Shipment Planning

• US 20160042319A1
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BCC Software, LLC
• Original Assignee: Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Inventors: Mauch, Kimberly Michelle
• Granted Patent: US 10,607,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data

Abstract

Systems and techniques are provided for generating a drop plan for a mailing containing a plurality of mailpieces. Tracking data may be received for mailings sent by a plurality of mailers, and estimated delivery times determined based upon the tracking data. A mailer may specify a delivery goal for a mailing and, based upon the estimated delivery times and the delivery goal, a drop plan for the mailing may be generated, which specifies at least one drop location for at least a portion of the mailing. The mailer also may modify the drop plan, such as by specifying additional constraints, modified attributes of the drop plan, additional or updated goals for the mailing, or the like.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a forecast system and from a customer, at least one desired delivery goal for an automation mailing of a first plurality of mailpieces for the customer;

receiving, at the forecast system, tracking data for automation mailings of a second plurality of mailpieces sent by a first plurality of mailers, the tracking data obtained from automatically-scanned computer-readable indicia disposed on each of the second plurality of mailpieces;

determining, by the forecast system and based on the tracking data, estimated delivery times between locations;

generating, by the forecast system and based on the estimated delivery times and the at least one desired delivery goal, a drop plan for the automation mailing of the first plurality of mailpieces, the drop plan including, for each portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces, a drop date; and

transmitting, from the forecast system and to a specific mailer, the drop plan, the drop plan having a form configured to be received by a control system of a commercial printer of the specific mailer and to be used by the control system to control operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is the specific mailer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one desired delivery goal comprises at least one of a desired delivery date, a desired cost, a desired discount, or a desired delivery speed of the automation mailing of the first plurality of mailpieces.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of mailers includes mailers other than the customer and the specific mailer and tracking data for automation mailings of the second plurality of mailpieces sent by the mailers other than the customer and the specific mailer are inaccessible by the customer and the specific mailer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking data include at least one of tracking data for a first portion of the automation mailings of the second plurality of mailpieces that have arrived at destinations or tracking data for a second portion of the automation mailings of the second plurality of mailpieces that are en route to the destinations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable indicia is selected from the group consisting of a barcode, a Quick Response (QR) code, and a radio-frequency identification tag.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the drop plan further includes, for the each portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces, a drop location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific mailer is a second plurality of mailers, each mailer of the second plurality of mailers is associated with at least one portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the form of the drop plan is in accordance with the Mail.dat®

specification.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the at least one desired delivery goal is performed before, after, or contemporaneously with the receiving the tracking data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the drop plan is configured to be used by the control system to control operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces in a manner that precludes a need to sort mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the drop plan is configured to be used by the control system to control operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces during a first duration of time, the first duration of time being longer than a second duration of time, the second duration of time being a duration of time of operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces in an absence of the drop plan.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer code for controlling a processor to cause the processor to execute instructions to:

receive, from a customer, at least one desired delivery goal for an automation mailing of a first plurality of mailpieces for the customer;

receive tracking data for automation mailings of a second plurality of mailpieces sent by a first plurality of mailers, the tracking data obtained from automatically-scanned computer-readable indicia disposed on each of the second plurality of mailpieces;

determine, based on the tracking data, estimated delivery times between locations;

generate, based on the estimated delivery times and the at least one desired delivery goal, a drop plan for the automation mailing of the first plurality of mailpieces, the drop plan including, for each portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces, a drop date; and

transmit, to a specific mailer, the drop plan, the drop plan having a form configured to be received by a control system of a commercial printer of the specific mailer and to be used by the control system to control operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces.

14. A system comprising:

an input circuit configured to receive, from a customer, at least one desired delivery goal for an automation mailing of a first plurality of mailpieces for the customer, and to receive tracking data for automation mailings of a second plurality of mailpieces sent by a first plurality of mailers, the tracking data obtained from automatically-scanned computer-readable indicia disposed on each of the second plurality of mailpieces;

a processor configured to determine, based on the tracking data, estimated delivery times between locations, and to generate, based on the estimated delivery times and the at least one desired delivery goal, a drop plan for the automation mailing of the first plurality of mailpieces, the drop plan including, for each portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces, a drop date; and

an output circuit configured to transmit, to a specific mailer, the drop plan, the drop plan having a form configured to be received by a control system of a commercial printer of the specific mailer and to be used by the control system to control operation of the commercial printer to print the first plurality of mailpieces.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the input circuit or the output circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one desired delivery goal comprises at least one of a desired delivery date, a desired cost, a desired discount, or a desired delivery speed of the automation mailing of the first plurality of mailpieces.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the tracking data include at least one of tracking data for a first portion of the automation mailings of the second plurality of mailpieces that have arrived at destinations or tracking data for a second portion of the automation mailings of the second plurality of mailpieces that are en route to the destinations.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer-readable indicia is selected from the group consisting of a barcode, a Quick Response (QR) code, and a radio-frequency identification tag.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the drop plan further includes, for the each portion of mailpieces of the first plurality of mailpieces, a drop location.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the form of the drop plan is in accordance with the Mail.dat®

specification.