Audio proof of delivery system and method
First Claim
1. An item tracking system comprising:
- identification indicia capturing means for capturing identification indicia related to an item;
voice verification capturing means for capturing spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item; and
electronic storing means positioned in electrical communication with said identification indicia capturing means and said voice verification capturing means for electronically storing the captured spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item and the associated captured identification indicia to provide audio proof of delivery of the item.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A portable item tracking unit includes a bar code reader for capturing a bar code related to an item, a microphone for capturing an audio identification from a recipient of an item, and a memory. The memory associatively electronically stores a digital signal related to the audio identification along with a digital representation of bar code data to provide audio proof of delivery of the item. A display and a speaker may respectively display the stored bar code related to the item and audibly broadcast the electronically stored audio identification for the item. A user input is preferably included for verifying that the input of the bar code and the audio identification is satisfactory. A transferring circuit transfers the electronically stored bar code and the electronically stored audio identification to a host computer. The host computer includes its own memory for associatively storing a plurality of digital identification indicia having a respective plurality of digital audio identifications for a corresponding plurality of items. A consumer can then access the host computer via a telephone network. After the host computer accepts selection of an item, a reconstruction circuit converts the digital identification indicia and the digital audio identification for the selected item into first and second audible messages. A transmitter may then transmit the first and second audible messages to provide audio proof of delivery of the item.
148 Citations
44 Claims
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1. An item tracking system comprising:
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identification indicia capturing means for capturing identification indicia related to an item; voice verification capturing means for capturing spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item; and electronic storing means positioned in electrical communication with said identification indicia capturing means and said voice verification capturing means for electronically storing the captured spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item and the associated captured identification indicia to provide audio proof of delivery of the item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An item tracking system comprising:
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bar code reader for capturing a bar code related to an item; a first converter electrically connected to said bar code reader for converting the captured bar code into a digital representation of bar code data; a microphone for obtaining spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item and for converting the audio identification into an electrical signal; a second converter electrically connected to said microphone means for converting the electrical signal from said microphone into a digital electrical signal representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item; a memory electrically connected to said first and second converters for associatively storing the digital electrical signal representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item with the digital representation of bar code data related to the item received by the recipient to provide audio proof of delivery of the item; a display electrically connected to said memory for displaying the stored digital representation of bar code data related to the item; and a speaker electrically connected to said memory for audibly broadcasting the stored digital electrical signal representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by the recipient of the item. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. An item tracking system comprising:
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memory means for associatively storing a plurality of digital representations of identification indicia with a respective plurality of digital representations of audio identifications representing spoken audio identification information spoken by a recipient of an item for a corresponding plurality of items; selection accepting means for accepting selection of one of the plurality of items; reconstruction means electrically connected to said memory means and responsive to said selection accepting means for converting the digital identification indicia for the selected item into a first audible message and for converting the digital representation of the audio identification representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by a recipient of the selected item into a second audible message; and transmission means connected to said reconstruction means for transmitting the first and second audible messages to provide audio proof of delivery of the item. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An item tracking method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining identification indicia related to an item; electronically storing a representation of the identification indicia related to the item; prompting a recipient of the item to speak an audible identification message; and electronically storing the spoken audible identification message to provide audio proof of delivery for the item. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An item tracking method comprising the steps of:
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associatively electronically storing a plurality of digital representations of identification indicia, with a respective plurality of digital representations of audio identifications representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by a recipient of an item, for a corresponding plurality of items; accepting selection of one of the plurality of items; converting a digital representation of an identification indicia for the selected item into a first audible message; converting a digital representation of an audio identification representing the spoken audio identification information spoken by a recipient of the selected item into a second audible message; and transmitting the first and second audible messages to provide audio proof of delivery of the item. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification