WO1995020200A1

WO1995020200A1 - Method and system for processing postal items

Info

Publication number: WO1995020200A1
Application number: PCT/FR1995/000065
Authority: WO
Inventors: Laurent Ruat
Original assignee: Giat Industries
Priority date: 1994-01-21
Filing date: 1995-01-20
Publication date: 1995-07-27
Also published as: CA2139214A1; FR2715333B1; FR2715333A1

Abstract

Method and system for processing postal items, said items (22) bearing coded information (24) which is affixed or printed thereon by the sender using a computer system (10, 16, 18) and is capable of being automatically read to simplify sorting. Said coded information (24) comprises non-encrypted data on the sender's and addressee's identities and encrypted data on the addressee's address, postage details and the sender, enabling automatic invoicing of the sender by the postal services, while preventing fraudulent acts.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING POSTAL FOLD

The invention relates to a method and a system for processing postal envelopes, such as letters, packages, parcels, etc. The postal services are equipped with automatic sorting systems using optical character recognition software intended to allow automatic reading of at least part of the addresses shown on the postal envelopes. However, these addresses are often very difficult to read automatically and sometimes poorly written or incomplete, so that many mail items are rejected by automatic sorting installations and must be sorted by postal workers. It has already been proposed to print on postal envelopes information in barcode, corresponding to the destination and / or the routing of a envelope, which is more easily readable, with a very low error rate, by means of automatic reading of sorting installations.

Currently, this bar code information is printed on postal envelopes by postal services. This necessitates the reading by the third parties of part of the address of each postal letter, the entry of a city name or a postal code in a system for processing information by typing on a keypad, and printing of a barcode on the mail fold. These means are slow and require numerous personnel for their operation, which makes them expensive.

Controlling the franking of postal envelopes poses other problems, in particular with regard to the use of franking machines installed with subscribers who are generally large mailers.

We have already proposed, in the FR Patent 2,580,844, systems which establish a connection between a subscriber and a post office and which allow the subscriber, after the post office has verified that his account is sufficiently supplied, to print on a fold which he wishes to send postage information of the alphanumeric or barcode type and encrypted information which is developed from postage information and data relating to the recipient of the mail. This encrypted information can be read automatically by the post office to check the authenticity of the postage information, that is to say to check that the postage value has been paid in advance by 1 'sender. These systems have the drawback of being paid up front, they only work if the subscriber's account is sufficiently supplied, they do not prevent fraud because a subscriber can send several letters on the same day recipient by paying only one postage for postage, they require almost permanent or long-term connections between large mailers and post offices and they charge the subscriber the price of all postage paid ¬ sements which have been worn on postal envelopes, including those which are not ultimately dispatched.

The subject of the invention is a method and a system for processing postal envelopes which do not have the abovementioned drawbacks.

Its subject is a process and a system of this type, which prohibits fraud, which does not require a more or less long connection between a post office and a subscriber and in which only the postal items actually sent are invoiced, the accounting of postage and mailings of items also taking place in the post office and not at the subscriber's. It also relates to a method and a system of this type, which can also be used by non-subscribers.

It also relates to a method and a system of this type which provide a simple and effective solution to the problems of automatic sorting and franking control.

To this end, it proposes a method for processing postal envelopes, aimed at facilitating the automatic sorting of envelopes according to their destination and the payment of their postage, this method consisting in affixing to each envelope, by sender, coded information readable by means of automatic reading and comprising data relating to the sender and recipient of the fold and its postage, some of the coded information being additionally encrypted, characterized in that it consists, when the mail is sent, to have the coded information on the mail automatically read by the postal services to at least partially identify the sender, to access an encryption key based on the identity of the sender, to decipher the information encrypted using the aforementioned key and to debit from a sender's account a sum corresponding to the dec value scoffed at the postage paid.

The method according to the invention avoids the use of postage stamps and makes it possible to carry out automatic accounting and invoicing of postage paid postage, and simultaneously to automatically sort the postage according to their destination.

Fraud is made impossible insofar as the encrypted information can only be deciphered by the postal service, third parties having no access to the encryption keys which are not part of the data printed on postal envelopes.

In addition, the encrypted information included in the coded information are preferably different and complementary to the coded and unencrypted information, so that the decryption of the encrypted information provides confirmation of the coded and unencrypted information, which reinforces security against attempts to fraud.

The coded and unencrypted information appearing on a fold may include the name of the recipient and the name and address of the sender and / or a subscriber number.

The coded and encrypted information which appears on the fold can include the amount of postage, the date of postage, the address of the addressee, information relating to the identity of the sender, different from that which shown in the coded and unencrypted information, and possibly information on the type of postal mail (slow or fast mail, letter, registered letter, registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, package, registered package, etc.).

Advantageously, the coded information shown on the postal envelope is in a bar code of an advanced type such as PDF 417.

The use of such a code makes it possible to include on the mail fold a much greater quantity of data than with a bar code of a usual type. In addition, a code such as PDF 417 includes error correcting codes, so that printing or reading faults in the coded information do not prevent the normal processing of the postal envelope by a sorting installation comprising means automatic reading.

The invention also provides a system for processing postal envelopes, comprising computer means for entering, encrypting and coding information relating to the sender and the destination. to keep a fold as well as to its franking, and for printing on the fold or on a coded information label some of which are encrypted, and means installed in the postal services for the automatic reading of the coded information appearing on the folds, in particular for the control of the franking and the automatic sorting of the folds, charac¬ terized in that the said automatic reading means are connected to means for processing the information comprising memories in which are stored encryption keys each corresponding to a different known dispatcher, these information processing means making it possible to access a encryption key from coded and unencrypted information read on a fold, to decipher using this key the encrypted information read on the mail, to record in memory at least the postage value of the mail and the identity of its sender e t to keep automatic accounting of postage paid for items sent by known senders, with a view in particular to their invoicing.

The aforementioned computer means used by senders can advantageously include means for determining the postage values of the envelopes. These IT resources are generally installed in subscribers, but can also be installed in public places, to be available to non-subscribed users.

The invention will be better understood and other characteristics, details and advantages thereof will appear more clearly on reading the description which follows, given by way of example with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a computer device installed at a subscriber's premises and a mail fold processed by this device; FIG. 2 schematically represents a variant of the computer device installed at a subscriber's and a postal cover treated by this variant; Figure 3 shows another alternative embodiment of this computer device; FIG. 4 schematically represents a postal envelope processed by the device of FIG. 3; Figure 5 is an enlarged view of the coded information appearing on the mail fold of Figure 4; FIG. 6 schematically represents the means installed in the postal services; FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the essential operations of the method according to the invention.

The device represented in FIG. 1 is intended to be installed in a mailing shipper, to which it has been rented, loaned or sold by the postal service, this device comprising a terminal 10, for example of the "minitel" type , comprising a display screen 12 and a keyboard with keys 14, which is connected to a system 16 for processing information linked itself at output to a printer 18 for printing labels 20 intended to be glued to mail folds 22.

The information processing system 16 can be in the form of a sealed box provided with an input connector and an output connector and in which at least one microprocessor, a random access memory and a memory are arranged. dead in which is recorded software allowing coding and encryption of data entered by means of the keyboard 14 of the terminal 10.

The code used can be a bar code, such as that known under the designation "128" or a more advanced code, such as that known under the designation PDF 417 and which will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. One can use for encryption of data any number known for its security, such as for example DES, and assign a different encryption key to each known sender or subscriber. The computer system 16 delivered to a known sender or to a subscriber contains the encryption key assigned to this sender or to this subscriber, in a memory not accessible from the outside. In addition, provision may be made for automatic modification of the encryption keys.

The means shown in FIG. 1 are used in the following manner: the name and address of the recipient of a postal envelope are entered using the keyboard 14 of the terminal 10 and are transmitted to the computer system 16 with the amount postage paid postage. This postage amount can also be entered by means of the keyboard 14 or determined more or less automatically by the terminal 10 or by means associated with this terminal. The data transmitted to the computer system 16 also includes information on the identity of the sender, on the type of postal item sent (slow, fast, recommended or not, etc.) and on the date of postage, and are encrypted for part of them and coded in a barcode in the example shown, which is printed by the printer 18 at 24 on the label 20, next to the name and address of the recipient printed in alphanumeric characters on this label. The coded information 24 therefore includes unencrypted data such as the name of the recipient and information relating to the sender, and encrypted data which include the amount of postage, its date, the address of the addressee, additional information on the identity of the sender and on the type of postal envelope sent. Of course, the encrypted data relating to the recipient may include all or part of the name and full address of the recipient, as well as the coded data relating to the sender may include all or part of the name and 1 address of the latter and his subscriber number.

In addition, data relating to the delivery of postal items can be selected from a memory of the computer system 16 and added automatically by the latter to the coded and / or encrypted data relating to the address of the recipient of each item. mail fold.

The printer 18 is controlled by the computer system 16 to print labels 20 comprising the name and address of the recipient in alphanumeric characters and coded information 24, these labels then being stuck on the postal envelopes 22, or good for directly printing this information on postal envelopes, when the latter are thin enough or else when the printer is specially designed to accept postal envelopes.

The input terminal 10 can be of the "minitel" type as shown in FIG. 1, or of the microcomputer type as shown in FIG. 2. It then comprises a display screen 12 and a keyboard with keys 14 as in the previous embodiment , and a central unit 26 for processing information comprising one or more microprocessors, memories and means for reading floppy disks and / or other information carriers.

The sealed box which constitutes the information processing system 16 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 can also be used in the embodiment of FIG. 2 while being connected to the central unit 26 of the microcomputer. This system 16 could possibly be replaced by a memory removable, protected against illicit attempts to access or copy, which would be readable by means of reading from the central unit 26 and in which the program and the data necessary for encryption and coding of the data to be recorded to appear on postal envelopes.

In the alternative embodiment represented in FIG. 2, the printer 18 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 is replaced by an electronic buffer 28 which makes it possible to print the coded information 24 on the postal envelopes 22 next to the name and the address of the addressee which have been printed in plain text or written by hand by the sender.

This electronic buffer 28 can also be used to print the coded information 24 on a label then stuck on the mail fold next to the name and address of the recipient.

In another variant embodiment shown schematically in FIG. 3, the device which can be used by the sender is installed in a public place, which can for example be a place for the sale of postage stamps such as a post office or a tobacco bar, and made available to the public for the treatment and franking of postal items. The device of FIG. 3 comprises a display screen 30, a keyboard with keys 32 and means for processing the information which are integrated in a piece of furniture or a box 34 comprising a coin mechanism 36 and means 38 for delivering a label 40 (shown in FIG. 4) intended to be glued or fixed to a mail fold 42.

To use this device, the sender of a postal envelope must type on the keyboard 32 the full name and address of the recipient and pay by means of the coin mechanism 36 a sum corresponding to the amount of postage of the postal envelope. Of course, the data entries entered by the sender using the keyboard 32 can include his name and / or address, if desired.

The information processing means provided in this device make it possible, as in the previous embodiments, to encrypt data such as the amount and date of postage, the recipient's address, the type of mail. used and identification data of the sender or IT device used, with an encryption key which is assigned to this IT device. These data are then coded, with information relating to the device used and to the recipient of the fold (for example his name), in a bar code of a conventional type or in a more advanced code such as PDF 417, then printed on a self-adhesive label 40 which is delivered to the sender of the fold and which must be stuck on the fold.

As already indicated, the use of an advanced code such as PDF 417 has the advantage that the amount of coded data that can be shown on a postal envelope is much greater than with a barcode of a classic type. In addition, a code such as PDF 417 includes error correcting codes so that printing or reading faults in the coded information do not prevent normal processing of the fold by the automatic sorting services from the post office.

In more detail, the PDF code 417 from the company SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES (NY USA) is a code of the continuous type allowing the coding of approximately 1000 bytes of data or more in a graphic symbol such as that represented at 44 in FIGS. 4 and 5. Such a symbol can comprise from 3 to 90 rows and from 1 to 30 columns of data and is decodable by bi-directional reading. Different modes of data compression can be used. Obviously, devices such as that shown in FIG. 3 can also be used by postal agents, to whom the users deliver unpaid postal items which they wish to dispatch.

When the postal envelopes thus treated are handed over to the postal service for their routing and distribution, the coded information they carry is used to facilitate their automatic sorting and to allow automatic accounting and invoicing of the corresponding postage.

For this, the postal services are equipped with means 46 for rapid automatic reading of the coded information 44 (or 24) appearing on the folds 42 (or 22) which, for example, are moved at high speed in the direction indicated by the arrow 48 opposite the means 46.

The latter are connected to information processing means 50, comprising microprocessors, memories 52 in which are encryption keys and identification information of the subscribers to whom these keys have been allocated, means 54 for deciphering the encrypted information which has been read by the means 46 and the automatic accounting and invoicing means 56, the information processing means 50 being connected at output to automatic sorting means 58 to which are communicated data relating to the destinations and routes of postal envelopes.

The essential operations of the method according to the invention are shown diagrammatically in the flow diagram of FIG. 7.

The first operation 60 is data entry, which is carried out by the sender of a pos¬ tal fold by means of a keyboard 14 of a device of FIGS. 1 and 2 or of the keyboard 32 of the device of FIG. 3 , the data entered including the name and address of the destination , the value and date of postage, the type of mail and the sender's identification information. Depending on the case, the date and / or the value of the postage can be entered by the sender or added automatically to the entered data. Likewise, the sender's identification information can be stored in the memory of the devices in FIGS. 1 and 2 and automatically added to the data entered by the sender, or else be entered by the sender who uses the device in the figure. 3.

The following operation 62 consists of encrypting some of the data entered, in particular that relating to the recipient's address, postage and part of the sender's identification information, by means of an encryption key which is assigned or assigned to the sender when the latter is known to the postal services (for example due to a subscription) or which can be assigned to a device of the type of that of FIG. 3, which is placed in a public place and which is intended to be used by any person.

The encrypted data and the other data entered are then coded, either in bar code as shown diagrammatically on the postal envelopes of FIGS. 1 and 2, or in a more advanced code such as PDF 417 as represented diagrammatically in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The following operation 64 is a printing of the coded data, either directly on the postal fold, or on a label 20 or 40 intended to be stuck on the postal fold.

The letter is then dispatched, by deposit in a letter box or in a post office as indicated schematically in 66. The postal letter is then treated by the postal services in a chain such as that shown. shown diagrammatically in FIG. 6. The first operation 68 carried out by the postal services is a reading and a decoding of the coded data which appear on the postal fold. The decoding of unencrypted data allows an at least partial identification of the sender, as indicated in 70, and this partial identification allows access to the encryption key which has been assigned to the sender, as indicated in 72. The encryption key is used for the decryption of encrypted data in the postal envelope, the 74 encryption allowing access to the addressee's address, the value and the date of postage entered on the postal envelope. and a confirmation of the identity of the sender, this data being, as indicated in 76, used to record the value and the date of postage debited from an account of one sender with possibly a part of the relative data to the identity of the recipient, and to invoice the sender, the sending of invoices taking place at the end of predetermined periods of time which can be variable depending on the volume of mail posted by c each shipper (daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, for example).

The decrypted data available at the end of operation 74 are also used for the automatic sorting of postal envelopes as indicated in 78. In the case where operations 72 for accessing an encryption key and 74 for decryption give a result negative, the corresponding postal envelope is rejected or set aside, by the sorting means 58 controlled by the means 50 for processing information.

Thus, senders who are subscribers with a device at home such as those of FIGS. 1 and 2, are billed automatically by the ser- postage defects after sending the mail they actually posted.

When the postal envelopes have been marked and franked by means of devices such as that of FIG. 3, usable by the public, the invention makes it possible to keep an automatic accounting of the operations carried out by these devices, by distinguishing them from each other at using the encryption keys assigned to them. In addition, automatic mail sorting is made easier and faster.

In general, the encrypted information that appears on a fold can include all or part of the name and / or address of the recipient and all or part of the name and / or address of the sender and / or of its subscriber number.

It will be noted that a system such as that shown in FIG. 6 can also be used by a subscriber receiving a lot of mail, for recording and sorting the mail received. For example, a company which receives several tens or hundreds of postal items every day can very quickly record the reception of each item by reading and decoding the coded information carried on the items (the value and the date of postage which are encrypted data not having been taken into account) and it can also automatically proceed to a first sorting of the received mail, when the name of the person receiving a letter appears in the coded information not encrypted in addition to the name of the company.

Obviously, in this case, the information processing means 50 are simplified and do not include the memories 52 for recording the encryption keys, the decryption means 54 and the automatic billing means 56.

Claims

1. Method for processing postal envelopes, designed to facilitate automatic sorting of envelopes according to their destination and payment of their postage, this method consisting in affixing to each envelope (22, 42) by sender, coded information (24, 44) readable by automatic reading means and comprising data relating to the sender, to the addressee and to the franking of the envelope, some of the coded information being further encrypted, what it consists of, when the mail is sent, having the coded information (24, 44) on the mail read automatically by the postal services to at least partially identify the sender, to access an encryption key from the identity of the sender, to decrypt the encrypted information using the aforementioned key and to debit from an account of the sender an amount corresponding to the decrypted value e of postage.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it consists in making establish automatically, by the services of the post office, invoices repre¬ ning the information carried on the accounts of the senders and to send them to senders for payment of postage.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, ca¬ acted in that it consists in also registering, on the account of the sender, the postage date and at least part of the data relating to the recipient of the fold.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the encrypted and coded information appearing on the fold comprises data different from that which forms part of the coded and unencrypted information.

5. Method according to claim 4, character- This is due to the fact that the data relating to the sender which appear respectively in the encrypted and coded information and in the non-encrypted coded information are complementary to one another.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the data appearing in the encrypted information comprise at least part of the name and / or the address of the recipient.

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coded and unencrypted information appearing on the postal envelope includes at least part of the identification data of the sender, such as his name and address and / or a subscriber number.

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it consists in inputting the data constituting the information coded by the sender into an information processing device made available to the public, to do to print the information coded on a label (40) and to deliver this label to the sender by paying the postage value of the postage.

9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coded information (44) is in bar code of an advanced type such as PDF 417.

10. Mail-box processing system, comprising computer means (10, 16, 18, 28, 30, 32, 34) for entering, encrypting and coding data relating to the sender and recipient of a fold, as well as its franking, and for printing on the fold (22) or on a label (20, 40) of coded information some of which are encrypted, and means (46, 50, 58) installed in the postal services for the automatic reading of coded information appearing on the envelopes, in particular for the control of postage and automatic sorting of folds, characterized in that the automatic reading means (46) are connected to information processing means (50) comprising memories (52) in which are recorded encryption keys each assigned to a different known sender, these means

(50) information processing allowing access to an encryption key from the coded information

(24, 44) read on a fold, to decipher using this key the encrypted information contained in the aforementioned coded information, to record in memory at least the postage value of the fold and the identity of its sender and to keep accounts of the envelopes posted by known senders with a view in particular to their automatic invoicing.

11. The system of claim 10, charac¬ terized in that the unencrypted coded information (24, 44) appearing on a fold comprises at least a part of the name and address of the recipient and an identification data at least partial of the sender, such as name and / or address and / or subscriber number.

12. System according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the encrypted information appearing on a fold comprises the value and the date of postage of the fold, additional information identifying the sender and at least part of a recipient identification data such as for example his address.

13. System according to one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the coded information (24, 44) appearing on a fold is in a bar code such as for example an advanced code of the PDF 417 type.

14. System according to one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that the aforementioned computer means (10, 16, 30, 32, 34) comprise means for de- termination of postage postage values.

15. System according to one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that the aforementioned computer means (10, 16, 18, 28) are installed at subscribers.

16. System according to one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that the aforementioned computer means (30, 32, 34) are installed in a public place and / or made available to the public.