Granted Patent B2

US 8,245,933 · App. 12/604,781 · Granted Aug 21, 2012

Abstract

Claims (90)

1. A method of printing a new postal authority code on a mail piece prepared by and received from an inserter, the method comprising steps of:

receiving, at a barcode post-processing system that receives a mail piece from the inserter, legacy address block information from the mail piece captured by an imaging system in communication with the barcode post-processing system;

processing, by the barcode post-processing system, the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code;

supplementing the captured legacy address block information with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code, the one or more missing parameters being received from one or more data sources in communication with barcode post-processing system; and

printing, by a printer in communication with the barcode post-processing system, the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code, wherein

wherein the legacy address block information comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a PLANET code, a POSTNET code, key line data, mailer identification information, and an inserter code.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining a delivery point acquired by using optical character recognition from legacy address data prior to printing the new postal authority code.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising comparing the obtained delivery point with information from a national address database to validate that the delivery point is valid.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising printing move update data above the new postal authority code.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning a unique identifier, generated by the barcode post-processing device, to the mail piece.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the unique identifier is included in the new postal authority code.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of supplementing the processed data comprises:

capturing an inserter control code from the mail piece, by the imaging processing system;

requesting, by the barcode post-processing system, data associated with the inserter control code; and

receiving the requested data from a data records system that stores the requested data associated with the inserter control code.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new postal authority code comprises an intelligent mail barcode (IMB).

9. A method of printing a new postal authority code on a mail piece prepared by and received from an inserter, the method comprising steps of:

receiving, at a barcode post-processing system that receives a mail piece from the inserter, legacy address block information from the mail piece captured by an imaging system in communication with the barcode post-processing system;

processing, by the barcode post-processing system, the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code;

supplementing the captured legacy address block information with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code, the one or more missing parameters being received from one or more data sources in communication with barcode post-processing system;

assigning a unique identifier, generated by the barcode post-processing device, to the mail piece;

generating, by the barcode post-processing device, a tracking code being defined by some combination of a service type identifier, a mailer identifier, and the unique identifier, the service type identifier and mailer identifier being captured from the legacy address block data; and

printing, by a printer in communication with the barcode post-processing system, the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code.

10. A mail processing system comprising:

an inserter;

image capture equipment;

a barcode post-processing system that receives a mail piece from the inserter and communicates with the image capture equipment, the barcode post-processing system during operation of the mail processing system performing the following functions:

receiving legacy address block information from the mail piece from the image capture equipment;

processing the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code to create processed data; and

supplementing the captured legacy address block information data with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code received from one or more data sources; and

a printer in communication with the barcode post-processing system, the printer printing the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code,

wherein the legacy address block information comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a PLANET code, a POSTNET code, key line data, mailer identification information, and an inserter code.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the barcode post-processing system further performs the function of obtaining a delivery point acquired by using optical character recognition from legacy address data prior to printing the new postal authority code.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprises comparing the obtained delivery point with information from a national address database to validate that the delivery point is valid.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the printer prints move update data above the new postal authority code.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the barcode post-processing system further performs the function of assigning a unique identifier to the mail piece.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the unique identifier is included in the new postal authority code.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the imagine capture equipment captures an inserter control code that is used by the barcode post-processing system to request data associated with the inserter control code from a data records system that stores the requested data associated with the inserter control code.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the new postal authority code comprises an intelligent mail barcode (IMB).

18. A mail processing system comprising:

an inserter;

image capture equipment;

a barcode post-processing system that receives a mail piece from the inserter and communicates with the image capture equipment, the barcode post-processing system during operation of the mail processing system performing the following functions:

receiving ac address block information from the mail piece from the image capture equipment;

processing the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code to create processed data; and

supplementing the captured legacy address block information data with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code received from one or more data sources; and a printer in communication with the barcode post-processing system, the printer printing the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code,

assigning a unique identifier to the mail piece, and

generating a tracking code being defined by some combination of a service type identifier, a mailer identifier, and the unique identifier, the service type identifier and mailer identifier being captured in the legacy address block.

19. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the machine readable storage medium that when executed by one or more programmable systems that receives a mail item from an inserter causes the one or more systems to perform functions that print a new postal authority code on a mail piece, the functions comprising:

receiving legacy address block information from the mail piece captured by an imaging system in communication with the one or more programmable systems that receives a mail item;

processing the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code to create processed data;

supplementing the captured legacy address block information with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code received from one or more data sources; and

printing the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code,

wherein the legacy address block information comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a PLANET code, a POSTNET code, key line data, mailer identification information, and an inserter code.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the functions further comprise obtaining a delivery point acquired by using optical character recognition from legacy address data prior to printing the new postal authority code.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20 , further comprising comparing the obtained delivery point with information from a national address database to validate that the delivery point is valid.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , further comprising the function of printing move update data above the new postal authority code.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , further comprising the function of assigning a unique identifier to the mail piece.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23 , wherein the unique identifier is included in the new postal authority code.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the new postal authority code comprises an intelligent mail barcode (IMB).

26. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the machine readable storage medium that when executed by one or more programmable systems that receives a mail item from an inserter causes the one or more systems to perform functions that print a new postal authority code on a mail piece, the functions comprising:

receiving legacy address block information from the mail piece captured by an imaging system in communication with the one or more programmable systems that receives a mail item;

processing the captured legacy address block information to determine one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code to create processed data;

supplementing the captured legacy address block information with the one or more missing parameters of the new postal authority code received from one or more data sources;

assigning a unique identifier to the mail piece;

generating a tracking code being defined by some combination of a service type identifier, a mailer identifier, and the unique identifier, the service type identifier and mailer identifier being captured in the legacy address block; and

printing the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, the designated section being defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code.

27. A method of printing a new postal authority code on a mail piece prepared by and received from an inserter, the method comprising steps of:

capturing an image of at least a portion of the mail piece containing a legacy address block;

obtaining information from the legacy address block from processing of the image;

processing the information from the legacy address block code to determine one or more missing parameters required for the new postal authority;

supplementing the information with the one or more missing parameters from one or more data sources; and

printing the new postal authority code on a designated section of the mail piece, wherein:

(a) the printed new postal authority code is based on the information from the legacy address block and the one or more missing parameters, and

(b) the designated section of the mail piece is a section defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code,

wherein the legacy address block information comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a PLANET code, a POSTNET code, key line data, mailer identification information, and an inserter code.

28. A method of printing a new postal authority code on a mail piece prepared by and received from an inserter, the method comprising steps of:

capturing an image of at least a portion of the mail piece containing a legacy address block;

obtaining information from the legacy address block from processing of the image;

processing the information from the legacy address block code to determine one or more missing parameters required for the new postal authority code;

supplementing the information with the one or more missing parameters from one or more data sources;

assigning a unique identifier to the mail piece; and

generating a tracking code contained within the new postal authority code, the tracking code being defined by some combination of a service type identifier, a mailer identifier, and the unique identifier, the service type identifier and mailer identifier being captured in the legacy address block,

wherein:

(a) the printed new postal authority code is based on the information from the legacy address block and the one or more missing parameters, and

(b) the designated section of the mail piece is a section defined by a standard regarding the new postal authority code.

Assignments (13)