Collating and binding system and method with postage indication

Claim 1

A method of deriving an indication of the postage required to mail a plurality of books assembled by a collating system having means for assembling the books in a sequence, means for detecting a defective book, means for reordering the defective book at a later point in the sequence and means for detecting when each completed book has reached a particular point in the collating system, the method comprising: storing an indication of the sequence in which the books are to be assembled, an anticipated number of other books with which each book is to be combined into a bundle prior to mailing thereof and an anticipated postal rate for the books in each bundle; incrementing a bundle counter as each book reaches the particular point until the last book in a bundle reaches the particular point; and generating an indication of the postage required to mail the assembled books from the contents of the bundle counter, the anticipated number of other books and the anticipated postal rate.

Claim 2

A method of deriving an indication of the postage required to mail a plurality of books assembled by a collating system having means for assembling the books in a sequence, means for detecting a defective book, means for reordering the defective book at a later point in the sequence and means for detecting when each completed book has reached a particular point in the collating system, the method comprising: storing an indication of the sequence in which the books are to be assembled, an anticipated number of other books with which each book is to be combined into a bundle prior to mailing thereof and an anticipated postal rate for the books in each bundle; incrementing a bundle counter as each book reaches the particular point until the last book in a bundle reaches the particular point; and generating an indication of the postage required to mail the assembled books from the contents of the bundle counter, the anticipated number of other books and the anticipated postal rate.

Claim 9

A system for deriving an indication of the postage required to mail items gathered by a gathering system including means for gathering the items in a sequence which permits the items to be assembled into packages so that advantage can be taken of postal discounts, means for detecting a defective item and means for reordering the defective item at a point subsequent to the original point at which the defective item was gathered in the sequence, comprising: means for developing an indication of an anticipated postal rate for each package if the gathering is accomplished without gathering of defective items and reordering of same; means coupled to the developing means for counting the actual number of items gathered for each package; means coupled to the counting means for determining whether the actual number of items equals or exceeds a minimum number of items required to mail the package at the anticipated postal rate; and means coupled to the determining means for providing an indication of an adjusted postal rate higher than the anticipated postal rate for each package that does not include the minimum number of items.

Claim 10

A system for deriving an indication of the postage required to mail items gathered by a gathering system including means for gathering the items in a sequence which permits the items to be assembled into packages so that advantage can be taken of postal discounts, means for detecting a defective item and means for reordering the defective item at a point subsequent to the original point at which the defective item was gathered in the sequence, comprising: means for developing an indication of an anticipated postal rate for each package if the gathering is accomplished without gathering of defective items and reordering of same; means coupled to the developing means for counting the actual number of items gathered for each package; means coupled to the counting means for determining whether the actual number of items equals or exceeds a minimum number of items required to mail the package at the anticipated postal rate; and means coupled to the determining means for providing an indication of an adjusted postal rate higher than the anticipated postal rate for each package that does not include the minimum number of items.

Claim 14

A system for deriving an indication of the postage required to mail items gathered by a gathering system including means for gathering the items in a sequence which permits the items to be assembled into packages so that advantage can be taken of postal discounts, means for detecting a defective item and means for reordering the defective item at a point subsequent to the original point at which the defective item was gathered in the sequence, comprising: first means for storing an indication of the anticipated postage rate for each item which would be applicable if the items are gathered in the sequence, the postage rate being a lowest, an intermediate or a highest rate; second means for storing an indication of whether an item whose anticipated postage rate is the lowest rate could be reordered at a point in the sequence so that it can be gathered into a package with other items that qualify for the intermediate rate so that the reordered item can also qualify for the intermediate rate; and means responsive to the first and second storing means for developing an indication of the postage required to mail the items including means for calculating the actual postage for each reordered item whose anticipated postage rate is the lowest rate, the actual postage being at the intermediate rate if the items can qualify for such rate.

Claim 15

A system for deriving an indication of the postage required to mail items gathered by a gathering system including means for gathering the items in a sequence which permits the items to be assembled into packages so that advantage can be taken of postal discounts, means for detecting a defective item and means for reordering the defective item at a point subsequent to the original point at which the defective item was gathered in the sequence, comprising: first means for storing an indication of the anticipated postage rate for each item which would be applicable if the items are gathered in the sequence, the postage rate being a lowest, an intermediate or a highest rate; second means for storing an indication of whether an item whose anticipated postage rate is the lowest rate could be reordered at a point in the sequence so that it can be gathered into a package with other items that qualify for the intermediate rate so that the reordered item can also qualify for the intermediate rate; and means responsive to the first and second storing means for developing an indication of the postage required to mail the items including means for calculating the actual postage for each reordered item whose anticipated postage rate is the lowest rate, the actual postage being at the intermediate rate if the items can qualify for such rate.