Service and usage data collection using a special mail piece

A monitoring system that determines the amount and type of customers' usage of machines and equipment without having a representative of the manufacturer physically inspect the customers machines and equipment. The monitoring system utilizes a mailpiece to transmit information about the customers' usage of customers machines and equipment.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates generally to the field of monitoring systems and more 
particularly to a monitoring system that utilizes a mailpiece. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Some machines and equipment currently in use are complex and expensive to 
operate. Often the machines and equipment may contain features that 
particular customers do not want to use or want to use for limited times 
or at off hours. Owners of the machines and equipment have attempted to 
satisfy their customers need by instituting billings that are dependent 
upon the use of various features of the machine and/or the hours in which 
the selected features were used. 
Mailing machines are complex machines that have been developed to automate 
the process of sealing, weighing and stacking of outgoing mail. An example 
of a complex mailing machine is the Paragon.TM. mailing machine. The 
Paragon mailing machine is manufactured by Pitney Bowes. Some customers do 
not want to use all of the features of Paragon and the manufacturer of 
Paragon would like to charge the users of Paragon only for the features 
that the customer is using. Currently there is no way of determining which 
feature a customer is using or not using without a on line data 
telecommunications connection or an on line inspection of the machine by a 
representative of the manufacturer. 
One of the disadvantages of an on line data telecommunications connection 
is that the connection requires a modem and access to a phone line. Data 
telecommunications are also relatively expensive. 
A disadvantage of on line inspections by representatives of the 
manufacturer is that such inspections are time consuming and expensive. 
In order for machines and equipment to remain operational the machines and 
equipment must be repaired and maintained by maintenance workers. Another 
disadvantage of the prior art is that maintenance calls are scheduled 
chronology when the need for servicing of a machine or piece of equipment 
is a function of time. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a 
monitoring system that determines the amount and type of customers' usage 
of machines and equipment without having a representative of the 
manufacturer physically inspect the customers machines and equipment. The 
monitoring system of this invention also does not use telecommunications 
equipment to monitor the customers machines and equipment. 
An advantage of this invention is that the customer may be charged for only 
those features of the machines and equipment that the customer actually 
uses. 
An additional advantage of this invention is that the manufacture of the 
machines and equipment will receive information about the manufactures 
machines and equipment that will allow the manufacturer to better serve 
the customer and perhaps design new and improved features for the machines 
and equipment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to FIG. 1, 
the reference character 11 represents a postal dispensing apparatus that 
is located at a users location. Postal dispensing apparatus 11 includes: a 
processor 12; a account meter 13 that includes an ascending register and a 
descending register, that are coupled to processor 12; usage meter sensors 
14, that are coupled to processor 12 and account meter 13; a printer 15 
that is coupled to processor 12; a data activation key 17 that is coupled 
to processor 12 and printer 15; and a housing 16 that encloses the above 
components. 
As is known in the art, the ascending register maintains a record of all 
the postage dispensed by the postage dispensing apparatus 11 and the 
descending register maintains a record of the amount of postage that has 
been purchased by the user and which is available to be dispensed. 
Processor 12 may be any of a number of commercially available processors 
such as a model 80386 microprocessor available from Intel Corporation or a 
TMS 320/C25 processor available from Texas Instruments Corporation. Usage 
meter sensors 14 are connected to the processor 12 and account meter 13. 
Sensors 14 sense various characteristics of the mailpieces in which a 
postal indicia is going to be affixed. For instance, sensors 14 will sense 
the weight, size, class, thickness, etc. of the mailpieces. 
Processor 12 is in communication with printer 15. Printer 16 will receive 
commands from processor 12 for the amount of postage to be dispensed and 
other data which is printed on mailpiece 20. 
Periodically, postal dispensing apparatus 11 is inspected by the enabling 
of activation key 17. Activation key 17 may be a physical key or a code 
that is inputted to processor 12 to output information 31 (hereinafter 
described in the description of FIG. 3) regarding the maintenance and 
operation of apparatus 11. 
Mail piece 20 is mailed and subsequently received by the data center. 
The data center includes a code reader 21, a processor 22 that is coupled 
to reader 21 and a display 23 that is coupled to processor 22. Reader 21 
reads the information contained on mailpiece 20 and transmits this 
information to processor 22. Reader 21 is a code scanner such as a laser 
scanner that is appropriately programmed. Such code scanners are 
commercially available from Welsh Allyn Inc. and Symbol Technologies Inc. 
The above code scanners have processors that are programmed with logic 
that allows decoding of a code being scanned. Processor 22 processes the 
information and displays the information on display 23. 
FIG. 2 is a drawing of the front of a mailpiece 20 that is printed by 
printer 15. Mailpiece 20 has a postal indicia 28 affixed thereto as well 
as a the data center's address 29 and the return address 30. 
FIG. 3 is a drawing of the back of a mailpiece 20 that is printed by 
printer 15. Printer 15 will imprint on the back of mailpiece certain 
information that pertains to the operation of postal dispensing apparatus 
11. The information may include the weight, size, class, thickness, etc. 
of the mailpieces processed by apparatus 11 as well as information 
concerning the time, amount of hours apparatus 11 was utilized as well as 
the various features of apparatus 11 that was used i.e., sorting, 
weighing, stuffing, etc. It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that 
additional information about apparatus 11 may be printed by printer 15. 
The information 31 that is affixed to mailpiece 20 may be an encrypted 
code. The encrypted code can be a one dimensional code such as a bar code, 
or it can be a two dimensional code, also known as a dense code, such as 
those is developed and licensed by Symbol Technologies Inc. and Data 
Matrix Corporation. Whether a one dimensional code or a two dimensional 
code is used, the code that is selected should be a code that is readily 
readable by code reader 21. 
In operation processors 12 and 22 will be programmed with an encryption 
algorithm, as is known in the art. Reference can be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,853,961, 5,073,935 and 5,142,577 wherein suitable encryption schemes are 
disclosed. In addition, a standard encryption scheme, such as the RSA 
encryption technique, can also be used for the purpose of programming 
processors 12 and 22. 
FIG. 4 is a drawing of an alternate embodiment of this invention. A 
plurality of apparatus 40 are located at one or more user locations. Each 
apparatus 40 includes: a processor 41; one or more counters 42 that are 
coupled to processor 41; one or more sensors 43 that are coupled to 
processor 41; and a data activation key 45 that is coupled to processor 41 
and printer 44. 
Processor 12 may be any of a number of commercially available processors 
such as a model 80386 microprocessor available from Intel Corporation or a 
TMS 320/C25 processor available from Texas Instruments Corporation. One or 
more counters 42 are connected to processor 41 and one or more sensors are 
connected to processor 41. Counters 42 will count various parameters about 
the product produced by apparatus 40. Sensors 43 sense various 
characteristics of apparatus 40. For instance, sensors 43 may sense the 
weight, size, thickness, etc. of the product being produced by apparatus 
40. 
Processor 41 is in communication with printer 44. Printer 44 will receive 
commands from processor 41 for the data which is printed on mailpiece 46. 
Periodically, apparatus 40 is inspected by the enabling of activation key 
45. Activation key 45 may be a physical key or a code that is inputted to 
processor 41 to output information (The information may be in the same 
format as information 31 described in the description of FIG. 3) regarding 
the maintenance and operation of apparatus 40. 
Mail pieces 46 are mailed and subsequently received by the data center. 
The data center includes a code reader 51, a processor 52 that is coupled 
to reader 51 and a display 53 that is coupled to processor 52. Reader 51 
reads the information contained on mailpieces 46 and transmits this 
information to processor 52. Reader 51 is a code scanner such as a laser 
scanner that is appropriately programmed. Such code scanners are 
commercially available from Welsh Allyn Inc. and Symbol Technologies Inc. 
The above code scanners have processors that are programmed with logic 
that allows decoding of a code being scanned. Processor 52 processes the 
information and displays the information on display 53. 
The above specification describes a new and improved system for monitoring 
machines and equipment. It is realized that the above description may 
indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the 
principles of this invention may be used without departing from the 
spirit. It is, therefore, intended that this invention be limited only by 
the scope of the appended claims.