Metering incoming deliverable mail to identify delivery delays
First Claim
1. A incoming mail monitoring system, said system comprises:
- a plurality of mailers units that stores unique information contained in a postal indicia of a mail piece;
means for transmitting the mailers unique information;
a plurality of recipient addressee units that reads and stores the unique information contained in the postal indicia after the mail piece has been delivered to the recipient;
means for transmitting the recipients unique information;
a data center that receives the unique information stored by the mailers units and the recipients units; and
means within the data center for comparing the unique mailer unit information and the unique recipient unit information to determine unexpected delivery delays in a mail delivery network.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system that allows a third party, such as a postage meter manufacturer or PSD manufacturer, to collate data, process the data and report localized delivery delays on a nationalized basis. The foregoing is accomplished by connecting a scanner and control software to a digital postage meter or PSD processor that would read incoming digitally metered mail. Instead of printing an indicia, the scanner would read the already existing indicia and other information on the mail piece and then extract the sender data fields that are contained in the indicia or on the mail piece. The extracted mail data would be periodically uploaded to a data center. The data center would compare the extracted data with mail sender data that has previously been uploaded from sending meters and processors to determine unexpected delivery delays in the delivery network.
42 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A incoming mail monitoring system, said system comprises:
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a plurality of mailers units that stores unique information contained in a postal indicia of a mail piece; means for transmitting the mailers unique information; a plurality of recipient addressee units that reads and stores the unique information contained in the postal indicia after the mail piece has been delivered to the recipient; means for transmitting the recipients unique information; a data center that receives the unique information stored by the mailers units and the recipients units; and means within the data center for comparing the unique mailer unit information and the unique recipient unit information to determine unexpected delivery delays in a mail delivery network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification