Method of and apparatus for shipping, tracking and delivering a shipment of packages employing the capture of shipping document images and recognition-processing thereof initiated from the point of shipment pickup and completed while the shipment is being transported to its first scanning point to facilitate early customs clearance processing and shorten the delivery time of packages to point of destination
First Claim
1. A method of shipping, tracking, and delivering a shipment of packages over an Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network including (i) a digital image capture and processing device with memory storage provided at a point of shipment pickup, (ii) at least a first scanning point capable of scanning packages in said shipment and routing said packages to a point of destination, (iii) sorting and routing hubs located along routes leading to said point of destination, and (iv) a central processing station having a network application server and a database management system (DBMS) operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and wherein said shipment of packages has an original shipping document assigned an original shipment tracking number, and each package in said shipment has an original shipping label containing said original shipment tracking number, said method comprising the steps:
- (A) at said point of shipment pickup,(i) using said digital image capture and processing device to automatically capture a digital image of said original shipping document in connection with said shipment of packages, and then buffering said digital image in the memory storage of said digital image capture and processing device;
(ii) automatically processing said buffered digital image so as to read machine-readable information graphically represented in said digital image of said original shipping document, and produce data representative of said machine-readable information and a digital image file for said digital image of the original shipping document;
(iii) automatically encoding said data into said digital image file; and
(iv) transmitting said digital image file over said Internet to said network application server, and storing said digital image file in said DBMS; and
(B) while said shipment is being transported from said point of shipment pickup to said first scanning point,(i) recognition processing said stored digital image file to read shipping information graphically represented in said digital image file,(ii) storing said extracted shipping information in said DBMS, and(iii) using said shipping information stored in said DBMS to facilitate the start of early customs clearance processing so as to thereby shorten the delivery time of said shipment of packages to said point of destination.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method of and an Internet-based network for shipping, tracking and delivering a shipment of packages from a point of shipment pickup to point of destination. At the point of shipment pickup, digital images of the shipping documents are captured and processed to extract the original shipment tracking number and optionally shipping information. This information is automatically encoded into digital image files prior to transmission to an application server, and stored in a shipping information DBMS. While the shipment of packages is in transit, from the point of shipment pickup to the first scanning point in the Internet-based network, early customs clearance of the shipment is initiated and facilitated to speed up delivery of the package shipment to the point of destination.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of shipping, tracking, and delivering a shipment of packages over an Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network including (i) a digital image capture and processing device with memory storage provided at a point of shipment pickup, (ii) at least a first scanning point capable of scanning packages in said shipment and routing said packages to a point of destination, (iii) sorting and routing hubs located along routes leading to said point of destination, and (iv) a central processing station having a network application server and a database management system (DBMS) operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and wherein said shipment of packages has an original shipping document assigned an original shipment tracking number, and each package in said shipment has an original shipping label containing said original shipment tracking number, said method comprising the steps:
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(A) at said point of shipment pickup, (i) using said digital image capture and processing device to automatically capture a digital image of said original shipping document in connection with said shipment of packages, and then buffering said digital image in the memory storage of said digital image capture and processing device; (ii) automatically processing said buffered digital image so as to read machine-readable information graphically represented in said digital image of said original shipping document, and produce data representative of said machine-readable information and a digital image file for said digital image of the original shipping document; (iii) automatically encoding said data into said digital image file; and (iv) transmitting said digital image file over said Internet to said network application server, and storing said digital image file in said DBMS; and (B) while said shipment is being transported from said point of shipment pickup to said first scanning point, (i) recognition processing said stored digital image file to read shipping information graphically represented in said digital image file, (ii) storing said extracted shipping information in said DBMS, and (iii) using said shipping information stored in said DBMS to facilitate the start of early customs clearance processing so as to thereby shorten the delivery time of said shipment of packages to said point of destination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An Internet-based network for shipping, tracking, and delivering a shipment of packages from a point of shipment pickup to a point of destination, wherein said shipment of packages has an original shipping document assigned an original shipment tracking number, and each package in said shipment has an original shipping label containing said original shipment tracking number comprising:
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a digital image capture and processing device with memory storage provided at said point of shipment pickup; at least a first scanning point capable of scanning packages in said shipment and routing said packages to said point of destination; sorting and routing hubs located along routes leading to said point of destination; a central processing station having a network application server; and a database management system (DBMS) operably connected to said network application server and the infrastructure of the Internet; wherein at said point of shipment pickup, said digital image capture and processing device is used to automatically capture a digital image of an original shipping document in connection with said shipment of packages, and then buffer said digital image in the memory storage of said digital image capture and processing device, wherein said buffered digital image is automatically processing so as to read machine-readable information graphically represented in said digital image of the original shipping document, and produce data representative of said machine-readable information and a digital image file for said digital image of the original shipping document; wherein said data is automatically encoded into said digital image file; and wherein said digital image file is transmitted over said Internet to said network application server, and said digital image file is stored in said DBMS; and wherein while said shipment is being transported from said point of shipment pickup to said first scanning point, said stored digital image file is recognition processed to read shipping information graphically represented in said digital image file, said extracted shipping information is stored in said DBMS, and shipping information stored in said DBMS is used to facilitate the start of early customs clearance processing so as to thereby shorten the delivery time of said shipment of packages to said point of destination. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification