Pitney Bowes Inc.

Other

Pintey Bowes Inc.

John F Braun

Jean-Hiram Coffy

Arthur J Parkos

Robert A Cordery

John Rojas

James R Norris, Jr

Wendy Chui Fen Leung

Alan Leung

Ronald P Sansone

Frederick W Ryan, Jr

Leon A Pintsov

Michael P Swenson

Bertrand Haas

Richard W Heiden

Jeffrey D Pierce

Monroe A Weiant, Jr

Jay Reichelsheimer

Steven J Pauly

Bradley R Hammell

Frank M D'Ippolito

Michael D O'Hare

Khosrow Eghtesadi

David Wittenberg

Nathaniel M Gifford

Kathyrn V Lawton

Michael M Kaye

Travis J Snavely

Gerald L Braun

John W Rojas

Arthur Parkos

Jr Frederick W Ryan

A method for creating an intelligent physical mailpiece includes looking up a mailpiece preference of an addressee concerning mail received by the addressee. A physical mailpiece to the addressee is prepared and includes on the mailpiece the addressee preference. The mailpiece is scanned to determine the addressee preference. The mailpiece may also be processed to link the owner of a meter employed to imprint an indicia on the mailpiece to the mailpiece. The intelligent physical mailpiece system may include a database of recipient preferences. A sender mail creation means is coupled to the recipient preference database. A processor is coupled to a scanner. A communications means is coupled between the processor and the sender mail creation means for communicating recipient preferences to the sender mail creation means for storage in the database of recipient preferences.

Intelligent physical mail method and system

A printing system is provided that dynamically adjusts the method of printing an image based on the lightness or darkness of the medium upon which the image will be printed. The reflectivity of the medium upon which an image is to be printed is determined, and the way in which the image will be printed is adjusted based on the determined reflectivity of the medium. For lighter colored mediums, on which sufficient contrast will be provided, the image can be printed directly onto the medium. For darker colored mediums, on which the ink used to print the image will not provide enough contrast with respect to the medium to produce a reliably readable image, the method of printing the image is modified to ensure that sufficient contrast is always provided to produce a reliably readable image.

System and method for improving print quality on mail pieces having low reflectivity

A device for determining the dimensions of a parcel includes a platform and two adjacent walls. Each of the platform and walls are provided with a respective antenna for transmitting and receiving RF energy. The parcel to be measured is placed on the platform and registered against the walls. A responding device, having RFID tags attached thereto, is placed on a corner of the parcel. Each of the antennae are energized, and response signals from the RFID tags are measured. Based on the response signals from the RFID tags, the dimensions of the parcel can be determined, and the parcel can be rated for delivery based on the determined dimensions.

System and method for dimensional rating using RFID technology

An opt-in email system in which a recipient that has opted in to an email list can recognize and trust that an email has actually come from a desired sender. When a recipient desires to opt-in to an e-mail list, the recipient is sent to a trusted third party certification service that generates a certificate associated with a key pair. A key is maintained at the sender's location by a secure cryptographic device that can verify the certificate and create a signature, using a key of the key pair, for messages intended for the recipient. When a message intended for the recipient is received from the sender, the signature will be verified based on the status of the certificate and the corresponding key of the key pair. If the signature does not verify, it indicates that the recipient has not opted-in to receive emails from this sender.

E-mail system and method having certified opt-in capabilities

Methods and systems for dispensing value are described. In one configuration, a unique tangible indicia is enabled with a value and then disabled after the value is redeemed. In another configuration, a user enables a unique coded stamp and associates a postage payment with the stamp. The postal service cancels the stamp by deactivating the stamp from a list of active stamps and optionally audits the payment association.

Personal funds metering system and method

A method of optimizing the performance of a networked mailing system having a plurality of metering systems includes determining in a first metering system that a cryptographic operation needs to be performed, and identifying a device coupled to the network that can perform the cryptographic operation faster than the first metering system. If a device has been so identified, the method further includes sending a request to the identified device to perform the cryptographic operation. If the request has been sent, the method includes receiving a response including processed data in the first metering system from the device. The processed data includes a result of the cryptographic operation being performed on the piece of data in question.

Method for optimizing the performance of a networked mail processing system

A method for adaptively controlling a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system having a plurality of interrogating antennas and RFID tags. The method comprises the steps of establishing a timeout setting indicative of the time that each interrogating antenna powers a read field during a respective read period and a threshold time period indicative of the time required to transmit energy/exchange data between the RFID tag and the interrogating antenna. A period differential is then calculated which is indicative of the difference between the timeout setting and the time elapsed for the final RFID tag within a respective read field to communicate its RFID tag information. The timeout setting for each interrogating antenna may then be adaptively tuned or varied in accordance with the period differential. To expedite and/or refine the adaptive tuning feature, a variance may also be calculated indicative of the difference between the threshold time period and the period differential. The timeout setting may be decremented when the threshold time period is greater than the period differential and/or variance and incremented when the time period is less than the period differential and/or variance. Such variation of the timeout setting is evaluated with each interrogation cycle of the RFID system.

Adaptive radio frequency identification control algorithm

A method for enhancing the accuracy a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system which may exhibit inconsistent RFID tag reporting behavior. The method includes the steps of (i) establishing a timeout setting indicative of the time that each interrogating antenna transmits RF energy within a respective read field, (ii) evaluating/comparing reporting results over multiple interrogation cycles to determine when an RFID tag exhibits inconsistent reporting behavior within the read field and (iii) increasing the timeout setting of the respective interrogating antenna to enhance the energy harvested by an RFID tag/device during each interrogation cycle. In lieu of, or in addition to, increasing the timeout setting, the method evaluates the responses received over multiple cycles and accepts such responses as being valid only when the same response is obtain over consecutive/sequential interrogation cycles. That is, the system evaluates the results of several cycles before accepting the validity or veracity of the response.

Performance enhancement algorithm for radio frequency identification (RFID) systems

Printing systems and methods are described for multicolored thermal printing simultaneously using a plurality of thermal printing technologies to achieve multicolored output. In one configuration, a dual thermal technology thermal printer includes a single thermal media ribbon printing subsystem using a multi-temperature thermal print head capable of producing grayscale or varying intensity marking on a multi-intensity direct contact thermal media such as a grayscale media.

Multicolored thermal printer, ribbon and media

The present application describes systems and methods for composing and sending facsimile messages using a digital pointing instrument. In further configurations, a user utilizes a pen to indicate a reference to a document that is appended to the outgoing facsimile. In another further configuration, the user utilizes a form having pre-defined regions that are used to correlate a pen stroke with a desired action.

Method and system for creating and sending a facsimile using a digital pen

The present application describes systems and methods for creating a document having metadata using a pointing device such as a digital pen. In one configuration, a digital pen captures pen stroke data and processes that data to determine metadata that the pen then writes to metadata storage located on the document.

Method and system for creating a document having metadata

A system and method for determining the thickness of a mail piece is provided. A first image of at least a portion of a surface of a mail piece is captured using a first optical axis for a feature on the surface of the mail piece. A second image of the feature is captured after the mail piece has moved a distance using a second optical axis that is angled with respect to the first optical axis. The first and second images are correlated to determine a displacement of the feature, and the thickness of the mail piece is determined based on the displacement and the angle between the first and second optical axes.

Method and system for measuring thickness of an item based on imaging

The present application describes systems and methods for composing documents using a digital pointing instrument. In further configurations, a user utilizes a pen to trace a form serial number that is utilized to identify a form template that is used to process input data from a digital pen.

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Fairfield, CT, United States of America

John F Braun