Patent EP0788075A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0788075A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Mailing system
Assignee: Neopost Ltd
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Filing: 1997-01-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2017-01-29
Abstract
Abstract A mail item (10) is disclosed comprising a cover (11) for carrying contents and formed of flexible electrically insulating material. The cover acts as a substrate on which semi-conductor elements and electrical connections of an electronic circuit (12) are formed or deposited. The electronic circuit comprises semi-conductor elements interconnected to provide at least a memory (14) and an interface (15) to said memory and electrical connections are formed to be flexible. Mail handling apparatus is disclosed for communicating with the interface of the mail item and for writing information to and reading information from the memory via the interface.
Inventors
- 👤 Raymond John Herbert
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 19:07
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06K; G06K19/00; G06K19/06; G06K19/067; G06K19/07; G06K19/077; G06K19/07749; G06K19/07758; G07; G07B; G07B17/00; G07B17/00459; G07B17/00508; G07B2017/00612; G07B2017/00629
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
78 words
A mail item charactersied by a cover (11) for carrying contents therein and formed of flexible electrically insulating material and an electronic circuit (12); said electronic circuit (12) comprising semi-conductor elements interconnected to provide at least a memory (14) and an interface (15) to said memory; said cover of flexible electrically insulating material acting as a substrate on which the semi-conductor elements and electrical connections are formed or deposited and the semi-conductor elements and electrical connections being flexible.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
17 words
A mail item as claimed in claim 1 wherein the flexible electrically insulating material comprises a polymer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
A mail item as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the flexible electrically insulating material comprises polyester.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
A mail item as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the electronic circuit (12) includes semi-conductor elements interconnected to provide data memory means (14) and an interface (15) for communication with other electronic apparatus.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A mail item as claimed in claim 4 wherein the electronic circuit (12) includes semi-conductor elements interconnected to provide data processing means (13) connected to the data memory means (14) and to the interface (15).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
31 words
A mail item as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein the semi-conductor elements are formed of polymer semi-conductor material deposited on the flexible electrically insulating material of the cover (11).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
16 words
A mail item as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the interface (15) provides contactless communication.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
A mail item as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the interface includes electrical contacts located on an exterior surface of the cover (15).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
53 words
A mail item as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the electronic circuit (12) is operable to store data in the memory means (14) relating to any of postage charge, destination address, postal handling information, identity of the mail item and identity of a machine used for writing data to the electronic circuit.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
78 words
A mailing machine for handling a mail item as claimed in any preceding claim characterised by a microprocessor (30), a memory (41, 42) and read/write means (31, 32) operable to communicate with the interface (15) to read information from the memory means (14) and to write information to the memory means (14); said microprocessor (30) being operable to control said read/write means (31, 32) to write postage information via said interface means (15) to said memory means (14).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
98 words
A mailing machine for handling a mail item as claimed in any one of claims 5 or claims 6 to 9 when dependent upon claim 5 charactersied by a microprocessor (30), a memory (41, 42) and read/write means (31, 32) operable to communicate with the interface (15) to read information from the memory means (14) and to write information to the memory means (14); said microprocessor (30) being operable to control said read/write means (31, 32) to write postage information via said interface means (15) to the data processing means (13) for storage in the memory means (14).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
62 words
A mailing machine as claimed in claim 10 or 11 wherein the microprocessor (30) is operable to control the read/write means (31, 32) to write postage information relating to any of postage charge, destination address, postal handling information and identity of the mail item (10) via the interface means to the data processing means (13) for storage in the memory means (14).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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