Postal seamless acceptance system for determining exception handling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9836704-B2
Application number	US-201113031884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2011
Priority date	Feb 22, 2010
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A mail processing system and method. A method includes receiving a mailing manifest that includes mailpiece identifiers. Each mailpiece identifier corresponds to an individual mailpiece in a group of mailpieces, and the mailing manifest includes a mailer identification that identifies the mailer of the group of mailpieces. The method includes processing the group of mailpieces and tracking the status of each of the mailpieces. The method includes updating the status of the mailpiece identifiers on the mailing manifest according to the tracking, and producing mail processing data. The method includes analyzing and storing the mail processing data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, performed by at least one mail processing system, the method comprising:
receiving a mailing manifest that includes mailpiece identifiers, by the at least one mail processing system, each mailpiece identifier corresponding to an individual physical mailpiece in a group of mailpieces, the mailing manifest including a mailer identification that identifies the mailer of the group of mailpieces;
physically processing the group of mailpieces by the at least one mail processing system, including imaging each of the mailpieces by at least one scanning device and sorting each of the mailpieces by at least one sorter;
tracking a status of each of the mailpieces by the at least one mail processing system while processing each physical mailpiece;
updating a status of the mailpiece identifiers on the mailing manifest according to the tracking, by the at least one mail processing system, and producing mail processing data; and
analyzing and storing the mail processing data by the at least one mail processing system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the mail processing data includes producing a mail quality report corresponding to the mailer and the mail processing data and includes determining processing cost data for a plurality of the mailpieces.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a mailer invoice based on the analysis that includes additional charges required by the mail processing data.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating each of the individual mailpieces with a respective one of the mailpiece identifiers.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a mailpiece identification record for each mailpiece.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group of mailpieces is a batch of bulk mail.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the mailing manifest from a first mail processing system in a second mail processing system.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracking the status of each of the mailpieces includes identifying any mailpieces that do not have an associated mailpiece identifier on the mailing manifest.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracking the status of each of the mailpieces includes identifying any mailpiece identifiers that are on the mailing manifest but are not processed.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the status of each mailpiece identification record according to the tracking for the respective mailpiece.

11. A mail processing system, comprising:
at least one processor connected to interact with mail processing hardware; and
a memory, wherein the mail processing system is configured to
receive a mailing manifest that includes mailpiece identifiers, each mailpiece identifier corresponding to an individual physical mailpiece in a group of mailpieces, the mailing manifest including a mailer identification that identifies the mailer of the group of mailpieces;
physically process the group of mailpieces, including imaging each of the mailpieces by at least one scanning device and sorting each of the mailpieces by at least one sorter;
track a status of each of the mailpieces while processing each physical mailpiece;
update a status of the mailpiece identifiers on the mailing manifest according to the tracking, and produce mail processing data; and
analyze and store the mail processing data.

12. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein analyzing the mail processing data includes producing a mail quality report corresponding to the mailer and the mail processing data and includes determining processing cost data for a plurality of the mailpieces.

13. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein the mail processing system also creates a mailer invoice based on the analysis that includes additional charges required by the mail processing data.

14. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein the mail processing system also associates each of the individual mailpieces with a respective one of the mailpiece identifiers.

15. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein the mail processing system also creates a mailpiece identification record for each mailpiece.

16. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein the group of mailpieces is a batch of bulk mail.

17. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein tracking the status of each of the mailpieces includes identifying any mailpieces that do not have an associated mailpiece identifier on the mailing manifest.

18. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein tracking the status of each of the mailpieces includes identifying any mailpiece identifiers that are on the mailing manifest but are not processed.

19. The mail processing system of claim 11 , wherein the mail processing system also updates the status of each mailpiece identification record according to the tracking for the respective mailpiece.

Assignees

• Carpenter Michael D
• Redford Dale E
• Siemens Industry Inc

Inventors

• Carpenter Michael D
• Redford Dale E

Classifications

• G06Q40/12

  Accounting · CPC title

• G06Q30/04

  Billing or invoicing · CPC title

• G06Q10/00 Primary

  Administration; Management · CPC title

• G07B2017/00483

  Batch processing of mailpieces · CPC title