PERSONALIZED INTERACTIVE MAIL PUBLISHING METHOD

• US 20110029459A1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alphacode (Randstad NV)
• Original Assignee: Alphacode (Randstad NV)
• Inventors: Schneider, Jean-Noël, Barré, Gilles
• Application Number:
  US12/443,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029459A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/408
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a personalised interactive mail publishing method which can be used to consult personal data, trigger actions or acknowledge receipt in an instant and secure manner. The method includes: formation or extraction of the constituent data of a printable code; generation of complementary variables, such as for authentication; concatenation and compaction of the data from the code to be printed; formation of a file containing the data from the code to be printed and from the mail; conversion of the codes to enable optoelectronic capture; encapsulation of the code in a data flow; printing prior to the distribution of the mail or package; capture of the printed code by the recipient using, for example, a mobile telephone fitted with a camera; interpretation of the symbols forming the code using an embedded module; processing of the instructions contained in the code; connection to the server; encryption and comparison with the encryption performed by the embedded module; authentication; and access to the information indexed in the databases made available by the originator of the mail.

Claims

1. A method for the traceability and interactivity of paper mail, enabling the instant access to individual information on line or the secure transmission of orders, through the combined use of a personal mail and a mobile terminal linked to a person, the method comprising the following phases:

a) generation of variables in the form of printable bi-dimensional codes in the body of the mail including the following steps;

generation of a random number and a counter for the authentication, concatenation and formatting of said variables including a personal identifier, conversion on the fly of such variables into bi-dimensional codes and encapsulation in the printing file of mails to be published; and

b) recognition of said codes by optoelectronic capture from a personal telecommunication terminal used by the recipient of the mail including the following steps;

capture and decoding of the fields and tags forming the code, processing of the information and instructions contained in the code and in the program of the terminal used, connection and transmission of the data composed of an enciphered sequence grouping specific authentication data captured on the mail completed by data linked to the recipient and stored in a memory of his or her terminal, authentication of the mail recipient and instant access to the services conditioned by the holding of the personal mail, as well as the possession of a mobile terminal linked to the recipient of said mail.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising certifying the distribution of the mail wherein the phase a) includes the additional steps of converting the address of the mail recipient into terrestrial coordinates, concatenation of such coordinates with the references of the letter, the mail emitter and the theoretical date of the mail posting, conversion on the fly of such variables into a bi-dimensional code intended to be visible outside the envelope, and in phase b) includes additional steps of:

capture of the printed code by the mailer, comparison of the terrestrial coordinates inscribed in the bi-dimensional code printed on the mail with those determined by a geographical positioning module, by a satellite or a triangulation, embedded in the mailer'"'"'s terminal, certification or not of the distribution as a function of the comparison results, retention of the results obtained for a grouped transmission at the end of the round.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising saving of information on the time of distribution through use of an internal clock.

4. A method according to claim 2, further comprising teletransmission, on a continuous flow basis, of the results of the certification of distribution by mail.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the capture of the code on an invoice on paper or any other media such as electronic mail, and the authentication of the mail recipient is an approval for a bank debit transmitted to a creditor.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the bank debit authorisation is transmitted directly to the debtor'"'"'s bank, and in that the debtor'"'"'s bank will debit the account only when receiving its client'"'"'s approval transmitted via the capture of the code mentioned on an invoice or any other paper or electronic media.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein phase a) includes an additional step of adding one or several fields including the encoding of a message to be displayed on the recipient'"'"'s terminal off connection or prior to a connection, more particularly rates information, submitted to the recipient'"'"'s approval.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein phase a) includes the adding of a specific field or printed code intended to instantly acknowledge receipt, to the emitter and to the concerned parties, of the mail or of a package or, using a reference mentioned in said code, to place an additional order or to instantly request the replacement of the delivered goods.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein phase a) includes an additional step of compaction of said publishing variable consisting in expressing some values according to a binary codification, authorising a large number of values per character.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein phase a) includes an additional triggering step using a rule software, in order to trigger the publishing of printable codes as a function of criteria linked to the personal data associated with the mail recipients, and to the history of the requests made by capture on the preceding items.