WO2001049426A2

WO2001049426A2 - A method of coding postal addresses for the mechanized distribution of mail, and a directory book for postal codes

Info

Publication number: WO2001049426A2
Application number: PCT/IT2000/000555
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ettore Fulgenzi; Rosario Fava
Original assignee: Poste Italiane S.P.A.
Priority date: 2000-01-07
Filing date: 2000-12-29
Publication date: 2001-07-12
Also published as: AU2397801A; WO2001049426A3

Abstract

The territory served by the postal administration is subdivided into postal zones each comprising a plurality of postal addresses and a respective first cluster of localization digits is assigned to each of said postal zones. According to the invention, each of the postal zones is subdivided into a plurality of sectors, each comprising a portion of street or square encompassing a respective group of street numbers having in common the tens and hundreds digits; each of the sectors of each postal zone is assigned a respective second cluster of localization digits within the postal zone; and each postal address is assigned a postal zone code generated by arranging in sequence the first cluster of digits localizing the zone where the address is located, the second cluster of digits localizing the sector within the zone, and a third cluster comprising the single units digit in the street number of the postal address. The invention also comprises a postal directory book made by the method.

Description

"A method of coding postal addresses for the mechanized distribution of mail, and a directory book for postal codes"

DISCLOSURE

This invention is concerned with a method of coding postal addresses for the mechanized distribution of mail.

It is well known that, in order to speed up and at least partly rationalize mail distribution, most industrial countries (such as Italy, France, Germany and others) have introduced systems of postal codes (also called ZIP codes), whereby a numeric code of four or five digits is assigned substantially to each mail sorting center. A sorting center normally coincides with a town (or group of smaller villages), except for larger cities, whose territory is subdivided among several sorting centers (or delivery firms), each of which is given its own code. The introduction of the ZIP system has required that the code-assignment information be minutely divulged to all the users of the mail service, i.e. practically to all the citizens of a country, since the easy and ready availability of the ZIP codes for all users and for any address was an essential requirement for the success of the system. In practice millions of copies of directories have been circulated through the country, containing lists of towns in alphabetic order with an indication of the ZIP codes for each town. In a country of the size of Italy, such directories contain a number of ZIP codes that is substantially equal to the number of towns, i.e. less than 10,000 items, which can be contained in a few tens of pages.

The introduction of the ZIP codes has led to an improvement in the efficiency of the delivery service, because, by optically reading the ZIP codes, a determination can be made of the direction that each envelope should take after collection and the envelope can be routed mechanically to the destination town (or rather delivery agency). However, the system is still inefficient in the latter portion of the delivery path, as the mail, once it has reached the town or post office of destination, still has to be subjected to further manual sorting to route it to the bag of the appropriate postman. In fact, the area served by each postman can sometimes be reduced (particularly in large cities and in the most commercial districts) to only a few blocks, well below the resolution level of the present ZIP system.

The need is therefore felt for an improved ZIP system, having an increased number of digits, by which the destination addresses for the mailed envelopes can be specified in more detail, possibly to a degree where a numeric code is biunivocally associated with every single postal address in the country. It would then be possible to mechanize even the final step in the mail delivery, e.g. by automatically selecting the envelopes which are to be assigned to a given postman, and the way would be opened to even more sophisticated devices, such as automatically generating the optimal delivery path for each postman.

It has been determined that a country such as Italy has about 15,000,000 different individual postal addresses, where by "postal address" the individual street door is meant, or, in other words, the individual street number in an individual street or square. It is easy to see that the individual coding of such a large number of addresses would require, if a degree of redundancy margin is allowed for, the use of a nine-digit code.

However, the difficulties and the cost of adopting a system of capill## postal codes, in which each street number is assigned its own postal code, can be seen to be forbidding, if one considers that the proper operation of the system requires that each user, i.e. each family and each commercial operator in the country, should be provided with a directory allowing him to pair the proper postal code to the address of destination of the letter being mailed. In fact, if one considers that, in practice, one page can only be organized so that it will contain a maximum of 500 items or addresses, one can see that a directory a necessary for listing all the new- generation postal codes should comprise 30,000 pages, which will necessarily be subdivided into tens of volumes. Printing and circulating a work of such size in several million copies cannot be contemplated, not only for mere consideration of cost of print and delivery, but also because it would certainly be unwelcome to the typical user, as he would mostly be hard put even to find the space for storing it.

It is now the main object of the invention to provide a method of coding postal addresses by means of postal codes, by which substantially each street number of each street of each town in the country can be singled out with a specified ZIP code, i.e. by which each distinct address is assigned its own ZIP code, while maintaining the size and cost of a national ZIP directory within tolerable bounds, that is, within the bounds of a common telephone boook for a large city.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of coding postal addresses giving rise to improved postal codes that are compatible with the conventional five-digit postal codes, so that a smooth transition from the old to the new postal codes is made possible.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of coding postal addresses giving rise to improved postal codes that can still be read and decoded by the conventional reading machines as used with the old postal codes.

Within the context of this invention, terms such as "street" or "square" refers to whatever public space delimitation which is faced by entrances to private premises, however they may be called in the area, including, by way of example, such terms as "avenue", "boulevard", "alley", "lane", "arcades", "place", and so on.

Moreover, within the context of the invention it is also intended that the expression "street number" may include a group of street numbers comprising a principal number (such as "45") together with such numbers that may be derived from it by means of suffixes (such as "A", "B", "C", or "bis", "ter", or "red" and "black", etc.), the derived numbers being, as a rule, in the immediate neighborhood of the principal number and mostly handled as one entity in the delivery of mail. The invention achieves the above and other objects and advantages, such as will appear from the following disclosure, by a method of coding postal addresses for the mechanized distribution of mail, having the features recited in claim 1.

The invention also concerns a postal code directory, made according to claim 1 1.

The invention is described below in more detail, with reference to a few preferred embodiments.

In the first preferred embodiment, postal codes are used which comprise nine numeric digits. The territory served by the postal administration, typically coinciding with the national territory, is subdivided into postal zones having the typical size of a small town, say 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, and which, in any case, encompasses a number of postal address, i.e. addresses made up of streets or squares and street numbers, smaller than 10,000, for reasons that will be explained below. Such postal zones could, in most cases, be identical with conventional ZIP zones. Each of said postal zones is assigned a respective first cluster of five specification digits, which, in most cases, may be identical with the respective conventional ZIP codes. This choice will minimize the users' inconvenience in the transition to the new system of improved postal codes.

Each of said postal zones is the subdivided in a plurality of sectors, each comprising a portion of a street or square encompassing a respective group of street numbers having the tens digit and the hundred digit in common. Each sector is assigned a second cluster of three numeric digits, which are arbitrary and univocal for each sector within one postal zone.

In order to assign a complete postal code to each postal address, the first cluster of digits marking the zone where the address is located and the second cluster of digit marking the sector within the zone are joined together in sequence, to form a number of eight digits. This number is then completed with a single digit, constituting a third cluster, which is no longer arbitrary, as are the first and the second clusters, but rather is chosen as coinciding with the units digit in the street number of the address.

By way of example, if in a small town constituting a single postal zone, and having the combination 45123 as a first cluster of digits, a street called "via Roma" (Roma street) comprises the numbers from 1 to 54, the sectors and their respective second assigned clusters (shown by way of example) are:

TABLE I

Sector 2nd cluster via Roma, 0 to 9 358 via Roma, 10 to 19 359 via Roma, 20 to 29 360 via Roma, 30 to 39 361 via Roma, 40 to 49 362

via Roma, 50 to 54 363

Following the above example, the complete codes, corresponding to a few addresses, are:

TABLE II

Address ZIP via Roma 20 45123-360-0 via Roma 21 45123-360-1 via Roma 22 45123-360-2 via Roma 44 45123-362-4

where the dashes between digits are only inserted in order to conceptually distinguish the clusters, although they are not necessary in practice.

The new improved postal codes are totally numeric, and can therefore still be read by the conventional reading machines generally used by the post administrations, which machines are designed to decode only numeric digits, i.e. digits which are codable with four bits/digit.

A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the combinations of three digits used for the second cluster are 1000 overall, and, accordingly, the postal zones should be defined so that they will comprise no more than 1000 sectors (or in other words, as mentioned above, less than 10,000 individual addresses), and preferably, according to the invention, the sectors should only be about 700 in each zone. By this step, an unused margin of about 30% of the capability of the system is reserved, to be utilized for future needs (say for the creation of fresh street numbers in a given zone), for possible service codes, or for other purposes still, such as, for instance, as required in a third preferred embodiment of the invention, as explained below.

Although 1000 sectors per zone are more than sufficient in most cases, there are rare situations, however, where a maximum of 1000 sectors may be inadequate, and 1200 or 1500 sectors are required. This situation generally arises from the rapid urban development of an area previously suburban. This problem can, of course, be solved by splitting an overgrown postal zone into two or more new zones, and by assigning to each of the new zones a five-digit cluster that is different from the five-digit postal code used in the past. With this approach, however, the compatibility with the old system is lost, and inconveniences over the transition period should be expected, although limited to the special postal zones involved.

However, according to a modification to the first embodiment, the three digits in the second cluster are allowed to take hexadecimal values rather than decimal values, i.e. values chosen from the set 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F. The combinations of such hexadecimal digits are computed at 16³ = 4096, and allow the zone to be subdivided in a corresponding number of sectors. In practice, the six additional symbols A, B, C, D, E, F can be replaced with different, arbitrary symbols, as may be more convenient for the users or for the post administration. It should be noted that the above hexadecimal digits can still be read and decoded by conventional reading machines, since the number of bits used for the coding is the same as for decimal digits.

The above mentioned street numbers, comprising a single cardinal number, are the principal street numbers, but, as well known, so-called "derived" numbers are occasionally used as additional street numbers. These are formed by a cardinal number together with a suffix, sometimes with a slash, such as 41 A, or 41/B, or 41/2, or 4 Ibis. In a few Italian towns (such as Genova, Firenze), rather than using suffixes it is customary to distinguish between black numbers (principal) and red (derived).

All derived numbers, according to the first embodiment of the invention, are regarded as coinciding with the respective principal numbers as far as the assignment of the postal codes is concerned. Such operative choice is justified by the circumstance that derived numbers are located, as a rule, in the immediate neighborhood of their respective principal number, and mostly within the same building. In many cases the postman delivers all the mail to the principal number, and the concierge of that number will then distribute it to the derived numbers.

According to the invention, the guide or directory of postal codes only lists zones and sectors, and shows the first and second cluster of digits for each sector. The directory will also contain an indication of how the user of the post service should complete such two clusters by adding a ninth digit, so that the complete postal code is obtained. The indication cosists in the following rule: ignore suffixes of the derived numbers, pick the units digit from the principal street number of the destination address and use this units digit as ninth digit. The simplicity and obviousness of the above rule insures that it can be applied without mistakes even by users prone to inattention or not inclined to abstraction. It will be evident for a person skilled in the art that a direstory so structured will contain a number of items equal to one tenth of the items that would be required if the entire postal code were to be shown for each address. Consequently, there is a saving in the number of pages (and therefore in bulk and weight) of about 90% with respect to a conventional approach where the steps of the invention are not used. It is expected that a directory according to the invention, say for the Italian territory, might be contained in about 3000 pages, corresponding to the size of a telephone directory for a large city.

Where it is desired to individually specify the derived numbers, too, a second preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the derived numbers are not grouped with the principal number, as in the first embodiment, but rather that the postal code formed according to the first embodiment, with reference to the principal number, is then completed by the addition of a numeric digit or alphabet letter, corresponding to the inital of the suffix characterizing the derived number, according to the following table:

TABLE III

Suffix Aeeiunta al codice

A A

/B B bis B ter T rosso R

12 2

By way of example, and with reference to Table I, and further assuming that there is an address "Rome street 4 Ibis", its postal code, according to the second preferred embodiment, is: 45123-362- IB.

Accordingly, the rule stated in the first embodiment is amplified by adding the new rule stated above. Although the operations required of the user are in this case slightly more complex, it is believed that they are still within what can be achieved even by the less educated user.

As an alternative, the invention provides a third preferred embodiment, under which individual codes are assigned even to derived numbers, while maintaining a code length of nine digits, and without using alphabet letters and without requiring nthe user to perform logical calculations. In this third embodiment, the derived numbers are handled separately from the principal numbers, and are grouped by tens to build what may be regarded as virtual sectors, each of which is assigned a specific second cluster of digits, as for a real sector. Each of the derived numbers included in a given virstual sector is assigned a ninth numeric digit, as for real sectors, although in this case the assignment is arbitrary, since there is no logical correlation as it exists for the principal numbers. Therefore, the attribution of the ninth digit in this case cannot be left to the user, but should in fact be published, for each derived number, on the guide or directory of the postal codes.

The need for individually publishing the complete ZIP codes for the derived numbers, as provided for in the third embodiment of the invention, obviously reduces the space saving in the directory, which is striven for by the invention. However, if one considers that the derived numbers only make for 10% of the street numbers overall, one can see that the inconvenience is limited to an acceptable level, while, on the other hand, this approach avoids saddling the user with calculations that, though simple, might nevertheless be irksome for some.

The three preferred embodiments as described above can be applied as alternatives, depending on the specific needs, but might also be applied in successive stages: for instance, the first embodiment might be applied in an initial stage, with the second or the third embodiment (each of which is compatible with the first one) in a susequent stage.

From the above teachings concerning the method for assigning narrow postal codes according to the invention, it directly follows how a directory of the codes should be structured. Essentially, the directory consists of a list of streets and squares, each of which th tens of street numbers and the pertinent partial ZIP codes (without the ninth digit) are associated, as can be seen in the following exemplary fragment:

Rome street

0-9 45123358

10-19 45123359

20-29 45123360

30-39 45123361

40-49 45123362

50-54 45123363

Garibaldi square

0-9 45123711

10-19 45123712

The directory book should also include a first page containing a presentation of the above mentioned rule for attributing the digit of the third cluster, as described above, preferably provided with examples. In the case of second embodiment, the directory should, of course, also present the rules for attributing the final letter or digit.

It will be understood that changes and variations may be made to the invention, within the scope of its teachings, in all accessory aspects, such as the nmber of digits composing each cluster, the management of derived numbers, and others.

Claims

1. A method of coding postal addresses for the mechanized distribution of mail, by means of postal zone codes to be specified by the user on the envelope sent by mail, where the territory served by the postal administration is subdivided into postal zones each comprising a plurality of postal addresses and a respective first cluster of localizing digits is assigned to each of said postal zones, characterized in that

— each of said postal zones is subdivided into a plurality of sectors, each comprising a portion of street or square encompassing a respective group of street numbers having in common the tens and hundreds digits;

— each of said sectors of each postal zone is assigned a respective second cluster of localizing digits within the postal zone; and

~ each postal address is assigned a postal zone code generated by arranging in sequence the first cluster of digits localizing the zone where the address is located, the second cluster of digits localizing the sector within the zone, and a third cluster comprising the single units digit in the street number of the postal address.

2. A method of coding postal addresses according to claim 1, further characterized in notifying to the users only the first and second clusters for all the postal zones and the sectors of the postal addresses in the territory, together with the rule for generating the third cluster, consisting in assuming the units digit appearing in the street address of destination.

3. A method of coding postal addresses according to claim 1 or 2, further characterized in that the digits in said second cluster are numeric decimal-based digits.

4. A method of coding postal addresses according to claim 1 or 2, further charac- terized in that the digits in said second cluster are numeric hexadecimal-based digits.

5. A method of coding postal addresses according to claims 1 to 4, further characterized in that said first cluster of digits comprises five digits.

6. A method of coding postal addresses according to one of claims 1 to 5, further characterized in that said second cluster of digits comprises three digits.

7. A method of coding postal addresses according to claim 6, further characterized in that each of said postal zones comprises less than one thousand of said sectors.

8. A method of coding postal addresses according to claim 7, further characterized in that each of said postal zones comprises not more than 700 of said sectors.

9. A method of coding postal addresses according to one of claims 1 to 8, charac- terized in that, for the localization of street numbers derived from a principal street number by attachment of a suffix, said postal zone code, said postal zone code is formed by sequentially juxtaposing said first, second and third clusters and further of a fourth cluster consisting in a single letter or numeric digit corresponding to a digit or letter characteristic of the suffix.

10. A method of coding postal addresses according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, for the localization of street numbers derived from a principal street number by attachment of a suffix:

~ the set of derived street numbers in a given zone is subdivided in arbitrary groups often numbers,

~ each of said groups is assigned a respective second cluster of digits not included in the combinations of letters used for the second clusters assigned to the sectors;

~ a third cluster consisting in a single numeric digit is arbitrarily assigned to each of the ten derived street numbers in each group; ~ the first, second and third clusters are communicated to the users, in addition to the communication of only the first and second clusters for the principal street numbers.

1 1. A directory of postal zone codes, characterized in that the zone codes are generated by a method of coding postal addresses according to one of claims 1 to 10.