EP1272287A2 - Suppression of mail addressing errors using extended client codes - Google Patents

Suppression of mail addressing errors using extended client codes

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Publication number
EP1272287A2
EP1272287A2 EP01919607A EP01919607A EP1272287A2 EP 1272287 A2 EP1272287 A2 EP 1272287A2 EP 01919607 A EP01919607 A EP 01919607A EP 01919607 A EP01919607 A EP 01919607A EP 1272287 A2 EP1272287 A2 EP 1272287A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
mail
postal
sender
item
mail items
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP01919607A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1272287B1 (en
EP1272287B2 (en
Inventor
Guy Forella
François Gillet
Emmanuel Miette
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Solystic SAS
Original Assignee
Solystic SAS
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
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Priority claimed from FR0004338A external-priority patent/FR2807348B1/en
Application filed by Solystic SAS filed Critical Solystic SAS
Publication of EP1272287A2 publication Critical patent/EP1272287A2/en
Publication of EP1272287B1 publication Critical patent/EP1272287B1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1272287B2 publication Critical patent/EP1272287B2/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C1/00—Measures preceding sorting according to destination
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S209/00—Classifying, separating, and assorting solids
    • Y10S209/90—Sorting flat-type mail

Definitions

  • the invention relates to sorting, routing and distribution of mail items in one or more sorting centers of a postal operator.
  • postal sorting centers authorize bulk mailers, customers of the postal operator, to affix a barcode representative of a distribution address code obtained at from a coding of the postal address of the mail item, this address code being indicative of a postal distribution point of the mail item and known by the name of customer code.
  • each mail item can be processed by machine reading the bar code on the item of mail. This results in a significant time savings for the postal sorting center and for the shipper customer of the postal operator, the possibility of benefiting from preferential delivery rates.
  • the address code or customer code for a mail item is conventionally generated by the sender from a machine capture of the image of the item's postal address, followed by optical character recognition on the image captured to extract the information relating to the postal address of the mail item and automatic processing of the address information to generate the address code.
  • This processing typically uses a file in which reference address information is matched with reference address codes provided by the postal operator. It was found that senders of bulk mail items did not always have up-to-date reference address information files in correspondence with the respective reference address codes. This therefore results in the postal sorting center addressing errors in mail items.
  • Patent document US-4992649 discloses a method of processing mail items in which the postal operator generates a mail item identification number for each mail item to be processed.
  • identification numbers are affixed to the corresponding mail items each in the form of a machine-readable marking and are recorded in an electronic file in correspondence with data indicative of the postal addresses of the mail items, this data can be a digital image of the mailing address of each mail item.
  • This marking of mail items with mail item identification numbers eliminates the use of delay loops through which mail travels pending processing in mail item video coding facilities.
  • Patent document EP-424728 further discloses a method of processing mail items in which identification numbers of mail items are generated by a postal operator and affixed to the corresponding mail items and are stored in a file. electronic in correspondence with the image of the postal address of mail items.
  • this file which can be transmitted by network from a routing sorting center to a sorting distribution center of the postal operator, it is possible for the postal routing sorting center to first calculate sorting codes routing corresponding to the mail items referenced in the file.
  • a postal sorting distribution center calculates the sorting distribution codes or address codes.
  • Patent document FR-2646364 further discloses a method of processing mail items in which mail item identification numbers are generated by a postal operator and in which an electronic file containing these identification numbers in correspondence with data indicative of the postal address of the mail items is transmitted by network from a postal sorting center routing to postal sorting distribution centers.
  • the generation of mail item identification numbers by the postal operator simplifies the video-coding operations that it must carry out to recover coding errors of postal addresses on certain mail items. However, it does not eliminate an addressing erroneous mail items because the sender does not always have an up-to-date postal address database.
  • the subject of the invention is a method for eliminating addressing errors in mail items in a sorting, routing and distribution process carried out by a postal operator on mail items delivered to it by a sender.
  • postal operator customer mail items in which mail item identification numbers are generated respectively for the mail items to be processed in the sorting, routing and distribution process, these identification numbers being affixed respectively to the mailpieces in machine-readable form and stored in an electronic file in correspondence with data indicative of the postal addresses of the mailpieces, characterized in that the identification numbers of the mailpieces are generated by the sender of mail items and are affixed by him on the mail items before being delivered to the postal operator, and in that said file containing the identification numbers of mail items in correspondence with indicative data of postal addresses is also constituted by the sender of mail items and is transmitted by the latter ci to the postal operator.
  • each identification number of a mail item generated by the sender comprises at least one code identifying the sender and a code identifying the postal operator, which ensures traceability of each marked mail item from its making by the sender to its distribution by the postal operator.
  • each identification number of a mail item is affixed to the mail item in the form of an alphanumeric code, to two dimensions, or preferably with bars.
  • This barcode for example can be divided into two parts, one for the identification of the sender and the postal operator, the other for the identification of the mail item itself, these two parts corresponding to a unique identification number for each article.
  • an additional information field can be reserved to encode commercial or marketing data which are specific to the sender (for example the identification of an advertising campaign) .
  • the data indicative of a postal address in the file consists of a digital image of the postal address of said mail item or also by the alphanumeric attributes formatted in postal address text code.
  • These data indicative of a postal address can also be constituted by the digital images respectively of the lines constituting the postal address, or even for example by a computer file in which is recorded in ASCII mode or other the content of each line of the address.
  • These alphanumeric attributes of the postal address can be obtained, as is well known, by optical recognition from the digital image of the postal address captured by camera. But preferably, they can be loaded into a file during the preparation of the mail item using a software tool integrated into the word processing program used to make the mail item.
  • This giciei tool can conventionally be a postal address book management software already present in most word processing programs running on a personal computer.
  • the file containing the indicative data of the postal address of the mail items could advantageously be organized in the form of a database with records containing predefined recording fields filled with the corresponding postal address attributes.
  • This software tool integrated into the word processing program used to make mail items can advantageously be adapted to automatically generate identification numbers, for example by including an incremented counter for each new mail item made by the sender. .
  • the identification numbers could be generated after making the mail items and putting them in envelopes without departing from the scope of the invention.
  • FIG. 1 very schematically represents the process for generating identification numbers, mail item numbers and the file containing these numbers in correspondence with postal address data.
  • FIG. 2 shows an example of a mail item on which a barcode corresponding to a mail item identification number is affixed.
  • FIG. 1 On the left-hand side of FIG. 1, the process of constituting a batch of mail items is shown on the side of a sender of mail items in customer number of a postal operator.
  • This sender holds a file of postal addresses 1 which is merged with a standard letter 2 for example using a word processing program running on a personal computer, to constitute a batch of mail items 3 to be made distribute through a postal operator sorting center.
  • the batch of mail items 3 is loaded at the sender in a machine 4, which performs a digital automatic capture of the image of the postal address of each mail item and which prints on each mail item as a code customer, an individual marking 5, for example in the form of a bar code, representative of a unique identifier assigned to the mail item by the sender.
  • This identifier or extended customer code can be entirely numeric or alphanumeric.
  • the digital image of the postal address of each mail item is indicated by the letter A in Figure 1 and the unique identifier of each mail item is indicated by the letter I in Figure 1.
  • the machine 4 provides in an electronic file F for each mail item, the digital image A of its postal address which is recorded in correspondence with the unique identifier I of the item of mail as illustrated by the symbol F (A, I) in FIG. 1.
  • the sender therefore retrieves a batch of mail items marked 3 'and the electronic file F (A , I) corresponding.
  • the identifiers I can alternatively be generated automatically by a software tool integrated in the word processing program.
  • the sender transmits the electronic file F (A, I) to the sorting center of the postal operator, for example through a telecommunications network, which may be the Internet, or any other equivalent means, and has the batch dispatched. mail items marked 3 'in parallel to this postal sorting center. It is understood that the images A and the identifiers I can be saved in one or more electronic files or in another data medium usable by a computer or the like.
  • the sorting, routing and distribution process carried out in the postal sorting center is shown.
  • the postal sorting center normally receives the electronic file F (A, I) from the sender before receiving the batch of mail items 3 '.
  • the postal sorting center Upon receipt of the electronic file F (A, I), the postal sorting center performs in 6 on each digital image A recorded in the file F (A, l) an optical character recognition to extract postal address information and generate on the basis of up-to-date reference postal address information 7 held by the postal operator, an address code (indicated by C in FIG. 1) corresponding to the identifier I of the mail item.
  • the address code C generated by the postal sorting center corresponds in this case to an effective distribution point for the postal sorting center.
  • This optical character recognition operation becomes unnecessary if the data A in the file F is already saved in text mode.
  • FIG. 1 shows the address codes C generated by the postal sorting center and recorded in correspondence with the identifiers I of the mail items in an electronic file F '(I, C).
  • each item of mail is identified and located by a machine reading 8 of its individual marking 5 to obtain its identifier l and is sorted, routed and distributed in 10 based on the correspondence between its identifier I and its address code C which is provided by the file F '(I, C). It is possible to affix on each item of mail another marking representative of its address code C, for example a bar code, to carry out the sorting, routing and distribution process.
  • a distribution point corresponding to an address code generated in 6 can be the subject of a re-addressing request in the postal sorting center (as is the case when a mail recipient changes mail address and notify the postal operator of their new address). If an address code C generated in processing 6 is identified as corresponding to an address code of a mail item to be re-addressed, when reading the individual marking 5 of the mail items at machine 8, a mail item to be re-addressed will be identified and located on the basis of the correspondence between its identifier I and its address code C provided by the file F '(I, C) and will be separated into 9 from the batch of items of mail.
  • a video coding could then be carried out on this mail item to be re-addressed to validate the identity and exact address of the recipient.
  • this mail item will be identified at 8 as indicated above and separated from the batch of mail items to carry out video coding thereon.
  • Postal address anomalies, in particular those arising from re-addressing, detected by the postal sorting center can, where appropriate, be communicated to the sender of bulk mail, as illustrated by the arrow F "in FIG. 1, so that it updates its own postal address file.
  • the machine 4 at the customer of the postal center processes the digital image A in order to extract by optical character recognition attributes of the postal address printed on the mail item and contained in image A: postal code, city, street name, street number and loads this data indicative of the postal address in file F in place of image A.
  • This step of extracting the attributes of the postal address in the image A which is made at the customer of the postal center contributes to reducing the costs of processing mail in the postal center to generate the address code C.
  • file F is loaded with the postal address attributes by taking them directly from file 1 during the process of merging with the standard letter 2, which eliminates the optical character recognition operation. Direct sampling of postal address attributes could advantageously be produced, during the merger, by the software tool integrated in the word processing program which automatically generates the identifiers of mail items.
  • FIG. 2 shows a mail item 3 'with an example of a bar code 5 representative of a mail item identifier I generated by the sender of the mail item.
  • the identifier I generated for each mail item by the sender includes a code identifying the sender and the postal operator responsible for sorting the routing and distribution of the mail item.
  • the bar code 5 is broken down here into two parts 5A and 5B, the part 5A corresponding to the identification of the sender and the postal operator and the part 5B corresponding to the identification specific to the mail item.
  • the method according to the invention thus contributes to the simple elimination of addressing errors of certain mail items in a batch of mail items transmitted by a sender of bulk mail items to a postal sorting center.

Abstract

In order to eliminate addressing errors on postal articles in a process ( 8, 10 ) of sorting, routing, and delivery performed by a postal operator on mail articles ( 3' ) handed over to the operator by a sender of mail articles constituting a client of the postal operator, respective mail article identity numbers (I) are generated for the mail articles to be processed in the sorting, routing, and delivery process, said identity numbers (I) being applied to the respective mail articles in machine readable form ( 5 ) and being recorded in an electronic file (F) in association with data (A) giving the postal addresses of the mail articles. These mail article identity numbers (I) or "extended client codes" are generated by the mail article sender and they are applied by the sender to the mail articles prior to handing them over to the postal operator. The file (F) containing the mail article identity numbers in association with the data giving postal addresses is also prepared by the sender of mail articles and is transmitted by the sender to the postal operator.

Description

Suppression d'erreurs d'adressage de courrier à l'aide de codes client étendusSuppressing Mail Addressing Errors Using Extended Client Codes
L'invention concerne le tri acheminement et distribution d'articles de courrier dans un ou des centres de tri d'un opérateur postal. Dans certains pays, les centres de tri postaux autorisent les expéditeurs d'articles de courrier en nombre, clients de l'opérateur postal, à apposer sur chaque article de courrier un code à barres représentatif d'un code d'adresse de distribution obtenu à partir d'un codage de l'adresse postale de l'article de courrier, ce code d'adresse étant indicatif d'un point de distribution postale de l'article de courrier et connu sous le nom de code client. Dans un centre de tri postal, lors du processus de tri acheminement et distribution d'un lot important de tels articles de courrier marqués, chaque article de courrier peut être traité à partir d'une lecture par machine du code à barres sur l'article de courrier. Il en résulte pour le centre de tri postal un gain de temps important et pour l'expéditeur client de l'opérateur postal, une possibilité de bénéficier de tarifs d'acheminement préférentiels. Le code d'adresse ou code client pour un article de courrier est généré classiquement par l'expéditeur à partir d'une saisie par machine de l'image de l'adresse postale de l'article, suivie d'une reconnaissance optique de caractères sur l'image saisie pour extraire l'information relative à l'adresse postale de i'article de courrier et d'un traitement automatique de l'information d'adresse pour générer le code d'adresse. Ce traitement exploite typiquement un fichier dans lequel des informations d'adresse de référence sont mis en correspondance avec des codes d'adresse de référence fournis par l'opérateur postal. On s'est aperçu que les expéditeurs d'articles de courrier en nombre ne possédaient pas toujours des fichiers à jour des informations d'adresse de référence en correspondance avec les codes d'adresse de référence respectifs. Il en résulte donc pour le centre de tri postal des erreurs d'adressage des articles de courrier. Cette situation est particulièrement coûteuse pour un opérateur postal puisque l'erreur d'adressage conduit le centre de tri postal à récupérer l'article de courrier mal adressé seulement après le processus de tri acheminement et distribution et à le renvoyer à l'expéditeur où à défaut à le traiter manuellement en faisant abstraction du code d'adresse généré par l'expéditeur. Ce type d'erreur peut affecter une partie non négligeable (pouvant atteindre jusqu'à 6 à 10%) d'un lot d'articles de courrier remis par un expéditeur à un centre de tri postal. Le document de brevet US-4992649 divulgue un procédé de traitement d'articles de courrier selon lequel l'opérateur postal génère un numéro d'identification d'article de courrier pour chaque article de courrier à traiter. Ces numéros d'identification sont apposés sur les articles de courrier correspondants chacun sous la forme d'un marquage lisible par machine et sont enregistrés dans un fichier électronique en correspondance avec des données indicatives des adresses postales des articles de courrier, ces données pouvant être une image numérique de l'adresse postale de chaque article de courrier. Ce marquage des articles de courrier avec des numéros d'identification d'article de courrier permet d'éliminer l'utilisation de boucles à retard dans lesquelles transite le courrier en attente de traitement dans des installations de vidéo-codage des articles de courrier.The invention relates to sorting, routing and distribution of mail items in one or more sorting centers of a postal operator. In some countries, postal sorting centers authorize bulk mailers, customers of the postal operator, to affix a barcode representative of a distribution address code obtained at from a coding of the postal address of the mail item, this address code being indicative of a postal distribution point of the mail item and known by the name of customer code. In a postal sorting center, during the sorting, routing and distribution process for a large batch of such marked mail items, each mail item can be processed by machine reading the bar code on the item of mail. This results in a significant time savings for the postal sorting center and for the shipper customer of the postal operator, the possibility of benefiting from preferential delivery rates. The address code or customer code for a mail item is conventionally generated by the sender from a machine capture of the image of the item's postal address, followed by optical character recognition on the image captured to extract the information relating to the postal address of the mail item and automatic processing of the address information to generate the address code. This processing typically uses a file in which reference address information is matched with reference address codes provided by the postal operator. It was found that senders of bulk mail items did not always have up-to-date reference address information files in correspondence with the respective reference address codes. This therefore results in the postal sorting center addressing errors in mail items. This situation is particularly costly for a postal operator since the addressing error leads the postal sorting center to recover the incorrectly addressed item of mail only after the sorting, routing and distribution process and to return it to the sender or to failure to process it manually, ignoring the address code generated by the sender. This type of error can affect a non-negligible portion (up to 6 to 10%) of a batch of mail items delivered by a sender to a postal sorting center. Patent document US-4992649 discloses a method of processing mail items in which the postal operator generates a mail item identification number for each mail item to be processed. These identification numbers are affixed to the corresponding mail items each in the form of a machine-readable marking and are recorded in an electronic file in correspondence with data indicative of the postal addresses of the mail items, this data can be a digital image of the mailing address of each mail item. This marking of mail items with mail item identification numbers eliminates the use of delay loops through which mail travels pending processing in mail item video coding facilities.
Le document de brevet EP-424728 divulgue encore un procédé de traitement d'articles de courrier dans lequel des numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier sont générés par un opérateur postal et apposés sur les articles de courrier correspondants et sont enregistrés dans un fichier électronique en correspondance avec l'image de l'adresse postale des articles de courrier. Sur la base de ce fichier qui peut être transmis par réseau d'un centre de tri acheminement vers un centre de tri distribution de l'opérateur postal, il est possible pour le centre postal de tri acheminement de calculer d'abord des codes de tri acheminement correspondant aux articles de courrier référencés dans le fichier. Sur la base de ce fichier, un centre postal de tri distribution calcule les codes de tri distribution ou codes d'adresse. Le document de brevet FR-2646364 divulgue encore un procédé de traitement d'articles de courrier dans lequel des numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier sont générés par un opérateur postal et dans lequel un fichier électronique contenant ces numéros d'identification en correspondance avec des données indicatives de l'adresse postale des articles de courrier est transmis par réseau d'un centre postal de tri acheminement vers des centres postaux de tri distribution. La génération de numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier par l'opérateur postal simplifie les opérations de vidéo-codage qu'il doit effectuer pour récupérer des erreurs de codage des adresses postales sur certains articles de courrier. Toutefois, elle ne permet pas d'éliminer un adressage erroné d'articles de courrier du fait que l'expéditeur ne dispose pas toujours d'une base d'adresses postales à jour.Patent document EP-424728 further discloses a method of processing mail items in which identification numbers of mail items are generated by a postal operator and affixed to the corresponding mail items and are stored in a file. electronic in correspondence with the image of the postal address of mail items. On the basis of this file which can be transmitted by network from a routing sorting center to a sorting distribution center of the postal operator, it is possible for the postal routing sorting center to first calculate sorting codes routing corresponding to the mail items referenced in the file. On the basis of this file, a postal sorting distribution center calculates the sorting distribution codes or address codes. Patent document FR-2646364 further discloses a method of processing mail items in which mail item identification numbers are generated by a postal operator and in which an electronic file containing these identification numbers in correspondence with data indicative of the postal address of the mail items is transmitted by network from a postal sorting center routing to postal sorting distribution centers. The generation of mail item identification numbers by the postal operator simplifies the video-coding operations that it must carry out to recover coding errors of postal addresses on certain mail items. However, it does not eliminate an addressing erroneous mail items because the sender does not always have an up-to-date postal address database.
Le but de l'invention est de remédier à cet inconvénient. A cet effet, l'invention a pour objet un procédé pour supprimer des erreurs d'adressage d'articles de courrier dans un processus de tri, acheminement et distribution effectué par un opérateur postal sur des articles de courrier qui lui sont remis par un expéditeur d'articles de courrier client de l'opérateur postal, dans lequel des numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier sont générés respectivement pour les articles de courrier à traiter dans le processus de tri, acheminement et distribution, ces numéros d'identification étant apposés respectivement sur les articles de courrier sous une forme lisible par machine et enregistrés dans un fichier électronique en correspondance avec des données indicatives des adresses postales des articles de courrier, caractérisé en ce que les numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier sont générés par l'expéditeur d'articles de courrier et sont apposés par celui-ci sur les articles de courrier avant d'être remis à l'opérateur postal, et en ce que ledit fichier contenant les numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier en correspondance avec des données indicatives d'adresses postales est également constitué par l'expéditeur d'articles de courrier et est transmis par celui-ci à l'opérateur postal.The object of the invention is to remedy this drawback. To this end, the subject of the invention is a method for eliminating addressing errors in mail items in a sorting, routing and distribution process carried out by a postal operator on mail items delivered to it by a sender. postal operator customer mail items, in which mail item identification numbers are generated respectively for the mail items to be processed in the sorting, routing and distribution process, these identification numbers being affixed respectively to the mailpieces in machine-readable form and stored in an electronic file in correspondence with data indicative of the postal addresses of the mailpieces, characterized in that the identification numbers of the mailpieces are generated by the sender of mail items and are affixed by him on the mail items before being delivered to the postal operator, and in that said file containing the identification numbers of mail items in correspondence with indicative data of postal addresses is also constituted by the sender of mail items and is transmitted by the latter ci to the postal operator.
De la sorte, il est facile pour l'opérateur postal de détecter les anomalies sur les adresses postales générées par l'expéditeur d'articles de courrier et de restituer à cet expéditeur un fichier contenant des adresses postales corrigées en correspondance le cas échéant avec des numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier aux fins d'une mise à jour de la base d'adresses postales de l'expéditeur.In this way, it is easy for the postal operator to detect anomalies in the postal addresses generated by the sender of mail items and to restore to this sender a file containing postal addresses corrected in correspondence if necessary with mail item identification numbers for updating the mailing address database.
Selon un mode particulier de mise en œuvre du procédé selon l'invention, chaque numéro d'identification d'un article de courrier généré par l'expéditeur, ou code client dit étendu, comporte au moins un code identifiant l'expéditeur et un code identifiant l'opérateur postal ce qui permet d'assurer une traçabilité de chaque article de courrier marqué depuis sa confection par l'expéditeur jusqu'à sa distribution par l'opérateur postal.According to a particular embodiment of the method according to the invention, each identification number of a mail item generated by the sender, or so-called extended customer code, comprises at least one code identifying the sender and a code identifying the postal operator, which ensures traceability of each marked mail item from its making by the sender to its distribution by the postal operator.
Selon encore un mode particulier de mise en œuvre du procédé selon l'invention, chaque numéro d'identification d'un article de courrier est apposé sur l'article de courrier sous la forme d'un code alphanumérique, à deux dimensions, ou encore de préférence à barres. Ce code à barres par exemple peut être divisé en deux parties, l'une pour l'identification de l'expéditeur et de l'opérateur postal, l'autre pour l'identification de l'article de courrier lui-même, ces deux parties correspondant à un numéro d'identification unique pour chaque article. Dans la partie du code identifiant l'opérateur postal et l'expéditeur, un champ d'information supplémentaire peut être réservé pour encoder des données commerciales ou marketing qui sont propres à l'expéditeur (par exemple l'identification d'une campagne publicitaire). Selon encore un mode particulier de mise en œuvre du procédé selon l'invention, les données indicatives d'une adresse postale dans le fichier sont constituées par une image numérique de l'adresse postale dudit article de courrier ou encore par les attributs alphanumériques formatés en code texte de l'adresse postale. Ces données indicatives d'une adresse postale peuvent encore être constituées par les images numériques respectivement des lignes constituant l'adresse postale, ou encore par exemple par un fichier informatique dans lequel est enregistré en mode ASCII ou autre le contenu de chaque ligne de l'adresse postale. Ces attributs alphanumériques de l'adresse postale peuvent être obtenus, comme cela est bien connu, par reconnaissance optique à partir de l'image numérique de l'adresse postale saisie par caméra. Mais de préférence, ils pourront être chargés en fichier lors de la confection de l'article de courrier à l'aide d'un outil logiciel intégré dans le programme de traitement texte servant à la confection de l'article de courrier. Cet outil giciei peut être classiquement un logiciel de gestion de carnet d'adresses postales déjà présent dans la plupart des programmes de traitement de texte fonctionnant sur ordinateur personnel. Le fichier contenant les données indicatives de l'adresse postale des articles de courrier pourra avantageusement être organisé sous la forme d'une base de données avec des enregistrements contenant des champs d'enregistrement prédéfinis renseignés avec les attributs d'adresse postale correspondants. Cet outil logiciel intégré au programme de traitement de texte servant à la confection d'articles de courrier pourra avantageusement être adapté pour générer automatiquement les numéros d'identification, par exemple en incluant un compteur incrémenté pour chaque nouvel article de courrier confectionné par l'expéditeur. Bien entendu, les numéros d'identification pourraient être générés après la confection des articles de courrier et leur mise sous pli sans sortir du cadre de l'invention.According to another particular mode of implementation of the method according to the invention, each identification number of a mail item is affixed to the mail item in the form of an alphanumeric code, to two dimensions, or preferably with bars. This barcode for example can be divided into two parts, one for the identification of the sender and the postal operator, the other for the identification of the mail item itself, these two parts corresponding to a unique identification number for each article. In the part of the code identifying the postal operator and the sender, an additional information field can be reserved to encode commercial or marketing data which are specific to the sender (for example the identification of an advertising campaign) . According to yet another particular embodiment of the method according to the invention, the data indicative of a postal address in the file consists of a digital image of the postal address of said mail item or also by the alphanumeric attributes formatted in postal address text code. These data indicative of a postal address can also be constituted by the digital images respectively of the lines constituting the postal address, or even for example by a computer file in which is recorded in ASCII mode or other the content of each line of the address. These alphanumeric attributes of the postal address can be obtained, as is well known, by optical recognition from the digital image of the postal address captured by camera. But preferably, they can be loaded into a file during the preparation of the mail item using a software tool integrated into the word processing program used to make the mail item. This giciei tool can conventionally be a postal address book management software already present in most word processing programs running on a personal computer. The file containing the indicative data of the postal address of the mail items could advantageously be organized in the form of a database with records containing predefined recording fields filled with the corresponding postal address attributes. This software tool integrated into the word processing program used to make mail items can advantageously be adapted to automatically generate identification numbers, for example by including an incremented counter for each new mail item made by the sender. . Of course, the identification numbers could be generated after making the mail items and putting them in envelopes without departing from the scope of the invention.
Un exemple de mise en œuvre du procédé selon l'invention est décrit ci-après et illustré très schématiquement sur les figures. La figure 1 représente de façon très schématique le processus de génération des numéros d'identification, d'article de courrier et du fichier contenant ces numéros en correspondance avec des données d'adresse postales.An example of implementation of the method according to the invention is described below and illustrated very schematically in the figures. FIG. 1 very schematically represents the process for generating identification numbers, mail item numbers and the file containing these numbers in correspondence with postal address data.
La figure 2 montre un exemple d'article de courrier sur lequel est apposé un code à barres correspondant à un numéro d'identification d'article de courrier.FIG. 2 shows an example of a mail item on which a barcode corresponding to a mail item identification number is affixed.
Sur la partie gauche de la figure 1 , on a représenté le processus de constitution d'un lot d'articles de courrier du côté d'un expéditeur d'articles de courrier en nombre client d'un opérateur postal. Cet expéditeur détient un fichier d'adresses postales 1 qui est fusionné avec une lettre type 2 par exemple à l'aide d'un programme de traitement de texte fonctionnant sur un ordinateur personnel, pour constituer un lot d'articles de courrier 3 à faire distribuer par un centre de tri de l'opérateur postal.On the left-hand side of FIG. 1, the process of constituting a batch of mail items is shown on the side of a sender of mail items in customer number of a postal operator. This sender holds a file of postal addresses 1 which is merged with a standard letter 2 for example using a word processing program running on a personal computer, to constitute a batch of mail items 3 to be made distribute through a postal operator sorting center.
Le lot d'articles de courrier 3 est chargé chez l'expéditeur dans une machine 4, qui réalise une saisie automatique numérique de l'image de l'adresse postale de chaque article de courrier et qui imprime sur chaque article de courrier, comme code client, un marquage individuel 5, par exemple sous la forme d'un code à barres, représentatif d'un identifiant unique affecté à l'article de courrier par l'expéditeur. Cet identifiant ou code client étendu peut être entièrement numérique ou alphanumérique.The batch of mail items 3 is loaded at the sender in a machine 4, which performs a digital automatic capture of the image of the postal address of each mail item and which prints on each mail item as a code customer, an individual marking 5, for example in the form of a bar code, representative of a unique identifier assigned to the mail item by the sender. This identifier or extended customer code can be entirely numeric or alphanumeric.
L'image numérique de l'adresse postale de chaque article de courrier est indiquée par la lettre A sur la figure 1 et l'identifiant unique de chaque article de courrier est indiquée par la lettre I sur la figure 1. Au fur et à mesure du passage des articles de courrier dans la machine 4, la machine 4 fournit dans un fichier électronique F pour chaque article de courrier, l'image numérique A de son adresse postale qui est enregistré en correspondance avec l'identifiant unique I de l'article de courrier comme illustré par le symbole F(A,I) sur la figure 1. A la fin du traitement dans la machine 4, l'expéditeur récupère donc un lot d'articles de courrier marqués 3' et le fichier électronique F(A,I) correspondant. Comme indiqué plus haut, les identifiants I peuvent en variante être générés automatiquement par un outil logiciel intégré dans le programme de traitement de texte.The digital image of the postal address of each mail item is indicated by the letter A in Figure 1 and the unique identifier of each mail item is indicated by the letter I in Figure 1. As you go of the passage of the mail items in the machine 4, the machine 4 provides in an electronic file F for each mail item, the digital image A of its postal address which is recorded in correspondence with the unique identifier I of the item of mail as illustrated by the symbol F (A, I) in FIG. 1. At the end of the processing in the machine 4, the sender therefore retrieves a batch of mail items marked 3 'and the electronic file F (A , I) corresponding. As indicated above, the identifiers I can alternatively be generated automatically by a software tool integrated in the word processing program.
L'expéditeur transmet au centre de tri de l'opérateur postal le fichier électronique F(A,I) par exemple à travers un réseau de télécommunication, qui peut être le réseau Internet, ou tout autre moyen équivalent et fait acheminer le lot d'articles de courrier marqués 3' en parallèle vers ce centre de tri postal. Il est entendu que les images A et les identifiants I peuvent être enregistrés dans un ou plusieurs fichiers électroniques ou dans un autre support de données exploitable par un ordinateur ou analogue. Sur la partie droite de la figure 1 , on a représenté le processus de tri, acheminement et distribution réalisé dans le centre de tri postal. Le centre de tri postal reçoit normalement de l'expéditeur le fichier électronique F(A,I) avant de recevoir le lot d'articles de courrier 3'.The sender transmits the electronic file F (A, I) to the sorting center of the postal operator, for example through a telecommunications network, which may be the Internet, or any other equivalent means, and has the batch dispatched. mail items marked 3 'in parallel to this postal sorting center. It is understood that the images A and the identifiers I can be saved in one or more electronic files or in another data medium usable by a computer or the like. On the right side of FIG. 1, the sorting, routing and distribution process carried out in the postal sorting center is shown. The postal sorting center normally receives the electronic file F (A, I) from the sender before receiving the batch of mail items 3 '.
Dès réception du fichier électronique F(A,I), le centre de tri postal réalise en 6 sur chaque image numérique A enregistrée dans le fichier F(A,l) une reconnaissance optique de caractères pour extraire des informations d'adresse postale et générer sur la base d'informations d'adresse postale de référence 7 à jour détenues par l'opérateur postal, un code d'adresse (indiqué par C sur la figure 1) en correspondance avec l'identifiant I de l'article de courrier. Le code d'adresse C généré par le centre de tri postal correspond dans ce cas à un point de distribution effectif pour le centre de tri postal. Cette opération de reconnaissance optique de caractères devient inutile si les données A dans le fichier F sont déjà enregistrées en mode texte. Sur la figure 1 , on a représenté les codes d'adresse C générés par le centre de tri postal et enregistrés en correspondance avec les identifiants I des articles de courrier dans un fichier électronique F'(I,C). C'est sur la base du fichier F'(I,C) qu'est réalisé le processus 10 de tri, acheminement et distribution du lot d'articles de courrier 3' dès que ce dernier est reçu par le centre de tri postal. Avant de réaliser le processus de tri, acheminement et distribution, chaque article de courrier est identifié et localisé par une lecture par machine 8 de son marquage individuel 5 pour obtenir son identifiant l et est trié, acheminé et distribué en 10 sur la base de la correspondance entre son identifiant I et son code d'adresse C qui est fournie par le fichier F'(I,C). II est possible d'apposer sur chaque article de courrier un autre marquage représentatif de son code d'adresse C, par exemple un code à barres, pour réaliser le processus de tri, acheminement et distribution.Upon receipt of the electronic file F (A, I), the postal sorting center performs in 6 on each digital image A recorded in the file F (A, l) an optical character recognition to extract postal address information and generate on the basis of up-to-date reference postal address information 7 held by the postal operator, an address code (indicated by C in FIG. 1) corresponding to the identifier I of the mail item. The address code C generated by the postal sorting center corresponds in this case to an effective distribution point for the postal sorting center. This optical character recognition operation becomes unnecessary if the data A in the file F is already saved in text mode. FIG. 1 shows the address codes C generated by the postal sorting center and recorded in correspondence with the identifiers I of the mail items in an electronic file F '(I, C). It is on the basis of the file F '(I, C) that the sorting, routing and distribution process 10 of the batch of mail items 3' is carried out as soon as it is received by the postal sorting center. Before carrying out the sorting, routing and distribution process, each item of mail is identified and located by a machine reading 8 of its individual marking 5 to obtain its identifier l and is sorted, routed and distributed in 10 based on the correspondence between its identifier I and its address code C which is provided by the file F '(I, C). It is possible to affix on each item of mail another marking representative of its address code C, for example a bar code, to carry out the sorting, routing and distribution process.
Un point de distribution correspondant à un code d'adresse généré en 6 peut faire l'objet d'une demande de ré-adressage dans le centre de tri postal (comme c'est le cas lorsque qu'un destinataire de courrier change d'adresse et notifie sa nouvelle adresse à l'opérateur postal). Si un code d'adresse C généré dans le traitement 6 est identifié comme correspondant à un code d'adresse d'un article de courrier à ré-adresser, lors de la lecture par machine en 8 du marquage individuel 5 des articles de courrier, un article de courrier à ré-adresser sera identifié et localisé sur la base de la correspondance entre son identifiant I et son code d'adresse C fournie par le fichier F'(I,C) et sera séparé en 9 du lot d'articles de courrier. Un vidéo- codage pourra ensuite être réalisé sur cet article de courrier à ré-adresser pour valider l'identité et l'adresse exacte du destinataire . De la même façon, dans le traitement 6, si la reconnaissance optique de caractères sur une image numérique d'adresse postale d'un article de courrier ne peut pas être réalisée correctement, cet article de courrier sera identifié en 8 comme indiqué ci-dessus et séparé du lot d'articles de courrier pour réaliser sur celui-ci un vidéo-codage. Les anomalies d'adresses postales, notamment celles découlant d'un ré-adressage, détectées par le centre tri postal peuvent le cas échéant être communiquées à l'expéditeur de courriers en nombre, comme illustré par la flèche F" sur la figure 1 , pour qu'il mette à jour son propre fichier d'adresses postales. En variante, la machine 4 chez le client du centre postal, traite l'image numérique A pour extraire par reconnaissance optique de caractères des attributs de l'adresse postale imprimée sur l'article de courrier et contenus dans l'image A : code postal, ville, nom de la rue, numéro dans la rue et charge ces données indicatives de l'adresse postale dans le fichier F à la place de l'image A. Cette étape d'extraction des attributs de l'adresse postale dans l'image A qui est fait chez le client du centre postal contribue à réduire les coûts de traitement du courrier dans le centre postal pour générer le code d'adresse C. En variante le fichier F est chargé avec les attributs d'adresse postale en les prélevant directement du fichier 1 lors du processus de fusion avec la lettre type 2 ce qui élimine l'opération de reconnaissance optique de caractères. Le prélèvement direct des attributs d'adresse postale pourrait être avantageusement réalisé, lors de la fusion, par l'outil logiciel intégré dans le programme de traitement de texte qui génère automatiquement les identifiants d'articles de courrier.A distribution point corresponding to an address code generated in 6 can be the subject of a re-addressing request in the postal sorting center (as is the case when a mail recipient changes mail address and notify the postal operator of their new address). If an address code C generated in processing 6 is identified as corresponding to an address code of a mail item to be re-addressed, when reading the individual marking 5 of the mail items at machine 8, a mail item to be re-addressed will be identified and located on the basis of the correspondence between its identifier I and its address code C provided by the file F '(I, C) and will be separated into 9 from the batch of items of mail. A video coding could then be carried out on this mail item to be re-addressed to validate the identity and exact address of the recipient. Similarly, in processing 6, if the optical character recognition on a digital image of the postal address of a mail item cannot be carried out correctly, this mail item will be identified at 8 as indicated above and separated from the batch of mail items to carry out video coding thereon. Postal address anomalies, in particular those arising from re-addressing, detected by the postal sorting center can, where appropriate, be communicated to the sender of bulk mail, as illustrated by the arrow F "in FIG. 1, so that it updates its own postal address file. As a variant, the machine 4 at the customer of the postal center processes the digital image A in order to extract by optical character recognition attributes of the postal address printed on the mail item and contained in image A: postal code, city, street name, street number and loads this data indicative of the postal address in file F in place of image A. This step of extracting the attributes of the postal address in the image A which is made at the customer of the postal center contributes to reducing the costs of processing mail in the postal center to generate the address code C. As a variant file F is loaded with the postal address attributes by taking them directly from file 1 during the process of merging with the standard letter 2, which eliminates the optical character recognition operation. Direct sampling of postal address attributes could advantageously be produced, during the merger, by the software tool integrated in the word processing program which automatically generates the identifiers of mail items.
La figure 2 montre un article de courrier 3' avec un exemple de code à barres 5 représentatif d'un identifiant I d'article de courrier généré par l'expéditeur de l'article de courrier. Pour permettre une traçabilité des articles de courrier, l'identifiant I généré pour chaque article de courrier par l'expéditeur comporte un code identifiant l'expéditeur et l'opérateur postal chargé du tri acheminement et distribution de l'article de courrier. Sur la figure 2, le code à barres 5 se décompose ici en deux parties 5A et 5B, la partie 5A correspondant à l'identification de l'expéditeur et de l'opérateur postal et la partie 5B correspondant à l'identification propre à l'article de courrier.FIG. 2 shows a mail item 3 'with an example of a bar code 5 representative of a mail item identifier I generated by the sender of the mail item. To allow traceability of mail items, the identifier I generated for each mail item by the sender includes a code identifying the sender and the postal operator responsible for sorting the routing and distribution of the mail item. In FIG. 2, the bar code 5 is broken down here into two parts 5A and 5B, the part 5A corresponding to the identification of the sender and the postal operator and the part 5B corresponding to the identification specific to the mail item.
Le procédé selon l'invention contribue ainsi à supprimer de façon simple des erreurs d'adressage de certains articles de courrier dans un lot d'articles de courrier transmis par un expéditeur d'articles de courrier en nombre à un centre de tri postal. The method according to the invention thus contributes to the simple elimination of addressing errors of certain mail items in a batch of mail items transmitted by a sender of bulk mail items to a postal sorting center.

Claims

REVENDICATIONS
1/ Un procédé pour supprimer des erreurs d'adressage d'articles de courrier dans un processus de tri, acheminement et distribution (8,10) effectué par un opérateur postal sur des articles de courrier (3') qui lui sont remis par un expéditeur d'articles de courrier client de l'opérateur postal, dans lequel des numéros d'identification (I) d'articles de courrier sont générés respectivement pour les articles de courrier à traiter dans le processus de tri, acheminement et distribution, ces numéros d'identification (I) étant apposés respectivement sur les articles de courrier sous une forme (5) lisible par machine et enregistrés dans un fichier électronique (F) en correspondance avec des données (A) indicatives des adresses postales des articles de courrier, caractérisé en ce que les numéros d'identification (I) d'articles de courrier sont générés par l'expéditeur d'articles de courrier et sont apposés par celui-ci sur les articles de courrier avant d'être remis à l'opérateur postal, et en ce que ledit fichier (F) contenant les numéros d'identification d'articles de courrier en correspondance avec des données indicatives d'adresses postales est également constitué par l'expéditeur d'articles de courrier et est transmis par celui-ci à l'opérateur postal. 2/ Le procédé selon la revendication 1 , dans lequel chaque numéro d'identification (I) d'un article de courrier généré par l'expéditeur comporte au moins un code identifiant l'expéditeur et un code identifiant l'opérateur postal.1 / A method for eliminating mailing item addressing errors in a sorting, routing and distribution process (8,10) carried out by a postal operator on mail items (3 ') which are delivered to it by a sender of mail items customer of the postal operator, in which identification numbers (I) of mail items are generated respectively for the mail items to be processed in the sorting, routing and distribution process, these numbers of identification (I) being affixed respectively to the mail items in a form (5) readable by machine and recorded in an electronic file (F) in correspondence with data (A) indicative of the postal addresses of the mail items, characterized in that the mail item identification numbers (I) are generated by the sender of the mail items and are affixed by the sender to the mail items before being delivered to the postal operator, and in that said file (F) containing the identification numbers of mail items in correspondence with indicative data of postal addresses is also constituted by the sender of mail items and is transmitted by it to the postal operator. 2 / The method according to claim 1, wherein each identification number (I) of a mail item generated by the sender comprises at least one code identifying the sender and a code identifying the postal operator.
3/ Le procédé selon la revendication 1 ou 2, dans lequel chaque numéro d'identification d'un article de courrier est apposé sur l'article de courrier sous la forme d'un code à barres (5) ou à deux dimensions.3 / The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each identification number of a mail item is affixed to the mail item in the form of a bar code (5) or two dimensions.
4/ Le procédé selon l'une des revendications 1 à 3, dans lequel les données (A) indicatives d'une adresse postale dans le fichier (F) sont constituées par une image numérique de l'adresse postale dudit article de courrier.4 / The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which the data (A) indicative of a postal address in the file (F) consist of a digital image of the postal address of said mail item.
5/ Le procédé selon l'une des revendications 1 à 3, dans lequel les données (A) indicatives d'une adresse postale dans le fichier (F) sont constituées par les attributs alphanumériques formatés en code texte de l'adresse postale. 6/ Le procédé selon l'une des revendications 1 à 5, dans lequel le numéro d'identification (I) d'un article de courrier est généré lors de la confection de l'article de courrier par l'expéditeur à l'aide d'un outil logiciel intégré dans le programme de traitement de texte servant à la confection de l'article de courrier.5 / The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the data (A) indicative of a postal address in the file (F) consist of the alphanumeric attributes formatted in text code of the postal address. 6 / The method according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the identification number (I) of a mail item is generated during the preparation of the mail item by the sender using a software tool integrated into the word processing program used to make the mail item.
7/ Le procédé selon les revendications 5 et 6, dans lequel ledit fichier (F) est constitué lors de la confection de l'article de courrier par l'expéditeur à l'aide dudit outil logiciel intégré dans le programme de traitement de texte servant à la confection de l'article de courrier. 7 / The method according to claims 5 and 6, wherein said file (F) is formed during the preparation of the mail item by the sender using said software tool integrated in the word processing program serving to the making of the mail item.
EP01919607A 2000-04-05 2001-04-02 Suppression of mail addressing errors using extended client codes Expired - Lifetime EP1272287B2 (en)

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FR0004338 2000-04-05
FR0004338A FR2807348B1 (en) 2000-04-05 2000-04-05 DELETING ADDRESSING ERRORS IN A SORTING, ROUTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF MAIL USING CUSTOMER CODES ON MAIL ITEMS
FR0015112 2000-11-23
FR0015112A FR2807349B1 (en) 2000-04-05 2000-11-23 DELETING ADDRESSING ERRORS IN A SORTING, ROUTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF MAIL USING CUSTOMER CODES ON MAIL ITEMS
PCT/FR2001/000972 WO2001074502A2 (en) 2000-04-05 2001-04-02 Mail addressing errors using extended client codes

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BR0109787B1 (en) 2013-08-20
ES2276778T5 (en) 2010-12-17
ES2276778T3 (en) 2007-07-01
WO2001074502A2 (en) 2001-10-11
ATE349287T1 (en) 2007-01-15
RU2253518C2 (en) 2005-06-10
DE60125525T3 (en) 2010-12-09
NO324520B1 (en) 2007-11-12
AU2001246669A1 (en) 2001-10-15
BR0109787A (en) 2003-01-21
CN1190275C (en) 2005-02-23
DK1272287T3 (en) 2007-04-10
US20030089643A1 (en) 2003-05-15
WO2001074502A3 (en) 2002-06-06
CA2404996A1 (en) 2001-10-11
PT1272287E (en) 2007-03-30
DE60125525T2 (en) 2007-10-31
FR2807349B1 (en) 2004-09-24
DE60125525D1 (en) 2007-02-08
CA2404996C (en) 2008-02-05
NO20024843L (en) 2002-10-07
US6998558B2 (en) 2006-02-14
FR2807349A1 (en) 2001-10-12
NO20024843D0 (en) 2002-10-07
EP1272287B1 (en) 2006-12-27
CN1404418A (en) 2003-03-19
RU2002129358A (en) 2004-03-20
DK1272287T4 (en) 2010-11-01
EP1272287B2 (en) 2010-07-14

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