WO1998055008A1

WO1998055008A1 - Process and device for the distribution of flat mail

Info

Publication number: WO1998055008A1
Application number: PCT/DE1998/001417
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jens Zschorlich
Original assignee: Jens Zschorlich
Priority date: 1997-06-05
Filing date: 1998-05-16
Publication date: 1998-12-10
Also published as: EP1005284A1; DE19880746D2; AU8430898A

Abstract

A process and device for the distribution of flat mail, in particular letters, is disclosed. By modifying the evaluation of the classification-relevant features of flat mail to be transported, it becomes possible to mechanise to a large extent the reception of flat mail to be transported in a previously defined territory. The mail reception box compensates for a limitation of collection services at short intervals and is multifunctionally designed in a client-friendly manner. This problem is solved in that the flat mail to be transported is evaluated according to its thickness and width, the resultant value is compared with a standard weight and can, if required, be corrected. A card with integrated magnetic strips and a rechargeable microprocessor chip allows opening the postal reception device and charging the value of the flat mail delivered from the microprocessor chip integrated therein. The letter reception device is designed as a fixed column with openings, sorting devices, a microcomputer and other devices suitable for carrying out the process.

Description

Method and device for handling the distribution of flat mail items

The invention relates to a method and a device for handling the distribution of flat mail items, preferably letter mail items.

According to customary practice, mail is provided with tokens to a container which is accessible by means of a flap and is usually box-like or tower-shaped and designed as a mail receiving container and which can hold a larger quantity of mail. This container is used exclusively for the storage of this letter mail and is emptied after arbitrarily determined times. Furthermore, the postal mail contained is checked optoelectronically and / or manually for its proper franking according to weight and size in a collection point and sorted according to the intended main direction of transport. This generally known principle has not changed for decades.

However, there have been a number of attempts to technically improve these box-like or tower-like mail receiving containers. Thus, according to DE-OS 2 516 885, a speech and signaling device for a wide variety of communication purposes is integrated in the letter mail acceptance box. Foldable locking devices that open the letter mail box for acceptance I closed a letter, were redesigned so that they not only seal better against ambient air of high humidity, but are also secured by a favorable design in their center of gravity so that one-handed mailing, as is required at a car counter, is possible.

Securing devices are often designed as a lock, as provided in DE-OS 2 619 125.

The determination of thickness, format and weight is relevant insofar as the remuneration to be paid is measured to the postal company. For example, DE-Gm 93 09 359 describes a handling device for classifying the mail according to the dimensions length, width and thickness, representative of other applications.

Solutions proposed to improve mailbox acceptance boxes regularly relate to the design of mailboxes which, in the case of frequent emptying as a so-called wall-mounted container, are generally sufficient as mailbox acceptance devices.

In order to make mailbox acceptance boxes of this type more attractive while maintaining their basic function, there has been no lack of attempts to combine them with additional functional elements. For example, DE-PS 524 836 provides a construction in which a circulating belt provided with advertising is attached to the front of the box, which is gradually moved further when the flap is opened, so that it is multifunctional. According to DE-Gm 295 10 223, the mail acceptance box is also provided with a Spiegel combines, so that the person sending the post is able to assess its personal appearance.

As a representative of special forms of a letter mail acceptance device, a form shown in US Pat. No. 4,225,359, which consists of a large number of storage units in which manual flat mail items, goods intended for distribution and the like are stored, temporarily remain there and through special ones Authorized are removed. Opening a storage unit is only possible under certain security precautions by comparing address characteristic data set in a central unit with the data that have been issued and read by magnetic stripe cards read by a card reader. If the identification data of a given card matches that of the file, the access authorization is determined and the storage unit belonging to the identification is opened. If associated values cannot be assigned, other system steps are initiated, such as triggering an alarm or the like. This device is suitable for the selective storage of mail or other small items, if applicable, which are given in or taken out by special authorized persons of this device. A concentrated recording, sorting and evaluation according to different, from external characteristics or the mass of individual postal units after a money-quasi-unit and their consideration in the clarification of the access authorization is not possible.

Another special form of a mail acceptance and distribution system is described in US Pat. No. 3,747,752. Here, a mail acceptance device is shown in which the mail is already sorted according to goals and / or other criteria. On the one hand, this affects those with the public post office too transporting items as well as sorting according to other criteria. Insofar as a task is carried out according to other goals and / or criteria, the storage units assigned in these criteria take place, which are mechanically locked and integrated into groups within a system unit in the mail receiving device. This includes transporters who are trained to accept these groups. Containers for the public mail sent to the system are also integrated into these carriers. At the same time, entire groups of storage units are transported from one system unit to another, for example over floors of an administration building of an operational unit, in that special trolleys are set up to accommodate these groups and are moved to the different destinations.

The previous system of mail acceptance and distribution is characterized in that a relatively large number of operations are required in order to bring this mail to the definitive recipient. First, tokens are stuck on, the value of which is determined by the factors size of the cubic dimensions taking into account the weight. The user must buy and store these tokens in different denominations beforehand or join a franking system. Furthermore, depending on the load on individual main transport directions, multiple sorting of the mail to be transported is not uncommon. In order to avoid this, so-called directional mailboxes are set up in large cities, as is also integrated in the solution according to US Pat. No. 3,747,752 to a minimum without fundamentally changing the further treatment of posted mail. The object of the invention is therefore to develop a method and a device for handling flat mail items, preferably letter mail items, in which a change in the evaluation of the characteristics of the mail items to be transported, which are relevant for classification, enables a further mechanization of the mail item acceptance for transportation in a territory defined from the start , the mail acceptance box is intended to compensate for a restriction of mail pick-up at short intervals and is designed to be multifunctional in a customer-friendly, technically appropriate manner.

The object is achieved by providing the transporting flat mail items, preferably letter mail items, first differentiated according to thickness and width, which is derived from the length of the shorter of the two edges determining the area, by the readiness for acceptance of such a mail acceptance device, preferably a mail post box a card with integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip carried by the person in charge of the postal task is temporarily brought about by giving this card with magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip to the mail acceptance device, a counting device integrated in the mail acceptance device, the number of mail items placed in different formats and, if required, after separating a stack, depending on the width and / or its weight by an integrated counting device the number of different mailed format determined in accordance with a basic value that is fictitious for individual formats, made available to a built-in microcomputer as a calculation variable and, in the case of individual mailings that differ in weight from the fictitious basic value, a multiple The multiple of the basic value is adequately multiplied, this fictitious value is converted into an adequate electrical-electronic signal, the number of signals is summed up and the resulting total value is calculated and converted into the valid national currency, as well as the one on the card with an integrated magnetic stripe and the capacity of the rechargeable microprocessor chip is influenced by reducing the level of this microprocessor chip by a value which is inversely proportional to the type and number of mail items sent and the level of the rechargeable microprocessor chip on the card with an integrated magnetic strip is in turn an actual one of the valid ones Currency value corresponding to the national currency is expressed.

The device according to the invention essentially consists of a floor-based, regularly column-shaped mail acceptance device which, on at least one of its sides facing the main traffic flow, adequately has the number of usual flat formats of mail items to be transported, preferably letter formats, mechanically operated and operated lockable cut-out openings, the free openings of which are available in the open state Width essentially corresponds to the smaller of the two edges delimiting the area of formatted mail, on the side of the area of the letter mail acceptance device provided with closable recess openings there is a receiving device for a card with an integrated magnetic strip and a rechargeable microprocessor chip, in which the card with an integrated magnetic strip remains during the dwell time and rechargeable microprocessor chip in the microprocessor chip generates field changes and these in elec electrical impulses are converted, while the mechanically operated and operated lockable recesses opening openings are kept open and the level of the microprocessor chips present in the card with a magnetic strip and integrated microprocessor chip is influenced in inverse proportion to an adequate total value depending on the width and number of mail items posted, in that each individual mail item is preferably registered by sensors themselves and in their width and the sum is formed from the number of pieces detected as a function of the smaller of the two edges delimiting the area of formatted mail items and the number of mail items.

The tolerance range for the weight corresponds to an arbitrary gradation. If a value is exceeded, the mail item is assigned to the next higher level.

When mailing letters, it cannot be ruled out that several identical formats can be posted together. In order to enable the separation of a possibly given large number of flat mail items, a separating device is arranged downstream of each cutout opening, which provides the individual value for the sum formation taking place depending on the smaller width of the edges of the two formatted flat mail items and the number of flat mail items .

The cutout openings are preferably designed as pull-in mechanisms, the locking mechanisms of the cutout openings being designed to be open and lockable electronically, electrically or hydraulically. After the separation, all of the flat mail items that are fed in are checked for their width by sensors, so that a flat mail item that does not correspond to a predetermined width is detected by these integrated sensors, these cause the detection by a deflection device, and this flat mail item is output by means of an output that is expedient has a catch basket which is open at the top outside the housing of the mail acceptance device and is brought back to the surface.

An intercom can be integrated in the housing, for example to be able to call for help in an emergency situation. In order to be able to ensure independent operation, the mail acceptance device is connected to other communication networks, which is preferably done wirelessly. For energy supply, the mail receiving device can be equipped with a photovoltaic element and a buffer device for the energy obtained. In the sense of a multifunctional design, the outside of the housing is at least partially designed as an advertising medium or can carry further information-useful signs, displays or the like, such as a city map. There is also a display integrated into the housing, via which the fill level of the microprocessor chips present in the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip is displayed in the associated receiving device during the stay of the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip, with each card anyway integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip an identifiable signal can be read or this emits such a signal that is stored for detection and control purposes. It is also possible that a printer is integrated in the mail receiving device, which on the basis of the determined dimensions of the individual mail items and taking into account their total number ejects a document which confirms the number of mail items, also separated according to formats. The printer can also be used for other integrated functions, for example in a system of integrated ticket sales, postcard or admission ticket sales and the like functions, in the context of which a specific confirmation in the form of a printed product is expedient. The delivery side is preferably on the main loading side of the mail acceptance device.

It is also possible that a monostable flip-flop is integrated, which ensures that after a short presettable time has passed - usually this is an order of magnitude in the range of seconds - after using the mail acceptance device, it usually falls into a sleep mode, from which it can be operated via the Entering a living being, which is registered via a motion detector integrated in the housing and provided with a switching element, switches back to the working mode, provided that this is not provided for in terms of circuitry by giving up the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip.

The mail acceptance device is preferably set up at points at which an operation and loading of individual means of transport, for example a passenger car, can take place.

The invention will be explained in more detail using an exemplary embodiment. An acceptance device for flat mail items designed as a letter mail acceptance device, in which only inner-city letters from a large city are accepted for distribution, has four cut-out openings which are closed by locked and mechanically operated flaps, the width of which corresponds to the narrow side of the most common letter formats plus a tolerance value. In this specific case, the formats C6, DIN long, C4 and B4 were specified with a tolerance of 1 cm. A person wishing to post a letter approaches the letter receiving device, takes a specific card with an integrated magnetic strip and a rechargeable microprocessor chip and hands it over to a marked recess in the mail receiving device. After the card with the integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip has been identified, all of the closed recess openings open and the mail receiving device can be loaded.

If the mail has been handed over to the mail receiving facility, it will be separated in the mail receiving facility. If a significant deviation in the width is determined by sensors, the letter thus recognized and evaluated is fed via a swiveling guide device to a delivery opening which is expediently arranged on the operator side, so that it can be recognized by the person who posted it and assigned to the correct cutout opening can be relinquished.

Each individual letter triggers impulses in the interior of the mail acceptance box, which respond to a specific identification signal of the card used with integrated Free magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip, based on the width of the letters and / or their weight are different and evaluated by comparison with a fictitious base value, if necessary multiplied by the ratio resulting from the comparison, and counted.

At the same time, the sum of the impulses is determined with a fictitious concept of value, which is preferably expressed in monetary values. This total value has the effect that the level of the microprocessor chip present on the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip is reduced in inverse proportion and the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip is ejected again, so that the person who posted the mail has this card with an integrated one Magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip removed again. After reducing the fill level of the card with integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip, a display integrated in the housing and attached to the operating side shows the fill level of the microprocessor chip present in the card with integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip. This means that the person who posted the mail to the mail receiving facility has knowledge of the residual value of their card with an integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip.

If a residual value on the card with an integrated magnetic stripe and a rechargeable microprocessor chip is not sufficient in accordance with the value equivalent of the mail to be sent, the person issuing the mail has the option of responding to a signal, as with telephone cards with insufficient residual value, it is customary to add a second card within a defined time. If this is not done, the mail corresponding to the difference value is rejected by the deflection device.

When the card has been ejected or removed with an integrated magnetic stripe and a rechargeable microprocessor chip, the system closes the cut-out openings again. At the same time, a confirmation receipt is issued via the integrated printing device, which is an integrated laser printer, via the central unit, which documents information about the time, the date and the number of individual formats that have been submitted.

If the mail receiving device is filled with mail items, an existing level sensor system triggers a signal in a central point, so that the useful value of the mail receiving device can be restored by emptying it at the latest, provided that this cannot be guaranteed at short notice anyway by regular emptying.

Claims

Protection claims:

Method for handling the distribution of flat mail items, preferably letter mail items in a delimited territory, preferably in urban areas, in which the flat mail items to be transported are provided differentiated according to thickness, width and / or weight, the readiness for acceptance of a mail acceptance device for flat mail items by a The card that is carried along with the integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip is temporarily brought about by being given to the mail acceptance box, the counting device integrated into the mail receiving device determines the number of flat mail items placed in different formats in accordance with a fictitious valid value for individual formats, as a calculation size one microcomputer integrated in the mail receiving device is made available and in the case of different individual items which differ in weight Consistent with the weight deviation, the basic value predetermined for a certain weight is multiplied and a fictitious value results, this fictitious value is converted into an adequate electrical-electronic signal, the number of signals is summed and the resulting total value is formed and into the valid one Local currency is converted, the capacity of the microprocessor chip present on the card with integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip is influenced by the filling level of this microprocessor chip. roprozessorchips is reversed by a value directly proportional to the type and number of flat mail items posted, the level of the on the card with integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip is expressed in the actual monetary value of the valid national currency.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which a given flat mail stack is separated by a separating device integrated into the interior of the mail acceptance device.

3.Device for carrying out a method according to one of claims 1 or 2, consisting of a post acceptance device firmly connected to the ground, which has at least one of its sides facing the main traffic flow adequately the number of usual formats of flat mail items mechanically operated and closable recess openings, whose in open state, the existing free width essentially corresponds to the smaller of the two edges delimiting the area of formatted flat mail items, there is a receiving device for a card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip, which during the dwell time of the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip in the mail Receiving device are converted by the flat electrical mail generated electrical impulses from the microcomputer, which at the same time keep the mechanically operated and closable recess openings open and influence the fill level of a microprocessor chip integrated in the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip, inversely proportional to one depending on the width and number Flat mail items as well as the adequate total value of a single mail item are exceeded by registering each individual flat mail item and the sum is formed depending on the smaller of the two edges of the area of formatted flat mail items and the number of flat mail items, as well as the correction in the case of an overweight individual mail item the determined individual value of this shipment in accordance with the determined factor from the division with e in a predetermined basic value.

4. Device according to claim 3, in which a microcomputer is integrated in the structure of the mail acceptance device.

5. Device according to one of claims 3 or 4, wherein the receiving opening for the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip is arranged on the side of the surface of the mail receiving device provided with closable recess openings.

6. Device according to one of claims 3 to 5, in which in the interior of the mail receiving device following each recess opening there is a known separating device suitable for flat objects, which has the individual value for the width depending on the smaller of the two edges of the formatted flat mail items and the sum of the number of flat mail items is provided to the microcomputer.

7. Device according to one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the

Recess openings are designed as a feed mechanism.

8. Device according to one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the locking mechanisms of the recess openings are designed to be electronically-electrically openable and lockable.

9. Device according to one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the locking mechanisms of the recess openings are designed to be hydraulically openable and lockable.

10. Device according to one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the locking mechanisms of the recess openings are designed to be pneumatically openable and lockable.

11. Device according to one of claims 3 to 10, in which

Sensors are present which control the width of the flat mail items received and a flat mail item which does not correspond to a predetermined width is detected by means of these integrated sensors; cause steering device and this letter mail is again conveyed to the outside via a delivery opening, which expediently has a catch basket which is open at the top outside the housing of the mail acceptance device for flat mail items.

12. Device according to one of claims 3 to 11, in which an intercom is integrated into the housing.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the intercom is connected to a center.

14. Device according to one of claims 3 to 13, which is connected via an interface on the communication side to an existing telecommunications network.

15. Device according to one of claims 3 to 14, wherein the

Outside of the housing is designed as an advertising medium.

16. Device according to one of claims 3 to 15, wherein the

Has further information-useful information signs, displays or the like on the outside of the housing.

17. Device according to one of claims 3 to 16, wherein the level of the integrated in the card with an integrated magnetic strip and rechargeable microprocessor chip integrated microprocessor chips on a display integrated in the housing during the stay of the card with an integrated magnetic strip and recording device associated with rechargeable microprocessor chip is determined and displayed.

18. Device according to claim 17, in which a confirmation device coupled to the display is integrated.

19. Device according to one of claims 3 to 18, in which a plurality of these devices are interconnected electrically / electronically and / or wirelessly

20. Device according to one of claims 3 to 19, in which the

Card with integrated magnetic stripe and rechargeable microprocessor chip initiates the delivery of an identifiable specific signal for storage in the integrated microcomputer.

21. Device according to one of claims 3 to 20, in which a photovoltaic device is included in the housing for internal power supply.

22. Device according to one of claims 3 to 21, in which an integrated printing device is present.

23. The device according to claim 22, wherein the integrated printing device is electrically-electronically connected to the counting device.

24. Device according to one of claims 21 or 22, in which the integrated printing device is electrically and electronically connected to the microcomputer.

25. Device according to one of claims 3 to 24, in which a monostable flip-flop is integrated in the housing in the circuit of the work functions, which in the idle state causes the system to fall into a sleep mode.

26. Device according to one of claims 3 to 25, in which a conventional motion detector is arranged in the housing and in the circuit of the working devices, which is arranged to set the working elements integrated in the housing into action.