DELIVERY TRACKING SYSTEM
First Claim
1. An electronic method to access shipment tracking data, comprising:
- accepting a tracking request at a server location over the Internet from a client location with the tracking request being authenticated by a password, in which the tracking request does not include a tracking number but includes one or more shipment identifiers, such as a recipient'"'"'s name, a shipper'"'"'s name, a recipient'"'"'s address, a shipper'"'"'s address, a date of shipment, a date of delivery or other identifiers that are not tracking numbers;
first querying at said server location using the accepted tracking request to access a first database not controlled by the carrier, but containing both tracking numbers and at least one of shipper or recipient name or address, shipping time or date information related thereto, the first database providing a correlating response that correlates the tracking request to tracking numbers located by said first querying; and
second querying using a tracking number from said correlating response to access a second database that is controlled by the carrier and which contains shipping status for the shipment that was associated with the correlated tracking number so that the shipping status results from said second query can be supplied over the internet to the client location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel tracking system is disclosed. In one embodiment, users obtain access to tracking information by entering a destination address in a query. In another embodiment, package shippers are given a “shipper password” and a “recipient password.” In this embodiment, the shipper may query the system with the shipper password to track all packages it has sent, and the recipient may query the system with the recipient password (and, optionally, one or more portions of the recipient'"'"'s address information) to track all packages that the shipper has sent to that address. Different amounts of detail may be shown to shippers and recipients. In another embodiment, a service bureau may accept packages from shippers, collect information about the packages, process queries by shippers and recipients, and track packages that it handles using a separate “service bureau password.”
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An electronic method to access shipment tracking data, comprising:
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accepting a tracking request at a server location over the Internet from a client location with the tracking request being authenticated by a password, in which the tracking request does not include a tracking number but includes one or more shipment identifiers, such as a recipient'"'"'s name, a shipper'"'"'s name, a recipient'"'"'s address, a shipper'"'"'s address, a date of shipment, a date of delivery or other identifiers that are not tracking numbers; first querying at said server location using the accepted tracking request to access a first database not controlled by the carrier, but containing both tracking numbers and at least one of shipper or recipient name or address, shipping time or date information related thereto, the first database providing a correlating response that correlates the tracking request to tracking numbers located by said first querying; and second querying using a tracking number from said correlating response to access a second database that is controlled by the carrier and which contains shipping status for the shipment that was associated with the correlated tracking number so that the shipping status results from said second query can be supplied over the internet to the client location.
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2. An electronic method to access shipment tracking data, comprising:
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accepting a tracking request at a server location over the Internet from a client location with the tracking request being authenticated by a password, in which the tracking request does not include a tracking number but includes one or more shipment identifiers, such as a recipient'"'"'s name, a shipper'"'"'s name, a recipient'"'"'s address, a shipper'"'"'s address, a date of shipment, a date of delivery, or other identifiers that are not tracking numbers; querying at said server location using the accepted tracking request to access a first database containing both tracking numbers at least one of shipper or recipient name or address, shipping time or date information related thereto, the first database providing a response that correlates the tracking request to tracking numbers located by said querying; and enabling the shipping status associated with the correlated tracking numbers to be supplied over the Internet to the client location. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification