POSTAL MAIL TO ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND RELATED METHODS
First Claim
1. ) A method of processing data relating to a number of received mail items mailed by a mail item sender and received by one or more mail item recipients, the received mail items including an Intelligent Mail Barcode on an area of the mail item visible outer surface, the Intelligent Mail Barcode having a height based bar code containing in encoded form, a number of Intelligent Mail Barcode elements including a Mailer Identification Number, a limited term Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number, and a Delivery Point Zip Code, the method comprising:
- A) receiving at a central server captured mail item information relating to a digital image of at least a portion of the visible outer surface of the received mail item captured by the mail item recipient utilizing the mail item recipient'"'"'s own personal camera equipped mobile intelligent communications device with the captured digital image, and including in an area of the image the Intelligent Mail Barcode, the receiving of the captured mail item information verifying actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient; and
,B) in response to the receiving of the captured mail item information by the central server, storing information relating to the received mail item into a first mailing information database or into a second mailing information database on a second server, the stored information derived from the verified actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient as identified by the Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number and the Mailer Identification Number decoded from the captured digital image.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system and program product for managing and responding to receiving of mail items including the capture of a digital image by a mail item recipient taken of the outside of the mail item that includes the recipient and sender address blocks using, for example, a personal mobile intelligent communication device, and decoding a postal service barcode such as an Intelligent Mail Barcode.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. ) A method of processing data relating to a number of received mail items mailed by a mail item sender and received by one or more mail item recipients, the received mail items including an Intelligent Mail Barcode on an area of the mail item visible outer surface, the Intelligent Mail Barcode having a height based bar code containing in encoded form, a number of Intelligent Mail Barcode elements including a Mailer Identification Number, a limited term Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number, and a Delivery Point Zip Code, the method comprising:
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A) receiving at a central server captured mail item information relating to a digital image of at least a portion of the visible outer surface of the received mail item captured by the mail item recipient utilizing the mail item recipient'"'"'s own personal camera equipped mobile intelligent communications device with the captured digital image, and including in an area of the image the Intelligent Mail Barcode, the receiving of the captured mail item information verifying actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient; and
,B) in response to the receiving of the captured mail item information by the central server, storing information relating to the received mail item into a first mailing information database or into a second mailing information database on a second server, the stored information derived from the verified actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient as identified by the Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number and the Mailer Identification Number decoded from the captured digital image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. ) A method of processing data relating to a number of received mail items mailed by a mail item sender and received by one or more mail item recipients, the received mail items including a Postal Service Bar Code on an area of the mail item visible outer surface, the Postal Service Bar Code comprising a height based bar code and including in encoded form Postal Service Bar Code elements comprising a mail item sender identification number, a mail item sender assigned sequence number, and a mail item recipient delivery code, the method comprising:
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A) receiving at a central server captured mail item information relating to a captured digital image of at least a portion of the received mail item, the captured digital image captured by the mail item recipient utilizing the mail item recipient'"'"'s own personal camera equipped mobile intelligent communications device with the captured digital image and including in an area of the image the Postal Service Bar Code, the receiving of the captured mail item information verifying actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient, and B) in response to the receiving of the captured mail item information by the central server, storing receipt information relating to the received mail item into a first mailing information database or into a second mailing information database on a second server, the stored receipt information based upon the verified actual reception of the mail item by the mail item recipient and one or more of the Postal Service Bar Code elements decoded from the captured digital image. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. ) A method of collecting data relating to a number of mail items received by a plurality of mail item recipients, the mail items including an Intelligent Mail Barcode on an area of the mail item visible outer surface, the method comprising:
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A) receiving information at a central server from a plurality of captured digital images of each of the received mail items the captured digital images including the Intelligent Mail Barcode of each received mail item, the captured digital images taken by the mail item recipients utilizing the mail item recipient'"'"'s personal mobile intelligent communications device, each Intelligent Mail Barcode of the captured digital images including a Mailer Identification Number, a Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number, and a Delivery Point Zip Code contained in encoded form within the Intelligent Mail Barcode; B) the central server processing the Mailer Identification Number, the Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number, and the Delivery Point Zip Code to formulate Mail Item Data; and
,C) storing information relating to the Mail Item Data for a number of mail items into a mail item information database as part of the central server, or a remote central server. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. ) A method of processing a specific mail item sent by a mail item sender and received as a received mail item by a specific mail item recipient so as to provide for electronic interaction between the mail item sender and the mail item recipient, the received mail item including an Intelligent Mail Barcode on an area of the mail item visible outer surface, the Intelligent Mail Barcode having a height based bar code containing in encoded form, a number of Intelligent Mail Barcode elements including a Mailer Identification Number, a Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number, and a Delivery Point Zip Code, the method comprising:
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A) capturing with the mail item recipient'"'"'s own personal camera equipped mobile intelligent communications device a digital image of at least a portion of a visible outer surface of the received mail item, the portion including in an area of the image the Intelligent Mail Barcode of the received mail item; B) decoding the Intelligent Mail Barcode of the captured digital image to determine, for that specific mail item, a specific received mail item Mailer Identification Number and a specific received mail item Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number; and
,C) accessing a mail item database in one or more steps utilizing the specific received mail item Mailer Identification Number and the specific received mail item Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number to determine a response to the receipt of the specific mail item which is based upon the specific received mail item Mailer Identification Number and the specific received mail item Mailer Assigned Recipient Sequence number. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. ) A method of processing data relating to a number of mail items received by one or more mail item recipients, the mail items including on the outside of the mail item, a human intelligible written or printed destination address and an Intelligent Mail Barcode, the method comprising:
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A) providing or distributing to at least one of the one or more mail item recipients, an application for running on a camera equipped personal mobile intelligent communications device; B) capturing, using the application on personal mobile intelligent communications device of the mail item recipient, a digital image of at least a portion of the outside of the mail item received by the mail item recipient, the digital image including an area containing the Intelligent Mail Barcode; C) decoding the Intelligent Mail Barcode, from the captured one or more digital images of the recipient mail item, to obtain identified sender information of the mail item; D) further decoding the Intelligent Mail Barcode, from the captured one or more digital images of the mail item, to obtain identified recipient information of the recipient mail item; and E) transferring electronically to a central server apparatus, the identified sender information and the identified recipient information for use in responding to receipt of the mail item and to a response by the mail item recipient. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. ) A method of collecting data describing a number of mail items received by one or more mail recipients, the mail items including on the mail item a destination address and a Postal Service Routing Bar Code, the method comprising:
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A) providing an incentive or request to one or more the mail item recipients to capture a digital image of at least a portion on the mail item received by that mail recipient, the capturing of the digital image performed by the mail item recipient utilizing the recipient own personal mobile communication device; B) decoding the Postal Service Routing Bar Code, from the captured one or more digital images of the mail item for obtaining identified sender information of the mail item; C) further decoding the Postal Service Routing Bar Code, from the captured one or more digital images of the mail item for obtaining identified recipient information of the received mail item; and D) transferring electronically to a central server apparatus, mail item information derived from the identified sender information and the identified recipient information. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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25. ) A method of collecting data from processing a number of mail items, the mail items each including a visible Written Sender Address appearing in either printed or hand-written form, and a visible Encoded Postal Routing Bar Code such as a United States Post Office Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB), each received mail item sent by a mail sender and received by an individual mail item recipient, the method comprising:
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A) the individual mail item recipient activating a camera of a personal mobile intelligent communications device to capture a digital image of the Written Sender Address and the Encoded Postal Routing Bar Code of the received mail item; B) the device processing the digital image and decoding the Encoded Postal Routing Bar Code to obtain Postal Routing Code Content comprising at least; i) a Mailer Identification Number of the mail item, and ii) a Recipient Sequence number of the mail item, or a Delivery Point ZIP code of the mail item; C) the device transferring electronically the Postal Routing Bar Code Content to a receiving centrally located server; and
,D) the receiving centrally located server processing the received Postal Routing Bar Code Content and formulating Mail Item Data and then storing the Mail Item Data for the number of the mail items into a database on the receiving central server or sending electronic information relating to the Mail Item data to a second central server.
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Specification