Assemblies, systems, and methods for applying postage indicia to one or more mailpiece on a high speed mail sorter

• US 20160332467A1
• Filed: 12/23/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DMT Solutions Global Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bell & Howell LLC (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Bowers, Brian, Conard, Walter S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,827,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 1/00 Measures preceding sorting according to destination
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 3/00 Printing processes to produce particular kinds of printed work, e.g. patterns printing apparatus or machines of special type or for particular purposes B41F17/00; special designs or pictures per se B44F; manufacturing printed circuits using printing techniques H05K3/12 ; manufacturing organic semiconductor devices using printing techniques H10K71/13
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00508 Printing or attaching on mailpieces printing mechanisms B41J; security printing B41M3/14; marking methods B41M5/00; inks C09D11/00; record carriers with at least a part designed to carry digital markings G06K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00516 Details of printing apparatus

Abstract

An assembly, system, and method for applying postage indicia to one or more mailpiece on a high speed mail sorter are disclosed. In some aspects, the assembly includes a diverter; a first and a second lane each including one or more zones, wherein the diverter is configured to alternately divert the one or more mailpiece to either the first or second lane; and one or more meter printers disposed on the first and second lane; wherein the one or more zones includes a first zone configured to decelerate the one or more mailpiece to printer speed, a second zone configured to transport the one or more mailpiece past the one or more meter printers at the printer speed, and a third zone configured to accelerate the one or more mailpiece to transport speed and merge the one or more mailpiece with mailpieces from each of the first and second lane.

Claims

1. An assembly for applying postage indicia to one or more mailpiece on a high speed mail sorter, the assembly comprising:

a diverter disposed along a transport path;

a first lane and a second lane each comprising one or more zones, wherein the diverter is configured to alternately divert the one or more mailpiece to either the first lane or the second lane;

one or more meter printers disposed on the first lane and the second lane, the one or more meter printers being configured to successively receive the one or more mailpiece on which to print the postage indicia;

wherein the one or more zones comprise a first zone configured to decelerate the one or more mailpiece to printer speed, a second zone configured to transport the one or more mailpiece past the one or more meter printers at the printer speed, and a third zone configured to accelerate the one or more mailpiece to transport speed and merge the one or more mailpiece with mailpieces from each of the first lane and the second lane.

2. The assembly of claim 1, further comprising a bypass lane disposed after the diverter in either the first lane or the second lane, the bypass lane being configured to transport the one or more mailpiece when the postage indicia is not required or because of one or more errors.

3. The assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one motor configured to drive the one or more zones and at least one encoder integrated into the at least one motor and configured to determine an accurate speed profile during the acceleration to the transport speed and during the deceleration to the printer speed.

4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein a respective one of the one or more meter printers are configured to receive from a postage meter system, based on mailpiece characteristics of a respective mailpiece of the one or more mailpiece, indicium print instructions comprising print data for printing the postage indicia on the respective mailpiece received.

5. A system for applying postage indicia to one or more mailpiece on a high speed mail sorter, the system comprising:

a transport path configured to transport the one or more mailpiece at transport speed;

an assembly disposed along the transport path and comprising;

a diverter disposed along the transport path,

a first lane and a second lane each comprising one or more zones, wherein the diverter is configured to alternately divert the one or more mailpiece to either the first lane or the second lane,

one or more meter printers disposed on the first lane and the second lane, the one or more meter printers being configured to successively receive the one or more mailpiece on which to print the postage indicia,

wherein the one or more zones comprise a first zone configured to decelerate the one or more mailpiece to printer speed, a second zone configured to transport the one or more mailpiece past the one or more meter printers at the printer speed, and a third zone configured to accelerate the one or more mailpiece to the transport speed and merge the one or more mailpiece with mailpieces from each of the first lane and the second lane; and

a controller configured to queue print data for printing the postage indicia on a respective mailpiece of the one or more mailpiece in synchronization with a respective one of the one or more meter printers receiving the respective mailpiece.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an input detector disposed along the transport path before the assembly and configured to detect the one or more mailpiece on the transport path;

and to initiate tracking of the one or more mailpiece.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising an image processor disposed along the transport path before the assembly that is configured to read mailpiece characteristics of the one or more mailpiece, wherein the mailpiece characteristics include address data, weight data, weight class, delivery class, and/or the postage indicia.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the postage indicia is updated for each of the one or more mailpiece.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to maintain data records for each of the one or more mailpiece, wherein the data records include presort results, delivery point barcode, postage applied, and/or postage due for a permit.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the assembly further comprises a bypass lane disposed after the diverter in either the first lane or the second lane, the bypass lane being configured to transport the one or more mailpiece when the postage indicia is not required or because of one or more errors.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the assembly further comprises at least one motor configured to drive the one or more zones;

and at least one encoder integrated into the at least one motor and configured to determine an accurate speed profile during the acceleration to the transport speed and during the deceleration to the printer speed.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more meter printers is paired with a postage security device (PSD) of the postage meter system, such that a paired meter printer is configured to receive from its corresponding PSD of the postage meter system indicium print instructions generated from mailpiece characteristics received by the corresponding PSD for the respective mailpiece and comprising the print data for printing the postage indicia on the respective mailpiece received.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising one or more photosensor disposed immediately after one or more image sensor and/or scale assembly along the transport path and configured to detect the one or more mailpiece, wherein the corresponding PSD is configured to load the indicium print instructions into the paired meter printer following detection of the respective mailpiece by the one or more photosensor.

14. A method for applying postage indicia to one or more mailpiece on a high speed mail sorter, the method comprising:

transporting the one or more mailpiece along a transport path at transport speed;

alternately diverting, by a diverter, the one or more mailpiece from the transport path to either a first lane or a second lane, wherein the first lane and the second lane each comprise one or more zones;

successively receiving, at one or more printers disposed on the first lane and the second lane, the one or more mailpiece on which to print the postage indicia; and

queueing, by a controller, print data for printing the postage indicia on a respective mailpiece of the one or more mailpiece in synchronization with a respective one of the one or more meter printers receiving the respective mailpiece;

wherein the one or more zones comprise a first zone configured to decelerate the one or more mailpiece to printer speed, a second zone configured to transport the one or more mailpiece past the one or more meter printers at the printer speed, and a third zone configured to accelerate the one or more mailpiece to the transport speed and merge the one or more mailpiece with mailpieces from each of the first lane and the second lane.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising detecting, by an input detector disposed along the transport path before the assembly, the one or more mailpiece on the transport path;

and initiating, by the input detector, tracking of the one or more mailpiece.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising reading, by an image processor disposed along the transport path before the assembly, mailpiece characteristics of the one or more mailpiece, wherein the mailpiece characteristics include address data, weight data, weight class, delivery class, and/or the postage indicia.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising updating the postage indicia for each of the one or more mailpiece.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising maintaining, by the controller, data records for each of the one or more mailpiece, wherein the data records include presort results, delivery point barcode, postage applied, and/or postage due for a permit.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising diverting the one or more mailpiece to a bypass lane, disposed in either the first or the second lane, when the postage indicia is not required for the one or more mailpiece or because of one or more errors associated with the one or more mailpiece.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising driving, by at least one motor, the one or more zones of the assembly;

and determining, by at least one encoder integrated into the at least one motor, an accurate speed profile during the acceleration to the transport speed and during the deceleration to the printer speed.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving, by the one or more meter printers, based on mailpiece characteristics of the respective mailpiece of the one or more mailpiece, indicium print instructions from a postage meter system for the respective mailpiece received, wherein the indicium print instructions comprise the print data for printing the postage indicia on the respective mailpiece received.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

alternately diverting a first mailpiece to a first meter printer of two or more meter printers disposed in a first printer speed transport zone of the first lane and a second mailpiece to a first meter printer of two or more meter printers disposed in a first printer speed transport zone of the second lane, where the first and second lanes are parallel to one another; and

printing a first postage indicia by the first meter printer in the first printer speed transport zone of the first lane and printing a second postage indicia by the first meter printer in the first printer transport zone of the second lane;

wherein each successive mailpiece after the first and second mailpiece is alternately diverted to either the first lane or the second lane and a successive printer after the first meter printer in each lane is configured to print postage indicia on each of the successive mailpieces.