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US 8,527,086 B2Granted
Return address destination discrimination technology
AssigneeRAF Technology, Inc.
InventorBrian J. Elmenhurst
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, software and apparatus (FIG. 5) disclosed to maintain and update an association database (650) that enables relating updated address information to affected mailpieces (FIG. 7), and providing the benefits of that information to mailers, especially business or corporate mailers (600, 630, 632), and in the case of co-mingled mail, enabling a pre-sort house (610) to provide the updated information to their customers, or to update mailing lists maintained by or for their customers.
Claims15
A method for online processing of mail pieces, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a mailpiece into an automated processing machine;
- capturing an image of at least a front side of the mailpiece;
- reading addressee name, a destination address and a sender address from the captured image of the mailpiece;
- querying a move update (COA) database for a matching record based on the destination address and addressee name;
- providing an association database for storage of digital database records;
- if a matching record is found in the move update (COA) database, obtaining from the matching record an updated destination address;
- determining a new routing code corresponding to the updated destination address;
- determining whether an identity of a sender of the mailpiece is known;
- and
- if an identity of a sender of the mailpiece is unknown, and a matching record is found in the move update (COA) database based on the original destination address and addressee name,
- storing the addressee name, original destination address, updated destination address, and sender address data in association with one another in the association database.
8 more elements
A mail processing system comprising:
- a computer controller to control mail processing, the controller including a transport software component for processing mail pieces;
- a mechanized track arranged for transporting mail pieces through the system under control of the transport software component;
- an image capture device positioned along the track and coupled to the transport software component and arranged to capture an image of a mail piece engaged along the track;
- a memory for storing a digital image file containing the captured image of the mail piece;
- a recognition software component having access to an address directory and coupled to receive the stored digital image file, for parsing and recognizing name and address data;
- wherein the image capture device and the recognition software are arranged to determine both a return address and a destination address of the mail piece;
- and wherein the recognition software component also determines an addressee name;
- an association database coupled to the transport software component, for storing address update information applicable to the mail piece;
- and
- further wherein the association database is configured to store the address update information in association with the return address of the mail piece.
7 more elements
A mail processing system comprising:
- a computer controller to control mail processing, the controller including a transport software component for processing mail pieces;
- a mechanized track arranged for transporting mail pieces through the system under control of the transport software component;
- an image capture device positioned along the track and coupled to the transport software component and arranged to capture an image of a mail piece engaged along the track;
- a memory for storing a digital image file containing the captured image of the mail piece;
- a recognition software component having access to an address directory and coupled to receive the stored digital image file, for parsing and recognizing name and address data;
- wherein the image capture device and the recognition software are arranged to determine both a return address and a destination address of the mail piece;
- and wherein the recognition software component also determines an addressee name;
- an association database coupled to the transport software component, for storing address update information applicable to the mail piece;
- and
- further wherein the association database is configured to store the address update information in association with the return address of the mail piece;
- wherein
- the recognition software component is configured for reading both a destination address and a sender address from the captured image of the mailpiece within a predetermined time selected to avoid re-running the mailpiece through the automated sorting operation;
- and
- the system further includes an inline printer or sprayer arranged to
- automatically affix the routing code to the mail piece before the mail piece exits the automated processing machine in the case that no match is found for the mail piece in a move update (COA) database;
- and
- automatically affix the new routing code to the mail piece before the mail piece exits the automated processing machine in the case that a match is found for the mail piece in the move update (COA) database.
14 more elements
A method for online processing of mail pieces, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a mailpiece into an automated processing machine;
- recognizing at least an addressee name, and a destination address, from an OCR read area on the front side of the mailpiece;
- recognizing at least a sender address from a return address area of the front or back side of the mailpiece;
- querying a move update (COA) database for a matching record based on the destination address and addressee name;
- if a matching record is found in the move update (COA) database based on the destination address and addressee name, obtaining an updated destination address from the matching database record;
- if neither a valid IMB nor an ACS authorization code is visible on the mailpiece, and a matching record is found in the move update (COA) database based on the destination address and addressee name, storing the addressee name, original destination address, updated destination address, and sender address data in association with one another in the association database;
- identifying a sender of the mailpiece based on the sender address recognized in the return address area of the mailpiece;
- and
- providing access to data stored in the association database for the identified sender to use in updating the sender's mailing list.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.