Accepting query that includes at least a portion of address without shipping identifier for tracking, delivery of shipment in computer network

• US 6,931,388 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2003
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ConfirmDelivery.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: M.A.I.L., Inc. (bpost SA)
• Inventors: Robbins, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): CHANNAVAJJALA, SRIRAMA T
• Application Number:
  US10/414,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20030182265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-205, 709201-215, 713200-202, 705 1- 35, 705 60- 65, 342/357.07, 702/128, 235375-382, 235/385, 209/584, 700213-230
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 15/006 Shipping forms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A novel tracking system is disclosed. In one embodiment, users obtain access to tracking information by entering a destination address in a query. In another embodiment, package shippers are given a “shipper password” and a “recipient password.” In this embodiment, the shipper may query the system with the shipper password to track all packages it has sent, and the recipient may query the system with the recipient password (and, optionally, one or more portions of the recipient'"'"'s address information) to track all packages that the shipper has sent to that address. Different amounts of detail may be shown to shippers and recipients. In another embodiment, a service bureau may accept packages from shippers, collect information about the packages, process queries by shippers and recipients, and track packages that it handles using a separate “service bureau password.”

Claims

1. A method of providing tracking information based on electronic queries between networked computers, comprising:

providing for delivery of a shipment to an address, the shipment corresponding to a shipping identifier different from the address;

accepting an electronic query that includes at least a portion of the address without the shipping identifier; and

automatically responding to the query by providing tracking data regarding the shipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the provided tracking data comprises the identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the provided tracking data comprises information about at least one tracking event involving the shipment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information about the at least one tracking event comprises the date of the at least one event.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information about the at least one tracking event further comprises the time of the at least one event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic query includes a postal code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic query includes a street number or post office box number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic query further includes a date; and

the provided tracking data is limited based on the date.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic query further includes a password; and

the provided tracking data is limited based on the password.

10. A method of tracking shipments via a network of computers, comprising:

providing a shipper password associated with a shipper;

providing a recipient password associated with the shipper;

accepting a first shipment from the shipper for delivery to a first recipient having first location information;

accepting a second shipment from the shipper for delivery to a second recipient having second location information;

responding to a first electronic query by providing electronic access to data describing tracking events concerning the first shipment and tracking events concerning the second shipment, where the first electronic query includes the shipper password;

responding to a second electronic query by providing electronic access to data describing tracking events concerning the first shipment, where the second query includes the recipient password and the first location information; and

responding to a third electronic query by providing electronic access to data describing tracking events concerning the second shipment, where the third electronic query includes the recipient password and the second location information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein

the responding to a first electronic query comprises providing data about a first set of tracking events;

the responding to a second electronic query comprises providing data about a second set of tracking events; and

the second set of tracking events is a proper subset of the first set of tracking events.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first location information in the second electronic query comprises a postal code or ZIP code.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first location information in the second electronic query comprises at least one of a street number and a post office box number.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing to a service bureau a service bureau code; and

responding to a fourth electronic query by providing electronic access to data describing tracking events concerning shipments sent via the service bureau, where the fourth electronic query includes the service bureau code.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the shipments sent via the service bureau include both:

shipments sent by the shipper, and

shipments sent by someone other than the shipper.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

responding to a fifth electronic query by denying electronic access to data describing tracking events, where the fifth electronic query includes the recipient password but fails to include a predetermined threshold amount of the recipient location information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the threshold amount of the recipient location information comprises a postal code or ZIP code.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the threshold amount of the recipient location information comprises at least one of a street number or a post office box number.

19. A system for providing shipment status information via digital communication, comprising:

a server having access to a database comprising;

a table of shipment data sets, each shipment data set comprising one of a number of shipper identifiers, recipient location data, and tracking data related to a shipment; and

a table of shipper data sets, each comprising one of a number of unique shipper passwords, a recipient password, and a shipper identifier;

the server being automatically responsive to;

a first electronic query that includes one of the shipper passwords to provide only shipment data sets corresponding to the one of the shipper passwords; and

a second electronic query that includes one of the recipient passwords and corresponding recipient location information to provide only shipment data sets corresponding to both (1) the one of the recipient passwords and (2) the corresponding recipient location information.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

an interfacing means for accepting input from a user, formulating the query from the input, and formatting the response for display.

21. A system for providing shipment status information via digital electronic communication over a network of computers, comprising:

a network node in communication with a tracking information server;

a transmission line in communication with the network node and with an access facility;

a digital query signal carried by the transmission line, the query signal comprising address data; and

a digital response signal carried by the transmission line, the response signal representing data from the tracking information server about tracking events, wherein

the tracking events are related to a package being transported to an address corresponding to the address data,

the package has a tracking identifier, and

the query signal does not contain the tracking identifier.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the query signal further comprises date information; and

the tracking data is limited by the date information.

23. An apparatus, comprising

a computer readable medium encoded with programming instructions for a query-response routine that provides information about tracking events,

the programming instructions being executable to generate, in response to a user providing a password and at least a portion of a destination address for a shipment, an output corresponding to information about tracking events for the shipment.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, the programming instructions being executable also to generate an electronic response to an electronic query, where

the electronic query includes the second password but no package identifier and no recipient location information, and

the electronic response includes no tracking information.

25. A method of managing tracking information for packages being shipped, comprising:

accepting a plurality of packages for delivery from a plurality of shippers;

providing a different password to each of the plurality of shippers; and

providing access to tracking event and billing information for some of the plurality of packages, comprising

accepting entry of a first particular password;

determining that the first particular password was provided to a first particular shipper in the plurality of shippers;

limiting the access to tracking events and billing information to that related to those of the plurality of packages accepted from the first particular shipper;

wherein the billing information comprises shipping charges for a selected plurality of packages.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein at least a first one of the tracking events is an acceptance event.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein at least a second one of the tracking events is a delivery event.

28. A method of providing limited access to information about package tracking events, comprising:

providing a first password to the shipper of a package;

providing a second password to the addressee of the package;

providing a first user interface usable to search tracking information regarding the package in response to the first password; and

providing a second user interface usable to search tracking information regarding the package in response to the second password;

wherein the first user interface and the second user interface comprise different sets of user interface elements.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein:

the first user interface enables searching for package tracking information using a first set of query parameters;

the second user interface enables searching for package tracking information using a second set of query parameters; and

the first set of query parameters and the second set of query parameters are different.