WO2007132349A1

WO2007132349A1 - A method and apparatus for processing items of mail

Info

Publication number: WO2007132349A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/001432
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rohan Kanishka Ananda Appuhannaditota Hewage
Original assignee: Appuhannaditota Hewage Rohan K
Priority date: 2006-05-17
Filing date: 2007-05-16
Publication date: 2007-11-22
Also published as: WO2007132347A1; GB2438280A; GB0707374D0; GB2439164A; WO2007132350A2; GB0610301D0; WO2007132350A3; WO2007132349B1; GB0707373D0

Abstract

A postage stamp (30) or an equivalent printed marking has a code, preferably includes two or more machine readable bar codes (27) and (29) mutually at right angles and printed on the surface of the postage stamp or on an envelope, provides the data necessary for processing a mail item. The code may be a visible printing or an invisible marker such as a fluorescent dye. These code parts are machine readable in either direction of scanning whereby one or other of the code parts (27) and (29), can be uniquely identified by the reading apparatus as well as the direction of scan. This arrangement provides that during the scanning process, the orientation of the postage stamp on a postal item in one of four possible orientations for each face, can be determined as well as the value.

Description

A method and apparatus for processing items of mail - (specification 2)

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the orientation of a mail item relative to a code given to the postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail and then to determine the orientation of the mail item.

Under existing technology (GB 1,032,420) discloses a fluorescent dye as stripes 49 (figure 8) on postage stamp to determine the value (as 1^st class or 2^nd class) of the postage stamp and the orientation of the postage stamp using photoelectric cells. When passing through the mail processing machine, the reading devices may be positioned on either side of the mail items at two points, hence a total of four orientations for both faces can be determined. It needs to be highlighted that the square letters can have a total of eight orientations on both sides, thus the limitation of this method to four orientations on both sides (figure 2 and figure 3 of patent number GB 1,032,420) may not determine the other four possible orientations of a square letter (figure 4, orientations I, k, m and o of present invention).

Further, under the existing technology (GB 1,032,420), automated mail machinery (CFC machine) is designed for high speed culling (as 1^st class and 2nd class),facing (preparing all letters as all addresses face to same side and same orientation) and cancelling the postage stamps which affixed on these items of mail. (Postal items which can not be handled in this way at high speed are diverted for manual processing.)

Then these prepared letters on standard position which culled out from CFC (culling, facing and cancelling) machine are manually transported to another machine, which is called as automated address reading machine. This automated address reading machine reads the post code of the address and imprints that information as an address postal code under the conventional postage stamp affixing area. (Postal items which can not be handled in this way at high speed are diverted to manual address sorting.)

In this existing technology (GB 1,032,420), because of four reasons CFC machine could not identify the postage stamp which affixed on the items of mail.

1. When the postage stamp has not been affixed at the conventional location on the item of mail (upper right corner of the item of mail).

2. When the postage stamp is affixed in non-vertical position, even at the conventional location (could be horizontally or in any angle).

3. When the postage is affixed with the proper vertical position and at the proper conventional location (upper right corner) on a square letter, but which (the square letter) runs on the belt with a 90° shift in orientation. In the known art, the postage stamp is detected through fluorescent strips 49 (figure 8) and can be determined to be in one of four possible orientations for both faces. In these cases 2 and 3, the postage stamps go through the detectors horizontally or nearly horizontally. It means the transport direction is parallel to the fluorescent strips which marked on the postage stamp. Then the postage stamp is not be detected. It means according to case 3, this system offers only 50% accuracy of detecting the postage stamp with square letters (figure 7).

4. When value postage stamps (e.g.1Op, 5Op,....), contrast to class postage stamps (e.g. first class, second class), are available on the item of mail.

(It means class postage stamps may be sensed through fluorescent markings to determine the class of it but fails to identify value postage stamps which are printed with postage price.)

Under existing technology, in addition to these main four drawbacks, it could be noticed another main drawback which is explained below.

Because of above four reasons, if no postage stamp is detected at 15 (figure 1), then the item of mail is turned 180° along the moving axis 18 and re-send through the same path 19 checking for the postage stamp. This is a repetitive process which lowers down the throughput of the mail processing machine. (If machine fails to identify a postage stamp after the repetitive process, then the letter will be rejected and forwarded to manual processing.)

The present invention over comes these drawbacks mentioned above. It is capable of detecting the postage stamp which affixed on the item of mail at any location or in any angle. And it is capable of detecting the postage stamp which is affixed properly (vertically) on a square letter, but which runs on the belt with 90 degrees shift in orientation. It is further capable of detecting all value postage stamps which are available on the item of mail and deciding the class of the item of mail by adding those values.

The present invention is capable of doing these activities without the turning 180° along the moving axis and re-sending the items of mail through the same path of detectors.

The objective of this invention is to facilitate a method and apparatus for identification of all eight possible orientations for both faces of an item of mail, by determining the orientation of the postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail, by overcoming major difficulties of present system (CFC machine) which are mentioned above. According to one aspect of present invention, there is provided a postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking for a postal item, and having a machine readable code on the face surface thereof, characterised in that at least two angularly displaced machine readable code parts, preferably bar codes, are provided, one or each code part being uniquely identifiable during reading whereby the orientation of the postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail, may be determined. It is assumed that the postage stamp 30 or a marking (figures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f and 3g) and the address on the item of mail are in the same orientation. Thus, for both faces, the mail processing machine can segregate the items of mail into eight separate stacking points (pockets) 34, based on the orientation of the letter address. (When consider about 1^st class and 2^nd class, the number of pockets should be doubled as sixteen.)

The present invention provides a specially marked postage stamp 30 (figure 2) or other marking, i.e. printing on an envelope (figures 3a,3b,3c.3e),or printing on stickers (figures 3f and 3g) which are issued from the post office, or printing on a special postage stamp (figure 3d) which will be used for hand written free post letters. The postage stamp 30 may be conventional with the usual printing and value marking (class or price) 28, but includes at least two angular, machine readable code markings 27 and 29 (preferably bar-codes), preferably mutually at right angles. The code parts which are printed on the postage stamp or on an envelope may be a visible printing or an invisible marker such as a fluorescent dye. (The code could be created by using magnetic code parts as well.) Each code part may define a postage value (class or price) attributed to the postage stamp (or the marking), and each code part printed on the envelopes or stickers 3a,3b,3e,3f and 3g, may be contained the information such as returned mail (re-directed mail by the public). This each code part preferably is machine readable in either direction of scanning. This two-way reading of each code part gives two unique readings, one for each direction.

The code will preferably be readable through a linear scanning operation or raster scanning operation of item of mail. The scanner may be capable of scanning the whole surface of the postal item to detect the code at any location. It means postage stamp which is affixed at any location on the item of mail could be detected. The best scanned direction of any code part is uniquely identified, when more than one code readers are used, so that the angle of the postage stamp is determinable. It means the postage stamp which is affixed in any angle on the item of mail could be detected. Thus the orientation of the item of mail, could be determined. (Preferably scanning will be done on both faces of the postal item, simultaneously) This arrangement provides that, during the scanning process, the orientation of the postage stamp or a marking in one of four possible orientations for each face of the item of mail, can be determined as well as the value. It is assumed that the postage stamp or a marking and the address are in the same orientation. Thus, for both faces, the mail processing machine can segregate the items of mail in to eight separate stacking points (pockets) 34, based on the orientation of the letter address. In this invention, as shown in figure 4, the mail items with possible four orientations for each face of the mail items, are subsequently collected and manually turned in bulk, so that their addresses are face to the same side and same orientation to be sent to the automated address reading machine.

When the postage stamp (or a marking) and the address of the item of mail are not in same orientation, these items of mail 50 (figure 9) get in to a wrong pocket in CFC machine. This error will be corrected at next stage, at automated address reading machine, by segregating these items of mail to a separate pocket and diverted to manual entering of post codes.

(This facility is already used in existing system on same purpose and to read the unclear post codes of addresses which are available on items of mail.)

A survey of the patent literature on determination of the orientation of an item of mail indicates that the following patents are relevant to the focus area.

US Pat. No. 4,736,441 discloses a postal material reading apparatus provided with a mechanism for obtaining an image signal which represents a visual image of the surface of the posted material. The purpose is to accurately determine the reverse/ obverse of postal material is right-side-up or up-side-down, in spite of partial overlapping of an edge mark with marks which area critical to these determinations. This (US Pat. No. 4,736,441) is fundamentally different to the present invention as this present invention does not use the images of an item of mail at any stage.

Another survey on the patent literature on the use of barcode on postage stamps reveals that US Pat. No. 5,943,432 explaining a system for determining whether a pre-selected, minimum amount of postage has been applied to posted material and further relates to a postage stamp encoded so that postage stamp can be optically or electronically scanned or read to determine whether the postage applied to the material is below a pre-determined minimum amount. The focus of this invention is to ascertain the value of the postage stamp using a barcode printed on the postage stamp. This US 5943432B invention does not use the barcode to determine the four possible orientations for each face of the item of mail or to determine the location of the affixed postage stamp on the item of mail.

And we could notice another invention which is called Smartstamp (from Royal Mail, UK), which includes a code on the surface of the stamp. But present invention is fundamentally different to Smartstamp invention, because Smartstamp invention mainly targets the business clients (not the public) and Smartstamp supposed to be printed by the buyer, by his own printer (through internet), probably in black and white, without any security printing features. And it must be used within limited period (2 or 3 days) of issuing, otherwise gets expired. But in present invention, postage stamps are supposed to be printed by the government authorized printer, with high quality security printing features to avoid frauds. And these postage stamps could be purchased from the post offices and could be kept over a long time, without time limitation of expiry. In the present invention, the linear or raster code scanner may be arranged to individually detect a plurality of postage stamps which are present on the postal item. During the normal high speed operation, to maintain the speed of processing, the mail items having more than one postage stamp, which is generally about 1% of total items of mail, be collected in a separate stacking point (pocket). The accommodation of facility to process mail items with more than one postage stamp makes the process complicated as it necessary to;

1. the location of the every postage stamp has to be determined,

2. each postage stamp such identified has to be cancelled,

3. add-up the monetary values of postage stamps to determine the class of the mail item,

4. if postage stamps are affixed in different orientations, then most appropriate mail item orientation has to be determined.

Such mail items are collected at separate pocket and at the end of the normal high speed process, these are hand fed to the machine setting 38 (figure 5), it for a slow run which permits the apparatus to take its own time.

This invention also provides a method for sorting postal items having a postage stamp or a marking, described, the method comprising: a) feeding the postal item past a scanner; b) detecting and reading a machine readable code on the postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail; c) determining the orientation of the item of mail, through the orientation of detected code of the postage stamp or the marking, relative to the feeding direction (It is assumed that the postage stamp or the marking and the address of the item of mail, are in same orientation); d) detecting the vertical location where the postage stamp is affixed or an equivalent printed marking is available on the item of mail, and instantly pass that information to the cancellation mechanism and cancel the postage stamp or the marking; e) directing the postal item to a selected station (pocket) according to the said orientation.

Both sides of the postal item may be independently scanned simultaneously or sequentially to determine the side which carries the postage stamp or a marking and directing the mail item to a selected collecting station (pockets), according to the side and orientation thus determined.

When there are two code parts as given in the preferred embodiment, the vertical spatial location of the postage stamp or a marking may also be determined using a one or other of code parts and cancel at the same time, activating the cancelling mechanism. A series of sensors 44 (figure 6) are placed preferably in a vertical line, across the mail moving path and detects which beam of readers pick up the existence of any code part. Thus determining the height at which the postage stamp is affixed or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail is available. This provides the necessary vertical position information needed by the cancellation mechanism to carry out cancellation instantaneously. The cancellation mechanism uses this height information to determine the vertical position of the postage stamp or a marking and the instantaneous response make sure that the postage stamp or a marking is at the target area of cancellation, avoiding the necessity of horizontal position information. The cancellation mechanism is activated for an adequate time period to make sure, the postage stamp or a marking is moved across the cancellation mechanism target area within that adequate time, so that the cancellation process is properly taken place.

In the above process, when the postage stamp is affixed with any angle, one or other of code parts is definitely detected by sensors 44 (figure 6). This can be considered as a clear advantage of two angular code parts over the use of single bar code (US patent 5943432) which needs complex mechanism for identification of the postage stamp location, when the postage stamp is affixed with an angle.

If a cancelled postage stamp comes to the machine, it is possible to arrange the machine to identify that the postage stamp is already cancelled. This is possible as the code has been already distorted by the cancellation mechanism, so that the scanner cannot detect the code. Such items of mail are diverted to the reject pocket.

The various features of this invention are now further described and illustrated with reference to the drawings illustrating preferred embodiments. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows schematically the flow path through a known CFC machine, Figure 2 shows and embodiment of postage stamp in accordance with present invention,

Figure 3 shows arrangements where mail items use franked, printed markings or stickers (which are issued by the post office), defining the postage due. The two code parts 27 and 29 are printed directly on the envelope as 3a, 3b, 3c and 3e. In figure 3d, the code parts 27 and 29 are contained on a free postage stamp which may be used with a hand written free post letter. In figure 3f and 3g, the two code parts 27 and 29, are printed on a sticker (Horizon stamp) which are issued by the post office,

Figure 4 shows the four possible orientations of h, I, j, k square letters (face on) and second four possible orientations of I, m, n, o square letters (rear face),

Figure 5 shows the modified apparatus according to present invention,

Figure 6 shows the apparatus which identifies the location of postage stamp or a marking. The series of sensing beams 44 are placed preferably in a vertical line across the mail moving path and detects which beam of the readers pick up the existence (height) of any one or other of code parts. Such height determined by this mechanism is instantly passed that information to the cancellation mechanism, Figure 7 shows, how fluorescent dye marked postage stamps 45, 46, 47, 48 are appear on the machine belt with four possible orientations (for each face), when they are affixed on square letters,

Figure 8 shows, the fluorescent strips 49 which are marked on the postage stamp in known technology (GB 1,032,420). In this method, the postage stamp with one fluorescent strip is used to represent first class and two fluorescent strips are used to represent second class,

Figure 9 shows how an item of mail 50 is collected in a wrong pocket of CFC machine, when the affixed postage stamp or a marking and the address of the item of mail, are not in same orientation.

Referring firstly to figure 1 this illustrates a prior-art high speed machine (which is called CFC machine) for culling (as first class & second class), facing, and cancelling postal items in simplified form. As shown 1 is the tipping position for mail onto a moving belt 3. Unsuitable items are culled-out at 2 for manual processing and the mail proceeds to a drum sorter 4 where screening for size and width occurs. The unacceptable items are removed at 26 and acceptable items move along belt 5 to a segregating position 6 for removal of extraneous items; rubber bands, broken plastic ties etc. The apparatus 7 and 9 serves to;

1. separate letters which are stuck together,

2. remove "flats" (A4 envelopes),

3. remove oversize mail items (smaller than flats, bigger than normal envelopes),

4. turn normal rectangular letters which run upright (standing) position on the belt, by 90 degrees.

Accepted mail 8 passes to 11 into which a parallel path exists for operator 14 introduced mail 12.

If area 11 is blocked or jammed, the machine sorted letters 8 are thrown out from the machine at 10. If area 15 is blocked or jammed, the machine sorted letters from area 11 and manual sorted letters from area 12 are thrown out from the machine at 13.

Letters having fluorescent dye marked postage stamps (figure 8) are detected at 15 on one side of the letter and detected items (identified postal items with fluorescent dye marked postage stamp or marking) passed to channel 17, non-detected items 16 are flipped-over at 18 and passed through second detector 19, any non-detects are channelled through 20 and detects 21 join previously detected 17 and they are fed through postage stamp cancelling position 22, 23 and then to collecting pockets 24 where items of mail are collected by operator 25. Figure 5 shows schematically a modified apparatus according to present invention wherein the letters of size which can be handled are stacked at 31 these coming from a manual sorting source 38 and machine sorted source 8. If area 31 is blocked or jammed, the machine sorted letters 8 are thrown out from the machine at 39. If area 31 is blocked or jammed, the letters coming from manual sorting source 38 are thrown out from the machine at 40. The letters are moved at high speed though scanners 37 and 32 positioned each side of the letter path and comprising high speed code readers. Then letters are sent through sensors 41 & 42 which identify the height at which the one or other of code parts are placed on the letter. This height information may be conveyed instantly to the following postage stamp cancelling stations 36 and 33 again located each side of the letter path, followed, optionally, by a printer 35 which marks each item of mail with the place and date of processing at a position along an edge. The letters then move to one of a number of pockets 34. These mail items with possible four orientations for each face are subsequently collected in eight pockets and manually turned in bulk by the operator 43, so that their addresses are face to same side and same orientation, to be sent to the automate address reading machine which reads the address and imprint an address postal code explaining the postcode of address. (When consider about 1^st class and 2^nd class, these number of collecting pockets, should be doubled as sixteen.)

The present invention can be applied to A4 letters (flats) and oversize mail items (smaller than A4 letters and bigger than normal envelopes) with the restriction that the throughput speed will be slower. In the existing technology, the A4 letters and oversize letters are culled (as 1^st class and 2^nd class), faced and cancelled 100% manually.

In summary this invention provides a postage stamp 30 having a code, preferably includes two or more angularly displaced (preferably mutually at right angles) machine readable code parts 27 and 29 (preferably bar-codes), and printed on the surface of the postage stamp or on an envelope, provides the data necessary for determining the four possible orientations for each face of a mail item. The code may be a visible printing or an invisible marker such as a fluorescent dye. Each code part may define a postage value attributed to the postage stamp and is machine readable in either direction of scanning (it means each code part gives two unique readings according to direction of scan). This arrangement provides that, during the scanning process, the orientation of the postage stamp on a postal item or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail, in one of four possible orientations for each face of mail item, can be determined as well as the value. It is assumed that the postage stamp 30 or the marking and the address on the item of mail are in the same orientation. Thus, for both faces, the mail processing machine can segregate the items of mail into eight separate stacking points (pockets) 34, based on the orientation of the letter address, after the cancellation of the postage stamp 30 or a marking. (When consider about 1^st class and 2^nd class, the number of pockets should be doubled as sixteen.) The spatial location of the postage stamp or a marking is determined using sensors 41 and 42, simultaneously on both faces, which detects the vertical location of one or other of the code parts 27 and 29, and instantly inform that to cancellation mechanism 36 and 33, and cancel the postage stamp 30 or the marking.

Claims

Claims:

1. A postage stamp for a postal item, or a marking for such an item equivalent to such a stamp, and having a machine readable code on the face surface thereof, characterised in that at least two angularly displaced machine readable code parts are provided, one or each code part being uniquely identifiable during reading whereby the orientation of the postage stamp or a marking, may be determined.

2. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to claim 1, wherein each code part is readable through a scanning operation.

3. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to claim 1 to 2, wherein machine reading is effected through raster or preferably linear scanning of the postal item.

4. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 3, wherein one or more code parts are each located in defined orientations on the postage stamp with preferably two associated code parts angularly offset and more preferably perpendicular to each other.

5. A postage stamp according to any preceding claim 1 to 4, wherein the code parts are in the form of a bar code or any other coding method.

6. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to claim 1 to 5, wherein at least two code parts, are provided mutually at right angles, whereby during scanning one or other of the code parts is detected to determine the orientation of the postage stamp or a marking relative to the scan direction, which in turn used to determine the orientation of the item of mail relative to the scan direction.

7. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 6, wherein one or other of the code parts is detected to determine the availability of the postage stamp, even when it has not been affixed at the conventional location of the item of mail.

8. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 7, wherein one or other of the code parts is detected to determine the angle of the postage stamp, when it has been affixed in horizontally or with any non-vertical angle on the item of mail.

9. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 8, wherein one or other of the code parts is detected to determine the availability of the postage stamp or a marking, when they are available in proper angle and at the proper conventional location on a square letter, but which runs on the belt with a 90 degrees shift in orientation.

10. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 9, wherein one or other of the code parts is detected to determine the class of the letter, when the price printed postage stamps are available on the item of mail, by adding those values.

11. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 10, wherein each code part is readable in both directions of scan, where each direction of scan being uniquely identifiable, whereby the postage stamp may be assessed as having one of four possible orientations for each face of the item of mail.

12. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 11, wherein each code part defines unique characteristics.

13. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 12, wherein two machine readable code parts are provided and mutually at right angles and printed or otherwise marked on the surface of the mail item or postage stamp.

14. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to claim 1 to 13, wherein the code parts are visible printed marking or an invisible printed marking such as a fluorescent dye.

15. A postage stamp according to any preceding claim 1 to 14, wherein the code is created using machine readable code parts, invisible to human eye, magnetic coding or other machine readable property.

16. A postage stamp according to any preceding claim 1 to 15, wherein the special instructions contain the information such as returned mail.

17. A postage stamp for a postal item, according to any preceding claim 1 to 16, wherein each code part is distorted, so that when a cancelled postage stamp or a marking, comes to the machine, it is possible to arrange the machine to identify that the postage stamp or a marking is already cancelled.

18. Method for sorting postal items having a postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking, in accordance with any preceding claim, the method comprising: a) feeding the postal item past a scanner; b) detecting and reading a machine readable code on the postage stamp or a marking; c) determining the orientation of the items of mail, through the orientation of the detected code of the postage stamp or a marking, relative to the feeding direction; d) detecting the vertical location where the postage stamp is affixed or an equivalent printed marking is available on the item of mail and instantly pass that information to the cancellation mechanism and cancel the postage stamp or the marking; e) directing the postal item to a selected station according to the said orientation.

19. Method in accordance with claim 18, wherein both sides of the postal item are independently scanned simultaneously or sequentially to determine the side which carries the postage stamp or a marking and directing the postal item to a selected station according to the side and orientation thus determined.

20. Method in accordance with any preceding claim 18 to 19, wherein the spatial location of the postage stamp affixed or an equivalent printed marking available on the item of mail is determined using sensors, simultaneously on both faces, which detects the location, preferably vertical location of one or other of code parts.

21. Method in accordance with any preceding claim 18 to 20, wherein a postage stamp cancelling means is operatively controlled to apply a cancellation marking at the location of the postage stamp or a marking, thus determined.

22. Method in accordance with any preceding claim 18 to 21, wherein the scanner is arranged to individually detect a plurality of postage stamps, where present, on the postal item.

23. Method in accordance with any preceding claim 18 to 22, wherein the whole surface of the postal item is subject to scanning to detect the postage stamp code or the code of an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail.

24. Apparatus for carrying out the method of claim 18 or any other claim dependent thereon, the apparatus including a scanner, means to move a postal item past the scanner, means associated with the scanner to detect a machine readable code on a postal item, postage stamp or sticker, means to interpret the code detected and to assess the probable orientation of the code and thus orientation of the postal item relative to the scanning direction, and means to direct the postal item to of a plurality of stations according to the detected code.

25. A postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail as described herein and illustrated with reference to the drawings.

26. Method for sorting postal items having a postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 16 as described herein and illustrated with reference to the drawings.

27. Apparatus for sorting postal items having a postage stamp or an equivalent printed marking on the item of mail in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 16 as described herein and illustrated with reference to the drawings.