Apparatus, systems and methods for online, multi-parcel, multi-carrier, multi-service enterprise parcel shipping management

• US 8,489,519 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2006
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Stamps.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Williams, Daniel F., Bennett, David Allison, Goldhaber, Lynn Shaindell, Glavin, Dennis, Krett, Lory Elizabeth, Mentzer, Charles D., Teglovic, Stephen M., Dietz, John M., Smith, William W. III, Bilibin, Paul, Liu, Jinyue, McLaughlin, Paul R., Meyer, Scott, Hu, Sean
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, George
• Application Number:
  US11/510,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20070073551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,518 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0834 Choice of carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08345 Pricing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The present invention provides a plurality of Enterprises with a single online user interface with which the Enterprise can provide Enterprise Shippers, shipping origination users and shipping intermediary users with an automated parcel management system for a plurality of supported Carriers for a plurality of services. The present invention provides for the hierarchical definition of users, including the establishment of at least one user for each Enterprise as a Super-Administrator with the highest level of privileges and authority for the Enterprise, and the identification of other users as Sub-Administrators, Desktop Users and Shipping Station Users. The present invention also provides for the hierarchical definition of organizational units within each Enterprise, including the definition of sites, groups within a site, and users within a group and for a distinct definition of policies, privileges, and other types of specifications for each user level, each user, and each organizational unit.

Claims

1. An online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, said computer system programmed to:

in response to a request by a particular user within a particular enterprise for shipping information, by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, query a memory for a set of shipping policy restrictions input by an administrator of the particular enterprise according to the particular enterprise associated with the particular user, said set of shipping policy restrictions comprising a selection by the administrator of a set of enterprise-authorized shipping features that have been selected by the administrator from a plurality of available shipping features that are supported by said computer system for use by users of the particular enterprise;

in further response to said request by the particular user for shipping information, by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, dynamically generate an interactive display of shipping selection options comprising the enterprise-authorized shipping features according to the set of shipping policy restrictions input by the administrator of the particular enterprise and excluding shipping features not selected by the administrator.

2. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 1, said computer system programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, receive a shipping request from the particular user within the particular enterprise to ship an at least one parcel, wherein the shipping request comprises an indication of at least one shipping option selection selected by the user from said shipping selection options according to the set of shipping policy rules associated with the particular enterprise corresponding to the user; and

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, display to the particular user at least one shipping rate for at least one delivery service offered by at least one carrier according to said set of shipping policy rules associated with the particular enterprise corresponding to the user.

3. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 2, said computer system programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, receive a selection by the particular user of a delivery service and a carrier for shipping the at least one parcel.

4. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 3, said computer system programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, display to the particular user a set of payment options according to the set of shipping policy rules associated with the particular enterprise corresponding to the user.

5. An online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system being accessible by a plurality of administrators and users of a plurality of enterprises, said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, present an interactive user interface that comprises an interactive display of a plurality of available carriers that are supported by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system for interactive selection by a respective administrator of a particular enterprise;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collect input of a set of shipping policy rules from the respective administrator of the particular enterprise, the set of shipping policy rules comprising an indication of a selection by the respective administrator of a set of enterprise-authorized carriers that are authorized by the respective administrator for shipping parcels for the particular enterprise, from said interactive display of said plurality of available carriers;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, receive a shipping request from a user associated with the particular enterprise to ship an at least one parcel;

in response to receiving the shipping request, by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, apply the set of shipping policy rules associated with the particular enterprise corresponding to the user to the shipping request received from the user to calculate, for a plurality of delivery services offered by at least one carrier in the set of enterprise-authorized carriers authorized by the respective administrator according to the set of shipping policy rules, a delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rate for shipping the at least one parcel; and

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, dynamically generate an interactive comparison display of each of the delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rates, said interactive comparison display comprising interactive shipping rate displays only for shipping rates for delivery services offered by said enterprise-authorized carriers, each said interactive shipping rate display being interactively selectable for facilitating payment for and printing of a carrier-specific shipping label for shipping said at least one parcel.

6. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 5,

wherein each delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rate comprises an enterprise shipping rate for shipping the at least one parcel, wherein the comparison display of each of the delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rates comprises a delivery-service-specific enterprise shipping rate for shipping the at least one parcel for each delivery service of a plurality of delivery services offered by each carrier in the set of enterprise-authorized carriers authorized by the respective administrator of the particular enterprise.

7. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 5,

wherein each delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rate comprises a customer shipping rate for shipping the at least one parcel, wherein the comparison display of each of the delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rates comprises a delivery-service-specific customer shipping rate for shipping the at least one parcel for each delivery service of a plurality of delivery services offered by each carrier in the set of enterprise-authorized carriers authorized by the respective administrator of the particular enterprise.

8. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 5, wherein said interactive user interface further comprises an interactive display of a plurality of delivery services offered by each of the plurality of available carriers that are supported by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, and wherein the set of shipping policy rules further comprises a selection by the administrator of a set of enterprise-authorized, carrier- specific delivery services that are authorized by the respective administrator of the particular enterprise for shipping parcels from a plurality of available carrier-specific, delivery services provided by each carrier in the set of carriers that are supported by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system further programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, dynamically generate a comparison display of each of the delivery-service-specific, carrier-specific shipping rates, said comparison display comprising only shipping rates for enterprise-authorized, carrier-specific delivery services offered by said enterprise-authorized carriers.

9. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 5, wherein the set of shipping policy rules further comprises a selection by the respective administrator of the particular enterprise of a set of enterprise-authorized shipping payment options from a plurality of available payment options that are supported by said computer system, said set of enterprise-authorized shipping payment options comprising shipping payment options that are authorized by the administrator for use by enterprise users for shipping parcels, said computer system further programmed to:

in response to an enterprise user associated with the particular enterprise requesting shipment of a parcel, by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, dynamically generate an interactive user interface display of selectable payment options that comprise only the set of enterprise-authorized shipping payment options according to the set of shipping policy rules.

10. The online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system of claim 5, wherein the set of shipping policy rules further comprises a selection by the respective administrator of the particular enterprise of a set of authorized shipping payment options that are authorized by the administrator for shipping parcels, from a plurality of available shipping payment options that are supported by said computer system, said computer system further programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, receive an indication from the user of a selection by the user of a particular delivery service and a particular carrier from the set of enterprise-authorized carriers for shipping the parcel; and

in response to the user selecting the particular delivery service and the particular carrier, by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, display the set of authorized shipping payment options to the user according to the shipping policy rules associated with the particular enterprise corresponding to the user.

11. An online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, said computer system programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, receive from a particular user within an enterprise, a user input of shipping parameter data for shipping a particular parcel and a link creation request;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, in response to the link creation request by the particular user within the enterprise, dynamically generate a hypertext link comprising a linkable address to a particular Internet-accessible location on a server computer, said hypertext link further comprising an indication of said shipping parameter data for calculating a shipping rate for shipping the particular parcel, said hypertext link further comprising an indication of an identifier for accessing information regarding said enterprise, said linkable address comprising an Internet-accessible entry point to a set of programming instructions on said server computer, said set of programming instructions disposed for using said indication of said identifier from said hypertext link for accessing information regarding said enterprise and for using said indication of said shipping parameter data from said hypertext link for calculating a shipping rate for shipping the particular parcel according to a set of shipping policy rules identified by an administrator of the enterprise according to said information regarding said enterprise, and according to said input by the particular user; and

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, generate a copyable display of the hypertext link to the particular user.

12. The computer system of claim 11, said computer system further programmed to:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, save, in response to a save link request by the particular user, an entry in a saved packages list, said entry comprising an expression of said hypertext link.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein said indication of said shipping parameter data comprises parcel-specific shipping parameter data, and wherein said indication of said identifier for accessing information regarding said enterprise comprises an account identifier corresponding to said enterprise.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein said indication of said shipping parameter data and said indication of said identifier for accessing information regarding said enterprise comprise a parcel-specific identifier corresponding to information on a database regarding said shipping parameter data and said identifier for accessing information regarding said enterprise.

15. A method of structuring data relationships for an online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system and applying those relationships to shipping requests, said method comprising:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, authorizing an at least one user in each respective enterprise of a plurality of enterprises to act as a respective administrator for the respective enterprise, with authority to set respective shipping parameter specifications for the respective enterprise;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, restricting users other than the at least one user authorized as the respective administrator from setting respective shipping parameter specifications for the respective enterprise;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, displaying to the at least one user authorized to act as the respective administrator for the respective enterprise, an interactive interface enabled to receive a respective set of respective shipping parameter specifications for users within the respective enterprise;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, input identifying as a plurality of site identifications, a plurality of sites within the respective enterprise;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, storing each of said site identifications, and each corresponding relationship to the respective enterprise, in a database;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, input identifying respective shipping policy rules for each respective site of said plurality of sites;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, a respective user identification input for each user associated with each respective site of said plurality of sites, each respective user identification comprising a corresponding relationship to a respective site;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, storing in the database a relationship between the shipping policy rules for each respective site and each user associated with the respective site;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, a group identification input identifying at least one group within at least one site of the plurality of sites, wherein the group identification input comprises a corresponding relationship of the at least one group to the at least one site;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, input identifying respective group-specific shipping policy rules for the at least one group;

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, an association between a respective user identification and a respective group; and

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, storing in the database a relationship between said respective group-specific shipping policy rules and the at least one group.

16. The method of claim 15, said method further comprising:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, collecting from the respective administrator, a user identification input identifying an at least one user within the at least one group, wherein the user identification comprises a corresponding relationship to the at least one group; and

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, storing said site identification, said group identification, and said user identification in a database.

17. The method of claim 15, said method further comprising:

by said online, Internet-based, multi-carrier, multi-parcel shipping management computer system, applying respective shipping policy rules for a particular user identified to be in a particular group to a request for shipping information by the particular user.