Apparatus, systems and methods for applying billing options for multiple carriers for online, multi-carrier, multi-service parcel shipping management

• US 8,386,341 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2004
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Stamps.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Bennett, David Allison, Bilibin, Paul, Liu, Jinyue, Mentzer, Charles D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Obaid, Fateh
• Application Number:
  US10/838,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20040254808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,221 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0834 Choice of carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The present invention provides apparatus, systems and methods that apply to a single particular billing method selected by each of a plurality of users, in response to each particular user'"'"'s request, a set of billing method rules for each carrier of a plurality of carriers and determines whether or not each carrier of the plurality of carriers supports the shipper'"'"'s specified preferred billing method, and if so, any special pricing considerations for each particular Carrier. Each user of the present invention accesses the present invention over a global communications network using a client computer device, each user client computer device having an individual electronic connection to the global communications network.

Claims

1. A shipping management computer system comprising:

at least one server computer configured to provide an Internet website accessible by at least one client computer that is configured to exchange information with said at least one server computer via an Internet communications network, said at least one client computer comprising a software program executing on said at least one client computer, said software program configured to render hypermedia content from Internet websites;

said at least one server computer comprising executable program instructions to generate computer-executable instructions configured for execution by said at least one client computer for receiving an input by a user of one or more pre-determined parcel specifications through said at least one client computer, and said generated computer-executable instructions further configured for execution by said at least one client computer for generating a display to a display device in communication with said at least one client computer in response to said input, said display comprising an indication of a plurality of carriers that would provide a delivery service according to the input, said display further comprising a price that a particular carrier of said plurality of carriers would charge for performing said delivery service; and

in response to an access of said Internet website through said software program through the Internet communications network, said at least one server computer further comprising executable program instructions to distribute said generated computer-executable instructions through the Internet communications network to said software program for subsequent execution by said at least one client computer for receiving said input by said at least one client computer and for generating the display by said at least one client computer for display on the display device in communication with said at least one client computer.

2. The shipping management computer system of claim 1, wherein said delivery service comprises the delivery of a particular parcel.

3. The shipping management computer system of claim 1, said price comprising a calculated price that has been calculated in accordance with both said particular carrier'"'"'s rules for said delivery service and said parcel specifications.

4. The shipping management computer system of claim 1, said display comprising:

(1) a display of a first price that a first carrier of said plurality of carriers would charge for performing said delivery service; and

(2) a display of a second price that a second carrier of said plurality of carriers would charge for performing said delivery service.

5. The shipping management computer system of claim 1, said display comprising a display of a first price for which a particular carrier would deliver a parcel before a first time on a particular day, and a display of a second price for which said particular carrier would deliver said package before a second time on said particular day.

6. The shipping management computer system of claim 1, wherein said software program comprises a web-browser software program.

7. A computer system comprising:

at least one server computer configured to provide an Internet website accessible by at least one client computer that is configured to exchange information with said at least one server computer via an Internet communications network, said at least one client computer comprising a web-browser software program executing on said at least one client computer, said web-browser software program configured to render hypermedia content from Internet websites;

said at least one server computer comprising executable program instructions to generate computer-executable instructions configured for execution by said at least one client computer for receiving an input by a user of information through said at least one client computer, said generated computer-executable instructions further configured for execution by said at least one client computer for generating a display to a display device in communication with said at least one client computer in response to said input, said input comprising parcel specifications and a delivery address, said display comprising a report responsive to said input, said report comprising an indication of a plurality of carriers that would provide a delivery service according to the input; and

in response to an access of said Internet website through said web-browser software program through the Internet communications network, said at least one server computer further comprising executable program instructions to distribute said generated computer-executable instructions through the Internet communications network to said web-browser software program for subsequent execution by said at least one client computer for receiving said input by said at least one client computer and for generating the display by said at least one client computer for display on the display device in communication with said at least one client computer.

8. A computer system comprising:

at least one server computer configured to provide an Internet website accessible by a plurality of client computers that are each configured to exchange information with said at least one server computer via an Internet communications network, each respective client computer of said plurality of client computers comprising a respective web-browser software program executing on said respective client computer, said respective web-browser software program configured to render hypermedia content from Internet websites;

said at least one server computer comprising executable program instructions to generate computer-executable instructions configured for execution by said respective client computer for receiving a respective input by a respective user of information through a particular respective web-browser software program executing on a particular respective client computer of said plurality of client computers, said generated computer-executable instructions further configured for execution by said respective client computer for generating a respective display to a display device in communication with said particular respective client computer in response to said respective input, said display comprising a respective report according to said respective input; and

in response to a respective access of said Internet website through said particular respective web-browser software program through the Internet communications network, said at least one server computer further comprising executable program instructions to distribute said generated computer-executable instructions through the Internet communications network to said particular respective web-browser software program for subsequent execution by said particular respective client computer for receiving said respective input by said particular respective client computer and for generating the respective display by said particular respective client computer for display on the display device in communication with said particular respective client computer, said respective input comprising parcel specifications and a delivery address, said respective display comprising an indication of a plurality of carriers that would provide a delivery service according to the respective input and a respective rate associated with each delivery service.

9. The computer system of claim 8, said at least one server computer further comprising executable program instructions to:

receive a billing option preference from said respective user of said particular respective client computer, said billing option preference corresponding to a preferred method of paying for one or more delivery services;

identify, from said plurality of carriers, at least one particular carrier that would accept payment via said billing option preference in exchange for performing a delivery service; and

present to said respective user an indication that said at least one particular carrier would accept payment according to said billing option preference.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said at least one particular carrier is a first particular carrier, and wherein said computer system further comprises executable program instructions to:

identify, from said plurality of carriers, a second particular carrier that would accept payment according to said billing option preference in exchange for performing a delivery service; and

present to said respective user, an indication that said second particular carrier would accept payment according to said billing option preference.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said respective user is a seller, and wherein said computer system is further comprises executable program instructions to allow a buyer to select a particular carrier from said plurality of carriers to perform a delivery service.

12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said respective user is a seller, and wherein said computer system further comprises executable program instructions to:

facilitate a buyer to select a particular carrier from said plurality of carriers to deliver a parcel; and

in response to said buyer selecting said particular carrier to deliver said parcel, facilitate a delivery of said parcel to said buyer using said particular carrier.

13. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said at least one particular carrier is a first particular carrier, and wherein said computer system further comprises executable program instructions to:

identify, from said plurality of carriers, a second particular carrier that would not accept payment via said billing option preference in exchange for performing a delivery service; and

presenting to said respective user an indication that said second particular carrier would not accept payment via said billing option preference.

14. The shipping management computer system of claim 9, wherein said computer system further comprises executable program instructions to calculate a charge related to shipping a parcel by:

applying a first pricing rule if said respective user selects a first billing option as said billing option preference; and

applying a second pricing rule if said respective user selects a second billing option as said billing option preference.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein said first billing option corresponds to payment by credit card, and said second billing option corresponds to payment by cash.

16. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said billing option preference corresponds to third party billing.

17. The computer system of claim 8, said at least one server computer further configured to:

receive seller-specified information from a seller'"'"'s client computer;

receive buyer-specified information from a buyer'"'"'s client computer;

use both said seller-specified information and said buyer-specified information to identify one or more carriers that would deliver a parcel in accordance with both said seller-specified information and said buyer-specified information; and

display an identification of said one or more carriers to the seller'"'"'s client computer or to the buyer'"'"'s client computer.

18. The computer system of claim 17, said at least one server computer further configured to:

display to the seller'"'"'s client computer or to the buyer'"'"'s client computer, a price that a particular carrier of said one or more carriers would charge to deliver said parcel in accordance with both said seller-specified information and said buyer-specified information.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein said seller-specified information comprises at least one service option that a seller associated with said seller'"'"'s client computer has identified as acceptable.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein said buyer-specified information comprises at least one service option selected by a buyer associated with said buyer'"'"'s client computer.

21. The computer system of claim 19, wherein said at least one service option comprises loss protection service.