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US 6,578,874 B1Granted
Method for correcting articles of mail and article of mail produced thereby
AssigneeProfold, Inc.
InventorsVincent Kubert, John R. Pinchin, Steven Curtis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of correcting an article of mail and the article is disclosed. The article of mail has opposing sides and an edge and identifying indicia positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent an edge. A dual neutralizing mask is applied onto at least a substantial portion of the edge and overlaps the opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge to neutralize by covering at least a major portion of the identifying indicia. The indicia has neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
Claims43
An article of mail comprising:
- a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge;
- indicia corresponding to a post office code positioned on at least one of said sides adjacent an edge;
- and
- an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member that attaches to and overlaps at least a substantial portion of said edge and covers said opposing sides in an area adjacent said edge and covers at least a major portion of said indicia for correcting said article of mail such that said indicia is neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
1 more element
An article of mail comprising:
- a mail piece having opposing front and rear sides and an edge;
- a bar code positioned on said front side adjacent said edge;
- an ID tag positioned on said rear side adjacent said edge;
- and
- an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member that attaches to and overlaps at least a substantial portion of said edge and covers said front and rear sides in an area adjacent said edge and covers at least a major portion of said bar code and ID tag for correcting said article of mail such that said bar code and ID tag are neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
2 more elements
A packaged article of mail comprising:
- a plurality of mail pieces stacked into a mail package having opposing sides and an edge;
- tabs positioned along at least one edge and binding together the plurality of mail pieces into the mail package;
- indicia corresponding to a post office code positioned on at least one of said sides adjacent an edge;
- and
- an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member that adhesively attaches to and overlaps at least a substantial portion of said edge adjacent indicia and covers said opposing sides in an area adjacent said edge and covers at least a major portion of said indicia for correcting said article of mail such that said indicia is neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
2 more elements
An article of mail comprising:
- a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge;
- identifying indicia positioned on at least one of said sides adjacent an edge;
- and
- an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member that attaches to and overlaps said edge and covers said opposing sides in an area adjacent said edge and covers at least a major portion of said indicia for correcting said article of mail such that said identifying indicia is neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
1 more element
A method of correcting an article of mail comprising the steps of:
- feeding an article of mail into a mail correcting station, said article of mail comprising a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge and identifying indicia positioned on at least one of said sides adjacent an edge;
- and
- applying an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member onto at least a substantial portion of said edge and overlapping said opposing sides in an area adjacent said edge to cover at least a major portion of said identifying indicia to correct said article of mail such that said indicia is neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
A method of correcting articles of mail comprising the steps of:
- feeding a plurality of articles of mail successively into a mail correcting station, each of said articles of mail comprising a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge and an identifying indicia positioned on at least one of said sides adjacent an edge;
- and
- applying an elongate dual neutralizing mask formed as a flexible, self-adhesive member onto each of said mail pieces by applying a dual neutralizing mask onto at least a substantial portion of an edge and overlapping the opposing sides in an area adjacent said edge with the dual neutralizing mask while covering at least a major portion of said identifying indicia to correct said article of mail such that said identifying indicia is neutralized for scanning and/or optical character recognition and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
A method of correcting an article of mail comprising the steps of:
- feeding an article of mail into a mail correcting station, said article of mail comprising a mail piece having opposing front and rear sides and an edge, a bar code positioned on the front side adjacent the edge, and an ID tag positioned on the rear side adjacent the edge;
- and
- applying a dual neutralizing mask onto at least a substantial portion of said edge and overlapping said opposing front and rear sides with said dual neutralizing mask in an area adjacent said edge while covering at least a major portion of said bar code and ID tag with the dual neutralizing mask for correcting said article of mail such that said bar code and ID tag are neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.