Patent Application
20060111969
The present invention relates to a system and method for printing information on a mailpiece, and, in particular, to a system and method for automatically selecting advertising slogans to be printed on a mailpiece.
Postage metering systems are well known in the art, and are often incorporated into mail processing systems, such as mailing machines. A typical postage meter applies evidence of postage, commonly referred to as postal indicia, to envelopes or other mailpieces and accounts for the value of the postage dispensed. As is well known, postage meters include an ascending register, that stores a running total of all postage dispensed by the meter, and a descending register, that holds the remaining amount of postage credited to the meter and that is reduced by the amount of postage dispensed during a transaction. The postage meter generally also includes a control sum register which provides a check upon the descending and ascending registers. The control sum register has a running account of the total funds being added into the meter. The control sum register must always correspond with the summed readings of the ascending and descending registers. The control sum register is the total amount of postage ever put into the machine and it is alterable only when adding funds to the meter. In this manner, by inspecting the various registers and securing them from tampering, the dispensing of postal funds may be accurately recorded, tracked and accounted for.
More recently, postage metering systems have been developed where the accounting structure described above is no longer resident with the user. Sometimes referred to as a “virtual postage meter,” these types of postage printing systems dispense postage electronically over suitable communication channels (LAN, WAN, telephone lines, Internet, etc.). The user maintains an account with a remotely located data center (maintained by an authorized postage meter manufacturer) and receives postage securely using appropriate electronic data interchange techniques. At a later time, the user is invoiced for the amount of postage dispensed and any other fees associated with maintaining the account with the data center. Often times, a secret code or token is derived from information particular to the mailpiece (the indicated postage amount, date, recipient address information, etc.) and is incorporated or embedded into the postal indicium for later use by a postal authority in verifying the integrity of the postal indicium. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,718 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,038.
It is also known to print selected messages (generally referred to as ad slogans, although such messages are not restricted to commercial advertisements) along with postal indicia. Generally, the messages bears no relation to the postal indicia. As used herein, the terms “ad slogan” and “advertising slogan” shall refer to any information, including text and/or graphics, that is printed on a mailpiece along with a postal indicium, including both information for promoting the sale of a particular product or service or a particular company, and general information not related to promoting the sale of a particular product or service or a particular company, such as a seasonal greeting.
In traditional postage meters employing either rotary drum or flat bed printing technology, an ad slogan was printed along with the postal indicium by including an additional printing die representative of the ad slogan. These dies were typically costly to manufacture and distribute and cumbersome for the postage meter user to install. Examples of die based systems for printing messages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,804 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,153. More recently, the postage meter industry has begun to incorporate digital (dot matrix) printing technology which obviates the need for dies as the digital printer may be supplied with suitable drive signals to effect printing of a message. The message included in the drive signals may include selected ad slogans and the like which are to be printed along with a postal indicium. Data for creating a number of such ad slogans is stored in the postage meter and selectively accessed when desired. Examples of digital printing technology based systems for printing messages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,554 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,109.
One problem with existing mail processing systems that enable ad slogans to be printed along with postal indicia is that users must manually select and change, when desired, the particular ad slogans that are used. This is often necessary as many ad slogans are tied to particular, time dependent product promotions or are related to a particular time of the year, such as a holiday greeting. To stay current requires attention and action on the part of the user, a factor that, to many users, is a deterrent to the use of ad slogans on mailpieces. Thus, what is needed is a system and method that simplifies, facilitates and automates the selection and use of multiple ad slogans, particularly those that have time/date period relevance, to increase the use thereof on mailpieces.
The present invention relates to a method of printing an ad slogan on a mailpiece, including establishing one or more date ranges and one or more pre-selected ad slogans, wherein each of the date ranges has one of the pre-selected ad slogans corresponding thereto. The method further includes determining a current date (the date on which an ad slogan is to be printed on said mailpiece), determining whether the current date falls within a particular one of the one or more date ranges, and if the current date falls within a particular one of the one or more date ranges, printing on the mailpiece the pre-selected ad slogan that corresponds to the particular one of the one or more date ranges. The printing step may further comprise printing a postal indicium on the mailpiece along with the ad slogan. Furthermore, the ad slogans may comprise a commercial advertisement for the sale of a product or a service, or may comprise a message that does not include a commercial advertisement for the sale of a product or a service, such as a holiday greeting.
The present invention also relates, in one embodiment, to a mail processing system for printing an ad slogan on a mailpiece including a printer, a processor; and a memory. The memory in such a mail processing system stores software executable by the processor, wherein the software includes instructions for implementing the method of the present invention as described herein.
The present invention also relates, in another embodiment, to a mail processing system for printing an ad slogan on a mailpiece that includes a printer, a computing device in operative communication with the printer, and a data center in operative communication with the computing device. The data center includes a processing system having a memory that stores software executable by the processing system. The software includes instructions for enabling the establishment of and the storage of information relating to one or more date ranges and one or more pre-selected ad slogans, wherein each of the one or more dates ranges have one of the one or more pre-selected ad slogans corresponding thereto, determining a current date (as described above), determining whether the current date falls within a particular one of the one or more date ranges, and, if the current date falls within a particular one of the one or more date ranges, providing to the computing device information that may be utilized to cause the printer to print on the mailpiece the pre-selected ad slogan that corresponds to the particular one of the one or more date ranges.
Therefore, it should now be apparent that the invention substantially achieves all the above aspects and advantages. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Moreover, the aspects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The accompanying drawings illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. As shown throughout the drawings, like reference numerals designate like or corresponding parts.
The base unit 12 further includes a horizontal feed deck 30 that extends substantially from the input end 14 to the output end 16. A plurality of nudger rollers 32 are suitably mounted under the feed deck 30 and project upwardly through openings in the feed deck so that the periphery of the rollers 32 is slightly above the upper surface of the feed deck 30 and can exert a forward feeding force on a succession of mail pieces placed in the input end 14. A vertical wall 34 defines a mail piece stacking location from which the mail pieces are fed by the nudger rollers 32 along the feed deck 30 and into a transport mechanism (not shown) that transports the mail pieces in a downstream path of travel, as indicated by arrow A, through one or more modules, such as, for example, a separator module and moistening/sealing module. Each of these modules is located generally in the area indicated by reference numeral 36. The mail pieces are then passed to a metering/printing module located generally in the area indicated by reference numeral 38, and exit the mailing processing system 10 at the output end 16.
When the method for automatically selecting advertising slogans to be printed on a mailpiece according to the present invention is implemented in mail processing system 50, software for performing the steps shown in
Thus, according to the present invention, pre-selected, and preferably date/season appropriate, ad slogans may be automatically printed on mailpieces by either a traditional mail processing system such as mail processing system 10 or a virtual mail processing system such as mail processing system 50, thereby eliminating manual user interaction to select ad slogans that was required in the prior art and making the use of ad slogans more convenient for users. With increased convenience will likely come increased use of ad slogans.
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Additions, deletions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
