Integrated mail-piece tracking and on-line document viewing
First Claim
1. A method, for providing electronic access to tracking data regarding articles processed for mail delivery and to electronic information corresponding to the articles processed for mail delivery, the method comprising:
- during processing of the articles for mail delivery, storing tracking data regarding the processing of the articles through one or more stages of the processing for mail delivery;
storing files containing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the articles processed for mail delivery;
for each respective article, linking the stored tracking data for the respective article to the stored file containing the electronic information corresponding to the respective article; and
providing electronic access for a user to stored tracking data for an identified one of the articles and to the electronic information corresponding to the identified article via the linking therebetween.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for providing electronic access to tracking information regarding articles processed for mail delivery and related electronic information, might include a mail processing system, data storage and a computer system. The mail processing system processes the articles for mail delivery, and it provides tracking data regarding its processing of each article. Examples of the mail processing system include a printer, an inserter system, a sorter system and a mail delivery system. The data storage stores the tracking data and electronic files containing electronic information corresponding to respective articles processed for mail delivery. The data storage also maintains linkages between the article tracking data and stored files containing the corresponding electronic information. The computer system provides a user with integrated on-line access to the tracking data for the articles and the files containing the corresponding electronic information, based on the linkages.
29 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method, for providing electronic access to tracking data regarding articles processed for mail delivery and to electronic information corresponding to the articles processed for mail delivery, the method comprising:
-
during processing of the articles for mail delivery, storing tracking data regarding the processing of the articles through one or more stages of the processing for mail delivery;
storing files containing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the articles processed for mail delivery;
for each respective article, linking the stored tracking data for the respective article to the stored file containing the electronic information corresponding to the respective article; and
providing electronic access for a user to stored tracking data for an identified one of the articles and to the electronic information corresponding to the identified article via the linking therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A program product transportable by at least one machine readable medium, the product comprising:
-
article records containing tracking data regarding processing of the articles through one or more stages of mail delivery processing;
files containing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the articles processed for mail delivery; and
links between article records and corresponding electronic files, to enable integrated access to tracking data for each article and electronic information corresponding to each article. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
-
20. A system for providing electronic access to tracking data regarding articles processed for mail delivery and to electronic information corresponding to the articles processed for mail delivery, the system comprising:
-
a mail processing system, for processing the articles for mail delivery, wherein the mail processing system provides tracking data regarding its processing of each of the articles;
data storage, for storing;
1) the tracking data, 2) files containing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the articles processed for mail delivery, and 3) linkages between the stored tracking data for each respective article and the stored file containing the electronic information corresponding to the respective article; and
at least one programmed computer system for providing a user with on-line access to information in the data storage, including integrated access to the tracking data for the articles and the corresponding electronic information based on the linkages. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A method, for providing electronic access to tracking information regarding hard-copy documents processed for print mail delivery and to electronic information corresponding to the hard-copy documents, the method comprising:
-
during processing of the hard-copy documents for print mail delivery, storing process tracking data regarding processing of each of the hard-copy documents through one or more stages of the processing for print mail delivery;
storing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the hard-copy documents processed for print mail delivery;
for each respective hard-copy document, linking the stored tracking data for the respective hard-copy document to the corresponding stored electronic information; and
providing electronic access for a user to stored tracking data for an identified hard-copy document and to stored soft-copy electronic information corresponding to the identified hard-copy document via the linking therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A program product transportable by at least one machine readable medium, the product comprising:
-
records containing process tracking data regarding tracking of processing of hard-copy documents intended for print mail delivery through one or more stages of processing for print mail delivery;
files containing electronic information corresponding to respective ones of the hard-copy documents processed for print mail delivery; and
links between records and corresponding electronic files, to enable integrated access to tracking data for each respective hard-copy document and the corresponding electronic information. - View Dependent Claims (26)
-
-
27. A system for providing electronic access to soft-copy document information and to tracking information regarding hard-copy documents processed for print mail delivery, the system comprising:
-
a print mail processing system, for processing hard-copy documents for print mail delivery, wherein the print mail processing system provides tracking data regarding its processing of each of the hard-copy documents through one or more processing stages;
data storage, for storing;
4) the tracking data, 5) electronic files containing soft-copy document information, corresponding to respective ones of the hard-copy documents processed for print mail delivery, and 6) linkages between the hard-copy documents and stored electronic files containing the corresponding soft-copy document information; and
at least one programmed computer system for providing a user with on-line access to information in the data storage, including integrated access to tracking data for the hard-copy documents and electronic files containing the corresponding soft-copy document information based on the linkages. - View Dependent Claims (28)
-
Specification