, the reference character


9


represents a process for creating mail pieces in a mail run. Mail run


9


may be the StreamWeaver® software sold by Pitney Bowes Inc. of One Elmcroft Road, Stamford, Conn. Then the mail pieces are produced in block


10


, i.e., the contents of the mail piece are folded, inserted and sealed into the mail piece, which is addressed, and an indication of postage payment is placed on the mail piece. Next the configuration information from blocks


200


(blocks


200


will be described in the description of

FIG. 9

) is stored in printing device and processor & memory


40


. Then a slice of a pattern is printed on the mail piece in block


510


(block


510


will be described in the description of FIG.


10


). In block


50


, the mail pieces are placed in mail trays.





FIG. 2

is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray


100


contains a plurality of mail pieces


101


that are placed in tray


100


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


101


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


101


run along the top of tray


100


. Tray


100


has a front panel


102


, a back panel


103


, and side panels


104


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


101


have been placed in tray


100


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


105


was drawn on mail pieces


101


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


101


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


102


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


103


. Pattern


105


forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel


102


to point B on the mail piece next to panel


103


; thus, no mail pieces


101


have been added or removed from tray


100


. Hence, mail pieces


101


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


.





FIG. 3

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with some mail pieces


101


not in the correct sequence order. Pattern


105


does not form a continuous diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel


102


to point B on the mail piece next to panel


103


. Thus, mail pieces


101


are not in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


. It is apparent that mail pieces


101


having dabs


106


,


107


,


108


,


109


and


110


are not properly positioned in tray


100


. One may easily reposition mail pieces


101


having dabs


106


-


110


within tray


100


so that pattern


105


forms a continuous diagonal line from point A on panel


102


to point B on panel


103


.





FIG. 4

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with mail pieces


111


,


112


and


113


added to tray


100


after the sequence order of mail pieces


101


was determined by create mail run


9


. Mail pieces


111


,


112


and


113


have no dabs on their top edges. Thus, the insertion of mail pieces


111


-


113


in tray


100


breaks the continuous solid diagonal line formed by pattern


105


.





FIG. 5

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with one or more mail pieces


101


being removed from tray


100


after the sequence order was determined by create mail run


9


. Pattern


105


does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on panel


102


to point B on panel


103







FIG. 6

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with some mail pieces


101


missing from tray


100


. Pattern


105


does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on panel


102


to point B on panel


103


.





FIG. 7

is a drawing of mail tray


100


shown in

FIG. 2

with additional mail pieces


115


from another tray being placed in tray


100


. Additional mail pieces


115


are mail pieces that have been identified in the written record submitted to the post office of the mail pieces placed in tray


100


. Pattern


105


does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel


102


to point B on the mail piece next to panel


103


. A line


116


is shown; thus, tray


100


has been salted or mistrayed.





FIG. 8

is a drawing of a flow chart of configuration blocks


200


of FIG.


1


. The program begins in block


200


. Then the dab pattern that is going to be printed on the mail pieces that are placed in mail trays is stored in block


210


. Next the number of mail pieces that are going to be placed in the mail tray is stored in block


220


. Now the mail piece measurement, i.e., width and thickness, are stored in block


230


. At this point, the tray mail piece measurements are calculated in block


240


, i.e., the length of the mail tray equals a summation of each mail piece thickness multiplied by the number of mail pieces having that thickness in the tray. Then the program goes to block


250


, where the scale pattern to tray mail piece measurements is determined, i.e., pattern measurements equal tray mail piece measurements. Next, the slice pattern is determined in block


260


, i.e., the number of slices equals the number of mail pieces, slice width equals mail piece width, and slice thickness equals mail piece thickness. The slice pattern is then stored in block


270


. At this point the program goes to block


300


(FIG.


9


).





FIG. 9

is a drawing of a flow chart showing the operation of this invention.




The program begins in block


198


start mail production/verification. Next the program goes to block


199


to create a mail manifest or statement of mailing using the Firstlogic Postalsoft® suite software sold by Firstlogic of 100 Harborview Plaza, Lacrosse, Wis. 54061. Then, the program goes to block


200


to configure printing device


40


. Now the program goes to block


300


to reset to the first slice of the pattern that is going to be printed on the edges of mail pieces that are going to be placed in mail trays. Then the program goes to block


400


to see if a mail piece is at printing device


40


. If block


400


determines that a mail piece is at printing device


40


, then the program goes to the input of block


500


entitled device operation, which is described in the description of FIG.


10


. Next the program goes to the input of decision block


600


. Block


600


determines whether or not a mail tray is full. If block


600


determines that a mail tray is not full, the program goes back to block


400


. If block


600


determines that a mail tray is full, the program goes to block


650


to add the pattern for this mail tray in the mail manifest or statement of mailing. Next the program goes to decision block


700


. Decision block


700


determines whether or not the mail job has been completed. If block


700


determines that the mail job has not been completed, the program goes to decision block


800


. Decision block


800


determines whether or not the same amount of mail pieces is in the next mail tray. If block


800


determines that the same number of mail pieces are not in the next mail tray, the program goes back to block


200


. If block


800


determines that the same number of mail pieces are in the next mail tray, the program goes to block


801


. Decision block


801


determines whether or not the same mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray. If block


801


determines that the mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are not the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block


200


. If block


801


determines that the mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray, the program goes to block


802


. Decision block


802


determines whether or not the same mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray. If block


802


determines that the mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is not the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block


200


. If block


802


determines that the mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block


300


. If block


700


determines that the mail job is completed, the program goes to block


750


to save the mail manifest or statement of mailing. Then the program ends in block


900


.





FIG. 10

is a drawing of a flow chart showing in detail the process that begins in block


500


. Then the program goes to decision block


505


to determine whether or not a mail piece is rejected. If block


505


rejects a mail piece, the program goes to block


515


to print a reject pattern on the edge of the mail piece. Then the program goes to decision block


516


to determine whether or not the rejected mail piece should be replaced. If block


516


determines the mail piece should be replaced, the program goes to block


517


to save a slice for reprinting. Then the program goes to block


520


. If block


516


determines the mail piece should not be replaced, the program goes to block


600


and ends. If block


505


does not reject a mail piece the program goes to block


510


to print a slice of a pattern on a mail piece. For purposes of illustration, assume that the print head of an ink jet printer moves along a bar that represents the X axis when printing a line. A roller mechanism exists along the Y axis, in an ink jet that is used to print multiple lines. The printer that is used hereunder to print a pattern on the edge of mail pieces will only need to deal with one axis. Since the mail pieces will be moving past the printing device, no transport mechanism is needed. The printer has to determine the velocity of the mail piece, the starting point of the mail piece, and the pattern coordinates that are on the mail piece, i.e., where the pattern coordinates are greater than or equal to mail piece length. The dab pattern may be printed by an ink jet printer or a dabber/roller. In the dabber approach, a slice of the pattern being printed will be printed on the edge of a mail piece from X


1


to X


2


. The beginning of the mail piece is determined by coordinate 0. Then the dabber waits for the mail piece to be at X


1


, at which point the dabber is applied to the edge of the mail piece. When the mail piece reaches X


2


, the dabber is removed from the mail piece.




At this point, the program goes to decision block


520


. Decision block


520


determines whether or not the last slice of the pattern has been printed on a mail piece. If block


520


determines that the last slice of the pattern has not been printed on a mail piece, the program proceeds to block


530


. Block


530


increments to the next slice of the pattern. Then the program goes to block


600


(FIG.


9


). If block


520


determines that the last slice of the pattern has been printed on a mail piece, the program proceeds to block


540


and resets to the first slice of the pattern. Then goes back to block


600


(FIG.


9


).





FIG. 11

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of arched shaped sections drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray


120


contains a plurality of mail pieces


121


that are placed in tray


120


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


121


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


121


, run along the top of tray


120


. Tray


120


has a front panel


122


, a back panel


123


, and side panels


124


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


121


have been placed in tray


120


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


125


was drawn on mail pieces


121


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


121


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


122


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


123


. Pattern


125


forms an arched section


126


and an arched section


127


on the mail pieces in mail tray


120


. Thus, no mail pieces


121


have been added or removed from tray


120


. Hence, mail pieces


121


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


. Tray tag


145


is placed in tray holder


147


of front panel


122


. Tag


145


indicates the destination


148


of tray


120


. Bar code


149


indicates destination information about tray


120


. Bar code


149


or tray label


145


may also be printed on the edges of mail pieces


121







FIG. 12

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a triangle drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray


130


contains a plurality of mail pieces


131


that are placed in tray


130


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


131


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


131


run along the top of tray


130


. Tray


130


has a front panel


132


, a back panel


133


, and side panels


134


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


131


have been placed in tray


130


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


135


was drawn on mail pieces


131


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


131


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


132


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


133


. Pattern


135


forms a triangle on the mail pieces in mail tray


130


. Thus, no mail pieces


131


have been added or removed from tray


130


. Hence, mail pieces


131


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


. It would be obvious to one skilled in the art that different patterns may be drawn on the edges of mail pieces


131


. Tray tag


146


is placed in tray holder


152


of front panel


132


. Tag


146


indicates the destination


150


of tray


130


. Bar code


151


indicates destination information about tray


130


.





FIG. 13

is a drawing of a statement of mailing


136


that has images of the patterns


125


and


135


, respectively, placed on the mail pieces contained in trays


120


and


130


. The mailer's name and address is shown at area


137


. Information regarding the manifest is shown in areas


138


and


139


. Information regarding the mail pieces in tray


120


is shown in line


140


, and information regarding the mail pieces in tray


130


is shown in line


141


. Information regarding the tray label tag


145


for tray


120


is shown at


140


, and information regarding the tray label tag


146


for tray


130


is shown at


141


. Mailer personnel and post office personnel may check pattern


125


appearing on the mail pieces in tray


120


and pattern


125


appearing in the vicinity of


142


to place the proper tag on tray


120


and verify that tag


145


is on tray


120


. Mailer personnel and post office personnel may also check pattern


135


appearing on the mail pieces in tray


130


and pattern


135


appearing in the vicinity of


143


to place the proper tag on tray


130


and verify that tag


146


is on tray


130


. The foregoing makes it easier to match mail trays with tags. Thus, there will be less misdirected mail, and the post will find it easier to check that they receive the correct postage for delivering the mail.





FIG. 14

is a drawing of a statement of mailing


147


that has an image of pattern


125


that was placed on the mail pieces contained in tray


120


. General information regarding the mailer is indicated in space


148


. Information regarding the mail pieces in tray


120


is shown in area


149


. Information regarding the tray label tag


145


for tray


120


is shown at


149


. Mailer personnel and post office personnel may check pattern


125


appearing on the mail pieces in tray


120


and pattern


125


appearing in the vicinity of


149


to place the proper tag on tray


120


and verify that tag


145


is on tray


120


. The foregoing makes it easier to match mail trays with tags. Thus, there will be less misdirected mail, and the post will find it easier to check that they receive the correct postage for delivering the mail.





FIG. 15

is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces with two rejected mail pieces shown in the tray. Mail tray


301


contains a plurality of mail pieces


302


that are placed in tray


301


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


302


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


302


run along the top of tray


301


. Tray


301


has a front panel


303


, a back panel


304


, and side panels


305


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


302


have been placed in tray


301


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


306


was drawn on mail pieces


302


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


302


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


303


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


304


. Pattern


306


forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel


303


to point B on the mail piece next to panel


304


. Lines


310


and


311


are printed, on those mail pieces


302


by printer


40


, that are rejected by decision block


505


of FIG.


10


. When a mail piece


302


is rejected and marked, a line


310


or


311


is printed along its entire edge. An operator may remove the rejected mail piece, reprint a corrected mail piece, and place the corrected mail piece in the position of the removed mail piece. Hence, mail pieces


302


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


.





FIG. 16

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern


326


in the form of a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray


321


contains a plurality of mail pieces


322


that are placed in tray


320


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


322


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


322


, run along the top of tray


320


. Tray


320


has a front panel


323


, a back panel


324


, and side panels


325


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


322


have been placed in tray


320


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


326


in the form of the information contained in tray label


327


was drawn on mail pieces


322


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


322


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


323


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


324


. Tray label


327


is placed in tray label holder


328


. Hence, mail pieces


322


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


.





FIG. 17

is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line


339


and a tray label


336


drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray


331


contains a plurality of mail pieces


332


that are placed in tray


331


in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces


332


, preferably the top edge of mail pieces


332


, run along the top of tray


331


. Tray


331


has a front panel


333


, a back panel


334


, and side panels


335


as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces


332


have been placed in tray


331


in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run


9


(FIG.


1


). Pattern


336


, in the form of the information contained in tray label


337


, was drawn on mail pieces


322


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


332


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


333


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


334


. Pattern


329


was drawn on mail pieces


332


by printing device


40


(

FIG. 1

) in a manner that the first mail piece


332


in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel


333


, and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel


334


. Pattern


339


forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel


333


to point B on the mail piece next to panel


334


. Tray label


337


is placed in tray label holder


338


. Hence, mail pieces


332


are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run


9


.




The above specification describes a new and improved method for determining the integrity of mail pieces placed in a tray. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. It is, therefore, intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A method for determining the integrity of mail pieces placed in trays, said method comprising the steps of:determining the measurement of an edge of each mail piece that will be placed in a tray; determining the thickness of each mail piece that will be placed in the tray; determining the number of mail pieces that will be placed in the tray; calculating an incremental pattern dab that is going to be placed on the edge of each mail piece; placing a portion of the pattern on the edge of each mail piece that is going to form the mail pieces of the tray; and placing the mail pieces in the tray in an ordered manner so that the edges having dabs will be visible, and the dabs will form a pattern that indicates only the determined number of mail pieces are in the tray.
  • 2. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein dabs are placed on the top edge of each mail piece.
  • 3. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces form a diagonal line that goes from the top left edge of the first mail piece in the tray to the bottom right edge of the last mail piece in the tray.
  • 4. The method claimed in claim 3, wherein the diagonal line varies in thickness from the top left edge of the first mail piece in the tray to the bottom right edge of the last mail piece in the tray.
  • 5. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces form a continuous pattern.
  • 6. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces forms a pattern on the mail pieces that will enable an observer to determine that one or more mail pieces was added to the tray.
  • 7. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces forms a pattern on the mail pieces that will enable an observer to determine that one or more mail pieces was removed from the tray.
  • 8. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces form one or more lines that go from the top left edge of the first mail piece in the tray to the bottom right edge of the last mail piece in the tray.
  • 9. The method claimed in claim 7, wherein the lines vary in thickness from the top left edge of the first mail piece in the tray to the bottom right edge of the last mail piece in the tray.
  • 10. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the incremental pattern dab on the mail pieces further includes the step of:scaling the incremental pattern dab to the measurement of the edges of the mail pieces in the tray.
  • 11. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the incremental pattern dab on the edges of the mail pieces indicates the destination of the tray.
  • 12. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein the incremental pattern dab is human-readable.
  • 13. The method claimed in claim 12, wherein the incremental pattern dab is machine-readable.
  • 14. The method claimed in claim 1, further including the step of:printing an incremental pattern dab on the edges of the mail pieces that indicates the destination of the tray.
  • 15. The method claimed in claim 12, wherein the incremental pattern dab printed on the edges of the mail pieces is printed in human readable form.
  • 16. The method claimed in claim 12, wherein the incremental pattern dab printed on the edges of the mail pieces is printed in machine-readable form.
  • 17. The method claimed in claim 1, further including the step of:printing an identifying mark on rejected mail pieces.
  • 18. The method claimed in claim 17, further including the step of:removing rejected mail pieces from the mail tray.
  • 19. The method claimed in claim 14, further including the step of:replacing rejected mail pieces with corrected mail pieces.
Parent Case Info

This Application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/329,924 filed Oct. 16, 2001, which is owned by the assignee of the present Application.

US Referenced Citations (7)
Number Name Date Kind
1806583 Boorman May 1931 A
4085597 Kamikura et al. Apr 1978 A
5005124 Connell et al. Apr 1991 A
5104681 Sansone Apr 1992 A
5270938 Sansone et al. Dec 1993 A
5419440 Picoult May 1995 A
6275745 Critelli et al. Aug 2001 B1
Provisional Applications (1)
Number Date Country
60/329924 Oct 2001 US