System, method, and article of manufacture for filtering mail items based upon recipient preference

• US 20040117326A1
• Filed: 10/08/2003
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Amato, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,179 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/401
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00435 Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00483 Batch processing of mailpieces

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for filtering of a mail item addressed to a recipient. In accordance with an embodiment, preference information about mail items from the recipient is obtained. The preference information is compared with information on the mail item and based on the comparison, it is determined whether the mail item should be delivered. The preference information may include at least one of a size of the mail items, a type of the mail items, a classification of the mail items, a weight of the mail items, and preference information abut senders. In accordance with another embodiment, the preference information of a recipient may be provided to a sender so that the sender can determine whether the recipient wants mail items from the sender.

Claims

1. A method for filtering a mail item addressed to a recipient, comprising:

obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient;

comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining preference information from the recipient comprises obtaining preference information on at least one of a size of the mail items, a type of the mail items, a classification of the mail items, a weight of the mail items, and preference inflation about senders.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information about the mail item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining information about the mail item comprises obtaining at least one of a size of the mail item, a type of the mail item, a classification of the mail item, a weight of the mail item, and information about a sender of the mail item.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining information about the mail item comprises obtaining information about the mail item using an image recognition device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising disposing of the mail item without delivering the item to the recipient, if the mail item does not match the preference information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising returning the mail item to a, sender of the mail item without delivering the mail item to the recipient, if the mail item does not match the preference information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the mail item for delivery to the recipient upon demand in the future, if the mail item does not match the preference information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the preference information in a database.

10. A method for preventing a sender from sending a mail item to a recipient, comprising:

obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient; and

sending at least part of the preference information to the sender.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein sending at least part of the preference information to the sender comprises informing the sender that the recipient does not want to receive a certain mail item from the sender.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the mail item from the sender;

comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein sending at least part of the preference information to the sender comprises sending at least part of the preference information for a monetary charge.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein sending at least part of the preference information to the sender comprises sending at least part of the preference information only after the recipient consents.

15. A system for filtering a mail item addressed to a recipient, comprising:

means for obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient;

means for comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

means for determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein preference information comprises at least one of a size of the mail items, a type of the mail items, a classification of the mail items, a weight of the mail items, and preference information about senders.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for obtaining information about the mail item, the information including at least one of a size of the mail item, a type of the mail item, a classification of the mail item, a weight of the mail item, and information about a sender of the mail item.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the information about the mail item is obtained using an image recognition device.

19. A system for preventing a sender from sending a mail item to a recipient, comprising:

means for obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient; and

means for sending at least part of the preference information to the sender.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for receiving the mail item from the sender;

means for comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

means for determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.

21. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for filtering a mail item addressed to a recipient, the method comprising:

obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient;

comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.

22. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for preventing a sender from sending a mail item to a recipient, the method comprising:

obtaining preference information about mail items from the recipient; and

sending at least part of the preference information to the sender.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the mail item from the sender;

comparing information about the mail item to the preference information; and

determining whether to deliver the mail item based on the comparison.