The invention relates to the logistical linking of package flows with goods flows by positioning common package acceptance stations (gPAS) at or in goods-sales-branches (WVF) where the goods (W) aresold.

A mail item sortation system and method that includes an external controller for culling candidate letters in a mailing job to produce groupings of letters based on industry average weights and/or thicknesses in order to place all the candidate letters going to a single address adjacent to each other, an internal controller, interfaced with the external controller, that utilizes the groupings of letters to manage multiple letter sorters, wherein a specific letter sorter is selected to pair a calculated number of pockets to accommodate the groupings with an actual number of pockets in the selected letter sorter, and a transfer process for moving letters within the letter sorter pockets to a StatementPack machine.

The present disclosure relates generally to signal encoding for containers such as shipping boxes, food containers, wrapped items such as pallets. One aspect of the technology relates to an image processing method for determining spatial dimensions of an encoded surface. The method comprises: obtaining an image depicting the encoded surface, in which the encoded surface comprises one or more raw data signal tiles printed thereon, with each tile comprising a side length N in inches or centimeters; detecting each of the one or more raw data signal tiles from the obtained image; determining a total number of tiles in a vertical direction, and determining a total number of tiles in a horizontal direction; determining a height and length of the encoded surface by multiplying each of the total number of tiles in a vertical direction and the total number of tiles in a horizontal direction by the side length N. Other aspects are described as well.

A postage evidencing system for tracking postage amounts for multiple users comprising at least two register set partitions is disclosed. Each of the partitions includes an ascending register holding a number representing a value of postage that can be evidenced by the device, a descending register holding a number representing a value of postage that has been previously evidenced by the device, and an identification representing a source of mail pieces that are evidenced with postage from the partition. A security module limits access to the partitions and registers. The identifier for a selected partition is printed on mail pieces as part of an Information Based Indicia (IBI) to identify the source of the mail pieces.

A terminal for measuring at least one dimension of an object includes a range camera, a visible camera, and a display that are fixed in position and orientation relative to each other. The range camera is configured to produce a range image of an area in which the object is located. The visible camera is configured to produce a visible image of an area in which the object is located. The display is configured to present information associated with the range camera's field of view and the visible camera's field of view.

A calibration system for a dimensioner is described. The calibration system uses a reference pattern with multiple optically-perceptible elements. The optically-perceptible elements have a parameter associated with size and are separated from each other by predefined distance. The dimensioner captures an image of an object and calculates physical dimensions of the object. The dimensioner captures an image of the reference pattern. The dimensioner measures the parameter associated with size for a pair of optically-perceptible elements and measures the distance between the pair of optically-perceptible elements from the captured image. The dimensioner then calculates a ratio between measured parameter for the pair of the optically-perceptible elements and of a predefined distance between the pair of the optically-perceptible elements. The calculated ratio is compared with a actual reference ratio to determine if calibration is needed. The dimensioner is calibrated based on the calculated ratio.

A system and method for estimating dimensions of an approximately cuboidal object from a 3D image of the object acquired by an image sensor of the vision system processor is provided. An identification module, associated with the vision system processor, automatically identifies a 3D region in the 3D image that contains the cuboidal object. A selection module, associated with the vision system processor, automatically selects 3D image data from the 3D image that corresponds to approximate faces or boundaries of the cuboidal object. An analysis module statistically analyzes, and generates statistics for, the selected 3D image data that correspond to approximate cuboidal object faces or boundaries. A refinement module chooses statistics that correspond to improved cuboidal dimensions from among cuboidal object length, width and height. The improved cuboidal dimensions are provided as dimensions for the object. A user interface displays a plurality of interface screens for setup and runtime operation.

A mail item sortation system and method that includes an external controller for culling candidate letters in a mailing job to produce groupings of letters based on industry average weights and/or thicknesses in order to place all the candidate letters going to a single address adjacent to each other, an internal controller, interfaced with the external controller, that utilizes the groupings of letters to manage multiple letter sorters, wherein a specific letter sorter is selected to pair a calculated number of pockets to accommodate the groupings with an actual number of pockets in the selected letter sorter, and a transfer process for moving letters within the letter sorter pockets to a StatementPack machine.

A system for securely controlling deposition and retrieval of shipments (40), including a managing distribution centre, at least one electronic locker unit connected to the managing distribution centre through a communication network, and having several lockable compartments (28i) of different sizes, wherein said at least one electronic locker unit comprises a weighing shipment module (50) located inside each compartment (28i) and made up of an arrangement of several thin flexible force sensors, linked together to circuit board, located under upper bearing plate and attached to bottom of the compartment within respective active measuring areas.

A method for franking mail items fed to a franking machine. The mail items are drawn from the underside of a stack for separation or are fed individually on a conveying section upstream of the franking machine to a printing unit for franking, after franking, are discharged in the opposite direction from the printing unit. The mail items are fed via a diverter section to the conveying section, after franking, are conveyed via the diverter section which is switched over to change the conveying direction into a depositing apparatus below the diverter section. The mail items are guided in the opening region of the franking machine into the printing position and are returned out of the printing position. The printing position of a mail item fed to the printing unit is determined by a print head movement-controlled from a readiness position pursuant to the format length of the mail item.