The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 01, 2001
Filed:
May. 02, 1997
Wolfgang Thiel, Berlin, DE;
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Munich, DE;
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method and arrangement for data processing in a mail shipping system, wherein a piece of mail is detected and scanned in the transport path leading to a postage meter machine. Information obtained by the scanning of the piece of mail is automatically entered into the postage meter machine, and this information includes an identification of a number of items (pages or inserts such as disks or other information carriers). In the postage meter machine, the weight of the piece of mail is calculated by multiplying the item count by an average item weight stored in the postage meter machine, and adding this to the container weight, such as an envelope weight, for the piece of mail, also stored in the postage meter machine. The fee for shipping the piece of mail is then calculated in the postage meter machine using the calculated weight and a fee table for a carrier selected for shipping the piece of mail. The item count can either be printed on the piece of mail, in which case it is scanned directly, or it can be stored in a computer on which the piece of mail was produced, and the scanned information is used to enable the postage meter machine to search the memory of the computer to locate the item count. The piece of mail is then franked in the postage meter machine, with an accounting being conducted before the franking.