Method and system for authenticating senders and recipients in a carrier system and providing receipt of specified content by a recipient

• US 8,291,239 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2009
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Pintsov, Leon A.
• Primary Examiner(s): LANIER, BENJAMIN E
• Application Number:
  US12/579,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 713/189, 705/406, 705/407
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00508 Printing or attaching on mailpieces printing mechanisms B41J; security printing B41M3/14; marking methods B41M5/00; inks C09D11/00; record carriers with at least a part designed to carry digital markings G06K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00661 Sensing or measuring mailpieces weighing G01G19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00733 Cryptography or similar special procedures in a franking system
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00443 Verification of mailpieces, e.g. by checking databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/0058 Printing of code
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00709 Scanning mailpieces
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00846 Key management

Abstract

Methods and systems for authenticating senders and recipients in a carrier system and providing receipt of specified content by a recipient are provided. A one-time recipient identification code is generated that can be entered into the delivery agent'"'"'s portable terminal. Data is protected against eavesdropping by encryption and by splitting cipher text and an encryption key into two parts that are not accessible to any single party except at the moment of the mail unit delivery.

Claims

1. A method for a mail processing system including a processing device to prepare a mail piece for sending to a recipient comprising:

obtaining by the processing device a plurality of data elements associated with the mail piece, the plurality of data elements including the recipient'"'"'s name, an identification number for the mail piece, and physical attributes of the mail piece;

combining, by the processing device, the plurality of data elements to form a data string;

encrypting the data string using a cryptographic key to form an encrypted ciphertext;

separating, by the processing device, the cryptographic key into a first key portion and a second key portion and the encrypted ciphertext into a first ciphertext portion and a second ciphertext portion;

printing the first ciphertext portion on at least one of the mail piece and a label to be applied to the mail piece;

electronically sending the first key portion to the recipient; and

electronically sending the second key portion, the second ciphertext portion and the identification number for the mail piece to a data center for storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein encrypting the data string further comprises:

generating, by the processing device, a cryptographic key; and

using the generated cryptographic key to encrypt the data string to form the encrypted ciphertext.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data elements further includes the recipient'"'"'s address and a description of the mail piece'"'"'s contents.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein printing the first ciphertext portion further comprises:

printing the first ciphertext portion in a machine readable format on at least one of the mail piece and a label to be applied to the mail piece.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein printing the first ciphertext portion further comprises:

printing the recipient'"'"'s name, the recipient'"'"'s address and the identification number for the mail piece on the mail piece or a label to be applied to the mail piece.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first key portion is a combination for an electronic lock of a storage receptacle into which the mail piece will be delivered.

7. A method of verifying proper delivery of a mail piece being delivered by a carrier from a sender to a recipient using a portable wireless device, the method comprising:

receiving by the portable wireless device an identification number for the mail piece and a first portion of an encrypted ciphertext that are provided on the mail piece;

electronically sending the received identification number to a data center;

electronically receiving from the data center a second portion of an encrypted ciphertext and a first portion of a cryptographic key;

combining, by the portable wireless device, the first portion of the encrypted ciphertext and the second portion of the encrypted ciphertext to form a complete encrypted ciphertext;

receiving, in the portable wireless device, a second portion of the cryptographic key from the recipient;

combining, in the portable wireless device, the first portion of the cryptographic key and the second portion of the cryptographic key to form a complete cryptographic key;

decrypting, by the portable wireless device, the complete encrypted ciphertext using the complete cryptographic key to form a plaintext message, the plaintext message including at least a portion of the recipient'"'"'s name, an identification number for the mail piece, and physical attributes of the mail piece;

determining, by the portable wireless device, that the plaintext message is in an expected format;

providing, by the portable wireless device, the plaintext message for the recipient to view; and

receiving, by the portable wireless device, an indication of acceptance of the mail piece by the recipient.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving by the portable wireless device an identification number for the mail piece and a first portion of an encrypted ciphertext that are provided on the mail piece further comprises:

scanning the mail piece using a scanning device of the portable wireless device to read the identification number for the mail piece and the first portion of the encrypted ciphertext that are provided on the mail piece.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving, in the portable wireless device, a second portion of the cryptographic key from the recipient further comprises:

receiving from a keypad of the portable wireless device the second portion of the cryptographic key from the recipient.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plaintext message further includes at least a portion of an address for the recipient and a description of the mail piece'"'"'s contents.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the plaintext message further includes geo-coordinates for an address of the recipient, the method further comprising:

determining, using a global positioning system of the portable wireless device, that the mail piece is being delivered to the recipients address based on the geo-coordinates included in the plaintext message.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein determining, by the portable wireless device, that the plaintext message is in an expected format further comprises:

determining if lines of text included in the plaintext message are properly formatted.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

obtaining by the portable wireless device a current time and an identification of a delivery agent of the carrier that is delivering the mail piece to the recipient; and

electronically sending the current time, the identification of the delivery agent, the identification number for the mail piece, and the second portion of the cryptographic key from the portable wireless device to the data center.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein providing, by the portable wireless device, the plaintext message for the recipient to view further comprises:

displaying the plaintext message using a display of the portable wireless device.