EP0997852B1 - Device for printing postal indicia that are more readable - Google Patents

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the exclusive field of mail processing. It relates more particularly to a method and a device for printing an inkjet type franking machine.

Prior art

An inkjet franking machine is known from US-5,083,153. Inkjet printing affords postage machines a great deal of flexibility, particularly when it comes to printing. postal mail postage items with both variable characters, such as postage paid values, and color schemes, such as advertising flames.

Because of the dimensions of the postal imprints to be printed and those of the barrettes (or boxes) of ink ejection nozzles currently available on the market, it turns out that the printing of such imprints can not be carried out currently, in acceptable economic conditions, only from two staggered rows of ejection nozzles. The printing defects (especially of connection in the middle part) due to the relatively inaccurate positioning of these two rows (the Applicant however proposed in these French applications FR2 724 591 and FR 2 724 592 appropriate methods of setting on site before printing to obtain a perfect alignment of the nozzles of the two boxes), accentuated by the shocks caused by the transport rollers on the mail piece during its conveying are not without causing acute problems in terms of mail processing. Indeed, in this particular technical field, the postal stamp includes critical postal data such as the amount of postage which represents a monetary value and no defects affecting this value, however small, can not be accepted by the Postal Administration. . In addition, with the introduction of so-called "intelligent" postal fingerprints, incorporating coded information, there is the problem of authentication and control. of this information. The verification and the validity of the postal fingerprint is based on the recognition of this coded information and possibly other information present in clear on the postal fingerprint (date or machine number for example), and a reading error. resulting from connection faults may have detrimental consequences as to the validity finally recognized to the mail item.

Object and definition of the invention

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems by proposing an improved printing method which eliminates, at least at the level of the critical postal data, the connection defects of the ejection nozzles of the printing device of a printer. inkjet franking machine. An object of the invention is to achieve this removal of connection faults without significantly increasing the structure of the printing device. Another object of the invention is also to facilitate the subsequent recognition of critical postal data by the postal administration.

These objects are achieved by a method of printing a postal imprint on a postage item to be moved relative to a printing device of an inkjet franking machine in a direction of movement F, the postal fingerprint including critical data including at least one postage amount, a deposit date and an authentication code, and the printing device comprising a plurality of ink droplet ejection nozzles arranged in two rows extends transversely to the direction of displacement and offset from one another transversely, as well as longitudinally by a distance D, in this direction and a control means for selectively controlling the ejection of these ink droplets into function of the postal imprint to be printed, characterized in that each of the critical postal data such as the amount of franking, the date of printing is printed. pot or the authentication code from one a row of nozzles.

By this method, the connection defects previously affecting the filing date and the amount of postage are removed, the reliability of the reading of these data is accordingly increased. In addition, given the fact that critical postal data can no longer be arranged in the connection area of the two rows of ejection nozzles, an on-site adjustment of the alignment is no longer required.

According to an advantageous characteristic, at least the end nozzles of the two rows of ejection nozzles, disposed at a middle portion of the postal cavity, are deactivated to avoid any overlap during printing.

Preferably, certain determinations of the ejection nozzles are selectively deactivated to allow printing in a lower resolution of data other than those relating to said critical postal data. By this feature, the print speed is increased and the cost of the print is reduced by reducing the amount of ink ejected.

The invention also relates to an ink jet printing device of a franking machine for printing a postal imprint on a postage item to be moved relative to this device in a direction of movement F, the postal fingerprint including critical data including at least one postage amount, a deposit date and an authentication code and the printing device comprising a plurality of ink droplet ejection nozzles arranged in two rows; extending transversely to the direction of movement, these two rows of nozzles being offset from one another transversely, as well as longitudinally by a distance D, in this direction and a control means for selectively controlling the ejection of these droplets according to the postal impression to be printed, characterized in that said control means is arranged in such a way that In printing, each of the critical postal data is printed from a single row of nozzles.

Preferably, at least the end nozzles of the two rows of ejection nozzles disposed at a middle portion of the postal pattern are deactivated to avoid overlap during printing. Advantageously, certain determined ejection nozzles are deactivated to allow printing in a lower resolution of the data other than those relating to said critical postal data.

Brief description of the drawings

• la figure 1 est un synoptique simplifié des moyens d'impression d'une machine d'affranchissement,
• la figure 2 représente une empreinte postale imprimée par des moyens conventionnels, et
• la figure 3 représente une empreinte postale imprimée par des moyens d'impression selon l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge more clearly from the following description, given by way of non-limiting indication, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of the printing means of a franking machine,
• FIG. 2 represents a postal fingerprint printed by conventional means, and
• FIG. 3 represents a postal fingerprint printed by printing means according to the invention.

Detailed description of a preferred embodiment

The franking machine of FIG. 1 conventionally comprises a conveying system (not shown) which moves in a direction of displacement F the postage item 1 (a fold or a label, for example) under a print head. 2 stationary inkjet.

This printing device comprises two housings 20, 21 each comprising a row of nozzles R1, R2 (the nozzles are represented by crosses), these two rows of nozzles being mounted in the printing device 2 in such a way that they extend transversely to the direction of movement F, the two housings being offset relative to each other both transversely and longitudinally to this direction F (a distance D).

The presence of these two boxes is currently imposed for technical and commercial reasons. Indeed, the dimensions of the rows of standard nozzles (and therefore low cost) are today limited to only half an inch (12.7 mm) while the height of a postage stamp is commonly close to 25 mm . These ink jet print housings have variable resolutions ranging from typically 200 nozzles per inch (ie one nozzle every 0.127 mm) to 600 nozzles per inch (1 nozzle every 0.042mm), which is ideal for for printing a postal imprint.

The arrangement of the two housings 20 and 21 is such that the distance between the last nozzle B'128 (the one at the top in Figure 1) of the housing 21 and the first nozzle B1 (the lowest one in Figure 1) of the housing 20 is at least equal to the height H of a postal indicia 10 represented by the dashed rectangle on the article 1. In addition, these two housings 20, 21 are mounted if possible so that the last nozzle B128 of the housing 20 (that of the housing 20 at the top in Figure 1) is spaced from the first nozzle B '1 of the housing 21 (that of housing 21 further down in Figure 1), in the direction perpendicular to the direction F, a distance equal to the distance between two consecutive nozzles of one or other of the rows of nozzles.

The franking machine further comprises a control means 3, advantageously comprising a microprocessor and a program stored in an associated memory (not shown), which is arranged to selectively control (depending on the postal imprint to be printed) the chronological succession of the ejections. of ink droplets of the different nozzles, in response to a clock signal 22, 23 synchronized or not with a speed of movement of the mail item under the print head 2, so that it is possible to produce points on this article that join each other with a small overlap along straight lines parallel to the F direction.

To print a linear mark transverse to the direction F and which extends over almost the entire height H of the imprint 10 (like the bar of the character P shown in FIG. 1), the unit 3 delays the ejection command of the ink droplets of the row R2 (the nozzles of the box 21 which is furthest downstream in the direction F) with respect to the control of the ejection of the ink droplets of the nozzles of the row R1 (the nozzles of the housing 20 which is the most upstream in the direction F), a delay R varying according to the ratio d / V or d is a setting data previously stored in memory and representative of the distance D.

However, due to the tolerances of the package manufacturers, the distance D varies from one printing device to another and it is in principle necessary to adjust it after mounting the boxes 20 and 21 in the franking machine, for example by using the aforementioned print adjustment methods developed by the applicant.

Figure 2 illustrates a French postal pattern in the absence of initial adjustment or in case of defective setting or by use. The Connection faults were deliberately exaggerated for explanatory reasons. The postal stamp consists of three distinct areas. The first zone 50 corresponds to the stamp itself, the second zone 52 corresponds to the date stamp and the third zone 54 corresponds to the advertising flame. According to a preferred configuration, the stamp includes a mention 500 of the issuing state "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE", an amount of postage 502, a reference 504 of the postal administration concerned "LA POSTE" and a postal number 506 of the machine having effected the postage. Likewise, the date stamp includes the coordinates 520 of the mail delivery establishment, a filing date 522, an object number 524, an object category 526, a deposit establishment number 528, a code redundant print quality check 530 and imprint authentication code 532. The configuration of the advertising flame is left to the imagination of users of the postal service.

For some of them, these different postal franking data are of a critical nature in the sense that their non-recognition, or their false recognition, can cause considerable damage to both the postal administration and the postal service. 'user. This is the postage amount which represents a monetary value, the deposit date which must correspond to the actual delivery of the item to the postal administration, the verification code which allows the control of the optical reading and coded authentication information that guarantees the integrity of the postal data forming the fingerprint.

As shown in FIG. 2, both the franking amount and the filing date are arranged in a median part of the postal cavity and are therefore particularly affected by the connection faults of the two rows of ejection nozzles. Indeed, the date of deposit as the postage amount are printed both by the row R1 of the ejection nozzles (for the lower half of these postal data) and by the row R2 of the ejection nozzles (for the upper half). In addition, the verification and authentication codes are not very different from other postal data in the area of the date stamp 52 which does not facilitate reading.

Also, according to the invention and as illustrated in Figure 3, it is proposed that the printing of these critical postal data is performed by a single row of ejection nozzles, preferably the lower row R1. Thus, the possible connection faults between the two rows of ejection nozzles can in no way affect this essential data but only the frame of the area of the date stamp 52 or the advertising flame zone 54 which are in the part median of the postal impression, at the level of an overlap zone of these two rows. Note also that the possible overlap of the printing at this middle part, which can occur if the distance between the end nozzles (B128 and B'1) of the two housings 20, 21, in the direction perpendicular to F, is less than the distance between two successive ejection nozzles of the same housing, can be avoided by performing a deactivation of these two end nozzles. A selective deactivation of the adjacent nozzles can advantageously also be envisaged especially at the level of the different frames of the postal impression.

In addition, to facilitate the recognition / control of these critical postal data, it is expected that they are printed at a resolution higher than a standard resolution of printing other postal data of the postal footprint. The information thus provided with a higher resolution presents a better contrast and is more apparent at the level of the postal impression, which facilitates the optical reading. FIG. 3 gives an example thereof with the postage amount data 502, the deposit date 522, the verification code 530 and the authentication code 532. For information data (non-postal data), such as those appearing at the level of the advertising flame zone 54, it may be provided on the contrary an impression in a lower resolution than this standard resolution.

This modification of the print resolution can be obtained according to two orthogonal directions T and F (see FIG. 1) from sub-multiples of a determined maximum resolution (R ^T , R ^F ), by selectively controlling the activation or the deactivation of certain nozzles. Thus, if the high resolution printing is done at the resolution (R ^T , R ^F ), the standard printing can be done at the resolution (R ^T , R ^F * 2/3) and the low resolution printing at the resolution (R ^T , R ^F / 2).

• 300*450 en haute résolution (données postales critiques),
• 300*300 en résolution standard (autres données postales),
• 300*225 en basse résolution (données d'information).

Either with R ^T = 300 dpi and R ^T = 450 dpi, it becomes possible to print the various postal data, critical or not, or information according to the following three resolutions:

• 300 * 450 in high resolution (critical postal data),
• 300 * 300 in standard resolution (other postal data),
• 300 * 225 in low resolution (information data).

It should be noted that the reduction of the resolution has the advantage of allowing an increase in the overall print speed of the postal impression and a reduction in the ink consumption (with the consequence of a reduction in the cost price of printing an imprint) as well as a reduction of the drying time of this ink (which makes it possible to avoid staining with certain types of support).

Claims (6)

1. Process for printing postal indicia (10) on a mail piece (1) to be franked, displaced with respect to a printing device of an inkjet franking machine (2) in a direction of displacement F, the postal indicia including critical data comprising at least an amount of franking, a date of deposit and an authentification code and the printing device comprising a plurality of nozzles for ejecting droplets of ink (B1-B128, B'1-B'128) disposed in two rows (R1, R2) extending transversely to the direction of displacement and offset with respect to each other both transversely and longitudinally by a distance D in this direction and a control means for selectively controlling the ejection of these ink droplets as a function of the postal indicia to be printed, the process being characterised in that each of the critical postal data is printed only from one row of nozzles.
2. The process of printing according to claim 1, characterised in that at least the end nozzles (B128, B'1) of the two rows of ejection nozzles (R1, R2), disposed at the level of a median part of the postal indicia, are further selectively de-activated in order to avoid a possible overlap during printing.
3. The process of printing according to claim 1, characterised in that certain determined ejection nozzles are further selectively de-activated in order to allow printing at a lower resolution of the data other than that relative to said critical postal data.
4. Inkjet printing device (2) of a franking machine intended to print postal indicia (10) on a mail piece (1) to be franked, displaced with respect to this device in a direction of displacement F, the postal indicia including critical data comprising at least one deposit amount, a franking date and an authentification code and the printing device comprising a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink droplets (B1-B128, B'1-B'128), disposed in two rows (R1, R2) extending transversely to the direction of displacement and offset with respect to each other both transversely and longitudinally by a distance D in this direction and a control means for selectively controlling the ejection of these ink droplets as a function of the postal indicia to be printed, the device being characterised in that said control means is arranged so that, during printing, each of the critical postal data is printed only from one row of nozzles.
5. The printing device according to claim 4, characterised in that at least the end nozzles B128, B'1) of the two rows of ejection nozzles (R1, R2) disposed at the level of a median part of the postal indicia are de-activated in order to avoid an overlapping during printing.
6. The printing device according to claim 4, characterised in that certain determined ejection nozzles are de-activated to allow a print at a lower resolution of the data other than that relative to said critical postal data.

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