Pitney Bowes Inc.

United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

Pitney Dowes Inc.

Gregory P Skinger

John W Sussmeier

William J Wright

John R Masotta

Denis J Stemmle

Boris Rozenfeld

Eric A Belec

Steven L Smith

Arthur H DePoi

Clare E Woodman

Steven J DaCunha

Michael J Cummings

Robert H Esslinger

Joseph P Mulligan

Daniel J Williams

Shahzad H Malick

Eddy Edel

Pradeep K Das

David W Spencer

John Kline

Jerry Leitz

John F Pezzuti

William D Hess

James V Recktenwalt

Thomas P Nash

Arthur H DePol

Jason Wang

Jianxin Wu

Potter R Noreen

Boris Rosenfeld

Daniel J William

A method for creating mailpieces from a single web of printed material. The web of printed material includes printed matter to be used on envelopes, and other printed matter to be used on mail content to be included in the envelopes. The method starts with cutting consecutive sections of the web into separated sheets. Some of the separated sheets are envelope sheets including envelope printed matter, and some of the sheets are mail content sheets including mail content printed matter. The method includes cutting variable sized sheets depending on whether a sheet is a mail content sheet, or an envelope sheet. The method further includes cutting variable sized envelope sheets depending on the size of the mailpieces.

Method for creating mailpieces from a single continuous web of printed material

A mailing system includes a mailing machine having an envelope feed path, a sealing system configured to apply a liquid to an envelope in the envelope feed path, a capacitive sensor located in the envelope feed path downstream from the sealing system, and a controller connected to the capacitive sensor. The sealing system may include a liquid reservoir and a liquid applicator. The capacitive sensor is configured to measure a quantity of liquid on a portion of the envelope applied by the sealing system and to generate a signal based on the measured quantity. The controller is configured to perform an operation based on the measured quantity signal from the capacitive sensor.

Envelope moistening detector

A method and system for validating the completeness of a document collation includes obtaining information concerning a document having a first page and a last page, and processing the obtained information. The processed information is employed to apply a marking on the document that may be readable through an enclosure that visually obscures the marking. The marking may provide information regarding the completeness of the document collation within the enclosure. The processed information may be employed in a manner such that the applied marking includes a first page mark on the first page of the document collation and a last page mark in the last page of the document collation. The marks may be applied in respective predetermined zones on the first page and the last page. The first page zone and the last page zone may have a predetermined relationship for a document collation.

Validation of mailpiece composition completeness

An improved inserter input system and method for transversely cutting a web of printed material into separate sheets, the web including a plurality of separated side-by-side sheets. A set of sheets on the web is transported to the cutting device. One or more of the sheets in the set belongs to a new collation for which sheets have not previously been cut. The system determines whether sufficient collation parking spots exist to accommodate a new collation. If there are no available collation parking spots, and if all of the sheets in the set belong to the new collation, then transverse cutting is delayed until an open collation parking spot becomes available. If there are no available collation parking spots, and if a subset of sheets belong to a prior collation, then the web is partially cut to separate only the sheet, or sheets, that belong to the prior collation. The cutting of the other sheet(s) is delayed until the open collation parking spot becomes available. If there is an available collation parking spot, then the cutting device transversely cuts the entire set of side-by-side sheets.

Method and system for enhanced cutter throughput

A method for creating mailpieces from a single web of printed material. The web of printed material includes printed matter to be used on envelopes, and other printed matter to be used on mail content to be included in the envelopes. The content pages are rectangular in shape and may be oriented relative to the envelope sheets in a number of different configurations. In some configurations, two sets of content pages and/or envelope sheets can be printed across the width of the web. The method starts with cutting consecutive sections of the web into separated sheets. Some of the separated sheets are envelope sheets including envelope printed matter, and some of the sheets are mail content sheets including mail content printed matter. The method includes cutting variable sized sheets depending on whether a sheet is a mail content sheet, or an envelope sheet. The method further includes cutting variable sized envelope sheets depending on the size of the mailpieces. In a preferred embodiment, the web includes business return envelopes (BREs). The BRE sheets are transported to an envelope creation path and in the envelope creation path where the sheets are formed into envelopes. The envelope creation path is then merged back with a content processing path whereby finished BRE's are stacked with their respective accumulations of folded content sheets to form a complete content stack. BRE's are then enclosed with the content sheets by the enclosing envelope sheets.

Method and system for creating mailpieces from a single continuous web of printed material

In a web cutter where a blade is used to cut a continuous paper web into sheets, a tractor is used to move the web past the blade for cutting. The tractor operates in a start-and-stop cycle so that the web is temporarily stopped to allow the blade to lower and shear the web. The tractor accelerates in the next cycle to move another length of paper downstream from the blade. A high-speed cutter requires high acceleration of the tractor. This acceleration force causes the web to whip up uncontrollably, causing the web to break or wrinkle. To reduce the web breakage, a moving mechanism positioned upstream from the tractor and operate a second motion cycle is used to move the web toward the tractor such that a loop of paper is formed upstream of the tractor, thereby reducing the whipping action of the web.

Method and device for reducing web breakage in a web cutter

The present invention relates to a system for providing diagnostic information relating to the performance of an inserter system having a roller arrangement for conveying a document in a linear direction and first and second sensors located in close proximity to the roller arrangement. Each of the sensors are operable to detect at least the presence of a leading edge of a document conveying in close proximity to each sensor. The control system of the inserter determines the time it takes for a leading edge of a document to convey from said first sensor to said second sensor and compares that time to a prescribed threshold time and provides diagnostic information based upon the measured times values.

Diagnostic methodology for an inserting machine

The present invention is directed to a system and method that identifies potentially life harming mailpieces. The system generally comprises a mailpiece sorting apparatus which includes a scanner, a scale, a appropriate thickness and length measurement sensors and compartments or bins for receiving sorted mailpieces, an OCR system for reading address information, one or more databases, microprocessor based control system, a document scanner and email functionality. The system and method captures and analyzes mailpiece metrics. The metrics are incorporated into a decision making process as to how the mailpiece should be sorted. The system and method identifies potentially life harming mailpieces with mailpiece processing so as to help deter delays in incoming mail delivery caused by the presence of life harming material in mailpieces and helps to protect the intended recipients from harm.

System and method for identifying potentially life harming mailpieces in an incoming mail stream

A method and system for sheet accumulating wherein a web of material is cut into groups of cut sheets and a right-angle transport device is used to collate the cut sheets into packets. Because the cut sheets in each packet are moved into and out of the right-angle transport device in separate paths with different pathlengths, the cut sheets overlap with each other by an overlapped amount as they exit the right-angle transport device. A path deflector having a curved path is used in at least one of the paths in order to reduce the pathlength difference, thereby increasing the overlapped amount.

Pathlength compensation method and device for high speed sheet cutters

A sheet feeder having a driving mechanism to release sheets of document from a stack out of an exit nip, one sheet at a time. A retard mechanism is used to prevent other sheets from being drawn out of the exit nip by the frictional force between the sheets. The retard mechanism has a frictional surface driven by a cylinder, which is allowed to rotate freely in only one direction to move the frictional surface against the editing direction of the released sheet. The driving mechanism is programmed to move backward in an intermittent manner to move the sheets in the bottom of the stack away from the exit nip so as to cause the cylinder to rotate in order to spread out the wear of the frictional surface. Preferably, the frictional surface has a plurality of cuts in a helical or partially helical pattern.

Method of improving retard mechanism in friction feeders

A collating system having a plurality of feeders to release enclosure materials onto a deck and a plurality of pusher finger pairs moving along the deck for collating the released materials. The pusher finger pairs are mounted on a pair of moving belts at pre-determined positions. A sensing device is used to monitor whether any pusher finger is missing, broken or out of alignment, thereby rendering a pusher finger pair non-functioning. If a pusher finger pair is not functioning, the cell or pocket associated with that pusher finger pair will be marked &ldquo;damaged&rdquo; so that the feeders release enclosure materials only to the cells associated with functional pusher finger pairs.

Method and apparatus for controlling enclosure material feeding in a mail inserting system

A multi-resolution label locator system divides an input image into a plurality of multi-pixel cells. The multi-resolution label locator system then creates a decimated image or low resolution image corresponding to the input image. The decimated image includes a common-characteristic value that corresponds to a multi-pixel cell of the input image. The multi-resolution label locator system identifies one or more areas within the decimated image that have characteristics corresponding to the characteristics of interest. While generating the decimated image, the multi-resolution label locator system simultaneously creates an edge-occurrence image that corresponds to the input image. The edge-occurrence image includes an edge value that corresponds to each cell of the input image. Each edge value represents the number of occurrences of an edge within the pixels of a corresponding cell of the input image. The multi-resolution label locator system identifies one or more candidate areas within the input image that have decimated-image characteristics and edge-occurrence image characteristics corresponding to the characteristics of interest. The multi-resolution label locator system then classifies the candidate areas according to the likelihood of the input image containing indicia having the characteristics of interest. Lastly, the multi-resolution label locator system compiles a list of one or more candidate areas that most likely contain indicia having the characteristics of interest.

Multi-resolution label locator

An apparatus and method are disclosed for preventing components in an inserter machine from causing the inserter machine to stop or function less than optimally due to lack of proper attention from an operator. Accordingly, various component conditions are categorized based upon two or more levels of urgency, and each component having such a condition signals the category of urgency to an operator.

System for determining status of feeders in a high speed inserter

A buffer transport system for staging accumulated documents produced by an input module of an inserter system. The system including a plurality of roller nips in series. Each of the roller nips are driven by an independently controllable motor in communication with a controller. The series of roller nips form stopping stations along the length of the buffer transport. Each of the stopping stations has a uniform length and is comprised of two or more of the roller nips. The roller nips in any given stopping station are electronically geared together under the control of the controller. The controller controls stopping stations to transfer accumulated documents within the stopping stations to a next downstream stopping station when it is sensed that the next downstream stopping station is open. If the next downstream station from a given station is not open, then the controller does not instructs the station to transfer documents downstream. The stopping stations are configurable between at least a first configuration and a second configuration. The second configuration having more roller nips in each station than in the first configuration. The first configuration includes more stopping stations, of shorter length, over the fixed length of the buffer transport than the second configuration.

Configurable multi-station buffer transport for an inserter system

A flexible buffer transport system for staging accumulated documents for transfer to a synchronous downstream transport. Control of movement of accumulations in the buffer being independent of the length of the documents. The system includes a plurality of roller nips in series. The roller nips are spaced a uniform distance apart. Each of the roller nips are driven by an independently controllable motor in communication with a controller. Position sensors also communicate with the controller. The sensors sense positions of lead and trail edges of accumulations of documents within the buffer transport system. For each sampling period in the operating cycle and for each roller nip, the controller determines motion control. First, the controller determines which nips should be slaved together based on which are needed to control a particular accumulation of documents under its control. The motion of the roller nips are also controlled in accordance with a predetermined algorithm to bring a lead edge of an accumulation within a predetermined gap distance from a trail edge of a downstream accumulation.

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Southbury, CT, United States of America

Gregory P Skinger