Abstract:
The invention makes it easier for the post office to calculate accurately terminal dues by providing information to the post regarding each piece or parcel of mail that crosses an international border. The invention also makes it easier for the post offices to calculate terminal dues by obtaining fee information from mail that is sent internationally. The foregoing is accomplished by placing an indication on the mail that the fees for delivering the mail have been paid or will be paid by a mailer who has an account with the post office; sorting the mail to find international mail; storing the fees that have been paid or will be paid for international mail; reporting the fees that have been paid for international mail to all participating post offices; and calculating the fees that are to be transferred to participating post offices.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The invention relates generally to the field of mailing systems and, more particularly, to methods for determining terminal dues.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Governments have created post offices for collecting, sorting and distributing letter mail, flats and packages (mail). The post office typically charges mailers for delivering the mail. Mailers may pay the post office for its service by purchasing a stamp, i.e., a printed adhesive label, issued by the post office at specified prices, that is affixed to all mail to show prepayment of postage. Going to the post office to purchase stamps that are going to be placed on mail is a labor-intensive endeavor. Thus, stamps typically are used by individuals, small or home offices, and small businesses.  
           [0003]    Another means of payment accepted by the post office is mail that is metered by a postage meter. A postage meter is a mechanical or electromechanical device that maintains, through mechanical or “electronic registers” or “postal security devices,” an account of all postage printed, and the remaining balance of prepaid postage, and prints postage postmarks (indicia) or provides postage postmarks (indicia) information to a printer, that are accepted by the post office as evidence of the prepayment of postage. Many postage meters utilize scales to determine the weight of mail. Postage meters may be used by individuals, small or home offices, small businesses, and large businesses.  
           [0004]    Post offices and couriers i.e., Federal Express, Airborne, United Parcel Service, DHL, etc. (carriers) provide different services for different types of mail, i.e., first class mail, second class mail, third class mail, priority mail, next day delivery, etc. The cost of the services usually is dependent upon the weight of the mail and the time of expected delivery. Additional charges are applied when mail is delivered from one country to another. Due to various agreements that exist between the posts, the cost of each service various from country to country. Therefore, in order to apply the proper postage on mail one must know the weight of the mail, the cost of the service, and any extra foreign delivery fee. Sometimes, an individual does not have all of the above information or the proper amount of stamps and has to make a time consuming trip to the post office, during certain postal business hours, to place the proper postage on the mail.  
           [0005]    The Universal Postal Union has a complex system that administers contracts between member post offices relating to terminal dues paid between and among different post offices. Terminal dues are the payments made between national postal administrations to cover the costs of handling and delivering international mail. Rates are established by the Universal Postal Union and through bilateral and multilateral agreements. Typically, a post office will charge another post office for the delivery of mail to a recipient within its jurisdiction. For instance, if mail is sent from the United States to the United Kingdom, the United States Post Office will deliver the mail to the Royal Mail, and the Royal Mail will deliver the mail to the recipient. At the end of a predetermined time, the United States Post office and the Royal Mail will tabulate, by weight, all of the mail each post office delivered for the other post office and calculate how much money one post office owes to the other post office.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by reducing the number of trips an individual has to make to the post office to determine the amount of postage required to send international mail. The invention also makes it easier for the post to calculate accurately terminal dues by providing information to the post office regarding each piece or parcel of mail that crosses an international border. The invention also makes it easier for the post offices to calculate terminal dues by obtaining fee information from mail that is sent internationally. The foregoing is accomplished by placing an indication on the mail that the fees for delivering the mail have been paid or will be paid by a mailer who has an account with the post office; sorting the mail to find international mail; storing the fees that have been paid or will be paid for international mail; reporting the fees that have been paid for international mail to all participating post offices; and calculating the fees that are to be transferred to participating post offices.  
           [0007]    An advantage of this invention is that it provides more accurate reporting and checking of the amount of international mail. Thus, each post office pays for the mail actually mailed, and each post office receives the correct revenue for the amount of mail that it processes.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a drawing of mail containing a postal indicator in the form of a mailer label;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is a drawing of mail containing a printed postal indicator that represents a mailer in which the mailer has paid a portion of the postage that is due;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is a drawing of mail containing a printed postal indicator that represents a mailer in which the mailer is going to debit their account for the postage that is due;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the process of using postal indicators; 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0012]    Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the reference character  11  represents mail that has a recipient address field  12 , a sender address field  13 , and a postal indicator  14  that may be manufactured from security paper that has an adhesive on its back side so that indicator  14  may be affixed to mail  11 . Indicator  14  contains a carrier&#39;s logo  15 ; the type of service requested  16 , i.e. first class mail, priority mail, parcel post, international mail, etc.; the place that issued the postal indicator  17 , and a two-dimensional bar code  18 . Bar code  18  contains the mailer&#39;s account number, i.e., the account to which the mailer wants to debit the cost of mailing mail  11 ; and a unique number that specifically identifies indicator  14 . Bar code  18  may also include the type of service desired by the mailer.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a drawing of mail containing a printed postal indicator  20  for which the mailer has paid a portion of the postage that is due. Indicator  20  is affixed to mail  21 . Mail  21  has a recipient address field  22  and a sender address field  23 . Postal indicator  20  may have been made by an electronic postage meter. Indicator  20  contains a dollar amount  24 , the date  25  that postal indicator  20  was affixed to mail  21 ; the place the mail was mailed from  26 ; the postal meter serial number  27 ; an eagle  28 ; the type of mail piece  29 , i.e., and a two-dimensional bar code  30 . Bar code  30  contains the mailer&#39;s account number, i.e., the account to which the mailer wants to debit the added cost of mailing mail  21  that was not included in dollar amount  21 , and a unique number that specifically identifies indicator  20 . If the mailer knew the total cost of mailing mail  21  to England, the mailer may have included the total cost of mailing in dollar amount  24 .  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a drawing of mail containing a printed postal indicator that represents mail in which the mailer is going to debit their account for the postage that is due. Indicator  40  is affixed to mail  31 . Mail  31  has a recipient address field  32  and a sender address field  33 . Postal indicator  40  may have been made by an electronic postage meter. Indicator  40  contains an As Services Rendered (ASR)  34  mark that indicates the cost of mailing mail  31  that will be charged to the mailer&#39;s account; the date  35  that postal indicator  40  was affixed to mail  31 ; the place the mail was mailed from  36 ; the postal meter serial number  37 ; an eagle  38 ; the type of mail piece  39 , i.e., and a two-dimensional bar code  41 . Bar code  41  contains the mailer&#39;s account number, i.e., the account to which the mailer wants to debit the cost of mailing mail  31  and a unique number that specifically identifies indicator  40 .  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the process of using postal indicators. Block  100  represents the production of postal indicators  14 . Postal indicators  14  are printed on security paper that is assigned and imprinted with a mailer account number and a unique number that specifically represents each indicator  14  in step  101 . When the unique number is issued for each postal indicator  14 , the issuance of the unique number is reported to the “all issued and used As Services Rendered (ASR) national data base”  102 , where a record is created, specifically referenced to the issued unique number for a particular mailer account number. The record is a proof of validity of postal indicators having an issued unique number for a particular mailer account number, and the proof is provided when data base  102  is consulted. The same record will be charged to the mailer&#39;s account when the postal indicator having the same unique number for a particular mailer account number is canceled, and that altered record will no longer provide a proof of validity of any future indicator.  
         [0016]    In step  103 , it is shown that indicators  14  are delivered to local post offices for distribution and obtaining mailer&#39;s accounts. After a mailer has requested a plurality of unique identifiers for a credit card account or other account which they have set up with the carrier, the issued indicators  14  are reported to data base  102 . In step  99 , a mailer may use prepaid adhesive indicators purchased from the post offices to fully pay for delivery of the mail to a foreign country. After the mailer uses an indicator  14  bearing a unique number for mailing mail  11 , as in step  104 , the mail is collected and rated at various post office recording stations using data capture techniques and processed by the accepting post office in step  105 . As part of the mail accepting procedures in step  105 , indicator  14  is examined and compared to data in data base  102 , to determine whether the indicator used is legitimate. In the acceptance process, a code reader is used to identify the unique number and account number on indicator  14 . It is understood that, if the account number and/or unique number is produced with an invisible ink, a special light source will be needed to make the account number and/or unique number visible to the code reader. The identified account number and unique number is reported to data base  102  and a proof of validity of indicator  14  is requested. If data base  102  has a record showing the issuance of the unique number for the particular account number used and that the unique number has not been canceled, then identifier  14  is considered legitimate. In that case, identifier  14  has passed the verification process, and the mail is accepted for further processing, with identifier  14  being canceled in step  105 . It is preferred that the cancellation mark is produced with a visible ink in a manner that a “canceled” postal indicator is easily distinguishable from an unused one and that a “cancelled” postal indicator” will still be able to be read.  
         [0017]    When the indicator  14  bearing a unique number for a particular user account number is canceled in step  105 , a request is made to data base  102  to alter the record that is specifically related to the unique number being canceled. The altered record will contain the date and time of cancellation, the cost of the selected services derived from the weighing of the mail, and no longer provide a proof of validity when data base  102  is consulted. The cost for mailing the mail determined in step  105  will be charged to the mailer&#39;s credit card account; or, periodically, the mailer will be sent a bill for the services provided. The mailer cost information will be transmitted to data center  132  via data base  102  and controller  133 .  
         [0018]    However, if the acceptance procedures in step  105  fail to yield a proof of validity of indicator  14 , the mail will be sent to rejected mail process  106  where the mail will be returned to the sender or placed in the dead mail file.  
         [0019]    The mail that step  105  determines has legitimate identifiers  14  is sent to step  107  for internal sorting and routing from place to place. Step  107  will note the date and time the mail is at each step in the process. The foregoing information will be sent to archive  108 . Then the physical mail is delivered nationally in step  109  or delivered internationally in step  110 . Nationally, at the recipient&#39;s delivery post office, the mail will be scanned during the last sorting process where the date and time of sorting as well as other information identifying the mail, i.e., unique number, will be captured and stored in archive  108 . At the last facility before the mail is transferred internationally in step  110 , the mail will be scanned where the date and time of sorting as well as other information identifying the mail, i.e., unique number, will be captured and stored in archive  108 .  
         [0020]    At this point, the physical mail will be delivered to other lands  111 . Then the mail will go to step  112  for sorting and routing in the country that the recipient is located. Step  112  will note the date and time the mail is at each step in the process. The foregoing information will be sent to archive  113 . Then the physical mail is delivered nationally in step  114 . At the international recipient&#39;s delivery post office, the mail will be scanned during the last sorting process where the date and time of sorting as well as other information identifying the mail, i.e., unique number, will be captured and stored in archive  113 .  
         [0021]    Electronic postage meter  130  or personal computer meter  131  may be used to print indicators  20  (FIG. 2) and  40  (FIG. 3). During a communication between postage meter  130  or personal computer meter  131  with data center  132 , it will be indicated that meter  130  or meter  131  printed indicators  20  and/or  40 . Meters  130  and/or  131  will also transmit all of the information contained in indicators  20  and  40  to data center  132 . Data center  132  will transmit the information contained in indicators  20  and  40  to mail records controller  133 . Mail records controller  133  will transmit the information it receives from data center  132  to data base  102 , where a record is created, specifically referenced to the issued unique number for a particular meter  130  or  131  account number. The record is a proof of validity of postal indicators having an issued unique number for a particular meter, and the proof is provided when data base  102  is consulted. The same record less any amount previously charged to the meter will be charged to the meter  130  or meter  131  when the postal indicator having the same unique number for a particular meter is canceled and that altered record will no longer provide a proof of validity of any future indicator.  
         [0022]    Postal terminal dues processor  140  is coupled to archive  108 , national, international and terminal dues data base  141 , finance  142  and archives  108  and  113 . Processor  140  will poll archive  108  and archives  113  in other lands  111  (United Kingdom, France, German, Japan, etc.)  111  and utilize data base  141  to determine the value of the mail processed by the receiving countries from the sending countries. Then processor  140  will determine how much money each country owes to the other countries. At agreed upon intervals, finance  142  will issue terminal dues statements to all participating countries and arrange for the transmission of funds from one country to another. The participating countries may also use the data received and compare it to their actual costs for delivering mail that originates in specific foreign countries. Thus, the data obtained and the costs associated for delivering foreign mail may be used to negotiate new terminal dues charges between the domestic and foreign carriers.  
         [0023]    The above specification describes a new and improved method for controlling domestic and international mail. 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. Therefore, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.