US-12620286-B2 - Secure document collection and storage container

US12620286B2US 12620286 B2US12620286 B2US 12620286B2US-12620286-B2

Abstract

A secure document collection and storage container includes an opening positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet. The opening is sized to receive ballots or test documents into the container. In some embodiments, a flap to cover the opening extends from a fold line of a segment of a top facet of the container. Facet edges that form the top seams and other seams of the container may include guide markings for guiding the placement of a sealing material. Also or alternatively, a sealing material may be placed over the guide markings.

Inventors

Derek Bryl
David A. Vinke
Kevin St. Martin

Assignees

XEROX CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240709

Claims (20)

1 . A secure document collection and storage container comprising: a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; a second pair of opposing side facets; a top facet comprising one or more top facet segments, each of which is foldably connected to a corresponding one of the side facets, and which form a plurality of top seams when folded to a closed position; a bottom facet; an opening formed in the front facet, wherein: the opening has a width that is at least as wide as the width of documents to be collected in the container, wherein the documents comprise ballots or test answer sheets, and the opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet; and a side flap that extends from one of the top facet segments and that is movable around a fold line from a first position that exposes the opening to a second position that covers the opening.
2 . The container of claim 1 , wherein: the side flap has a width that is larger than a corresponding width of the opening, a height that is larger than a corresponding height of the opening, or both; and the side flap further comprises a sealing material that is operable to secure the side flap to the front facet when the side flap is positioned to cover the opening.
3 . The container of claim 1 , wherein facet edges that form the top seams include guide markings for guiding placement of a sealing material.
4 . The container of claim 3 wherein, during use after the container is at least partially filled with the documents: the top seams of the container are sealed with the sealing material; and the opening is sealed by the sealing material.
5 . The container of claim 3 further comprising the sealing material, and wherein: the sealing material comprises a tamper-evident tape; and the tamper-evident tape includes a plurality of security marks.
6 . The container of claim 5 , wherein the tamper-evident tape is placed over the guide markings, wherein each of the guide markings has a width that is substantially the same as a width of the tamper-evident tape so that the guide markings are completely covered by the tamper-evident tape.
7 . The container of claim 5 , wherein the security marks comprise a sequence of serialized codes.
8 . The container of claim 5 , wherein the tamper-evident tape comprises: an adhesive layer that is attached to the container and on which the security marks are printed; and an opaque covering layer that is removably attached to the adhesive layer.
9 . The container of claim 1 , wherein none of the facets other than the front facet include any opening having a width dimension that is greater than 1 inch.
10 . The container of claim 1 , wherein: the side facets collectively form a chamber; the documents are stackable within the chamber; the chamber has a length that is from about 1% to about 25% greater than a corresponding length of the documents; and the chamber has a width that is from about 1% to about 25 % greater than a corresponding width of the documents.
11 . The container of claim 1 , wherein a sealing material seals the opening and comprises: a label with a human readable security element; or tamper-evident tape.
12 . The container of claim 1 , further comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag having a unique identifier, wherein the RFID tag is attached to one of the facets of the container.
13 . The container of claim 1 , wherein: the side facets collectively form a chamber; and the container includes one or more guide strips or guide rails within the chamber, wherein the one or more guide strips or guide rails are positioned to guide the documents when received into the opening to form a stack at the bottom of the chamber.
14 . The container of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of exhaust holes positioned on a lower half of at least one of the facets.
15 . The container of claim 1 , wherein the opening is formed by the top edge of the front facet and three cut lines in the front facet.
16 . A secure document collection and storage container comprising: a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; a second pair of opposing side facets; a top facet comprising at least a first facet segment that is foldably connected to one of the side facets; a bottom facet; an opening formed in the front facet, wherein: the opening has a width that is at least as wide as the width of documents to be collected in the container, wherein each of the documents comprises a ballot or a test answer sheet, and the opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet; and a side flap that extends from the first facet segment of the top facet, and which is movable around a fold line from a first position that exposes the opening to a second position that covers the opening.
17 . The container of claim 16 , wherein: the side facets collectively form a chamber; the documents are stackable within the chamber; the chamber has a length that is from about 1% to about 25% greater than a corresponding length of the documents; and the chamber has a width that is from about 1% to about 25% greater than a corresponding length of the documents.
18 . The container of claim 16 wherein, the top facet is foldable to a closed position that forms a plurality of seams; and during use after the container is at least partially filled with the documents, the seams are sealed with tamper-evident tape.
19 . The container of claim 16 , further comprising a plurality of exhaust holes positioned on a lower half of at least one of the facets.
20 . A secure document collection and storage container comprising: a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; a second pair of opposing side facets; a top facet comprising one or more top facet segments, each of which is foldably connected to a corresponding one of the side facets, and which form a plurality of top seams when folded to a closed position; a bottom facet; an opening formed in the front facet, wherein: the opening has a width that is at least as wide as the width of documents to be collected in the container, wherein the documents comprise ballots or test answer sheets, and the opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet; and a sealing material, wherein: facet edges that form the top seams include guide markings for guiding placement of the sealing material, the sealing material comprises a tamper-evident tape, the tamper-evident tape includes a plurality of security marks, the tamper-evident tape is placed over the guide markings, and each of the guide markings has a width that is substantially the same as a width of the tamper-evident tape so that the guide markings are completely covered by the tamper-evident tape.

Description

BACKGROUND In recent years, the need to ensure the security and integrity of certain documents such as voter ballots and test papers has become extremely important. For example, in the case of voter ballots, the sanctity of the democratic process hinges upon the assurance that each vote is accurately recorded and counted. If the security or integrity of ballots is questioned, it can call the legitimacy of an election into question and erode public trust in the democratic process. Thus, safeguarding the security and integrity of documents like voter ballots and test papers is essential for preserving the trust, fairness and legitimacy of democratic processes, educational systems and licensing administrators, among other entities. This document describes items, methods and systems that are designed to address the issues described above. SUMMARY In a first embodiment, a secure document collection and storage container includes: (i) a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; (ii) a second pair of opposing side facets; (iii) a top facet comprising one or more facet segments, each of which is foldably connected to a corresponding one of the side facets, and which form a plurality of top seams when folded to a closed position; (iv) a bottom facet (108); and (v) an opening formed in the front facet. The opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet. Facet edges that form the top seams may include guide markings for guiding the placement of a sealing material. In some embodiments, a secure document collection and storage container includes: (i) a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; (ii) a second pair of opposing side facets; (iii) a top facet comprising one or more facet segments, each of which is foldably connected to a corresponding one of the side facets, and which form a plurality of top seams when folded to a closed position; (iv) a bottom facet; and (v) an opening formed in the front facet. The opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet. The opening has a width that is at least as wide as the width of a document to be collected in the container, wherein the document comprises a ballot or a test answer sheet. In some embodiments, a secure document collection and storage container includes: (a) a first pair of opposing side facets comprising a front facet and a rear facet; (b) a second pair of opposing side facets; (c) a top facet comprising at least a first facet segment that is foldably connected to the front facet along a fold line; (d) a bottom facet; (e) an opening formed in the front facet, wherein: (i) the opening has a width that is at least as wide as the width of a document to be collected in the container, wherein the document comprises a ballot or a test answer sheet, (iii) the opening is positioned at or below a top edge of the front facet, and above a midpoint of the front facet. In addition, a side flap extends from the first facet segment of the top facet, and the side flap is movable around the fold line from a first position that exposes the opening to a second position that covers the opening. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view from a front side of a secure document collection and storage container. FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view from a rear side of the secure document collection and storage container of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates the container of FIGS. 1-2 with its top opened and guide markings for sealing material placed in certain positions. FIG. 4 illustrates a cut-away view of the container of FIG. 1, showing an interior chamber of the container with a stack of documents inside of it. FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a container in which the front facet includes multiple openings. FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which multiple containers are stacked on top of each other. FIG. 7A illustrates an example security mark that may be printed onto the container, onto tamper-evident tape, or both. FIGS. 7B and 7C illustrate examples of tamper-evident tape that includes security marks. FIG. 8A is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a container, while FIG. 8B is a top-down view of this embodiment. FIG. 8C shows this embodiment in which all flaps are closed. FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment in which the container includes air holes to promote settling of documents within the container. FIG. 10 illustrates another embodiment in which the container includes air holes to promote settling of documents within the container. FIG. 11 illustrates optional structural features that may be included within the chamber of the container. FIG. 12 illustrates other optional structural features that may be included within the chamber of the container. FIG. 13 illustrates an example package flat that can be used to form a secure document storage container. DE