System and method for processing multiple mailing services orders of varying quantities and address lists

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9594533-B2
Application number	US-201615077333-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2016
Priority date	Aug 17, 2012
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for processing multiple mailing services orders for print items of varying quantities include filling 3-dimensional gangs configured to receive print-ready items with print-ready items in a stack-wise manner. Individual stacks can be submitted to the system for reprint without holding up remaining items in an order.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for generating a gang file of individual mail items to be printed, comprising:
one or more processors executing computer-readable instructions implementing a ganging system, the ganging system configured to:
receive or have access to at least one open mailing order having a non-zero quantity of mail items that have not yet been assigned to a fulfillment item, each open mailing order respectively having an associated product design comprising print information to be printed on every mail item in the order, an associated address list, a specified quantity of mail items to be printed, and an order identifier;
obtain a gang template, the gang template comprising a plurality of empty cells organized in a 3-dimensional grid, wherein at least one dimension corresponds to pages to be printed on a substrate and the other two dimensions correspond to positions of individual stacks to be printed;
create a gang file based on the gang template, the gang file comprising an empty gang; and
fill the gang by:
while the gang file contains at least one positional stack which has at least one empty content cell, and at least one open mailing order remains:
select an open mailing order,
obtain a stack identifier corresponding to a positional stack in the gang file which has at least one empty content cell;
create a new fulfillment item identifier and associating the new fulfillment item identifier with the stack identifier;
repeatedly receive respective one or more individual print-ready content images each respectively comprising a rendered image containing at least a portion of the product design and a unique address obtained from the mailing list associated with the open mailing order, associate the open mailing order and respective unique addresses obtained from the mailing list with the fulfillment item identifier, insert the received one or more respective individual print-ready content image into respective one or more empty cells of the positional stack in the gang file as identified by the stack identifier until the occurrence of at least one of (i) the open mailing order becomes a closed order whereby each mail item in the specified quantity of mail items has been assigned to a fulfillment item, and (ii) the stack corresponding to the stack identifier becomes filled and thereby no longer has at least one empty content cell; and

closing and saving the gang file to generate a completed gang file.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ganging system is configured to attempt to fill the gang until: (i) the gang file does not contain at least one positional stack which has at least one empty content cell, (ii) no open mailing order remains, and (iii) a predetermined amount of time passes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the respective rendered images corresponding to the respective one or more individual print-ready content images further comprises postage indicia.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a rendering service which receives one or more unique addresses from the mailing list associated with the open mailing order and at least a portion of a product design associated with the open mailing order, and renders the respective one or more individual print-ready content images containing the respective unique address and the portion of the product design;
wherein the ganging system is further configured to communicate with the rendering service to receive the rendered one or more respective individual print-ready content images.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
an address manager in communication with the ganging system and the rendering service, the address manager configured to maintain associations between addresses associated with a particular mailing order identifier and fulfillment items associated with the particular mailing order identifier, and to obtain one or more unique addresses from an address list associated with an open mailing order wherein the obtained unique addresses are used by the rendering service to render an individual print-ready content image.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
one or more computer-readable media accessible to the ganging system and which stores open mailing orders.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
a printing system which receives and prints the completed gang file onto a plurality of individual substrates, wherein a single page corresponding to a different page index in the 3-dimensional grid of the completed gang file is printed onto each of a plurality of respective individual substrates.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the ganging system is configured to attempt to fill the gang until: (i) the gang file does not contain at least one positional stack which has at least one empty content cell, (ii) no open mailing order remains, and (iii) a predetermined amount of time passes.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the respective rendered images corresponding to the respective one or more individual print-ready content images further comprises postage indicia.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the gang template comprises a front side gang template and a back side gang template, the front side gang template comprising a plurality of empty cells organized in a 3-dimensional grid, wherein at least one dimension corresponds to pages to be printed on a front side of the substrate and the other two dimensions correspond to positions of individual stacks to be printed, and the back side gang template comprising a plurality of empty cells organized in a 3-dimensional grid, wherein at least one dimension corresponds to pages to be printed on a back side of the substrate and the other two dimensions correspond to positions of individual stacks to be printed; and
the gang file comprises a front side gang based on the front side gang template and a back side gang based on the back side gang template, and wherein the gang file is filled by inserting front side content of the product design in the front side gang and back side content of the product design in the back side gang.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the ganging system is configured to attempt to fill the gang until: (i) the gang file does not contain at least one positional stack which has at least one empty content cell, (ii) no open mailing order remains, and (iii) a predetermined amount of time passes.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the respective rendered images corresponding to the respective one or more individual print-ready content images further comprises postage indicia.

13. A method for generating a gang file of individual mail items to be printed, comprising:
obtaining a gang template, the gang template comprising a plurality of empty cells organized in a 3-dimensional grid, wherein at least one dimension corresponds to pages to be printed on a substrate and the other two dimensions correspond to positions of individual stacks to be printed;
generating, based on the gang template, a gang file comprising an empty gang;
selecting an open mailing order having a non-zero quantity of mail items that have not yet been assigned to a fulfillment item, the open mailing order having an associated product design comprising print information to be printed on every mail item in the order, an associated address list, a specified quantity of mail items to be printed, and an order identifier;
obtaining a stack identifier corresponding to a positional stack in the gang file which has at least one empty content cell;
creating a new fulfillment item identifier and associating the new fulfillment item identifier with the stack ide

Assignees

• Cimpress Schweiz Gmbh

Inventors

• Arpino Daniel
• Sheehan Robert
• Tanner Marc
• Shea Brendan
• Hyman Jacob
• Griego Adrian
• Nietlispach Philipp
• Marcos John
• Olson Brian

Classifications

• G06F3/1211

  Improving printing performance · CPC title

• G06F3/1262

  by grouping or ganging jobs · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631 Primary

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title

• G06F3/1275 Primary

  Print workflow management, e.g. defining or changing a workflow, cross publishing · CPC title

• G06Q10/0633

  Workflow analysis · CPC title