Distributed-user shipping system

• US 20030144871A1
• Filed: 12/18/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service of America (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gittings, Dave, Jones, Bob, Cornelius, John, Turbeville, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 8,005,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system and method is described for controlling user access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package. The system controls the user'"'"'s access to the carrier'"'"'s services by either limiting the selection of locations from which a package can be shipped to fewer than those described by the carrier'"'"'s service area, or by limiting the user'"'"'s ability to select shipping service levels to fewer than those provided by the carrier. Such limitation may be by way of displaying only a limited collection of ship from locations and service levels, or by pre-populating and locking ship from information submission fields on a web page. The distributed-user shipping system may reside on a client server or mobile computer that is connected to the carrier'"'"'s server and transmits various shipping location information and service level selections to the carrier to facilitate shipping of packages while controlling the scope of shipping services provided.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier having a service area describing a plurality of access locations at which the carrier is willing to access the package to initiate shipping, said control method comprising:

recording ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

recording ship from information describing one of the access locations selected by the user; and

validating that the access location selected by the user is one of a limited collection of the access locations that are associated with the user, said user being associated with fewer than all of the access locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the ship from and ship to information to the carrier over a network after successfully validating the access location so as to facilitate delivery of the package from the selected access location to the destination location by the carrier.

3. A method of claim 1, wherein each of the limited collection of access locations is associated with a work location of the user.

4. A method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a list of the limited collection of the access locations for selection by the user prior to recording the ship from information.

5. A method of claim 1, further comprising pre-populating a plurality of ship from information fields with portions of a single access location, said information fields used for recording ship from information.

6. A method of claim 5, further comprising locking the ship from information fields against modification of the portions of the single access location after pre-populating the ship from information fields.

7. A method of claim 6, wherein the single access location is associated with a work location of the user.

8. A method of claim 1, further comprising generating a shipping label image based on the ship to and ship from information, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

9. A method of claim 1, wherein the carrier provides a plurality of different shipping service levels, said method further comprising displaying a limited collection of shipping service levels available to the user, said limited collection of service levels being fewer than the shipping service levels provided by the carrier, recording a shipping service level selection by the user and transmitting the shipping service level selection, the ship from information and the ship to information over a network to the carrier after successfully validating the access location so as to facilitate delivery of the package

10. A method of claim 9, wherein the shipping service levels provided by the carrier are at least ground and air shipping and wherein the displayed collection of shipping service levels is limited to ground shipping.

11. A method of claim 9, wherein an extent of limitation of the collection of shipping service levels is determined by the user'"'"'s membership in a group.

12. A method of claim 11, further comprising validating the user'"'"'s ability to request the shipping service level by confirming that the user belongs to the group.

13. A method of claim 1, further comprising verifying the user'"'"'s membership to a group and refusing to validate the access location if the user is not a member of the group.

14. A method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a limited collection of destination locations to the user before recording ship to information.

15. A method of claim 14, wherein the service area further describes a plurality of destination locations to which the carrier is willing to deliver the package and wherein the limited selection of destination locations are fewer than all of the destination locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area.

16. A method of claim 1, further comprising recording billing information from the user and transmitting the ship to information, ship from information and the billing information over a network to the carrier after successfully validating the selected access location so as to facilitate billing by the carrier for delivery of the package.

17. A method of claim 16, wherein the billing information includes client and matter information.

18. A method for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier having a service area describing a plurality of access locations at which the carrier is willing to access the package to initiate shipping, said control method comprising:

recording ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

displaying a limited collection of the access locations to the user, said limited collection of access locations being associated with the user, said user being associated with fewer than all of the access locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area; and

recording ship from information describing one of the access locations selected by the user from the limited collection of access locations.

19. A method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting the ship from and ship to information to the carrier over a network, so as to facilitate delivery of the package from the selected access location to the destination location by the carrier.

20. A method of claim 19, further comprising validating that the access location selected by the user is one of the limited collection of the access locations before transmitting the ship to and ship from information to the carrier.

21. A method of claim 20, wherein each of the limited collection of access locations is associated with a work location of the user.

22. A method of claim 18, wherein displaying the limited collection of access locations includes pre-populating a plurality of ship from information fields with portions of a single access location, said information fields used for recording ship from information.

23. A method of claim 22, further comprising locking the ship from information fields against modification of the portions of the single access location after pre-populating the ship from information fields.

24. A method of claim 22, wherein the single access location is associated with a work location of the user.

25. A method of claim 18, further comprising generating a shipping label image based on the ship to and ship from information, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

26. A method of claim 18, wherein the carrier provides a plurality of different shipping service levels, said method further comprising displaying a limited collection of shipping service levels available to the user, said limited collection of service levels being fewer than the shipping service levels provided by the carrier, recording a shipping service level selection by the user and transmitting the shipping service level selection, the ship from information and ship to information over a network to the carrier.

27. A method of claim 26, wherein the shipping service levels available from the carrier are at least ground and air shipping and wherein the collection of shipping service levels is limited to ground shipping.

28. A method of claim 26, wherein an extent of limitation of the shipping service levels is determined by the user'"'"'s membership in a group.

29. A method of claim 28, further comprising validating the user'"'"'s ability to request the shipping service level by confirming that the user belongs to the group.

30. A method of claim 18, wherein the carrier provides a plurality of different shipping service levels, said method further comprising validating that the user is a member of a group and requesting one of a limited collection of the shipping service levels associated with the group, wherein the limited collection of shipping service levels are fewer than all of the shipping service levels provided by the carrier.

31. A method of claim 18, further comprising displaying a limited collection of destination locations to the user before recording the ship to information.

32. A method of claim 31, wherein the service area further describes a plurality of destination locations to which the carrier is willing to deliver the package and wherein the limited collection of destination locations are fewer than all of the destination locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area.

33. A method of claim 18, further comprising recording billing information from the user and transmitting the ship to information, ship from information and the billing information over a network to the carrier so as to facilitate billing by the carrier for delivery of the package.

34. A method of claim 33, wherein the billing information includes client and matter information.

35. A method for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier providing a plurality of different shipping service levels, said control method comprising:

recording ship from information submitted by the user, said ship from information describing an access location from which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

recording ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

recording a shipping service level selection by the user; and

validating that the shipping service level selection is one of a limited collection of service levels associated with the user, said user being associated with fewer than all of the shipping service levels provided by the carrier.

36. A method of claim 35, further comprising transmitting the shipping service level selection, the ship from information and the ship to information over a network to the carrier after successfully validating the shipping service level selection so as to facilitate delivery of the package from the access location to the destination location by the carrier at the shipping service level.

37. A method of claim 35, further comprising displaying the limited collection of service levels before recording the shipping service level selection.

38. A method of claim 35, wherein the carrier'"'"'s service area describes a plurality of access locations from which the carrier is willing to ship a package and further comprising displaying a limited collection of the access locations to the user before recording the ship from information, said limited collection of the access locations being fewer than all of the access locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area.

39. A method of claim 38, further comprising validating that the access location selected by the user is one of the limited collection of the access locations.

40. A method of claim 38, wherein displaying the limited collection of the access locations includes pre-populating a plurality of ship from information fields with portions of a single access location, said information fields used for recording ship from information.

41. A method of claim 40, further comprising locking the ship from information fields against modification of the portions of the single access location after pre-populating the ship from information fields.

42. A method of claim 41, wherein the single access location is associated with a work location of the user.

43. A method of claim 35, further comprising generating a shipping label image based on the ship to information, ship from information and the service level selection, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

44. A method of claim 35, wherein an extent of limitation of the shipping service levels is determined by the user'"'"'s membership in a group.

45. A method of claim 44, further comprising validating the user'"'"'s ability to request the shipping service level by confirming the user'"'"'s membership in the group.

46. A method of claim 35, further comprising recording billing information from the user and transmitting the ship to information, ship from information, service level selection and billing information over a network to a carrier so as to facilitate delivery of the package and billing for delivery.

47. A method of claim 46, wherein the billing information includes client and matter information.

48. A method for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier providing a plurality of different shipping service levels, said control method comprising:

recording ship from information submitted by the user, said ship from information describing an access location from which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

recording ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

displaying a limited collection of the shipping service levels, said limited collection of service levels being associated with the user, said user being associated with fewer than all of the shipping service levels provided by the carrier; and

recording a shipping service level selection by the user selected from the limited selection of shipping service levels.

49. A method of claim 48, further comprising transmitting the shipping service level selection, the ship from information and the ship to information over a network to the carrier along so as to facilitate delivery of the package from the access location to the destination location by the carrier.

50. A method of claim 48, further comprising generating a shipping label image based on the ship to information, ship from information and the shipping service level selection, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

51. A method of claim 48, wherein the shipping service levels provided by the carrier are at least ground and air shipping and wherein the shipping service levels are limited to ground shipping.

52. A method of claim 48, wherein an extent of limitation of the shipping service levels is determined by the user'"'"'s membership in a group.

53. A method of claim 52, further comprising validating the user'"'"'s ability to request the shipping service level by confirming the user'"'"'s membership in the group.

54. A method of claim 48, further comprising recording billing information from the user and transmitting the ship to information, ship from information, service level selection and billing information over a network to a carrier so as to facilitate delivery of the package and billing for delivery.

55. A method of claim 54, wherein the billing information includes client and matter information.

56. A method of administering access by a user to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package wherein the user is a member of an organization having a plurality of locations, said administration method comprising:

sending organization information to the carrier over a network, said organization information including an address of one of the locations and a shipping account number;

validating the account number by confirming that the account number and address correspond to one of a list of valid account numbers and addresses; and

adding the validated location to a collection of ship from locations accessible by the carrier and from which the user is permitted to ship the package, said collection of ship from locations describing fewer locations than a plurality of locations accessible by the carrier within a service area of the carrier.

57. A method of claim 56, further comprising displaying a list of previous shipments, said list including ship from and ship to information associated with each of the shipments.

58. A method of claim 57, wherein displaying the information further includes sorting the ship to and ship from information displayed based on at least one of a transmission date, a shipping date, the ship to information, the ship from information, an identity of the user, a service level, a user group and an organization.

59. A method of claim 56, wherein the validated location is associated with a department of the organization and the user is a member of the department.

60. A method of administering access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said administration method comprising:

establishing a plurality of user groups each including at least one user;

creating a limited collection of the carrier'"'"'s shipping services, said limited selection of shipping services including fewer shipping services than all of the shipping services offered by the carrier;

associating the limited collection of the carrier'"'"'s shipping services with the user group; and

facilitating the user'"'"'s access to the limited collection of shipping services by communicating shipping requests of the user to the carrier wherein each of the shipping requests contains one of the limited collection of shipping services selected by the user.

61. A method of claim 60, wherein the carrier'"'"'s shipping services include ground and air delivery and said limited collection of services includes only ground delivery.

62. A graphical user interface for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier having a service area describing a plurality of access locations at which the carrier is willing to access the package to initiate shipping, said graphical user interface comprising:

a ship to information panel having a plurality of fields for recording portions of a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier; and

a ship from information panel having a plurality of fields pre-populated with portions of one of the plurality of access locations, said fields being locked against modification by the user so as to limit the user to shipping from the locked access location.

63. A system for controlling a user'"'"'s access over a network to a carrier server for coordinating shipping services provided by the carrier for delivery of a package wherein the carrier has a service area including a plurality of access locations at which the carrier is willing to access the package to initiate shipping, said control system comprising:

a ship to information system configured to record ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

a ship from information system configured to limit a collection of access locations available to the user to fewer than all of the access locations within the carrier'"'"'s service area, and said ship from information system further configured to record ship from information describing one of the access locations selected by the user from the limited collection of the access locations; and

an order placement system configured to connect via the network to the carrier server and to transmit the ship from and ship to information to the carrier over the network, said ship from and ship to information facilitating delivery of the package from the selected access location to the destination location by the carrier.

64. A system of claim 63, wherein the ship from information system is further configured to validate that the recorded ship from information describes one of the limited collection of access locations.

65. A system of claim 63, wherein the ship from information system is further configured to display a plurality of ship from information fields for recording portions of the access location selected by the user and to pre-populate the ship from information fields with portions of one of the limited selection of access locations.

66. A system of claim 65, wherein the ship from information system is further configured to lock the ship from information fields so that the pre-populated access location portions cannot be modified by the user.

67. A system of claim 63, wherein the ship from, ship to and order placement systems reside on a client server which is connected via the network to the carrier server.

68. A system of claim 63, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the ship from, ship to and order placement systems reside on a mobile computer.

69. A system of claim 68, wherein the ship from information system is further configured to detect use by a traveling user operating the mobile computer and to make an exception that allows selection of any access location.

70. A system of claim 69, further comprising a cost calculation system configured to determine a shipping cost based on the ship from and ship to information.

71. A system of claim 70, further comprising a label generating system configured to generate a shipping label image bearing the ship to and ship from information, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

72. A system of claim 71, wherein the shipping label image further includes return address information that is different than the ship from information.

73. A system of claim 63, wherein the carrier provides a plurality of shipping service level selections and further comprising a service level selection system configured limit the user'"'"'s selection of service levels to fewer than the shipping service levels provided by the carrier.

74. A system of claim 63, wherein the ship from information system is further configured to display the limited collection of access locations.

75. A system for controlling a user'"'"'s access to a carrier'"'"'s shipping services for delivery of a package, said carrier providing a plurality of different shipping service levels, said control system comprising:

a ship to information system configured to record ship to information submitted by the user, said ship to information describing a destination location to which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

a ship from information system configured to record ship from information submitted by the user, said ship from information describing an access location from which the package is to be delivered by the carrier;

a service level system configured to limit a collection of service levels available to the user to fewer than all of the shipping service levels provided by the carrier and said service level system further configured to record the user'"'"'s selection of a service level from the limited collection of service levels; and

an order placement system configured to connect via the network to the carrier server and to transmit the ship from information, the ship to information and the service level selection to the carrier over the network, said ship from information, ship to information and service level selection facilitating delivery of the package from the access location to the destination location by the carrier.

76. A system of claim 75, wherein the service level system is further configured to display the limited collection of service levels.

77. A system of claim 75, wherein the service level system is further configured to validate that the recorded service level selection is one of the limited collection of service levels.

78. A system of claim 75, wherein the ship from, ship to, service level and order placement systems reside on a client server which is connected via the network to the carrier server.

79. A system of claim 75, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the ship from, ship to, service level and order placement systems resides on a mobile computer.

80. A system of claim 75, further comprising a label generating system configured to generate a shipping label image bearing the ship to information, the ship from information and the service level selection, said shipping label image usable by the user to print a shipping label for attachment to the package.

81. A system of claim 75, wherein the service level system is further configured to limit the shipping service level selection to an extent determined by the user'"'"'s membership to a group.

82. A system of claim 75, wherein the shipping service levels available from the carrier are at least ground and air shipping and wherein the service level system is configured to limit the service levels to ground shipping.