Abstract:
A fluorescent strip window envelope for use with PC postage printed inserts. The envelope has a front wall and a rear wall, a top edge, a bottom edge, a right edge and a left edge. The envelope has a postage indicia window formed in the front wall in an upper right hand region thereof. The envelope is sized to accommodate at least three tri-folded sheets of standard sized letter paper sheets or a standard business courtesy envelope as inserts such that when the insert is inserted into the envelope there is less than about a 5% skew of the insert relative to the envelope and to expose the postage indicia printed on the insert. The envelope is free of FIM marks, and in lieu thereof has fluorescent strips printed on the right side top edge and the upper right side edge of the envelope.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority based upon provisional patent application No. 60/197,798, filed on Apr. 14, 2000. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention is in the field of envelopes, and more particularly is directed to special purpose envelopes specifically adapted for use in PC postage. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The United States Postal Service (USPS) has responded to recent technological developments in the telecommunication and computer field by developing its Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP.) The IBIP involves the development of new technology to produce new forms of postage. In so-called PC Postage, a user can purchase postage credit, and print the postage in the form of PC Postage onto a label or directly onto the mail piece. The PC Postage includes a human readable portion and a 2-dimensional barcode portion. The human readable portion includes the postage value, mail class, the date, and optionally a logo. The barcode portion is intended to help thwart fraud, and includes information about the mail piece including the destination ZIP code, the amount of postage applied, the date and time the postage was applied, and a digital signature so that the USPS can validate the authenticity of the postage. 
     In one preferred embodiment of PC Postage, a user will subscribe to a third party Internet postage provider, such as Stamps.com (of Santa Monica, Calif.), and by using postage software made available by the Internet postage provider, postage value can be downloaded to the user&#39;s computer. The user can then print the postage indicia, by an ordinary laser or ink jet printer, directly onto the mail piece itself (e.g. onto business envelopes), onto a label to be applied to the mail piece, or alternately on an insert that can be placed into window envelope and show through a window envelope. This postage software preferably works in conjunction with other software programs, such as word processing, accounting, database, and contact management software to allow a user to conveniently print out PC Postage at the same time that addressee and bar code information is printed (and in the case of envelope printing also the sender&#39;s return address.) 
     In order to permit the sophisticated mail handling and optical reading equipment at the USPS to properly interpret the PC Postage and addressee information, it is critical that the postage indicia be presented in a relatively precise location on a mailpiece. Indeed, the USPS has established strict guidelines directed to the margins, label sizes, and placement of the Postage Indicia, and the size, placement, and other characteristics of the POSTNET ( POS tal  N umeric  E ncoding Technique) bar codes, and any facing identification mark (FIM) on mail pieces. These guidelines are contained in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) and Title 39, Code of Federal Register (CFR), Part 111, and USPS Publication No. 25 “Designing Letter Mail”. 
     A facing identification mark (FIM) is a pattern of vertical bars printed in the upper right area of a mail piece, to the left of the indicia space for a stamp, metering or PC postage. A FIM pattern is essentially a nine-bit code consisting of bars and no-bar place holders (in which the bars corresponding to a binary 1 and no bars correspond to a binary 0.) FIM patterns serves two major purposes. They allow mailpieces that do not contain luminescent stamps or meter imprints (such as business reply mail and official government mail) to be faced (oriented) and canceled (postmarked) by USPS machinery. FIM patterns also permit business reply mail and courtesy reply mail to be separated from other letters and cards for direct processing by optical character readers (OCRs) or barcode sorters (BCSs). This helps in achieving faster processing times. 
     Under USPS regulations, there are strict regulations concerning the size and placement of the FIM pattern. The FIM pattern must be printed in a FIM clear zone, in which no other printing must appear. Under present USPS regulations, the FIM clear zone is a rectangular sized zone extending from downwardly 1.59 cm (0.625 inch) from the upper edge of the mail piece and is located between 7.62 cm (3 inches) and 4.45 cm (1.750 inches) from the right side edge. The FIM bars must be 1.58 cm±0.32 cm (0.625 inch±0.125 inch) high and 0.079 cm±0.020 cm (0.03125 inch±0.008 inch) wide. The rightmost bar of the FIM must be 5.08 cm±0.32 cm (2 inches±0.125 inch) from the right edge of the mail piece. The tops of the FIM bars must be no lower than 0.32 cm (0.125 inch) from the top of mail piece and the bottoms of the FIM bars should touch the bottom edge of the FIM clear zone but must not be more than 0.32 cm (0.125 inch) above or below that edge. 
     Currently, the USPS requires Internet postage customers to use envelopes that have a FIM mark or fluorescent stripes in order to easily determine the location of the indicium. This requirement creates problems for Internet postage providers who want to support window envelopes. For example, if an Internet postage provider wants to support window envelopes that have a plastic window on the top right hand corner of the envelope, then a rectangular or round window cannot be used for this purpose because it will cover the FIM mark and its FIM clear zone. 
     Others have attempted to develop solutions to overcome this problem. For example, the E-Stamp Corporation, of San Mateo, Calif. has a window envelop design, as shown in FIG. 1, (Prior Art.) 
     There are several shortcomings with E-Stamp window envelope design, including: 
     1. Since the E-Stamp envelope, sized at about 9.53 cm×22.07 cm (3.75 inches×8.6875 inches), is smaller than a normal size 9 business envelope 9.85 cm×22.56 cm (3.88 inches×8.88 inches), a consumer must fold standard U.S. letter sized sheets 21.59 cm×27.94 cm (8.5 inches×11 inches) papers exactly in thirds in order to fit the sheets into the E-stamp envelopes. 
     2. If the front page of the insert with the postage indicium has ink showing through and into the FIM clear zone, then the USPS will reject the mailpiece because Internet postage vendors are required to provide a system that is automation compatible. To be automation compatible, the system must leave the FIM clear zone free of ink. 
     3. Due to the small size of the E-Stamp envelope, a limited number of sheets (only one or two) will fit into the E-Stamp window envelopes. Attempts to insert more than two sheets causes difficulty. 
     Currently, under all of the USPS programs including the IBIP program, there is a maximum 5% skew requirement. This maximum skew requirement is intended to ensure that inserts are skewed less than 5% from the horizontal axis of the envelope to ensure that the indicium is properly displayed through the indicium window. See FIG. 2 (prior art.) Folding sheets into thirds can also introduce skew if the corners of the sheet being folded are not properly lined up. Although there are problems associated with the E-Stamp indicium-window envelopes, the noted E-Stamp design does comply with the 5% skew requirement imposed under the USPS since its undersized envelope is in compliance with the 5% skew requirement. The current size of the E-Stamp indicium-window envelope is 9.53 cm×22.07 cm (3.75 inches×8.6875 inches). This envelope is smaller than the standard size 10 envelope and smaller than the standard size 9 envelope. A standard size 10 envelope has an outer size of 10.48 cm×24.13 cm (4.125 inches×9.5 inches) and is very important for indicium window designs because size 10 envelopes are the most widely used envelopes by business users. By sizing its envelope to have the smaller size than an size 9 envelope, E-Stamp forces users to fold inserts into almost perfect thirds. This creates problems for the small business users who may not have paper-folding machines and who are therefore relegated to manually fold the inserts. Manually folding leaves much room for human errors, with the result that if the inserts are not folded into almost perfect thirds, users will not be able to put the inserts in the envelope properly. 
     There accordingly remains a need for window envelopes that are easily used with Internet postage, does not create skewing problems, allows a reasonable number of sheets to be placed therein, and which does not require extremely precise folding of inserts. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventor has designed a number of fluorescent stripe window envelopes that effectively solve the FIM clear zone and skewing problems identified above. 
     In the inventor&#39;s design, the FIM mark is entirely eliminated from the envelopes, and instead fluorescent stripes are printed on the top right hand corner and top of the right side edge. Users can thus gain additional flexibility in folding the insert such that the indicium is properly displayed through the plastic window that is located at the top right hand corner. This design completely solves the FIM clear zone problem, and users need not be concerned about the inserts shifting in the envelope and risk having the mail piece being rejected by the USPS. The fluorescent stripe on the top right hand corner assists automated processing equipment to detect the location of the indicium showing through the window. 
     Moreover, while any number of non-standard size envelopes can be developed, standard size 9 and 10 envelopes can be quite readily used, thereby saving the end user from having to have specially sized envelopes. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of a prior art windowed envelope adapted for Internet postage. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an insert skewing in a generic envelope. 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an insert for fluorescent windowed envelopes of the invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of an fluorescent stripe window envelope of the invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 4 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 4 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to a lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 4 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 4 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a second embodiment of an fluorescent stripe window envelope of the invention. 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 9 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 9 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 12 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 9 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 13 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 9 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a third embodiment of an fluorescent stripe window envelope of the invention. 
     FIG. 15 is a plan view showing an insert for fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG.  14 . 
     FIG. 16 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 15 with the insert of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 17 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 14 with the insert of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 18 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 14 with the insert of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
     FIG. 19 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope of FIG. 14 with the insert of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Turning first to FIG. 1, there is shown an E-Stamp prior art windowed envelope  10  for indicia based mailing. The windowed envelope  10  has a generally “boot-shaped” indicia window  12  in an upper right hand corner of the envelope, with a smaller upper box region  14  and a larger lower box region  16 . A FIM pattern  18  is printed in the FIM clear zone  20  (shown in dashed lines), and the smaller upper box region  14  partially impinges in the FIM clear zone  20 . A combination addressee and sender window  22  is located at a left side of the envelope, and has an upper left smaller box portion  24  for the sender&#39;s address and a larger lower box portion  26  for the addressee information. A major problem with this design is that since its upper box region  14  impinges into the region of the FIM clear zone  20 , if the insert slides into the FIM clear zone  20 , the automated processing equipment may reject the mailpiece. Perhaps to help deal with this problem this window envelope is sized to have a height H and width W of 9.53 cm×22.07 cm (3.75 inches×8.6875 inches), which is smaller than a standard size 9 envelope, sized to be 9.85 cm×22.56 cm (3.88 inches×8.88 inches). 
     Turning to FIG. 2, there is shown an envelope  30  with an insert  32  placed therein. The skew  34  can be no more than 5%, which may explain the tight tolerances of the E-Stamps windowed envelope. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown an insert  40 , which can comprise a sheet of standard U.S. letter sized sheet 21.59 cm×27.94 cm (8.5 inches×11 inches) paper folded into thirds, to assume a size of about 21.59 cm×9.31 cm (8.5 inches×3.67 inches.) The insert  40  is printed with postal indicia  42  in an upper right hand corner thereof, the addressee information  44  in a lower portion of the insert, and optionally with sender information  46  in an upper left hand corner of the insert. No FIM pattern is printed on the insert  40 . 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of the fluorescent stripe window envelope  50  of the invention. This envelope can be sized as a standard No. 10 business envelope, namely about 10.48 cm×24.13 cm (4.125 inches×9.5 inches), and is sized to accommodate as much inserted materials as a standard size 10 envelope. The fluorescent stripe window envelope of FIG. 4 includes an oversized addressee/postage indicia window  52  on a right hand side  54  of the envelope. The addressee/postage indicia window  52  is preferably sized and located on the envelope  50  such that its lower edge  56  is about at or below a lower edge  58  of the addressee scanning region  60  (shown in phantom dashed lines), has a right edge  62  which is about at or to the right of a right edge  64  of the addressee scanning region  60 , and has an upper edge  66  which extends well above an upper edge  68  of the addressee scanning region  60 . The left hand edge  70  of the addressee/postage indicia window  52  extends to the left of the right hand edge  72  of the envelope to an extent necessary to provide sufficient area for the addressee information. In the embodiment of the fluorescent stripe window envelope  50  shown, the addressee/postage indicia window  52  is about 10.46 cm wide×8.26 cm high (4.12 inches×3.25 inches.) Solid fluorescent stripes  73  and  74  are printed only on an upper top right edge and upper right hand, respectively, of the envelope, where the Postage indicia window is located, which two fluorescent stripes  73  and  74  together form a mirror-image of a shaped stripe layout  75  with a top stripe  73  being at the upper right edge and the side stripe  74  being at the upper right hand side and serve as a replacement for an absent FIM pattern. The fluorescent stripes  73  and  74  are preferably about 0.635 cm (0.25 inch) wide, but other widths can be used as desired, so long as they are sufficiently wide to comply with postal service regulations. The solid fluorescent stripes  73  and  74  are shown as extending to the edges of the envelope, but could also be placed away form the edges of the envelope  50  if desired, and subject to postal service requirements. The addressee/postage indicia window 52 thus has a lower region  76  (for revealing addressee information, and an upper region  78  (for revealing Internet postal indicia.) The postal indicia need not, however, be completely revealed through the upper region  78  of the window  52  in order for the mailpiece to be processed. 
     Turning now to FIGS. 5 to  8 , there is shown the insert  40  of FIG. 3 inserted into the fluorescent stripe window envelope  50  of FIG. 4, with the insert  40  variously shifted within the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope  50 . The addressee scanning region  60  is shown in dashed lines and the perimeter of the insert  40  is shown in solid lines  78 , with the mirror-image of an L-shaped layout  75  comprised of fluorescent stripes  73  and  74  shown in the upper right hand corner of the envelope. 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope of FIG. 4 with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  50 . 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  50  with the insert  40  placed therein and shifted to a lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  50 . 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view of the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope  50  with the insert  40  placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  50 . 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope  50  with the insert  50  placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  50 . 
     As can be seen, even when the insert  40  is shifted within the envelope  50  to the maximum extent allowed, the address information  44  and Postage indicia  42  will always fully revealed through the addressee/postage indicia window  52 . 
     Turning to FIG. 9 there is shown a plan view of a second embodiment of an fluorescent stripe window envelope  80  of the invention. This envelope is quite similar to the fluorescent stripe window envelope  50  of FIG. 4, except that in addition to an addressee/postage indicia window  92  on a right hand side of the envelope  92 , it also includes a smaller sender display window  94  on an upper left hand side of the envelope. Also, as shown, instead of being a size 10 envelope, it is shown as sized as a size 9 envelope (often used as a business courtesy envelope), and sized at 9.85 cm high×22.56 cm wide (3.88 inches×8.88 inches). The width of addressee/postage indicia window  92  is shown as being about 9.22 cm wide and about 7.62 cm high (3.63 inches×3.00 inches), but the dimensions can be varied as needed. The sender display window  94  is shown as about 6.35 cm wide×1.91 cm high (6.35 inches×1.91 inches), but can be varied as well. As with the first embodiment, the fluorescent stripe window envelope  80  has solid fluorescent stripes  96  and  98  printed only on an upper top right edge and upper right hand, respectively, of the envelope, which two fluorescent stripes  96  and  98  together form a mirror-image of an L-shaped stripe layout  99  with the top stripe  96  being located at the upper right edge and the side stripe  98  being at the upper right hand side where the postage indicia window is located, and serve as a replacement for an absent FIM pattern. The fluorescent stripes  96  and  98  are preferably about 0.635 cm (0.25 inch) wide, but other widths can be used as desired, so long as they are sufficiently wide to comply with postal service regulations. The fluorescent stripes  96  and  98  and the L-shaped stripe layout  99  are shown as extending to the edges of the envelope, but could also be placed away form the edges of the envelope  90  is desired, and subject to postal service requirements. 
     Turning now to FIGS. 10 to  13 , there is shown the insert  40  of FIG. 3 inserted into the fluorescent stripe window envelope  90  of FIG. 9, with the insert  40  variously shifted within the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope  90 . The mirror-image of an L-shaped layout  99  comprised of fluorescent stripes  96  and  98  shown in the upper right hand corner of the envelope. 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90  with the insert  40  placed therein and shifted to an lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90 . 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90  with the insert  40  placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90 . 
     FIG. 12 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90  with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90 . 
     FIG. 13 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90  with the insert of FIG. 3 placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  90 . 
     As can be seen, even when the insert  40  is shifted within the fluorescent windowed envelope  90  to the maximum extent allowable, the address information  44  and postage indicia  42  and sender information  46  will remain fully revealed through the addressee/postage indicia window  52  and sender window  94 . 
     Referring to FIG. 14, there is shown a third embodiment of the fluorescent window stripe envelope  110  of the invention. It is sized as a size 9 envelope, and has an indicia window  112  and a combination addressee/sender winder  114 . Indicia window is preferably about 9.84 cm (3.875 inches) wide and about 3.81 cm (1.5 inches) high, but other dimensions can be used as well. The fluorescent stripe window envelope  110  has solid fluorescent stripes  116  and  118  printed only on an upper top right edge and upper right hand, respectively, of the envelope, where the postage indicia window is located and together form a mirror-image of an L-shaped stripe layout  119  with the top stripe  116  being located at the upper right edge and the side stripe  118  being at the upper right hand side where the postage indicia window is located and serve as a replacement for an absent FIM pattern. The fluorescent stripes  116  and  118  are preferably about 0.635 cm (0.25 inch) wide, but other widths can be used as desired, so long as they are sufficiently wide to comply with postal service regulations. The fluorescent stripes  116  and  118  are shown as extending to the edges of the envelope, but could also be placed away form the edges of the envelope  110  is desired, and subject to postal service requirements. As shown, a lower edge  120  of the indicia window  112  extends below an upper edge  122  of the addressee scanning region  124  (shown by phantom lines.) The addressee/sender window  114  has an upper sender portion  126  and a lower addressee portion  128 . The lower addressee portion  128  is sufficiently wide, e.g. about 8.41 cm (3.31 inches), and preferably extends from a bottom edge  130  of the addressee scanning region  124  to the top edge  122  of the addressee scanning region  124 , which is a span of about 5.4 cm (2.125 inches.) The upper sender portion  126  can be made narrower than the lower addressee portion (having a width of about 7.62 cm or 2.5 inches) and have a height of about 2.22 cm (0.875 inches.) Alternatively, addressee/sender window  114  can have a rectangular shape. 
     Referring to FIG. 15, there is shown an insert  140 , which can comprise a sheet of standard U.S. letter sized sheet 21.59 cm×27.94 cm (8.5 inches×11 inches) paper folded into thirds, to assume a size of about 21.59 cm×9.31 cm (8.5 inches×3.67 inches.) The insert  140  is printed with the postal indicia  142  in an upper right hand corner thereof, the addressee information  144  in a lower left hand portion of the insert, and optionally with the sender information  146  in an upper left hand corner of the insert. No FIM pattern is printed on the insert  140 . 
     Turning now to FIGS. 16 to  19 , there is shown the insert  140  of FIG. 15 inserted into the fluorescent stripe window envelope  110  of FIG. 14, with the insert  140  variously shifted within the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope  110 . The addressee scanning region  124  is shown in dashed lines. The fluorescent stripes  116  and  118  shown in the upper right hand corner of the envelope form the mirror-image of an L-shaped stripe layout  119 . 
     FIG. 16 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110  with the insert  140  of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an lower right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110 . 
     FIG. 17 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110  with the insert  140  of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an upper right corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110 . 
     FIG. 18 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110  with the insert  140  of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to a lower left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110 . 
     FIG. 19 is a plan view of the fluorescent windowed envelope  110  with the insert of FIG. 15 placed therein and shifted to an upper left corner of the fluorescent windowed envelope  10 . 
     Regardless of the particular embodiment of fluorescent stripe windowed envelope described above, the inserts  40  and  140  can be printed by the user onto standard letter sized paper, folded into general thirds (without any need for excessive precision), and inserted into the fluorescent stripe windowed envelopes  50 ,  90 , and  140 , and have a great degree of assurance that the mailpiece will be automatically processed without any glitches. The designs of the fluorescent stripe windowed envelope take into account possible skew introduced by sheets not being folded into perfect thirds and with their corners not be lined up properly. The postal indicia  142 , the addressee information  144 , and the sender information  146  printed on the insert  140  are of predetermined size and position ranges to allow for less than perfect folding of the inserts  40  and  140  and to account for possible shifting of the inserts  40  and  140  in the fluorescent stripe envelope  50 ,  90  and  110 . The various sizes and positions of the postal indicia  42 , the addressee information  44 , and the sender information  46  to be printed on the insert  40  and the postal indicia  142 , the addressee information  144 , and the sender information  146  to be printed on the insert  140  can be conveniently provided as part of the computer software used to print the inserts  40  and  140 . 
     The drawings and the foregoing description are not intended to represent the only form of the invention in regard to the details of this construction and manner of operation. In fact, it will be evident to one skilled in the art that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Although specific terms have been employed, they are intended in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purpose of limitation.