| NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120113250 | APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF A PARCEL - A method of determining the three dimensions of a parcel, in which method the parcel to be measured is placed against an orthogonal reference support and an image is acquired of said orthogonal reference support having three graduated scales defining the three perpendicular axes of the frame of reference, and a correspondence table is established giving the correspondence between the real distance between each of the graduations of the scales and the corresponding number of pixels of the image, and then an image is acquired of the parcel disposed on the orthogonal reference support, the edges of said parcel are determined along three perpendicular axes, the number of pixels forming each of the edges of the parcel is counted, and a corrector coefficient is applied taken from the correspondence table in order to obtain the looked-for three real dimensions. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120110953 | METHOD OF PREPARING BATCHES OF MAIL - A method of preparing batches of mailpieces using an envelope-stuffing machine. The method includes printing documents with each page bearing a first marking for causing the related document to be inserted into an envelope, and printing separator sheets each bearing a second marking for causing it to be folded into a predetermined particular geometrical shape; folding the documents and inserting them into empty envelopes having a common format; folding the separator sheets; and ejecting closed envelopes and the separator sheets folded into the predetermined particular geometrical shape. On being ejected by the envelope-stuffing machine, the separator sheets are interposed automatically between the closed envelopes as a function of the batches to be prepared, and the predetermined particular geometrical shape resulting in the separator sheets projecting from the predetermined common format of the envelopes. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120103757 | MAILPIECE FEED DEVICE HAVING AN ANGULAR DELAY - A feeder for a mail-handling machine is provided with a conveyor device having at least one row of drive rollers comprising at least first and second drive rollers standing proud through a mailpiece-receiving deck of the feeder and controlled by a suitable drive mechanism, said first and second drive rollers being inclined at an angle a relative to a perpendicular to a longitudinal referencing wall, and the second drive roller being driven in rotation with a first predetermined delay relative to the first drive roller, which is the closer to the referencing wall. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120090955 | MAILPIECE SELECTOR DEVICE FOR SELECTING MIXED MAILPIECES - A mailpiece selector device comprising at least a first guide that is mounted above a support plate for supporting said mailpieces, and that is made up of a plurality of moving shoes for selecting said mailpieces one-by-one and for transporting them downstream along a referencing wall, at least one of said plurality of moving shoes having a varying coefficient of adhesion that increases going towards said support plate, the top portion of the moving shoe having a low coefficient of adhesion and the bottom portion having a high coefficient of adhesion. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120022980 | System and Method for Managing Postal Accounting Data Using Transient Data Collectors - Methods and systems using a single centralized database to manage postal accounting data are provided. The central database may interface with remote postal meters by way of one or more transient data collectors, which cache data from associated meters and transmit the data to the central database. The data collectors also validate postage accounts to the associated meters. The use of local transient data collectors allows for a single centralized database to be used without requiring data replication among databases local to each computer that manages postal meters. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120004085 | SHEET FOLDER - A sheet folder comprising input rollers, exit rollers and a fold box having a fold plate which is curved substantially along its whole length, wherein the curved fold plate is configured to induce a sheet to curve in two different directions during the folding process. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20110204068 | DEVICE FOR STORING MAILPIECES - A storage device for a franking machine, which storage device comprises: a receptacle for receiving mailpieces ejected one-by-one by the franking machine; a longitudinal referencing wall extending over a longitudinal edge of the receptacle and against which the mailpieces rebound before they accumulate on the receptacle; and a vertical back wall extending along a side edge of the receptacle and that the mailpieces hit before they rebound against the longitudinal referencing wall; the vertical backwall forming an angle β with a perpendicular to the longitudinal referencing wall; and the receptacle being inclined relative to the horizontal and towards the longitudinal referencing wall at an angle φ so that the angle α between the receptacle and the longitudinal referencing wall forms an acute angle. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110203230 | INSERTING POSTAL ITEMS INTO ENVELOPES - A method of inserting postal items into envelopes, comprising, for each of said envelopes: holding the envelope in an inserting position with an open end oriented towards a postal item transport path and with an envelope edge perpendicular to the open end against an alignment surface that defines an envelope alignment axis at the inserting position; displacing one or more of the postal items along the postal item transport path into the envelope, an edge of the or each postal item, at least partway along the transport path, being urged against and guided by an alignment surface that defines a postal item alignment axis along the postal item transport path, wherein the envelope alignment axis is offset from the postal item alignment axis by a predetermined distance in a direction away from the postal item transport path. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110198799 | SEPARATOR FOR SEPARATING ENVELOPES FROM A STACK - A method for separating envelopes from a stack using a separator having a feeding roller for exerting a force onto the envelope, urging it in a direction tangential to its circumference and parallel to a separating plane, and having a deflecting surface for deflecting a leading edge of the envelope as it is urged in the tangential direction. The feeding roller and the deflecting surface bound a feeding path having a width, and starting at the separating position. Both feeding roller and deflecting surface include portions each extending from or from beyond opposite lateral sides of the feeding path inwardly across a lateral outer portion of the feeding path. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110184552 | ERROR LOGGING IN A METHOD FOR PREPARING ITEMS TO BE MAILED - A method for preparing a batch of mail pieces includes transporting postal items from at least one feeding station to an inserting station and inserting the postal items into envelopes. If a control logic detects a signal representing a disturbance of the transportation of at least one of the postal items, in response to that detection, the control logic automatically generates an error report representing information regarding the detected disturbance of postal items. The error report includes batch preparation data representing at least one predetermined processing feature applicable to the preparation of the batch of mail pieces. The error report is stored to be made available for service and support. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110167335 | System and Method for Generating Web Pages - Systems and methods for creating Web pages are provided. Web page development components, referred to as “pods,” may be used to encapsulate discrete functionality for use and re-use within Web pages. The pods may be contained in a library, from which a developer may select one or more pods that provide the functionality and/or presentation definitions the developer wishes to include in the Web page. A pod may contain all the functional and presentation information required to implement the desired functionality, and may contain only that functional and presentation information. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110167332 | System and Method for Generating Web Pages - A page resource builder provides an interface between development source files and a production Web page or other compiled file. The page resource builder may identify components in the source files and compile them into production files, each of which includes only those components used by the production Web page. The production files also may exclude components not used by the production files. Production files generated by the page resource builder may allow for a production Web page to be downloaded with a minimum of request/response exchanges between an end user Web browser and a Web server. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110135864 | ADHESIVE TAB FOR A TABBER - In a tabber device suitable for sealing folded material by means of an adhesive tab provided with a theoretical fold line, the tab has at least two series of perforations distributed along at least three parallel lines, one of which coincides with the theoretical fold line, with the other two being disposed on either side of the theoretical fold line. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110123307 | MAILPIECE SELECTOR DEVICE HAVING MULTIPLE PIVOTALLY-MOUNTED FINGERS - A mailpiece selector device comprising a guide co-operating with at least one opposing selector roller to separate mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and to transport them downstream, said guide having at least two adjacent selector fingers having different lengths, it being possible for each of said selector fingers to pivot independently from the other(s) about a common pivot axis and against respective associated resilient return means. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110121507 | MAILPIECE SELECTOR DEVICE HAVING IMPROVED LEVERS - A mailpiece selector device comprising a guide co-operating with at least one opposing selector roller to separate mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and to transport them downstream, said guide having at least one selector lever that can pivot about a pivot axis against resilient return means, and the selector lever having a vertical section formed by an involute of a circle, the base circle of which is formed by the pivot axis. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110113478 | METHOD OF SECURING FRANKING VIA A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK - A method of securing franking, said method comprising the following operations:
| 05-12-2011 |
| 20110099946 | ENVELOPE INSERTING APPARATUS - An inserting apparatus, for inserting documents into envelopes, comprising:
| 05-05-2011 |
| 20110087365 | MAILPIECE SENDING SYSTEM WITH HANDWRITTEN SIGNING - In a mail-handling system comprising computer processing means associated with first print means so as to place at least one unique send number on an empty envelope and with second print means for printing at least one document, and an envelope-stuffing machine for inserting said at least one document into the empty envelope, said mail-handling system further comprises a signing set for writing, by means of a writing instrument, a recipient's address on each of the envelopes bearing said unique send number and delivered to the signing set. Said recipient's address is extracted from a database connected to the computer processing means and being indexed in the database with the unique send number borne by the envelope. The envelope-stuffing machine includes read and decode means for extracting the single send number borne on the empty envelope and for ensuring that it matches the document on the basis of the database. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110079951 | FEED DEVICE WITH CONTROLLED ENVELOPE SEPARATION - In a mailpiece feed device designed to be mounted upstream from a franking machine, and comprising at least a mailpiece feed zone for receiving a stack of mailpieces supported by a plurality of drive rollers and a separation zone for individually selecting the mailpieces, there are provided control means for varying the speed of rotation of said plurality of drive rollers when, at the outlet of said separation zone, a measurement of a gap between successive mailpieces differs from a predefined gap by a predetermined correction threshold. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110066573 | SETTING AND CONTROLLING AN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING MAIL PIECES - During a setting stage, a scanner of an apparatus for preparing mail pieces scans a postal item. From the scanned image an area containing a mark is selected and a mark data set representing the mark or the position of the selected area is generated and stored. Instruction data representing a mail preparation instruction are stored in association with the mark data set. During an operating stage after the setting stage, one or more postal items are fed to the scanner, which scans item image data representing an image of the scanned portion of each postal item that is scanned. In response to agreement between the scanned item image data and the mark data set, instruction data associated to the mark data are selected. The mail piece including the scanned postal item is prepared in accordance with the selected instruction data. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110060453 | FEED DEVICE WITH IMPROVED ENVELOPE SEPARATION - A mailpiece feed device designed to be mounted upstream from a franking machine, and comprising at least a mailpiece feed zone for receiving a stack of mailpieces of various formats supported by a first plurality of drive rollers and a separation zone for individually selecting the mailpieces and having a second plurality of drive rollers, at least first clutch means E | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110060450 | AUTOMATED MAIL INSERTING - The present invention relates to a method for verifying the match of envelopes and documents in an automated matched mail system, by for a first envelope and a first document, scanning a face of the envelope and extracting envelope-addressee data indicative of the human-readable addressee information on the envelope; scanning the document so as to extract document data indicative of the content of the document; searching through the document data to locate a match to the envelope-addressee data and designating an area of interest within the document at the location at which the match occurs; for a further envelope and a further document, scanning a face of the envelope and extracting envelope-addressee data indicative of the human-readable addressee information on the envelope; scanning the document so as to extract document-addressee data at a location within the document corresponding to said designated area of interest and comparing the envelope-addressee data and the document-addressee data so as to verify the match of the further envelope and further document. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110057381 | INSERT FEEDER APPARATUS - A sheet separator for a paper handling apparatus comprising: a pick-up shaft having an axis; a plurality of pick-up wheels mounted on the shaft for rotation about the axis; and wherein the axial location, on the pick-up shaft, of at least one pick-up wheel is adjustable. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110031682 | TRANSPORT SYSTEM - A method for controlling a variable speed transport system for moving a plurality of documentary items at a predetermined speed, acceleration and deceleration the method comprising: determining a mass of each pack of documents; using the determined mass to determine a maximum speed, acceleration and deceleration; and adjusting the predetermined speed acceleration and deceleration in dependence upon the determined maximum speed, acceleration and deceleration. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110024263 | PAPER HANDLING APPARATUS - A paper handling apparatus comprising: a plurality of feeder stations, for feeding documents to a conveyer, means for collating documents into packs, and means for collating packs into groups of documents, and an inserter module for inserting each group into an envelope, further comprising: means for monitoring the cycling and working times of sections of the inserter module, and means for determining at least one of: a first desired gap being the minimum gap between trailing edges of consecutive groups; a second desired gap being the minimum gap between the trailing edge of one pack and the leading edge of the following pack; a third desired gap being the minimum gap between the trailing edge of one group to the leading edge of the following group; and means for controlling at least one of the feeder stations to achieve at least one of the respective desired gaps. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110014025 | FEED DEVICE WITH IMPROVED GRIP - A mailpiece feed device comprising a mailpiece-receiving deck for receiving a stack of mailpieces, conveyor rollers for conveying the mailpieces along a longitudinal referencing wall and towards a separator device designed to separate the mailpieces one-by-one from said stack of mailpieces and to convey them downstream, and, incorporated vertically in said longitudinal referencing wall, at least one friction roller of varying roughness, with its coefficient of friction decreasing from the top to the bottom of said longitudinal referencing wall. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110002768 | HIGH-CAPACITY AUTOMATIC LOADER DEVICE - A mailpiece loader device comprising a storage tower for receiving mailpieces and whose mailpieces are separated into a plurality of independent stacks that are superposed one above another and that are held by a plurality of paddles, control means being provided for successively releasing, by gravity, each of said independent stacks separated in this way, it being possible for each paddle to retract horizontally from a support position to a retracted position under the action of rotation of a toothed wheel to which said paddle is connected via a mechanism of the crank and connecting rod type, said retracted position making it possible for said stack of mailpieces to be released by gravity. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20100319300 | ENVELOPE INSERTING APPARATUS - An inserting apparatus for inserting documents into envelopes comprising an envelope holder for holding an envelope in a document inserting position, wherein a first upstream end of the envelope is in an open position for receiving said document, a document displacement arrangement for displacing the document along a document inserting path into the envelope, wherein the apparatus further comprises a document steering arrangement arranged opposite to an envelope crease line provided between an envelope flap and an envelope body. The arrangement comprises steering elements spaced apart along a central axis that in use is substantially aligned with the envelope crease line. The steering elements are interconnected such that in use said respective steering elements are rotatable about the central axis in a similar direction with a similar speed during a similar time interval. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100314222 | TRANSPORT APPARATUS - Apparatus for transporting documents in a paper handling system, comprising: a drive train; a document transport element connected to the drive train for moving documents; and means adapted to apply a relatively high voltage element to generate a high torque when the transport element is not loaded and to reduce the voltage and thus the torque a predetermined time after the transport element engages a document to be moved. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100313530 | DOCUMENT INSERTING APPARATUS - An apparatus for inserting a document into an envelope, the apparatus comprising: means for holding an envelope at an insert station; pivotally mounted fingers for opening the envelope; and means for moving the document to be inserted along a platform over the fingers and into the envelope; wherein the platform is pivoted at an upstream end and upwardly spring biased so that the platform is depressed against the spring bias, by an amount dependent on the weight of the insert document moving over, so that a light insert document follows a path which subtends a steeper angle to the horizontal compared to a heavy insert document. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100309531 | SCANNER CARRIER APPARATUS - Apparatus for supporting a scanner head, the apparatus comprising: a carrier assembly; a bogey assembly; and a scanner head assembly, comprising a mounting for holding a scanner head; wherein the scanner head assembly and the bogey assembly are both mounted on spring bearings on the carrier assembly such that they can both move in a vertical direction, and the scanner head assembly comprises at least two collinear vertical bearings which restrict movement of the scanner head assembly to vertical movement substantially perpendicular to a document path, and the bogey assembly comprises two laterally spaced bearings which allow rotational movement of the bogey assembly about the scanner head mounting. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100274526 | METHOD OF DETERMINING THE THICKNESS OF A MAILPIECE - A method of measuring the maximum thickness of a mailpiece while it is moving through a mail-handling machine, the method consisting in the following successive steps:
| 10-28-2010 |
| 20100270125 | CONVEYOR CHAIN AND CONVEYOR FOR GRIPPING AND CONVEYING PAPER MATERIAL - A conveyor chain for gripping and conveying paper material has a plurality of links hingedly connected to each other. At least one of the links has a grip arm having a first grip surface. The grip arm is movable back and forth relative to a second grip surface of the chain between a grip position for holding paper material and a retracted position for insertion of the paper material between the first and second grip surfaces. The links are molded of plastic material. The or each grip arm is an integrally molded portion of one of the links. A conveyor including such a chain is also described. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100258406 | HIGH-CAPACITY DEVICE FOR RECEIVING MAILPIECES - A storage device for a mail-handling machine, said storage device comprising a mailpiece-receiving deck along a longitudinal edge of which a referencing wall extends, and through which a conveyor belt passes for the purpose of conveying mailpieces along said referencing wall from an inlet of the device towards a sloping surface against which said mailpieces accumulate, said storage device further comprising a pivot arm that is mounted to move both vertically about hinge pin and horizontally along a slide rail, on which arm firstly a friction roller is mounted for pressing said mailpieces against the conveyor belt, and secondly a holding roller is mounted for pressing said mailpieces against the sloping surface. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100235303 | Postal Meter Discount System and Method - A method to provide consolidated shipping information to a server of a carrier by which a package is to be shipped in exchange for a rebate, a discount, or both, is disclosed. The method includes receiving shipping criteria including destination address information and tracking/confirmation information for the package, creating shipping payment information for the package by a postal meter, and generating consolidated shipping information from the destination address information, the tracking/confirmation information, and the shipping payment. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100235267 | Guaranteed Postage - A system and method for managing a value of a descending register of a postal security device (PSD) in accordance with a guarantee is disclosed. Mailing data including a guarantee rate, and a public rate of postage disbursed for a mailpiece franked under terms of the guarantee, can be received. The public rate and the guarantee rate can be compared, and if the public rate is equal to or less than the guarantee rate, postage funds can be downloaded from an account corresponding to a lessee of the PSD. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100229504 | INSERTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSERTING POSTAL ITEMS INTO ENVELOPES - An inserting apparatus is equipped with a circulatable member arranged downstream of an envelope feeding path and rotatable about an axis transverse to the envelope feeding path. The circulatable member has envelope flap catcher members, each having a free edge arranged for entering between a flap and a body of an envelope fed along the envelope feeding path for engaging the flap and for holding the flap while the circulatable member is circulated so as to turn the flap to an opened position. An envelope support is provided for holding an envelope of which the opened flap is held by one of the catcher members of the circulatable member in an inserting position. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100219577 | MULTI-TRAY SHEET FEEDER - By providing an apparatus having a plurality of sheet feeders, each having a tray elongate in top plan view for supporting a stack of elongate sheets, wherein a tray can be displaced in an outward direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the sheet feeders, it is made possible for a tray displaced in an outward direction to be tilted over a relatively large angle at a given vertical clearance from the other sheet feeders. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100213034 | MACHINE FOR HANDLING FLAT ARTICLES - In a mail-handling machine having a conveyor path for conveying the mailpieces, which path is defined by a longitudinal referencing wall and by a top referencing wall, there is provided a conveyor and jogger belt formed of a continuous strip having two opposite faces, namely an inside face provided with a set of teeth suitable for co-operating with drive cogs for driving the belt, and an outside face provided with a plurality of flexible blades spaced apart at a predetermined distance, the free ends of said flexible blades providing both support for said flat articles while they are being conveyed and also jogging for jogging them against the top referencing wall. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100211212 | METHOD OF PREPARING MAIL PIECES INCLUDING REPLY ITEMS - For preparing mail pieces including reply items to be returned by addressees of the mail pieces, address carriers ( | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100202655 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING MAIL PIECES - For preparing a series of mail pieces using a mail preparation apparatus, a scanner ( | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100192853 | ENVELOPE FLAP MOISTENER - An envelope ( | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100190629 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND FOLDING SHEETS - A method and apparatus are provided for feeding and folding sheets. Providing a folding blade having a free edge, reciprocably movable between a retracted position and a folding position, provided with blade surfaces adjacent to the free edge converging towards the free edge at a first angle in the folding position, and by further providing a pressing mechanism having pressing surface areas reciprocably movable between a retracted position and a pressing position, and enclosing in the pressing position a second angle larger than the first angle of the folding blade, allows an apparatus, having a pair of folding rollers and a sheet support, selectively to fold only an outer sheet from a set of sheets or to fold a set of sheets simultaneously. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20100187749 | STORAGE TRAY FOR STORING MAILPIECES - A storage tray for storing mailpieces for a mail-handling machine, which storage tray comprises a support wall, a first jogging wall adjacent and perpendicular to said support wall, and a second jogging wall adjacent and perpendicular both to said support wall and to said first jogging wall, these three walls meeting at a single junction point, the support wall being provided with at least one first slot for allowing motor-driven feed members of the mail-handling machine to pass through. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20100183421 | SEPARATOR DEVICE USING BALLS FOR SEPARATING FLAT ARTICLES - A separator device for separating flat articles one-by-one from a stack of flat articles and for conveying them downstream, said separator device comprising at least one flexible bag provided with a plurality of balls and co-operating with a drive member so that, by deforming while said flat articles are being conveyed downstream, it separates said flat articles one-by-one. A particular application lies in separating mailpieces. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20100156030 | MAILPIECE FEED DEVICE - In a mailpiece feed device comprising a mailpiece-receiving deck through which motor-driven conveyor members pass and on which a stack of mailpieces stands, and a monitoring and control circuit for actuating said motor-driven members at a determined drive speed in order to enable said mailpieces to be extracted one-by-one downstream, there is provided a method of controlling said motor-driven conveyor members wherein the drive speed of said motor-driven conveyor members varies as a function of the weight of said stack of mailpieces standing on said mailpiece-receiving deck. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100156026 | Apparatus And Method For Gathering Documents - An apparatus and method are described in which documents and enclosures are fed by feeding stations to a supply track and subsequently transported along the supply track to a gathering station. A sensor downstream of the feeding stations is used for scanning markings. A divert station connected to the supply track allows clearing the supply track, when scanned markings indicate that the first sheet of a next set has been scanned in the supply track, by diverting the first sheet to the divert station. This allows enclosures of the set being gathered to be fed along the supply track and gathered at the gathering station. After the completed set has vacated the gathering station, the diverted sheet is transported to the gathering station and gathered with further documents of the next set. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100133803 | METHOD OF PROCESSING REPLY CARDS - In a reply card enabling a recipient of said reply card to answer at least one request made by a sender of said reply card by taking a determined physical action on at least one identified zone of said reply card, provision is made for at least one identified zone of said reply card to be provided with a succession of signs printed with a conductive ink, and for a determined physical action to be taken that consists in perforating at least one of said identified zones so as to detach at least a portion of said succession of signs printed with a conductive ink from the reply card, the effect of said detaching being to prevent a radio-frequency read device possessed by the sender from receiving the answer associated with said succession of signs printed with a conductive ink and detached by the recipient. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100126362 | BOTTOM-OF-THE-RANGE FRANKING MACHINE - In a franking machine for printing a postal imprint on a mailpiece, which machine is provided with feed slot for feeding the mailpiece into the machine and with a print head for printing said postal imprint line-by-line while the mailpiece is moving under the print head, synchronization means are also provided for acting so that the command to print said postal imprint is synchronized with manual removal of said mailpiece from the machine by an operator. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100112205 | METHOD OF PROCESSING MAIL HAVING MULTIPLE IDENTIFIERS - A method of processing a mailpiece that bears identifiers for postal use and identifiers other than for postal use, in which method said identifiers other than for postal use are printed on the mailpiece prior to it being fed into a franking machine suitable for printing a postal imprint on the mailpiece, wherein the identifiers other than for postal use are printed in an ink that is erased after the process of printing said postal imprint. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100091346 | SCANNER DEVICE FOR A FRANKING SYSTEM - A scanner device for scanning mailpieces, which scanner device comprises: a contact image sensor or “CIS” disposed in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction in which the mailpieces are conveyed through a module of a franking system; a support to which said sensor is fastened, the support being mounted to pivot at one end of at least one first drive lever, the other end of which is itself mounted to pivot about a first common hinge pin secured to a stationary portion of the module and disposed upstream from a set of conveyor rollers, so as to make it possible for said contact image sensor to move vertically; and at least one second drive lever one end of which is mounted to pivot about a second common hinge pin secured to said stationary portion of said module and disposed downstream from said set of conveyor rollers, the other end of the second drive lever, by being moved synchronously with the vertical movement of said set of conveyor rollers, moving the contact image sensor via the first drive lever. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100085612 | SCANNER DEVICE FOR A FRANKING SYSTEM - A mailpiece scanner device in a module of a franking system, said mailpiece scanner device comprising: a contact image sensor or “CIS” disposed in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction in which the mailpieces are conveyed through the module; and a support to which said sensor is fastened and which is mounted firstly to move vertically under the action of at least one drive lever and secondly to pivot about a longitudinal hinge pin; the device further comprising guide means secured to a stationary portion of the module for the purpose of limiting firstly the vertical movement of the image sensor support and secondly pivoting of said support about the longitudinal hinge pin. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100082763 | SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AN OPERATION ON A REMOTE SERVER ON THE BASIS OF A PHYSICAL ACTION EXERTED ON A DETERMINED ZONE OF A DOCUMENT - System for automatically controlling an operation determined at the level of a computer server ( | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100026229 | SERVOMOTOR SPEED CONTROL - A method for controlling a servomotor for driving a movable part of a machine, the method comprising: determining the coordinates of an acceleration and of a deceleration curve for each stage of a cycle of operation to move said part; determining the maximum number of stages required to complete said cycle; initiating the acceleration curve for the first stage of the cycle of operation; and dynamically correcting the cycle of operation, at at least one intermediate point in the cycle, to initiate the deceleration curve appropriate to the stage, at a predetermined decision point, if production line parameters require a change to the operation cycle. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100025920 | VACUUM SHEET FEEDER - A vacuum feeding mechanism for a document handling apparatus, the feeding mechanism comprising: an adjustable pick for separating a stack of documents from a downstream transport system; a rotatable wheel connected to a vacuum port and operable to pull a document by suction from the top of the stack toward the wheel and move the document over the pick to the downstream transport system; the wheel and the pick being separated by a clearance distance; means for determining adjustment coordinates in dependence upon characteristics of a document in the stack; wherein the position of the pick is automatically adjustable in two independent dimensions in dependence upon said adjustment coordinates. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100024365 | INSERTER APPARATUS - Apparatus for inserting a content pack into an envelope, the apparatus comprising: a gripping mechanism; means for operating the gripping mechanism to hold an envelope; means for opening a throat of the envelope; means for moving the content pack in a direction toward and into the throat of the envelope; means for accelerating the envelope in the direction of movement of the content pack while the gripping mechanism is operational; and means for releasing the gripping mechanism at a predetermined time, to release the envelope, the predetermined time being while the content pack is at least partially inserted into the envelope, and being predetermined in dependence upon parameters comprising at least the content pack depth and the envelope depth. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20090316220 | OPTICAL CODE READER - A system for capturing an image of an optical code located at a region of interest in a document, the system comprising: means for supporting the document; a source of light arranged to illuminate the document; a mount for supporting an imaging device at a position spaced from the document; a trigger for activating the imaging device to capture an image of the region of interest; and means for automatically moving the mount and operating the trigger in dependence upon at least one coordinate identifying the region of interest, the coordinate being contained in a label stored in document parameters. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20090308715 | CONVEYOR BELT - A method of attaching a pawl to a region of a surface of a conveyor belt comprising pre-stressing the surface region and fixing the pawl to the surface region while it is in the pre-stressed state. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20090307155 | FRANKING SYSTEM MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO PROCESS MAILPIECES HAVING DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS - A method of searching for a destination price zone applicable to a mailpiece, the method consisting in scanning the mailpiece so as to obtain an image of the destination address, in extracting an item of destination data from said image, in comparing the destination data extracted in this way with destination price zones previously stored in a database, in preventing any printing of a postal imprint by the franking means of the franking machine if said destination data does not belong to any of the destination price zones in said database or if such belonging cannot be established before the mailpiece goes past said franking means, and in incrementing a counter totaling a number of non-franked mailpieces that is associated with at least one determined reason for non-franking. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090288374 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSERTING A POSTAL ITEM INTO AN ENVELOPE AND MOISTENING THE FLAP OF THE ENVELOPE - In an apparatus for inserting postal items into an envelope, the envelope is brought in an inserting position where the flap of the envelope is held open. A postal item is transported along a postal item transport path towards the inserting position and inserted into the envelope in the inserting position. The envelope with the postal item inserted therein is transported away from the inserting position and closed. A gummed portion of the flap is moistened, wherein the moistening is at least started before the transportation of the envelope away from the inserting position. An apparatus for carrying out such a method is also described. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090288373 | METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR INSERTING A POSTAL ITEM INTO AN ENVELOPE - In an apparatus for inserting a postal item into an envelope, the envelope is fed with its flap fold trailing its envelope body and its flap along a flap opener. A free flap opener edge enters between the flap and the envelope body until the flap fold abuts the free flap opener edge. While holding the flap against the flap opener, the flap is pivoted relative to the envelope body about the flap fold to an open position and subsequently the postal item is inserted into the envelope body. An apparatus for carrying such a method is also described. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090252870 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MOISTENING ENVELOPE FLAPS - An apparatus for moistening flaps of envelopes has a liquid dispenser for dispensing liquid to the envelope flap of each envelope to be moistened. A liquid sensor is provided for sensing liquid carried by the dispenser and generating a humidity signal indicating an amount of the liquid held by the dispenser. A method for moistening flaps of envelopes is also described. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20090250862 | GATHERING POSTAL ITEMS - Apparatus for gathering postal items having a postal item feeding path for feeding postal items at a speed of transport and a postal item gripper for gripping and subsequently releasing postal items. The gripper is circulatable in a sense of circulation along a circulation path downstream of the feeding path. Each time prior to gripping of one of the postal items by the gripper, at least the speed of transport of the gripper is temporarily reduced to a reduced speed of transport or the speed of transport of the postal item along the feeding path is temporarily increased to an increased speed of transport. A method for gathering postal items is also described. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20090212482 | DEVICE FOR SELECTING MAILPIECES - A mailpiece selector device for separating mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and for transporting them downstream, the device comprising at least a first guide co-operating with a plurality of opposite selector rollers to select said mailpieces one-by-one and to transport them downstream, said first guide being comb-shaped and able to pivot about a first pivot axis in opposition to first resilient return means, one end of at least one tooth of the comb being coated with a wear-resistant material. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090200498 | THICKNESS SENSOR FOR MEASURING THE THICKNESS OF SHEET-LIKE OBJECTS - A sensor for measuring sheet-like objects has a contact member and a screening member screening off light from a light source from a section of an array of photo sensitive elements. During an output cycle, output signals representing the light intensities received by the respective photo sensitive elements indicate where a transition from the exposed to the screened off section of the array is located. This location is determined by the position of the contact member, which is, in turn, determined by the thickness of the object with which it is in contact. When a timer is started simultaneously with the output cycle of the array and stopped when a predetermined trigger level is reached, the timer value represents a measure of the thickness of a measured object. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090199180 | RESOURCE SHARING FOR DOCUMENT PRODUCTION - A system for resource sharing for document production. Available resources are determined for performing at least one document production task. The capacity of an available resource is determined. A task is selecting to send to the resource based at least partly on its availability. An identifier is associating with a set of task data, which can include document data and insertion data. The identifier can be used to track the progress and completion of the task. The task can be sent to the resource for processing. The completed task is received from the resource. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090194932 | MAILPIECE SELECTOR DEVICE HAVING AN ADJUSTABLE GUIDE - A mailpiece selector device comprising at least one guide co-operating with a plurality of opposite selector rollers passing through a deck for receiving a stack of mailpieces, said guide co-operating with said rollers to select said mailpieces one-by-one and to transport them downstream, said guide presenting a predetermined inclination at an angle θ relative to a horizontal plane defined by said deck, with a distance between said deck and a low end portion of said guide that is larger at the portion of said guide that is closer to a referencing wall than at the portion of said guide that is further away from said referencing wall. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090189335 | DEVICE FOR OPTIMALLY SELECTING MAILPIECES - A mailpiece selector device for separating mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and for transporting them downstream, said mailpiece selector device comprising a first guide co-operating with a plurality of opposite selector rollers to select said mailpieces one-by-one and for transporting them downstream, said first guide being able to pivot about a pivot axis in opposition to first resilient return means and said first guide having a reference plate designed to co-operate with a magnet that is secured to a framework of the device to prevent said first guide from pivoting in this way below a predetermined mailpiece thickness. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090189333 | MAILPIECE SELECTOR DEVICE HAVING TWO GUIDES - A mailpiece selector device for separating mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and for transporting them downstream, said mailpiece selector device comprising a first guide followed by a second guide, both of which guides co-operate with a plurality of opposite selector rollers to select said mailpieces one-by-one and to transport them downstream, said first guide being able to pivot about a first pivot axis in opposition to first resilient return means, and said second guide being able to pivot about a second pivot axis in opposition to second resilient return means, said second pivot axis being offset upstream relative to said first pivot axis, and said first and second guides having drive means for making it possible, above a predetermined mailpiece thickness range, for said second guide to pivot automatically when said first guide pivots. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090184460 | A DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOGGING MAILPIECES - A jogging device for a feeder of a mail handling machine, which jogging device comprises a side jogging abutment mounted to move, under the action of a drive motor, along a guide rail that is disposed perpendicularly to a referencing wall, said side jogging abutment being provided with at least: a first sensor that is fastened to its base and that, when unmasked, causes said side jogging abutment to move towards said referencing wall, and, when masked, causes this movement to stop; and a second sensor that is fastened to the top of said side jogging abutment and that, when masked, causes said side jogging abutment to move away from said referencing wall, and, when unmasked, causes this movement to stop. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090182751 | METHOD OF ACCESSING DIGITAL IMAGES OF MAILPIECES FRANKED BY A STANDARD FRANKING MACHINE - A method of accessing digital images of mailpieces from a workstation of a sender of said mailpieces, which method comprises the following steps:
| 07-16-2009 |
| 20090177312 | POSTAGE METER SYSTEM WITH INTEGRATED IMAGE SENSOR - A digitization device ( | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090150117 | METHOD OF DETERMINING THE DIMENSIONS OF A MAILPIECE - A method of determining the dimensions of a mailpiece by means of a portable measuring device having a housing provided with an opening having a side reference surface along which the mailpiece is guided under a position sensor in a first pass along a first dimension of the mailpiece, after which pass a value for the first dimension of the mailpiece is determined by a processing unit and is communicated to a franking system to which the portable measuring device is connected, and in a second pass along a second dimension of the mailpiece, after which pass a value for the second dimension of the mailpiece is determined by the processing unit and is communicated to the franking system. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090145082 | SYSTEM FOR MANAGING DOCUMENTS WITHOUT PRINTED MARK RECOGNITION - In a mail production system comprising at least one user workstation on which a document is generated, printer means for printing the pages of said document, and folding and insertion means for folding the pages once they have been printed and for inserting them into an envelope, a method is provided in which, in order to control insertion into the envelope of each of the pages of the document, a unique marking code is generated, for each page of said document, on the basis of a predetermined combination of characters on each of said pages. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090128598 | INK COLLECTION DEVICE FOR A SERVICING STATION - An ink collection device for a servicing station of a franking machine, said ink collection device comprising: an ink collection reservoir for receiving the ink ejected, during a servicing stage, by ink ejection nozzles of at least one print module; at least one drainage duct placed above the reservoir and opening out in register with said at least one print module while defining a gap between a top of the drainage duct and the print module; and, mounted across said at least one drainage duct and at a small predetermined distance from the top of the drainage duct, means for causing the fine ink droplets ejected by said ink ejection nozzles to coalesce to form a plurality of thicker ink drops, and for causing said ink drops to drip under gravity into said ink collection reservoir. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090106146 | Systems and Methods for the Provision of Postage - Systems and methods for providing postal services which allow customers to flexibly obtain postal services while also allowing customers to defer the payment of postage until the time of mailing or later. Information provided by a postal service is used to identify items that have been processed by the postal service, allowing a service provider to collect payment for those items after they have been provided to the postal service for processing. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090106039 | FRANKING SYSTEM WITH A VERIFIED DISTRIBUTION POINT - A method of franking a mailpiece that is to be put into a letter box associated with a mail-receiving office, including, in a portable communications device of a sender of the mailpiece, firstly an operation of inputting an identifier of said letter box, and secondly an operation of transmitting the identifier together with other postal data, including at least one franking amount and an unique identification code relating to the mailpiece, to a server of a franking service having the function of issuing a franking authorization for the sender. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090090564 | High Capacity and High Resolution Scale - A scale can include a low capacity sensing mechanism operatively coupled to a load, wherein the low capacity sensing mechanism may detect movement of the load. A transfer mechanism can be operatively coupled to the low capacity sensing mechanism, wherein the low capacity sensing mechanism may enable the scale to weigh both relatively heavy loads and relatively light loads to a minor division resolution associated with the low capacity sensing mechanism. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090070278 | Automatically Generated Metered Mail - Postage values are determined for a plurality of documents stored in a document file. Value-bearing indicia are generated based upon the determined values. The indicia are stored separately from the documents. The documents and the indicia are printed on the same mailpiece. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090057979 | MAILPIECE FEED DEVICE HAVING AN INTEGRATED IMAGE SENSOR - In a mailpiece feed device comprising a mailpiece-receiving deck for receiving a stack of mailpieces for printing, selector means for extracting the mailpieces for printing one-by-one from said stack, and superposed conveyor rollers including movable upper rollers for conveying downstream the mailpieces extracted one-by-one in this way, there are further provided movable optical read means that are placed downstream from said selector means and that move synchronously with said movable upper conveyor rollers for conveying the mailpieces, so that, in cooperation with processor means, said optical read means scan and recognize automatically the data printed on said mailpieces. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090018977 | FRANKING METHOD HAVING ERROR CORRECTION - A method of franking mailpieces in a closed franking machine fed from a mixed batch of mailpieces, said method comprising the following steps, for each mailpiece:
| 01-15-2009 |
| 20080304704 | SYSTEM FOR VIRTUALLY DISTRIBUTING MAILPIECES - A method of enabling mailpieces to be distributed and consulted in electronic form, said method comprising the following steps:
| 12-11-2008 |
| 20080301065 | DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING A CATEGORY OF MAIL TO WHICH A MAILPIECE DELIVERED TO A FRANKING SYSTEM BELONGS - A device for determining the category of mail of a mailpiece, which device comprises: an stand designed to receive said mailpiece; at least one gauge fastened to said stand and provided with a slot of predetermined length and of predetermined height, which length and which height are suitable for defining a determined maximum width and a determined maximum thickness for the mailpiece; means for automatically estimating a length of the mailpiece depending on its position on the stand, and relative to the gauge; and means for acting, on the basis of that single estimate of the length of the mailpiece, to deliver, to a franking machine, information about the category of mail to which said mailpiece belongs. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080294284 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COLLATING POSTAL ITEMS - For collating postal items into sets, the actual relative positions of the collated first and second postal items ( | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080249962 | MAIL PROCESSOR MACHINE CASING HAVING A DETACHABLE IDENTITY PLATE - A mail processor machine casing having an identity plate for identifying the machine, which identity plate is formed by a portion of said casing that is connected to the remainder of said casing by a peripheral zone of weakness that, on being broken, makes it possible to detach said identity plate. Preferably, said zone of weakness comprises a plurality of casing bridges that can be broken by hand. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080209860 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING A FOLDING STATION AND INSERTING SYSTEM - For determining a setting of an apparatus for folding documents to be inserted into windowed envelopes, a tentative folding setting is determined. Then, an overlay image representing the envelope and at least a portion of a side of the folded document that would be visible through the envelope window after folding of the specimen of the documents in accordance with the tentative folding setting and insertion of the folded specimen into the envelope is displayed. If the overlay image is not satisfactory, another tentative folding setting is inputted and an accordingly changed overlay image is generated. If the overlay image is satisfactory, the current tentative folding setting is selected as the folding setting to be applied for folding documents. | 09-04-2008 |
