Distribution of mail pieces across print jobs to enhance postal discounts in a production printing environment
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- at least two printing systems, each printing system comprising a printer and an inserter, and each printing system having a different set of capabilities;
an interface configured to receive multiple print jobs, each print job assigned for printing at one of the printing systems, each print job comprising mail pieces that correspond with the capabilities of the assigned printing system; and
a data center comprising a processor configured to identify mail pieces of the print jobs that have delivery addresses that are not confirmed by a mailing address database (“
non-automated mail pieces”
), to extract non-automated plain mail pieces that are assigned to the print jobs, to determine a threshold number of non-automated mail pieces to qualify for a bulk postal discount for a print job, and to redistribute the extracted mail pieces across the print jobs in order to qualify at least one of the print jobs for the discount, wherein the extracted mail pieces are assigned to print jobs beginning with the print job having a greatest number of non-automated mail pieces that does not qualify for the discount, and continuing to any further print jobs in the order of descending number of non-automated mail pieces in each print job;
wherein a plain mail piece is a mail piece that does not include any inserts, and an insert is a document that has been pre-printed separately from the multiple print jobs,wherein the capabilities of the assigned printing system comprise types of inserts available to the printing system for producing mail pieces that are assigned to the printing system, andwherein the printing systems are configured to produce the mail pieces in accordance with the print jobs as modified by the redistributing of the extracted mail pieces, wherein producing the mail pieces comprises inserting, by an inserter, at least one insert into at least one mail piece.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for enhancing postal discounts. The system receives multiple print jobs, each print job assigned for printing at a different printing system. Each print job comprises mail pieces that correspond with capabilities of the assigned printing system. The system identifies mail pieces of the print jobs that have delivery addresses that are not confirmed by a mailing address database (“non-automated mail pieces”), and extracts non-automated mail pieces that may be produced at printing systems having different capabilities. Further, the system determines a threshold number of non-automated mail pieces to reach a bulk postal discount for a print job, and redistributes the extracted mail pieces across the print jobs based upon the threshold to increase the number of print jobs that reach the bulk postal discount.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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at least two printing systems, each printing system comprising a printer and an inserter, and each printing system having a different set of capabilities; an interface configured to receive multiple print jobs, each print job assigned for printing at one of the printing systems, each print job comprising mail pieces that correspond with the capabilities of the assigned printing system; and a data center comprising a processor configured to identify mail pieces of the print jobs that have delivery addresses that are not confirmed by a mailing address database (“
non-automated mail pieces”
), to extract non-automated plain mail pieces that are assigned to the print jobs, to determine a threshold number of non-automated mail pieces to qualify for a bulk postal discount for a print job, and to redistribute the extracted mail pieces across the print jobs in order to qualify at least one of the print jobs for the discount, wherein the extracted mail pieces are assigned to print jobs beginning with the print job having a greatest number of non-automated mail pieces that does not qualify for the discount, and continuing to any further print jobs in the order of descending number of non-automated mail pieces in each print job;wherein a plain mail piece is a mail piece that does not include any inserts, and an insert is a document that has been pre-printed separately from the multiple print jobs, wherein the capabilities of the assigned printing system comprise types of inserts available to the printing system for producing mail pieces that are assigned to the printing system, and wherein the printing systems are configured to produce the mail pieces in accordance with the print jobs as modified by the redistributing of the extracted mail pieces, wherein producing the mail pieces comprises inserting, by an inserter, at least one insert into at least one mail piece. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method comprising:
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receiving multiple print jobs, each print job assigned for printing at one of multiple printing systems, each print job comprising mail pieces that correspond with the capabilities of the assigned printing system, wherein each of the multiple printing systems comprises a printer and an inserter, and each printing system has a different set of capabilities; identifying mail pieces of the print jobs that have delivery addresses that are not confirmed by a mailing address database (“
non-automated mail pieces”
);extracting non-automated plain mail pieces that are assigned to the print jobs; determining a threshold number of non-automated mail pieces to qualify for a bulk postal discount for a print job; redistributing, by a computer system, the extracted mail pieces across the print jobs in order to qualify at least one of the print jobs for the discount, wherein the extracted mail pieces are assigned to print jobs beginning with the print job having a greatest number of non-automated mail pieces that does not qualify for the discount, and continuing to any further print jobs in the order of descending number of non-automated mail pieces in each print job; and producing, by the printing systems, the mail pieces in accordance with the print jobs as modified by the redistributing, wherein producing the mail pieces comprises inserting, by an inserter, at least one insert into at least one mail piece; wherein a plain mail piece is a mail piece that does not include any inserts, and an insert is a document that has been pre-printed separately from the multiple print jobs, and wherein the capabilities of the assigned printing system comprise types of inserts available to the printing system for producing mail pieces that are assigned to the printing system. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having programmed instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
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receiving multiple print jobs, each print job assigned for printing at one of multiple printing systems, each print job comprising mail pieces that correspond with the capabilities of the assigned printing system, wherein each of the multiple printing systems comprises a printer and an inserter, and each printing system has a different set of capabilities; identifying mail pieces of the print jobs that have delivery addresses that are not confirmed by a mailing address database (“
non-automated mail pieces”
);extracting non-automated plain mail pieces that are assigned to the print jobs; determining a threshold number of non-automated mail pieces to qualify for a bulk postal discount for a print job; redistributing the extracted mail pieces across the print jobs in order to qualify at least one of the print jobs for the discount, wherein the extracted mail pieces are assigned to print jobs beginning with the print job having a greatest number of non-automated mail pieces that does not qualify for the discount, and continuing to any further print jobs in the order of descending number of non-automated mail pieces in each print job; and causing the printing systems to produce the mail pieces in accordance with the print jobs as modified by the redistributing, wherein producing the mail pieces comprises inserting, by an inserter, at least one insert into at least one mail piece; wherein a plain mail piece is a mail piece that does not include any inserts, and an insert is a document that has been pre-printed separately from the multiple print jobs, and wherein the capabilities of the assigned printing system comprise types of inserts available to the printing system for producing mail pieces that are assigned to the printing system. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification