SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR PROVIDING CUSTOMIZED COMMUNICATION CONTENT IN CONJUNCTION WITH TRANSPORT OF A PLURALITY OF PACKAGES

• US 20150066798A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Campbell, Randy, Gillen, Robert J., Grimes, Jessica Catherine, Alery, David Daniel, Molvik, David Louis, Phung, Du
• Granted Patent: US 10,354,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/336
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

According to various embodiments, system, methods and computer program products are configured for providing at least one customized communication to a recipient of one or more packages shipped by a consignor via a common carrier. One or more computer processors are configured to: receive at least a portion of customized content; retrieve at least a portion of consignee data, the portion comprising one or more parameters established by the recipient; compare the one or more components of the customized content with the one or more parameters established by the recipient so as to identify one or more correlations there-between; in response to identifying at least one correlation, generate at least one customized communication for provision to the recipient, the at least one customized communication containing at least a portion of the customized content; and in response to identifying no correlations, generate at least one standard communication containing no customized content.

Claims

1. A system for providing at least one customized communication to a recipient of one or more packages shipped by a consignor via a common carrier, said system comprising:

one or more memory storage areas containing at least consignor data associated with the consignor and an account established thereby with the common carrier, and consignee data associated with the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor; and

one or more computer processors configured to;

(A) receive at least a portion of customized content, said portion comprising one or more components associated with at least one request for the provision of customized content to the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor;

(B) retrieve at least a portion of the consignee data, said portion comprising one or more parameters established by the recipient, said one or more parameters being indicative of one or more general preferences of the recipient for receipt of customized content;

(C) compare said one or more components of said customized content with said one or more parameters established by the recipient so as to identify one or more correlations there-between;

(D) in response to identifying at least one correlation between said one or more components and said one or more parameters, based at least in part thereon, generate at least one customized communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one customized communication containing thereon at least a portion of the customized content; and

(E) in response to identifying no correlations between said one or more components and said one or more parameters, based at least in part thereon, generate at least one standard communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one standard communication containing thereon no customized content.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

said one or more components of said customized content comprise an identification of at least one medium through which said consignor wishes to communicate said customized content to said recipient;

said one or more parameters established by the recipient comprise an identification of at least one medium through which said recipient wishes to receive customized communication; and

said one or more correlations identified between said one or more components and said one or more parameters comprise at least one medium indicated by both said consignor and said recipient.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said at least one medium comprises at least one of an electronic message, a label placed onto said one or more packages, or a surface portion of said one or more packages.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

said one or more components of said customized content comprise a variety of types of information;

said one or more parameters established by the recipient comprise an identification of a variety of types of information that said recipient deems acceptable to receive via customized communication; and

said one or more correlations identified between said one or more components and said one or more parameters comprise at least one of said variety of types of information indicated by both said consignor and said recipient.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said variety of types of information comprise at least one of a promotional name, a promotional header, a promotional message, a consignor logo, a URL associated with the consignor logo, or a URL text string.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the at least one identified correlation comprises an exact match between said one or more components and said one or more parameters; and

said at least one customized communication is generated without further adjustment thereto.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the at least one identified correlation comprises a partial match between said one or more components and said one or more parameters; and

said at least one customized communication is at least partially adjusted prior to generation thereof.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said at least partial adjustment comprises a removal of at least one component of said customized content, said at least one component being identified as impermissible within the one or more parameters established by the recipient.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein, prior to generating said at least one customized communication, the one or more computer processors are further configured to:

retrieve at least a portion of carrier data, the portion of carrier data being stored within the one or more memory storage areas and being associated with one or more business rules defined by the common carrier;

compare said one or more components of said customized content with the retrieved portion of carrier data so as to identify whether any discrepancies exist there-between;

in response to identifying no discrepancies, approve said customized content for placement on customized communications associated with the common carrier; and

in response to identifying at least one discrepancy, prevent generation of said customized content on one or more packages shipped via the common carrier.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said one or more business rules comprise content-based restrictions upon at least one of one or more types of messages or language contained therein.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein said one or more business rules comprise one or more regulatory requirements imposed upon said common carrier.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein, upon said generation of said at least one customized communication, said one or more computer processors are further configured to facilitate transmission of the at least one customized communication containing the customized content to said recipient.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said at least one customized communication is an electronic alert message transmitted to said recipient.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein:

said transmission of said electronic alert message is based at least in part upon occurrence of a specific event during transport of said one or more packages; and

said one or more computer processors are further configured to generate said electronic alert message for provision to the recipient only upon occurrence of the specific event.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said electronic alert message comprises a “

Late Delivery”

notification.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein said at least one customized communication is located on a label placed upon said one or more packages being transported to said recipient.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said customized communication is embedded within at least one symbol placed upon said label, such that said customized communication is readable via an electronic device.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein said customized content is configured to be electronically sharable with one or more parties by said recipient thereof.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein upon said generation of said at least one customized communication and prior to said facilitation of transmission of the at least one customized communication containing the customized content to said recipient, said one or more computer processors are further configured to automatically generate a preliminary rendering of said customized communication and transmit the same to at least the consignor.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the received portion of customized content comprises one or more components associated with at least two requests for the provision of customized content to the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor; and

the one or more computer processors are further configured to;

retrieve at least a portion of the consignor data, said portion comprising one or more business rules established by the consignor, the business rules defining a hierarchy for placement of customized content upon customized communications; and

compare the at least two requests for the provision of customized content against the retrieved one or more business rules so as to determine which of the at least two requests takes priority based at least in part upon the defined hierarchy for placement.

21. A computer-implemented method for providing at least one customized communication to a recipient of one or more packages shipped by a consignor via a common carrier, said method comprising the steps of:

(A) receiving and storing within one or more memory storage areas consignor data associated with the consignor and an account established thereby with the common carrier, and consignee data associated with the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor;

(B) receiving at least a portion of customized content, said portion comprising one or more components associated with at least one request for the provision of customized content to the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor;

(C) retrieving, via at least one computer processor, at least a portion of the consignee data, said portion comprising one or more parameters established by the recipient, said one or more parameters being indicative of one or more general preferences of the recipient for receipt of customized content;

(D) comparing, via the at least one computer processor, said one or more components of said customized content with said one or more parameters established by the recipient so as to identify one or more correlations there-between;

(E) in response to identifying at least one correlation between said one or more components and said one or more parameters, based at least in part thereon, generating, via the at least one computer processor, at least one customized communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one customized communication containing thereon at least a portion of the customized content; and

(F) in response to identifying no correlations between said one or more components and said one or more parameters, based at least in part thereon, generating, via the at least one computer processor, at least one standard communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one standard communication containing thereon no customized content.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein:

said one or more components of said customized content comprise an identification of at least one medium through which said consignor wishes to communicate said customized content to said recipient;

said one or more parameters established by the recipient comprise an identification of at least one medium through which said recipient wishes to receive customized communication; and

said one or more correlations identified between said one or more components and said one or more parameters comprise at least one medium indicated by both said consignor and said recipient.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein:

said one or more components of said customized content comprise a variety of types of information;

said one or more parameters established by the recipient comprise an identification of a variety of types of information that said recipient deems acceptable to receive via customized communication; and

said one or more correlations identified between said one or more components and said one or more parameters comprise at least one of said variety of types of information indicated by both said consignor and said recipient.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein:

the at least one identified correlation comprises a partial match between said one or more components and said one or more parameters; and

said method further comprises the step of at least partially adjusting, via the at least one computer processor, at least one customized communication prior to generation thereof, said at least partially adjusting of said at least one customized communication comprising a removal of at least one component of said customized content, said at least one component being identified as impermissible within the one or more parameters established by the recipient.

25. The method according to claim 21, further comprising, prior to generating said at least one customized communication, the steps of:

retrieving, via the one or more computer processors, at least a portion of carrier data, the portion of carrier data being stored within the one or more memory storage areas and being associated with one or more business rules defined by the common carrier;

comparing, via the one or more computer processors, said one or more components of said customized content with the retrieved portion of carrier data so as to identify whether any discrepancies exist there-between;

in response to identifying no discrepancies, approving, via the one or more computer processors, said customized content for placement on customized communications associated with the common carrier; and

in response to identifying at least one discrepancy, preventing, via the one or more computer processors, generation of said customized content on one or more packages shipped via the common carrier.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein said one or more business rules comprise at least one of:

(1) one or more content-based restrictions imposed by said common carrier;

or (2) one or more regulatory requirements imposed upon said common carrier.

27. The method according to claim 21, wherein, upon said generation of said at least one customized communication, said method further comprises the steps of:

automatically generating, via the one or more computer processors, a preliminary rendering of said customized communication;

transmitting the preliminary rendering of said customized communication to at least the consignor for approval thereof; and

upon receipt of consignor approval of the preliminary rendering, finalizing and facilitating transmission of the at least one customized communication containing the customized content to said recipient.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said transmission of the at least one customized communication is via at least one of an electronic message or a package label associated with one or more packages being transported by the common carrier to the recipient.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the received portion of customized content comprises one or more components associated with at least two requests for the provision of customized content to the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor; and

the method further comprises the steps of;

retrieving at least a portion of the consignor data, said portion comprising one or more business rules established by the consignor, the business rules defining a hierarchy for placement of customized content upon customized communications; and

comparing, via the one or more computer processors, the at least two requests for the provision of customized content against the retrieved one or more business rules so as to determine which of the at least two requests takes priority based at least in part upon the defined hierarchy for placement.

30. A non-transitory computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions embodied therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured for receiving a plurality of data, wherein said data comprises consignor data associated with the consignor and an account established thereby with the common carrier, and consignee data associated with the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor

an executable portion configured for receiving at least a portion of customized content, said portion comprising one or more components associated with at least one request for the provision of customized content to the recipient of the one or more packages shipped by the consignor and for retrieving at least a portion of the consignee data, said portion comprising one or more parameters established by the recipient, said one or more parameters being indicative of one or more general preferences of the recipient for receipt of customized content;

an executable portion configured for comparing said one or more components of said customized content with said one or more parameters established by the recipient so as to identify one or more correlations there-between;

an executable portion configured for, in response to identifying at least one correlation between said one or more components and said one or more parameters and based at least in part thereon, generating at least one customized communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one customized communication containing thereon at least a portion of the customized content; and

an executable portion configured for, in response to identifying no correlations between said one or more components and said one or more parameters and based at least in part thereon, generating at least one standard communication for provision to the recipient, said at least one standard communication containing thereon no customized content.