ON-LINE MAIL PROCESSING SYSTEM AND MOBILE DEVICE APPLICATION THEREFOR

• US 20110145107A1
• Filed: 12/11/2009
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Greco, Jesse G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article including the steps of receiving an acquired image of the article over a network from a web enabled device (ii) comparing the acquired digital imaged to a plurality of stored digital images to ermine the identity of the acquired digital image, (iii) determining at least one characteristic of the identified digital image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified digital image of the identified article, (iv) calculating the estimated cost of delivering the identified article to a destination address, and, (v) transmitting the estimated cost to the web enabled device. The method also determines the postage associated with the delivery of an article by means of a wireless communication network using a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device. Furthermore, a system also determines the postage associated with the identified article.

Claims

1. A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:

receiving an acquired digital image of the article over a network from a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device;

comparing the acquired digital image to a plurality of stored digital images to determine the identity of the acquired digital image;

determining at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified image;

calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address; and

transmitting the delivery cost to the wireless mobile device.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to compare rate data associated with a plurality of delivery agents,

comparing the rate data to determine a list of rate quotes; and

and transmitting the rate quotes to the wireless mobile device thereby allowing selection at the mobile device of the delivery cost.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:

receiving a request to determine a quote for delivering the article; and

transmitting quote data to the wireless mobile device.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein evidence of payment of the delivery cost is postage, and further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to purchase the postage associated with delivering the article; and

transmitting authentication data of the purchased postage to the wireless mobile device.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to locate at least one of the nearest delivery agents for delivering the article;

determining the location of the wireless mobile device using the global positioning coordinates thereof; and

transmitting the location of at least one of the delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

inducting the article for delivery into a distribution system of a delivery agent;

receiving a request to track the location of the article within the distribution system of the delivery agent; and

transmitting the location of the article to the wireless mobile device.

7. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of:

printing a postage indicia of the purchased postage.

26. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

inducting the article for delivery into a distribution system of a delivery agent;

receiving a request to track the location of the article within the distribution system of the delivery agent; and

transmitting the location of the article to the web-enabled device.

35. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of

confirming that the identified image corresponds to the acquired digital image.

39. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of

receiving a request to locate the nearest printer for printing the postage indicia;

determining the location of the mobile device using the global positioning coordinates thereof; and

transmitting the location of at least one of the nearest printers to the mobile device.

8. A system for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article, comprising:

a wireless mobile device having a display for receiving input information from, and presenting information to, an operator, an optical imaging device for acquiring digital image data of the article and transmitting the digital image data over a wireless network;

an image recognition system, responsive to digital image data, for comparing the acquired digital image to a plurality of stored digital images and for determining the identity of the acquired digital image;

a shipping information system including a shipping database for determining at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the article;

an on-line postage estimation system for determining the delivery cost, based on the at least one characteristic, to deliver the article from an address of origin to a destination address, and

a processor for controlling the functions of the wireless mobile device, determining the delivery cost, and displaying the delivery cost to the operator on the display of the wireless mobile device.

9. The system according to claim 8 wherein the processor includes program code to compare the delivery cost of one delivery agent from the delivery cost of at least one other delivery agent, and displaying the delivery cost data associated with the delivery agents to the operator on the display of the wireless mobile device.

10. The system according to claim 8 wherein the processor of the wireless mobile device issues a request to a web service provider to provide a quote for delivering the article from the address of origin to the destination address, wherein the web service provider provides quotes from a plurality of delivery agents associated with delivering the article and transmits quote data indicative thereof to the wireless mobile device, and wherein the processor displays at least one of the quotes the quote data to the operator on the display of the wireless mobile device.

11. The system according to claim 8 wherein evidence for payment of the delivery cost is postage, wherein the processor of the wireless mobile device issues a request to a web service provider to purchase postage associated with delivering the article, wherein the web service provider transmits authentication data of the purchased postage to the wireless mobile device, and wherein the processor displays an authenticated postage indicia on the display of the wireless mobile device.

12. The system according to claim 11 further comprising one of a printer and a meter for printing the postage indicia.

13. The system according to claim 8 wherein the processor of the wireless mobile device issues a request to a web service provider to locate the nearest delivery agent for delivering the article;

wherein the web service provider transmits the location of the wireless mobile device using the global positioning coordinates of the mobile device; and

wherein the processor displays the location of several delivery agents within a predetermined distance of wireless mobile device on the display of the wireless mobile device.

14. The system according to claim 8 wherein the processor of the wireless mobile device issues a request to a web service provider to track the location of the article within the distribution system of the delivery agent, wherein the web service provider transmits the location of the article to the wireless mobile device, and wherein the processor displays the location of the article on the display of the wireless mobile device.

36. The system according to claim 8 wherein the web service provider transmits a request to confirm that the identified image corresponds to the acquired image and wherein the processor of the mobile device transmits confirmation as to whether the identified image corresponds to the acquired image.

40. The system according to claim 12 wherein the processor of the wireless mobile device issues a request to a web service provider to locate at least one of the nearest one of a printer and a meter for printing the postage indicia, wherein the web service provider transmits the location of at least one of the nearest one of the printer and the meter to the wireless mobile device using the global positioning coordinates thereof, and wherein the processor displays the location of at least one of the nearest one of the printer and the meter.

15. A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:

obtaining an acquired digital image of the article using a wireless mobile device having optical imaging device for capturing the acquired digital image;

transmitting the acquired digital image over a wireless network to an image recognition system having a database of stored digital images, the image recognition system identifying the image by comparing the acquired digital image to the stored digital images;

determining at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified image;

calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address; and

transmitting the delivery cost to the wireless mobile device.

16. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

comparing rate data for delivering the article from a plurality of delivery agents,

comparing the rate data to determine a delivery cost associated with each of the delivery agents; and

and transmitting the delivery costs to the wireless mobile device thereby allowing selection at the mobile device of the delivery cost.

17. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

requesting a shipping quote for delivering the article from a selected delivery agent; and

displaying the shipping quote on the display of the wireless mobile device.

18. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

requesting the purchase of postage associated with delivering the article; and

displaying confirmation of the purchased postage on the display of the wireless mobile device and

printing a postage indicia of the purchased postage.

19. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

requesting the location of the nearest delivery agent for delivering the article;

determining the location of the wireless mobile device using the global positioning coordinates of the mobile device;

displaying the location of several delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device on the display of the wireless mobile device.

20. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

inducting the article for delivery into a distribution system of a delivery agent;

requesting the location of the article within the distribution system of the delivery agent; and

displaying the location of the article on the display of the wireless mobile device.

21. A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a digital image of the article over a network from a web-enabled device;

comparing the digital image to a plurality of stored digital images to determine the identity of the digital image;

determining at least one characteristic of the identified digital image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified digital image;

calculating the estimated cost of delivering the article to a destination address; and

transmitting the estimated cost to the web-enabled device.

22. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to compare rate data associate with a plurality of delivery agents,

comparing the rate data to determine a list of rate quotes from the lowest shipping cost to the highest shipping cost; and

and transmitting the rate quotes to the web-enabled device thereby allowing selection at the mobile device of the delivery cost.

23. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the step of:

receiving a request to provide a quote for delivering the article; and

transmitting the quote data to the web-enabled device.

24. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to purchase postage associated with delivering the article; and

transmitting authentication data of the purchased postage to the web-enabled device.

25. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to locate the nearest delivery agent for delivering the article;

determining the location of the web-enabled device using the global positioning coordinates of the mobile device;

transmitting the location of several delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the web-enabled device.

27. The method according to claim 24 further comprising the step of:

printing a postage indicia of the purchased postage.

37. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the step of:

confirming that the identified image corresponds to the digital image.

28. A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a digital image of the article over a network from a web-enabled device;

identifying the digital image from the acquired digital image;

determining at least one characteristic of the identified digital image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified digital image;

calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address; and

transmitting the delivery cost to the web-enabled device.

29. The method according to claim 28 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to compare rate data associated with a plurality of delivery agents,

comparing the rate data to determine a list of rate quotes; and

and transmitting the rate quotes to the web-enabled device thereby allowing selection at the mobile device of the delivery cost.

30. The method according to claim 28 further comprising the step of:

receiving a request to determine a quote for delivering the article; and

transmitting quote data to the web-enabled device.

31. The method according to claim 28 wherein evidence of payment of the delivery cost is postage, and further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to purchase the postage associated with delivering the article; and

transmitting authentication data of the purchased postage to the web-enabled device.

32. The method according to claim 28 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to locate at least one of the nearest delivery agents for delivering the article;

determining the location of the web enabled device using the global positioning coordinates thereof; and

transmitting the location of at least one of the delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the web enabled device.

33. The method according to claim 28 further comprising the steps of:

inducting the article for delivery into a distribution system of a delivery agent;

receiving a request to track the location of the article within the distribution system of the delivery agent; and

transmitting the location of the article to the web-enabled device.

34. The method according to claim 31 further comprising the step of:

printing a postage indicia of the purchased postage.

38. The method according to claim 28 further comprising the step of:

confirming that the identified image corresponds to the acquired digital image.