EP1178439A2 - Cadre codé lisible par ordinateur pour port personnel - Google Patents

Cadre codé lisible par ordinateur pour port personnel Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1178439A2
EP1178439A2 EP01201386A EP01201386A EP1178439A2 EP 1178439 A2 EP1178439 A2 EP 1178439A2 EP 01201386 A EP01201386 A EP 01201386A EP 01201386 A EP01201386 A EP 01201386A EP 1178439 A2 EP1178439 A2 EP 1178439A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
postal
personal
image area
image
official
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP01201386A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1178439A3 (fr
Inventor
H. Mark Delman
Paula K. Dumas
David L. Patton
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Eastman Kodak Co
Original Assignee
Eastman Kodak Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US09/558,204 external-priority patent/US6655579B1/en
Application filed by Eastman Kodak Co filed Critical Eastman Kodak Co
Publication of EP1178439A2 publication Critical patent/EP1178439A2/fr
Publication of EP1178439A3 publication Critical patent/EP1178439A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00661Sensing or measuring mailpieces
    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00572Details of printed item
    • G07B2017/0058Printing of code
    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00572Details of printed item
    • G07B2017/00604Printing of advert or logo
    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00637Special printing techniques, e.g. interlacing
    • G07B2017/00645Separating print into fixed and variable parts
    • GPHYSICS
    • G07CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07BTICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00661Sensing or measuring mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00709Scanning mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00725Reading symbols, e.g. OCR

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an article and system used for creating and printing of customized official postage as an aesthetic border for a personal postal product.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,725,718, issued February 16, 1988 discloses using indicia in the form of a code for identifying the postage amount, the mail address and authenticity of the postage.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,831,555, issued May 16, 1989 discloses a postage applying system where the device used for printing of postage and the accounting unit are separated from one another by an unsecured link and the authenticity of the postage is insured by encryption. Both of these patents disclose printing of postage using a device such as an off the shelf printer.
  • U.S. Patent No. 5,801,944, issued September 1, 1998 discloses a system for printing a postage meter stamp, including a desired postage amount and personalized postage indicia onto a label or directly onto a document.
  • the processing system that formats and prints the document, calculates the appropriate postage for the document, encrypts selected information into machine readable format, and prints the appropriate postage for that document at the same time the document is being printed.
  • the processing system interacts with the customer to generate personal stamp indicia and prints the information onto the outside of a mailing envelope.
  • U.S. Patent No. 5,819,240, issued October 6, 1998 discloses printing a postage meter stamp including the postage amount and a personalized postage indicia onto a piece of mail.
  • the personalized postage indicia can be created by the user or selected from a list of graphics supplied by the Post Office and placed on a postal storage device.
  • Also disclosed is the use of two compatible computer programs. One program runs on a computer at the Post Office and a second program that runs on the user's computer.
  • the postage printed is limited to one or two colors. Again as mentioned above these indicia are typically very rudimentary and are no more than line drawings.
  • the personalized indicia are typically printed in close proximity to any customized postal indicia or personalized image associated with the postage.
  • the encrypted postage is not actually part of the personalized image itself. Because the postage is encrypted using a form of one or two-dimensional bar code, the encrypted postage detracts from the aesteteic appearance of any personalized indicia or image.
  • One of the characteristics of encrypted official postage indicia is the relationship between the official postage indicia and any personal or custom indicia printed on an article of mail. An example of an article of mail is an envelope, post card, etc.
  • the present invention provides a method and system for customizing an official postal product that solves many of the problems of the prior art.
  • the method and system also provides high quality images on official postal products having the required quality, characteristics, and content standards.
  • a personal postal product comprised of a personal image area for receiving a personal image and an official postal image area having a machine-readable code.
  • the machine-readable code is configured so as to extend substantially around the personalized image area.
  • a personal postage product wherein the official postal image area is printed using a color.
  • the color of the code may be coordinated with a color present in the personal image or be in direct contrast to at least one of the colors in personal image.
  • a personal postal product comprised of a personal image area having a substantially polygonal shape, and the official postal image area comprised of a machine-readable code configured to extend substantially along at least two sides of the polygon.
  • the personal image area also may have a generally ellipsoid shape where the official postal image area comprised of a machine readable code is configured to extend along at least a portion of the periphery of said ellipsoid shape.
  • a system for producing postal indicia comprised of a computer for processing image data.
  • a printer for producing the postal indicia, the postal indicia is comprised of a personal image area for receiving a personal image and an official postal image area.
  • the official postage image area is comprised of a machine-readable code configured to extend substantially around the postal image area.
  • a personal postal product comprised of a personal image area for receiving a personal image and an official postal image area having a machine-readable code.
  • the machine-readable code is within or mixed with the personalized image area.
  • Fig. 1 a plan view of an envelope 10 printed with a personal image 20 and an official postal image 30 in accordance with the prior art.
  • the official postal image 30 is comprised of a eye-readable information such as the denomination of the stamp 25 and a machine-readable code 35 printed in a format that is currently known in the art.
  • a machine-readable code is PaperDiskTM developed by Cobblestone Software, Inc. of Lexington, MA.
  • PaperDiskTM is a flexibly configurable 2D bar code. PaperDiskTM is described in a white paper delivered to the Information Based Indicia Program Technology Symposium, sponsored by the United States Postal Service, Nov. 25-26, 1996 by Thomas Antognini, Ph.D., Cobblestone Software, Inc.
  • the machine-readable code 35 is printed in a block format next to the personal image area 20 or some other type of customized indicia.
  • An example of a customized indicia maybe a logo representing a business, advertising message, etc.
  • the complete code 35 is printed above or below the personal image area 20.
  • the machine-readable code 35 as described above is a two dimensional bar code.
  • the standard bar code currently used by the Post Office is POSTNET ZIP+4 described in Postal Service Publication number 67.
  • An example of the type of code used by the Post Office is the Universal Product Code (UPC) seen on many products.
  • UPC Universal Product Code
  • the advantage of the two dimensional bar code over the standard bar code is the amount of data that can be encrypted. Because of the amount of additional information required to print an official postal image 30 using a personal computer and off the shelf printer at a location remote from the post office the two dimensional bar code is currently preferred. However, it is to be understood that any suitable machine readable code may be used that is currently available or may become available, for example but not by way of limitation, a bar code.
  • Fig. 2 is a plan view of a postal product 12printed with a postage area 40, made in accordance with the present invention.
  • the postal product is an envelope.
  • the postal product 12 may be a postcard, stamp, label or any other item now used for retaining official postage.
  • the postage area 40 comprises an official area 50 bounded on the outer circumference by periphery 55 and on the inner circumference by periphery 60 and a personal image area 20 bounded on the outer circumference by periphery 55.
  • the official section 50 is comprised of an official postal image 30 comprising a machine-readable code 35 as described with respect to Fig. 1.
  • the user using any type of digital image file, graphic, text or any combination of the three can create the personal image area 20.
  • the official postal area 50 has been configured as a border or frame printed around the personal image area 20.
  • Fig. 3a is an enlarged partial color view of a postal product 12 having the postal image 40 shown in Fig. 2.
  • Fig. 3a shows the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed in a colored ink as opposed to the standard black ink currently used.
  • the color of postal area 50 is matched to one of the colors present in personal image area 20.
  • the color of the code 35 may be complimentary, contrasting or as desired.
  • the color in the sky 36 matches the color of the code 35.
  • the color used to print the machine-readable code 35 may be a complimentary hue or shade of one the colors present in the personal image area 20.
  • the color for code 35 can be automatically determined by an algorithm that identifies an appropriate color for code 35 from the colors present in the personal image area 20. This is accomplished by determining the colorimetric values of the image pixels of the digital file of the personal image in the image area 20 using standard colorimetric techniques. Colorimetry is the measurement of color. A set of colorimetric parameters for an object, based on measured colorimetric parameters, can quantify the color of the object as it appears to the average observer under a specific set of viewing conditions. Techniques described in U.S. Patent 5,528,339 can be used to identify the colorimetric values of the image suitable for use with the present invention. Using these techniques, colors can be determine automatically for printing the code 35 which can be complimentary or contrasting as desired.
  • Fig. 3b is an enlarged partial color view of a postal product 12 having the postal image 40 shown in Fig. 2.
  • Fig. 3b shows the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed in a color contrasting with one of the colors present in the personal image area 20. For example the color in the sky 36 contrasts with the color of the code 35.
  • Fig. 4a is a enlarged partial view of a postal product 12 having the personal image area 20 with the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 shown in Fig. 2, printed along two sides 21 and 22 of the of the personal image area 20.
  • Fig. 4b is a plan view of a postal product 12 having the personal image area 20 with the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 shown in Fig. 2.
  • the machine-readable code 35 is printed along the partial length of four sides 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the of the personal image area 20.
  • the machine-readable code 35 as shown in both Figs. 4a and 4b may be printed along any of the sides 21, 22, 23, or 24 or along any combination of sides or any portion of any one side.
  • Figs. 5a and 5b are plan views of a postal product 12 having the personal image 20 and the official postal area 50 printed in a triangular format.
  • Fig. 5a shows the machine-readable code 35 of the official area 50 bounded on the outer border by lines 70, 80, and 90 and on the inner border by lines 100, 110, and 120.
  • the personal image area 20 is bounded on the outer border by lines 100, 110, and 120.
  • Fig. 5b shows the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed partially along the three sides 130, 140 and 150 of the personal image area 20.
  • the machine-readable code 35 as shown in both Figs. 5a and 5b may be printed along any of the sides 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 respectively or along any combination of sides or any portion of any one side.
  • Figs. 6a is a plan view of the personal image 20 and the official postal area 50 comprised of a machine-readable code 35 printed in a curved format on a postal product 12.
  • FIG. 6a shows the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed along a portion of the periphery of the circular personal image area 20 indicated by line 180.
  • the portion of the periphery of the circular personal image area 20 where no code is printed is indicated by line 190.
  • the outer border of the personal image area 20 is bounded by line 180.
  • Fig. 6b is an enlarged partial view of a postal product 12 having the personal image area 20 and machine-readable code 35 printed in a curved and straight-sided format.
  • Fig. 6b shows the machine-readable code 35 printed along the curved portion indicated by line 195 of the outer periphery of the personal image area 20 leaving the remaining portion blank.
  • the machine-readable code 35 may be printed along any of the sides 195, 196, 197 and 198 or along any combination of sides or any portion of any one side.
  • Fig. 7 is a plan view of a personal image area 20 and the official postal area 50 printed in an elliptical format on a postal product 12.
  • Fig. 7 illustrates the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed along a portion of the periphery indicated by line 200.
  • the machine-readable code 35 may be printed along any portion of the outer periphery of the personal image area 20 leaving the remaining portion of the periphery blank.
  • Fig. 8 is a plan view of a personal image area 20 and the official postal area 50 printed in an octagon format on a postal product 12 indicated by lines 210, 215, 220, 225, 230, 235, 240, and 245.
  • Fig. 8 illustrates the machine-readable code 35 of the official postal area 50 printed along a portion of the periphery indicated by lines 235, 240, and 245.
  • the machine-readable code 35 may be printed along any of the sides or along any combination of sides or any portion of any one side.
  • the personal image area 20 may take any shape/configuration desired and the machine-readable code 35 may take a variety of other shapes and configurations, many of which are not shown. Additionally while the machine-readable code 35 is shown being adjacent to the periphery 250, the machine-readable code 35 may be partially or total spaced from the personal image area 20 so as to provide various aesthetically pleasing designs. Thus the machine-readable code 35 may take a variety of shapes correspondingly or complimentary to that shape of the personal image area.
  • the code 35 is place about the periphery of the personal image area 20.
  • the official postal area 50 may be within the personal image area 20 or intermixed there with as illustrated by Figs. 10a and 10b.
  • Fig, 10a illustrates the code 35 place within the personal image area 20.
  • Fig. 10b illustrates that the code 35 is intermixed with the sky 36 of the personal image area 20.
  • the code is placed in a generally non-interesting area. This may be for example an area where the tone and/or color scale is generally uniform. These characteristics can be automatically obtaining by digital scanning of the personal image to be placed in image area 20 and analyzing of the scanned image.
  • the code 35 may be printed using an ink, pigment or dye which is not visible on normal lighting conditions.
  • inks may be visible under UV or infra red light.
  • N.I.R.F. near-infrared fluorophore
  • a computer 300 such as personal computer, connected to a printer 302.
  • the printer 302 may be a postage meter or franking device that keeps track of the amount of postage being printed and subtracts the monetary amount of the printed postage from an amount stored in the postage meter.
  • the postage meter is remote from the accounting agency and communicates with the accounting agency via a data transmission system such as the Internet.
  • postage meter or franking device may be connected to an accounting device that receives the monetary amount of postage from the accounting agency and store it in it's own memory which is addressable by the postage meter.
  • An optional scanner 304, or other data entry means, may be provided for obtaining of a personal image for placement in the personal image area 20.
  • the computer 300 has appropriate communication software and hardware that allows the computer 300 to be electronically connected to other computers, data bases, etc. via a modem 310 over a communication network 306.
  • the network 306 may include the internet.
  • the personal images may be obtained from any source, for example electronically from stored image files or over a communication network such as the internet.
  • the computer 300 is shown in communication via a modem 312 and computer 314 with an authorizing authority 308 capable of authorizing the printing of official postage. This may be the official governmental postal authority 308 or some other independent business that has been authorized.
  • the authorizing authority 308 in addition to authorizing amounts of postage to be printed, may also provide coded information that would be placed in code 35. This coded information can later be read to confirm the amount, the individual or business that has been authorized to print the official postal indicia, and authenticity of the official postal indicia. It is of course understood that any other appropriate information may be encoded within code 35.
  • the use of a two-dimensional code allows the providing of relatively large amounts of related and/or independent information.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
EP01201386A 2000-04-26 2001-04-17 Cadre codé lisible par ordinateur pour port personnel Withdrawn EP1178439A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US09/558,204 US6655579B1 (en) 2000-04-26 2000-04-26 Machine readable coded frame for personal postage
US558204 2000-04-26
US57776200A 2000-05-24 2000-05-24
US577762 2000-05-24

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1178439A2 true EP1178439A2 (fr) 2002-02-06
EP1178439A3 EP1178439A3 (fr) 2004-04-21

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP01201386A Withdrawn EP1178439A3 (fr) 2000-04-26 2001-04-17 Cadre codé lisible par ordinateur pour port personnel

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1178439A3 (fr)
AU (1) AU3882101A (fr)
CA (1) CA2340313A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2408403A (en) * 2003-11-20 2005-05-25 Neopost Ind Sa Personal customisation of stamps

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1997004353A1 (fr) * 1995-07-14 1997-02-06 Chumbley Gregory R Appareil distributeur de photographies et d'affranchissement
US5717597A (en) * 1995-10-11 1998-02-10 E-Stamp Corporation System and method for printing personalized postage indicia on greeting cards
US5819240A (en) * 1995-10-11 1998-10-06 E-Stamp Corporation System and method for generating personalized postage indica
EP0893787A2 (fr) * 1997-06-27 1999-01-27 Pitney Bowes Inc. Machine de vente pour timbres-poste personnalisés
US5873605A (en) * 1997-01-22 1999-02-23 Kaplan; Kenneth Personalized postal stamp
WO1999060551A1 (fr) * 1998-05-14 1999-11-25 Australian Postal Corporation Trading As Australia Post Timbres personnalises

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1997004353A1 (fr) * 1995-07-14 1997-02-06 Chumbley Gregory R Appareil distributeur de photographies et d'affranchissement
US5717597A (en) * 1995-10-11 1998-02-10 E-Stamp Corporation System and method for printing personalized postage indicia on greeting cards
US5819240A (en) * 1995-10-11 1998-10-06 E-Stamp Corporation System and method for generating personalized postage indica
US5873605A (en) * 1997-01-22 1999-02-23 Kaplan; Kenneth Personalized postal stamp
EP0893787A2 (fr) * 1997-06-27 1999-01-27 Pitney Bowes Inc. Machine de vente pour timbres-poste personnalisés
WO1999060551A1 (fr) * 1998-05-14 1999-11-25 Australian Postal Corporation Trading As Australia Post Timbres personnalises

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
ANTOGNINI, THOMAS: "A Flexibly Configurable 2D Bar Code" INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM, [Online] 25 November 1996 (1996-11-25), XP002268123 Retrieved from the Internet: <URL:www.paperdisk.com/ibippap2.htm> [retrieved on 2004-01-27] *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2408403A (en) * 2003-11-20 2005-05-25 Neopost Ind Sa Personal customisation of stamps

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1178439A3 (fr) 2004-04-21
AU3882101A (en) 2001-11-01
CA2340313A1 (fr) 2001-10-26

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