Method of electronically consolidating mail items

• US 20060136346A1
• Filed: 09/22/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Original Assignee: Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Inventors: Gilham, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/402
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00024 Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems
• 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 2017/00112 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00451 Address hygiene, i.e. checking and correcting addresses to be printed on mail pieces using address databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00588 Barcode
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00629 Circuit, e.g. transponder

Abstract

A method of electronically consolidating mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration that handles delivery of said mail items to their destinations, the method comprising the following steps at the premises of each of the senders: affixing a unique identity code to each of the mail items; and creating a consignment file containing the unique identity code and the address of the destination, and sending said file to a remote central server of a third party entity; and the following steps at said server: consolidating the files received from all of the senders into a single consolidation file; sending a collection order to a mail item collection service so that a collection employee collects the mail items to be sent from the various senders, the collection step also including an input step for inputting said unique identity code at input means and a transmission step for transmitting said code to said remote central server, via a wireless telecommunications network; taking delivery of the mail items after the collection and printing a bar code onto each of them for the purpose of facilitating subsequent sorting of them by the postal administration; and sending said single consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration.

Claims

1. A method of electronically consolidating mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration that handles delivery of said mail items to their destinations, said method comprising the following steps:

at the premises of each of the senders;

using print means to affix a unique identity code to each mail item for the purpose of identifying both the sender and the mail item; and

using a computer to create a mail item consignment file in a database, which file contains, for each mail item, said unique identity code and the address of the destination of said mail item, and sending said file via a network to a remote central server of a third party entity; and

at the central server of the third party entity;

consolidating the files received from all of the senders into a single consolidation file in a central database;

sending a collection order to a mail item collection service so that a collection employee collects the mail items to be sent from the various senders, the collection step also including an input step for inputting said unique identity code borne by each mail item at input means and a transmission step for transmitting said code to said remote central server from said input means, via a wireless telecommunications network;

taking delivery of the mail items after the collection and using print means for printing a bar code onto each of them for the purpose of facilitating subsequent sorting of them by the postal administration; and

sending said single consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the consolidation step for consolidating the files received from all of the senders is started at the latest at a predetermined limit time.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said unique identity codes input at the input means by said collection employee are compared, at said central server, with the unique identity codes that are present in said consolidation file.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein, at the central server, it further comprises a step of checking said destination addresses on the basis of said central database which contains a list of valid addresses.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of invoicing the senders while taking account of the individual discounts linked to the bulk handling of the mail that is thus brought to the postal administration.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said unique identity code is a succession of alphanumeric characters, preferably of the OCR type, or a bar code that is one-dimensional or two dimensional.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said unique identity code is written in an RFID tag stuck to the mail item.

8. A logistics system for carrying and monitoring mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration that handles delivery of the mail items to their destinations, said method comprising the following organized around a network:

a plurality of computers, each of which is associated with a determined sender for creating, in a database, a mail item consignment file that, for each mail item to be sent, contains firstly a unique identity code that identifies both the sender and the mail item, and secondly the destination address;

a central server for receiving said mail item consignment files from said plurality of computers and via said network, for consolidating the received files into a single consolidation file, for sending a collection order to a collection service for having the mail items collected from each of the senders, for using print means to print at least one bar code on each of the mail items once delivery has been taken of said mail items, for sending said unique consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and for sending a hand-over order for handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration.

9. A logistics system for carrying and monitoring mail items according to claim 8, further comprising input means for reading said single identity code borne by each mail item and for transmitting it to said central server via a wireless telecommunications network.