Method of electronically consolidating mail items

• US 7,739,200 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2005
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Original Assignee: Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Inventors: Gilham, Dennis
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes; John W
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLYNN, KEVIN H
• Application Number:
  US11/233,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20060136346A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,727 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1
• US Class Current: 705/332
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00024 Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00435 Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00112 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00451 Address hygiene, i.e. checking and correcting addresses to be printed on mail pieces using address databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00588 Barcode
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00629 Circuit, e.g. transponder

Abstract

A method of electronically consolidating mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration, including consolidating files received from senders into a single consolidation file; each file containing a unique identity code and an address of a destination of each mail item; sending a collection order to a mail item collection service so that a collection employee collects the mail items to be sent from the various senders, each mail item being affixed with the unique identity code for the purpose of identifying both the sender and the mail item; receiving, via a wireless telecommunications network, said unique identity code borne by each mail item; taking delivery of the mail items and printing a bar code onto each of them; and sending the single consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration.

Claims

1. A method of electronically consolidating mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration that handles delivery of said mail items to their destinations, said method comprising:

consolidating files received from the plurality of the senders into a single consolidation file in a central database associated with a remote central server of a third party entity;

wherein each file contains, for each mail item, a unique identity code and an address of a destination of said mail item;

sending a collection order to a mail item collection service so that a collection employee collects the mail items to be sent from the plurality of senders, each mail item being affixed with the unique identity code for the purpose of identifying both the sender and the mail item,

during collecting of the mail items from the plurality of senders, inputting said unique identity code borne by each mail item at a portable input and transmission means and transmitting said unique identity code to said remote central server from said portable input and transmission means, via a wireless telecommunications network;

comparing said unique identity codes received at said remote central server with the unique identity codes that are present in said consolidation file;

informing a sender of the plurality of senders of any omitted mail item or error in the consolidation file based on the comparing of the unique identity codes;

once collection is finished, taking delivery of the mail items and, at said third party entity, printing a bar code onto each of the mail items for the purpose of facilitating subsequent sorting of the mail items by the postal administration; and

after informing the sender of the any omitted item or errors, sending said single consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the consolidating the files received from all of the senders is started at a predetermined time.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising, at the central server, checking said destination addresses on the basis of a central database which contains a list of valid addresses.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of invoicing the senders while taking account of the individual discounts linked to the bulk handling of the mail that is thus brought to the postal administration.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said unique identity code is a succession of alphanumeric characters or a bar code that is one-dimensional or two dimensional.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said unique identity code is written in an RFID tag stuck to the mail item.

9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the unique identity code is the succession of alphanumeric characters and is of the OCR type.

7. A logistics system for carrying and monitoring mail items between a plurality of senders and a postal administration that handles delivery of the mail items to their destinations, said method comprising the following organized around a network:

a plurality of computers, each of which is associated with a determined sender for creating, in a database, a mail item consignment file that, for each mail item to be sent, contains firstly a unique identity code that identifies both the sender and the mail item, and secondly the destination address;

a remote central server of a third party entity for receiving said mail item consignment files from said plurality of computers and via said network, for consolidating the received files into a single consolidation file, for sending a collection order to a collection service for having the mail items collected from each of the senders, for using print means to print at least one bar code on each of the mail items once delivery has been taken of said mail items, for sending said unique consolidation file to a server of the postal administration and for sending a hand-over order for handing over the mail items to a collection office of the postal administration, and for receiving, via the network, said unique identity code borne by each mail item from the mail item collection service; and

a portable input and transmission means that transmits said unique identity code borne by each mail item to said remote central server via a wireless telecommunications network;

wherein the central server compares said unique identity codes received at said central server with the unique identity codes that are present in said consolidation file, and informs a sender of the plurality of senders of any omitted mail item or error in the consolidation file based a comparison of the unique identity codes before a collection employee delivers the mail items to said third party entity.

8. A logistics system for carrying and monitoring mail items according to claim 7, further comprising input means for reading said single identity code borne by each mail item and for transmitting it to said central server via a wireless telecommunications network.