Method and system for routing hardcopy mail

• US 7,349,853 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2001
• Issued: 03/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hill, Clark Thurston
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss; John G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CASLER, TRACI
• Application Number:
  US09/966,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20030065629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,370 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/401, 705/408, 705/410, 705/60, 705/500
• US Class Current: 705/60
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00

Abstract

A method and system for routing hardcopy mail is provided. Specifically, a recipient is assigned a unique identifier. The recipient can electronically designate a mailing address to be associated with the assigned identifier. A sender wishing to send the recipient a piece of hardcopy mail can obtain the recipient'"'"'s identifier and affix the same to the piece of hardcopy mail. The identifier will be read and the piece of hardcopy mail will be routed to the recipient at the mailing address associated therewith.

Claims

1. A method for routing hardcopy mail, comprising

providing a unique identifier for a recipient, in response to entry of a mailing address of the recipient in a routing system

electronically associating the mailing address, provided by the recipient, with the identifier in the routing system, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a physical location of the recipient;

providing the identifier to a sender for affixing to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system;

retrieving the associated mailing address corresponding to the identifier from a referencing system of the routing system by a postal machine system, the retrieving using only the identifier; and

routing the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the most current associated mailing address, wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising electronically editing the associated mailing address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the piece of hardcopy mail is routed to the recipient at the edited mailing address.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a machine readable code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the machine readable code is a bar code.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sending the associated mailing address to the postal machine for routing the piece of hardcopy mail, prior to the routing step.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the associated mailing address is sent in response to a request by the machine, and wherein the request includes an identifier value corresponding to the identifier.

8. A method for routing hardcopy mail, comprising:

providing a unique identifier for a recipient;

in response to entry of a mailing address of the recipient in a routing system

electronically associating the mailing address, provided by the recipient, with the identifier in the routing system, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a physical location of the recipient;

providing the identifier to a sender for affixing to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address and submitting the piece of hardcopy mail to a machine, wherein the providing is in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system; and

retrieving the associated mailing address corresponding to the identifier from a referencing system of the routing system by a postal machine system, the retrieving using only the identifier; and

routing the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the most current associated mailing address, wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

retrieving the mailing address corresponding to the identifier from a referencing system of the routing system to the machine, using only the identifier; and

providing the most current mailing address to the machine, wherein the machine can read the identifier and route the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the associated mailing address and wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifier is a machine readable code.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the machine readable code is a bar code.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the mailing address is a physical postal address.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the machine is a postal machine.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of electronically editing the associated mailing address and electronically associating the edited mailing address with the identifier, prior to retrieving the most current mailing address.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the most current mailing address is the edited mailing address.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the request includes an identifier value corresponding to the identifier.

16. A method for routing hardcopy mail, comprising the:

providing a unique identifier for a recipient, in response to entry of a mailing address of the recipient in a routing system

electronically associating the mailing address, provided by the recipient, with the identifier in the routing system, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a location of the recipient;

providing the identifier to a sender for affixing to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system;

electronically editing the associated mailing address;

electronically associating the edited mailing address with the identifier; and

sending the edited mailing address to a machine through a referencing system of the routing system by retrieving the edited mailing address using only the identifier, wherein the machine can read the identifier and route the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the edited mailing address and wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the identifier is a machine readable code.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the machine readable code is a bar code.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the edited mailing address is sent in response to a request by the machine, and wherein the request includes an identifier value corresponding to the identifier.

20. A system for routing hardcopy mail, comprising:

a recipient interface for electronically associating a mailing address, provided by a recipient, with a unique identifier for the recipient in a routing system, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a location of the recipient;

a sender interface for outputting the identifier to a sender in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system, wherein the identifier is affixable to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address;

a cross-reference system for retrieving the associated mailing address using only the identifier; and

a routing system for outputting the associated mailing address to a machine for the mailing address corresponding to the identifier, the machine routing the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the associated mailing address, wherein the machine can read the identifier and route the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the associated mailing address and wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the mailing address is a physical postal address.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the machine is a postal machine.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the unique identifier is a machine readable code.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the machine readable code is a bar code.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the recipient interface allows the associated mailing address to be edited and electronically associated with the identifier.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the cross-reference system retrieves an edited mailing address and the routing system outputs the edited mailing address to the machine, wherein the machine can read the identifier and route the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the edited address.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein the associated mailing address is outputted in response to a request that includes an identifier value corresponding to the identifier.

28. A system for routing hardcopy mail, comprising:

a recipient interface for electronically designating a mailing address for a recipient in a routing system, provided by the recipient, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a location of the recipient;

a sender interface for outputting a unique identifier corresponding to the recipient to a sender in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system, wherein the identifier is affixable to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address;

a cross-reference system for retrieving the designated mailing address using only the identifier; and

a routing system for outputting the designated mailing address to a machine in response to a request from the machine for the designated mailing address corresponding to the identifier, wherein the machine reads the identifier and routes the corresponding piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the designated mailing address and wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the request includes a value corresponding to the identifier.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the address is a physical postal address.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the machine is a postal machine.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifier is a machine readable code.

33. A program product stored on a computer usable medium for routing hardcopy mail, the computer usable medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to perform the following steps:

electronically associating a mailing address, provided by a recipient, with a unique identifier for the recipient, the mailing address comprising all information necessary for routing the hardcopy mail to a location of the recipient;

outputting the identifier to a sender in response to a search by the sender for the identifier in the routing system, wherein the identifier is affixable to a piece of hardcopy mail in lieu of the mailing address; and

retrieving from the routing system the associated mailing address using only the identifier; and

outputting the associated mailing address from a referencing system of the routing system to a machine associated to a referencing system, wherein the machine can read the identifier and route the piece of hardcopy mail to the recipient at the associated mailing address and wherein the retrieving obviates a request to a computer.

34. The program product of claim 33, wherein the associated mailing address is outputted in response to a request that includes an identifier value corresponding to the identifier.