Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C1/00—Measures preceding sorting according to destination
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
  • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
  • G07B17/00185—Details internally of apparatus in a franking system, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office
  • G07B17/00435—Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
  • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
  • G07B17/00016—Relations between apparatus, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office, in a franking system
  • G07B17/00024—Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems
  • G07B2017/00072—Hybrid mail, i.e. mail delivered using different physical means along the mail delivery path, e.g. email and envelope

Definitions

• the invention relates to the generation and distribution of mail items for bulk mail.
• Document files with associated recipient files are transmitted electronically to service centers, and shipments directed to the recipient are automatically generated there using the transferred files.
• Hybrid Mail represents a bridge between the purely electronic mail “E-Mail” and the conventional letter mail.
• the text and address information is transmitted electronically to a service center, where the letters are then generated.
• This known “hybrid mail” system is explained using a typical example of the “account statements” (FIG. 2).
• a bank sends an order to a postal administration to generate the corresponding bank statements.
• the customer as in conventional data, of course, provide the data (addresses, account balance, etc.). Swiss Post then sorts the data in such a way that each hybrid mail center receives the data for the customers in its geographical area.
• the account balance should not be presented to the customer on neutral paper, but on a suitably designed colored layout with bank logo (in original color!), Etc.
• bank logo in original color!
• Etc it is typical and compulsory for today's technology that the Hybrid Mail Center has the appropriate blank forms for each of its customers in stock, either created in a preceding workflow or sourced externally. The same applies if advertising statements are also to be added to the account statements.
• the blank forms are now inserted into the printer and the variable customer data printed in black and white, according to the data provided by the customer.
• the bank statements typically using a so-called inserting machine, are inserted into unprofessional-looking envelopes with windows and the letters franked.
• Transport effort when using the "Hybrid Mail” technology is reduced. Instead of creating the letters in a sender-oriented manner as before, they are generated in a recipient-oriented manner in the distribution order of the respective deliverer, ie all letters for the recipient UVW, then all letters for his neighbor XYZ. This is achieved with fast color laser printers, which make it possible to print inexpensively, in color and at a very high speed without changeover times, with content that is completely variable from one sheet to another.
• Each service center maintains a database in which the data of new orders from all major customers (banks, insurance companies, etc.) are fed in and sorted by recipient. Only then are the mail items generated, of course in the order in which they are received, i.e. in the order in which the postmen will deliver the post later.
• the need for warehousing for the empty forms is eliminated.
• the storage of advertising material is reduced to very specially designed printed matter (which, for example, requires a very special finish, e.g. must be glued) and to non-printable objects (e.g. ballpoint pens, chip cards, etc.).
• the input sorting i.e. sort by street name
• sequence sorting i.e. Sort in the order of delivery
• the senders electronically transmit the files to a central acceptance center, from where they are distributed to the service centers regionally assigned to the receivers.
• the consignments can be generated in the service centers at fixed intervals or depending on the number of consignment data transmitted.
• the files are then printed out using a fast laser printer, so that the printed pages for the individual items, each consisting of the document pages and the page with the layout of the front of the envelope, follow one another.
• the envelopes are then completed with the printed page with the layout of the complete front of the shipment. This can advantageously be achieved by gluing the pages with the complete layout of the front pages of the envelopes onto the front pages of the blank labels provided. Then the document pages are inserted into the corresponding envelope.
• electronic mail this enables the production of high-quality mail items that hardly differ from 0 to 0 in terms of aesthetics. distinguish between original broadcasts. It is no longer necessary to keep pre-printed special envelopes ready for printing in addition to the recipient's address, such as logos, grouting (back to the sender), etc.
• the envelopes can be completed by gluing the pages with the complete layout of the front pages of the envelopes onto the provided envelope back pages with narrow adhesive tabs to produce the finished envelopes.
• the value of the stamps to be printed is determined by means of a tariff table stored in a database and the measured or a priori known mail item properties required according to the table. The passage of the shipments through a separate facility for machine franking is no longer necessary.
• FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of the conventional generation and distribution of bulk mail according to the prior art
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the generation and distribution of bulk mail using sender-oriented "hybrid mail” technology according to the prior art
• FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of the generation and distribution of bulk mail by means of recipient-oriented "hybrid mail" technology
• FIG. 3 explains the proposed method of generating and distributing bulk mail by means of a received hybrid hybrid technology.
• the data are transferred from a major customer, for example a bank 10, to an acceptance center 20.
• the files are sorted according to the different regions and electronically distributed to the service centers 30 for hybrid mail assigned to these regions.
• Each service center 30 maintains a database which feeds in the data of the new orders from all senders (large customers such as banks, insurance companies) and according to the recipient and the distribution sequence in accordance with the routes of the deliverers be sorted.
• the mail items are then generated in these orders and transported to the relevant delivery centers 40. There, the consignments are then carried out in the order of distribution or course.
• the documents are printed out as the content of the mailings and, if necessary, put in envelopes with additional inserts.
• the envelopes are then sealed. If window envelopes are used, the recipient addresses only have to be on the documents. Nevertheless, these envelopes still have to be franked and other grouting printed on.
• a much more elegant solution is to print out a front cover with all the information in a layout that corresponds to the original layout of the sender together with the respective documents for each shipment and to apply it as the front of the envelope.
• a fast color laser printer 3 which prints on paper webs 2, is located in a service center.
• the paper webs 2 are wound on rolls 1 and are pulled off them for printing.
• the control of the color laser printer 3 with corresponding print jobs takes place by means of files 5, which are generated by the senders or also in receiving service centers and are electronically transmitted to the service center (s) producing the mail items.
• Printing takes place in such a way that de Consignment (letter) connected first a page 4 with the complete layout of the front of the envelope and then the associated document pages 7 are printed out.
• Page 4 with the complete layout of the front cover contains, as shown in the drawing, the recipient's address, sender details in graphic form or a logo (closed circle of arrows) and a printed stamp.
• the stamp value is determined using a tariff table stored in a database and the consignment properties noted in the table.
• the shipment properties can be the shipment size (standard letter, large letter), weight, distance zone, postal class (normal transport, urgent shipment). They are known when the shipment is posted, so that the concrete stamp layout can be transferred with it.
• Page 4 with the layout of the front cover can also contain further information, such as grouting (not shown in FIG. 1) (for example, if moved, back to the sender).
• a machine-readable distribution code can also be printed on.
• the machine-readable distribution code can also be designed as an identification code identifying the shipment, to which the recipient address is assigned via a database.
• the identification number only has to identify the shipment in the distribution area of this service center for a specified time. If the machine-readable distribution codes are fluorescent, this is done with an additional inkjet printer. As shown in FIG. 1, after page 4 has been printed, the paper web is separated, indicated by the scissors shown.
• the separate page 4 with the layout of the front cover is then glued to the front of an unlabeled and empty cover 6 provided from a stack, as shown in FIG.
• This process corresponds to applying a large label and includes the steps of applying an adhesive layer on the back, merging and printing from page 4 and cover 6 with synchronization of the movements so that page 4 is glued in the middle, to the state of the labeling technology.
• the paper web 2 has a slightly smaller width than the envelope 6, so that the sticking on and also the insertion of the contents can be implemented without problems.
• the separate page 4 with the layout of the front cover can also be glued in an additional variant to a back cover provided from a stack.
• This reverse side of the cover has narrow adhesive flaps on its lateral edges and on its lower edge, which are produced by folding and fixing by gluing narrow protrusions and providing the flaps thus created with an adhesive surface.
• the front cover layout protrudes beyond the back cover and serves as a flap.
• the associated document pages 7 are printed out and separated page by page (indicated by scissors).
• the documents can consist of text pages with the company logo, as shown, drawings, images, graphics etc., and also of mixed forms (FIG. 3).
• the shipments are distributed. To do this, they must exist in a certain distribution order. Shipment should also include traditionally produced and dispatched items are included, this is done on sequence sorting machines that sort the mail items on the basis of the machine-readable distribution codes. If this merging is not necessary because the hybrid mail consignment is relatively high for the deliverer, sorting can be dispensed with, as already explained, if the consignments are printed out in the distribution order.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
• Fuel-Injection Apparatus (AREA)
• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=7634580

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (16)

Family Cites Families (10)

• 2001
  • 2001-03-08 AT AT01919173T patent/ATE279994T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2001-03-08 AU AU2001246369A patent/AU2001246369B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2001-03-08 CA CA002402760A patent/CA2402760C/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2001-03-08 DE DE50104225T patent/DE50104225D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-03-08 AU AU4636901A patent/AU4636901A/xx not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-03-08 WO PCT/DE2001/000874 patent/WO2001068274A2/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2001-03-08 EP EP01919173A patent/EP1286791B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-09-03 US US10/232,702 patent/US6807459B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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