Documenting mail work flow

• US 20080288422A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lynch Marks LLC
• Original Assignee: Lynch Marks LLC
• Inventors: Marks, Peter, Lune, River C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/404
• 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 10/08345 Pricing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Exemplary systems and methods for documenting mail work flows are provided. A mailing label is read and the label information stored in a database. Additional information about the mailing service may be added to the database. Billing and/or delivery information is added to the database. A mailing label is read at a postage machine and postage information including a rate is associated to the mailing label. The label information from the mailing label and the associated postage information are compared so that records having matching information can be reported together for billing of the mailing services. The records are updatable as well to provide for article tracking.

Claims

1. A method for documenting mail work flows, the method comprising:

receiving label information associated with a mailing label for an article, the label information including a tracking number assigned to the mailing label;

storing the label information in a database;

receiving postage information from a postage machine, the postage information including a rate for mailing the article via a postal service;

associating the postage information with the tracking number; and

generating a report based on the stored label information and the associated postage information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the label information comprises receiving a user designation concerning the mailing label.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating the mailing label based on one or more user designations concerning the mailing label.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the label information is provided by a contacts manager designated by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the postage information in the database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the postage information with the tracking number further comprises the postage machine scanning the tracking number.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein associating the postage information with the tracking number further comprises receiving information from the postage machine concerning the scanned tracking number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking number further comprises a bar code.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the report further comprises associating the stored label information with the postage information based on the tracking number.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the report is further based on specifications designated by a user.

11. A system for documenting mail work flows, the system comprising:

an input configured to receive postage information from a postage machine, the postage machine including a rate for mailing an article via the United States Postal Service;

a database configured to store label information associated with a mailing label for the article, the label information including a tracking number assigned to the mailing label and the tracking number being associated with the postage information; and

a report generator configured to generate a report based on the stored label information and the associated postage information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the input is further configured to receive the label information based on one or more user designations concerning the mailing label.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a label generator configured to generate mailing labels based on the label information.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the database is further configured to store the postage information.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the postage machine is configured to scan the tracking number.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the input is further configured to receive information from the postage machine concerning the scanned tracking number.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the database is further configured to associate the stored label information with the postage information based on the tracking number.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the tracking number further comprises a bar code.

19. A computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon executable computing instructions for performing a method comprising:

receiving label information associated with a mailing label for an article, the label information including a tracking number assigned to the mailing label;

storing the label information in a database;

receiving postage information from a postage machine, the postage information including a rate for mailing the article via a postal service;

associating the postage information with the tracking number; and

generating a report based on the stored label information and the associated postage information.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising executable instructions for receiving information from the postage machine concerning the tracking number, the postage machine having scanned the tracking number.