eDropship: Methods and Systems for Anonymous eCommerce Shipment

• US 20110040650A1
• Filed: 10/25/2010
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Johnson, Richard C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,812,373 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0615 Anonymizing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A method of enabling anonymous shipment of a package containing goods purchased by a customer from a vendor for delivery to an address unknown to the vendor includes steps of receiving a request for a package code for the package from the vendor, sending the package code to the vendor, the package code being devoid of delivery address information and sending a shipping identifier and an associated address to the shipper. The shipper, after picking up the package for shipment from the vendor, matches the package code sent to the vendor with the shipping identifier and identifies the associated address as the delivery address of the package. A shipping label may then be printed out and affixed to the package.

Claims

1. A method of enabling a customer to anonymously purchase an item from a vendor via an electronic draft for delivery to an address without divulging the delivery address to the vendor, comprising the steps of:

storing in a bank, an encrypted unique identifier for the customer, the encrypted unique identifier being linked to the customer'"'"'s personal and financial information stored in the bank, including the delivery address;

authenticating the customer having caused a draft to be executed for payment of at least one of a purchase price of the item and a shipping cost by encrypting at least a portion of an identification data provided by the customer and successfully matching the encrypted identification data with the stored encrypted unique identifier;

retrieving at least the authenticated customer'"'"'s financial information and delivery address;

honoring a draft presented by the vendor for payment of the item only when the customer is successfully authenticated by the bank;

assigning a package code to the item, the assigned package code being associated with the retrieved delivery address;

sending only the package code to the vendor, the vendor affixing the package code to the package, and

sending the package code and the associated delivery address to a shipper for storage in a shipper database, whereby the shipper picks up the item from the vendor, and prints out a shipping label for the package, a delivery address on the label being that customer address linked to a package code stored in the shipper database that matches the package code affixed to the package.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification data includes at least one of an ID and a password, the password being known to the bank only in encrypted form, biometric data and a digital certificate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer'"'"'s encrypted unique identifier, personal and financial information are stored in a data structure managed by a Directory software controlled by the bank.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the package code and the linked customer address are replicated in the shipper database via Light Weight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or similar standard format.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the shipper database is replicated in a portable electronic device equipped with a package code scanner and a shipping label printer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the package code includes at least one of a code number and machine-readable indicia expressing the code number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the authenticating and sending steps are performed over a computer network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the computer network includes the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is a business.

10. A method of enabling a customer having purchased goods in digital form from a vendor to have the goods delivered to a specified electronic delivery address without divulging the electronic delivery address to the vendor, comprising the steps of:

associating a package code with the specified electronic delivery address and storing the package doe and the electronic delivery address;

sending the vendor a package doe and an associated forwarding electronic address, the forwarding electronic address being different from he electronic delivery address, the vendor forwarding the goods and the package code to the forwarding electronic address associated with the received package code;

reading the forwarded package code and retrieving the stored electronic delivery address associated therewith; and

delivering the goods to the retrieved electronic delivery address.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the associating and storing steps are carried out by a bank.