Printed matter – Strips and leaves
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-05
2001-03-27
Fridie, Jr., Willmon (Department: 3722)
Printed matter
Strips and leaves
C283S060100, C283S066200, C283S066100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206428
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bills or invoices, and in particular to a bill with one or more portrait oriented panels and a landscape oriented remittance panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bills or invoices are widely used in many areas of commerce. For creditors mailing such bills, it is desirable to minimize the number of sheets of paper in the bill in order to reduce postage and production costs. If a bill is over approximately 4 standard 8½″×11″sheets, postage costs increase significantly. In production, a one-sheet bill is easier to create, collate, stuff, store, and handle, than multi-sheet bills. The benefits of one-sheet bills are especially realized in large-volume billing environments such as the telecommunications cable public service (electric/gas service), or water and sewer industries.
It is also desirable to convey relevant information to the bill recipient. In some markets, for example the telecommunications, cable, and public service markets, large amounts of diverse information is either required by regulation, or should be provided to the recipient for convenience and understanding. For example, in the telecommunications market, local charges, long distance charges, regulated charges, unregulated charges, and taxes, are either required, or should be included, in the bill. Often this information comprises billing information from a plurality of creditors or sources. In some cases, billing information from each creditor or source is required to be, or should be, displayed separately. For example, in the telecommunications market, itemization of local charges and each long distance carrier (e.g., AT&T, Sprint, MCI) are displayed on separate pages of the bill. As local telecommunications companies, long-distance telecommunications companies, cable companies, and internet provider companies combine various services, additional sources of information are created (e.g., basic cable rates, added cable options, one-time pay-per-view events, internet services charges, specific on-line vendor charges (e.g., Dow Jones Retrieval, America On-Line, etc.)). These additional sources of billing information further complicate the bill presentation and generally confuses the consumer. Similarly, gas, and electric charges for a public service bill are generally separated. Conventional bills either display such information from each creditor all on one page or area on the bill, or on separate sheets of paper or separate sides of a sheet.
It is also desirable to make a bill easy to follow and understand. Such a bill decreases the likelihood of customer inquiries about the information in the bill, thus help desk personnel requirements to handle such inquiries are reduced. It is also desirable to make bill payment simple to encourage prompt payment. Conventional bills include a perforated remittance portion attached to the bottom of a bill itemization section. Largely due to printing limitations, the bill itemization and remittance information (e.g., the text) are oriented the same direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A bill comprises a first sheet of paper having two or more information panels and a remittance panel defined therein. Information (e.g., text) in the information panels is oriented in a first direction, and information in the remittance panel (e.g., text) is oriented in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction. In one embodiment, first sheet the comprises two information panels on a first side, and two information panels on a second side. A first information panel comprises summary information; second and third information panel comprises billing information, and a fourth information panel comprises advertising information. The bill is folded such that information in the information panels reads like a book (excepting the remittance panel which is generally torn off). In another embodiment, information in side-by-side panels comprise information in two languages, for example English and Spanish. In a preferred method for printing, the bill is printed using a continuous roll of paper and is printed “two-up” (two bills are generated at a time, side-by-side).
REFERENCES:
patent: 6073967 (2000-06-01), Hansen et al.
Buckman Phyllis J.
Hansen Pamela M.
Rebenack Larry N
Rohrkemper Carol L.
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
Fridie Jr. Willmon
Qwest Communications International Inc.
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