On-line mail processing system and mobile device application therefor
First Claim
1. A method facilitating the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:
- receiving an acquired digital image of the article over a communication network from a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device;
comparing the acquired digital image to a plurality of stored digital images, using a processor of an image recognition system, to determine the identity of the acquired digital image;
determining, by a processor of a shipping information system, at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified image;
calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address, using a processor, based upon the at least one characteristic;
transmitting the delivery cost to the wireless mobile device, using a processor over a communication network;
receiving, over the network from the wireless mobile device, a request to locate at least one of the nearest delivery agents for delivering the article;
determining the location of the wireless mobile device based on the global positioning coordinates thereof using a global positioning system; and
transmitting the location of at least one of the delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device over the communication network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article including the steps of receiving an acquired image of the article over a network from a web enabled device (ii) comparing the acquired digital imaged to a plurality of stored digital images to ermine the identity of the acquired digital image, (iii) determining at least one characteristic of the identified digital image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified digital image of the identified article, (iv) calculating the estimated cost of delivering the identified article to a destination address, and, (v) transmitting the estimated cost to the web enabled device. The method also determines the postage associated with the delivery of an article by means of a wireless communication network using a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device. Furthermore, a system also determines the postage associated with the identified article.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method facilitating the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an acquired digital image of the article over a communication network from a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device; comparing the acquired digital image to a plurality of stored digital images, using a processor of an image recognition system, to determine the identity of the acquired digital image; determining, by a processor of a shipping information system, at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified image; calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address, using a processor, based upon the at least one characteristic; transmitting the delivery cost to the wireless mobile device, using a processor over a communication network; receiving, over the network from the wireless mobile device, a request to locate at least one of the nearest delivery agents for delivering the article; determining the location of the wireless mobile device based on the global positioning coordinates thereof using a global positioning system; and transmitting the location of at least one of the delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device over the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18)
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7. A system for facilitating the delivery of an article, comprising:
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a wireless mobile device having a display for receiving input information from, and presenting information to, an operator, an optical imaging device for acquiring digital image data of the article and transmitting the digital image data over a wireless network, the wireless mobile device, furthermore issuing a location signal indicative of the current global position coordinates of the wireless mobile device over the communication network; an image recognition system, responsive to digital image data, for comparing the acquired digital image to a plurality of stored digital images and for determining the identity of the acquired digital image; a shipping information system including a shipping database for determining at least one characteristic of the identified image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the article; an on-line postage estimation system for determining the delivery cost, based on the at least one characteristic, to deliver the article from an address of origin to a destination address, a global positioning system, responsive to the location signal of the wireless mobile device, to determine the relative position of the wireless mobile device to a variety of delivery agents within a predetermined distance of the wireless mobile device; and a processor for controlling the functions of the wireless mobile device, determining the delivery cost, displaying the delivery cost to the operator on the display of the wireless mobile device and displaying the location of several candidate delivery agents on the display of the wireless mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19)
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13. A method facilitating the delivery of an article, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining an acquired digital image of the article using a wireless mobile device having optical imaging device for capturing the acquired digital image; transmitting the acquired digital image, using a processor, over a wireless network to an image recognition system having a database of stored digital images, the image recognition system identifying the image by using a processor to compare the acquired digital image to the stored digital images; determining at least one characteristic of the identified image useful, using a processor of a shipping information system, to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified image; calculating the cost of delivering the article to a destination address using a processor; and transmitting a request over the communication network using the wireless mobile device to obtain the location of the nearest delivery agent for delivering the article, the request including the transmission of the global position coordinates of the mobile device; determining the location of several delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device using a global positioning system; transmitting the delivery cost to the wireless mobile device, using a processor and displaying the delivery cost and the location of several delivery agents within a predetermined distance from the wireless mobile device on a display of the wireless mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 20)
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Specification