Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network supporting a plurality of digital image capture and processing intruments deployed at a plurality of pickup and delivery terminals

• US 20080169343A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cameron Dee Dryden, Jeffrey Robert Smith, Ole-Petter Skaaksrud, Robert Russell Rhodes, Wayne Luke Gordon, Xiaoxun Zhu
• Original Assignee: Cameron Dee Dryden, Jeffrey Robert Smith, Ole-Petter Skaaksrud, Robert Russell Rhodes, Wayne Luke Gordon, Xiaoxun Zhu
• Inventors: Rhodes, Robert Russell, Zhu, Xiaoxun, Skaaksrud, Ole-Petter, Gordon, Wayne Luke, Smith, Jeffrey Robert, Dryden, Cameron Dee
• Granted Patent: US 7,798,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

An Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network supporting a plurality of digital image capture and processing instruments deployed at a plurality of pickup and delivery terminals. Each digital image capture and processing instrument can upload digital images of shipping documents to one or more application servers and/or human-operated data-keying workstations supported on the network for machine and/or human-assisted recognition-processing, and acquisition of shipping information contained in said digital images and the entry of shipping information into an RDBMS maintained on the network for the purpose of supporting its shipping, tracking, and delivery operations.

Claims

1. An Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery network supporting a plurality of digital image capture and processing instruments deployed at a plurality of pickup and delivery terminals, wherein each said digital image capture and processing instrument can upload digital images of shipping documents to one or more application servers and/or human-operated data-keying workstations supported on said network for machine and/or human-assisted recognition-processing, and acquisition of shipping information contained in said digital images and the entry of said shipping information into an RDBMS maintained on said network for the purpose of supporting its shipping, tracking, and delivery operations.

2. The Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery information network of claim 1, wherein each said digital image capture and processing instrument can automatically read machine-readable content graphically represented in shipping labels during the digital imaging thereof, and then automatically encode such bar code number/information in a header of the digital image file, and use an item of said machine-readable content to name the digital image file prior to transmission to said one or more application servers and/or human-operated data-keying workstations supported on said network.

3. The Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery information network of claim 1, wherein said pickup/delivery vehicle comprises a vehicles selected from the group consisting of:

ground-transport vehicles such as trucks, vans, cars, bicycles, pedal-carts, rickshaws and the like;

air-transport vehicles such as jets, planes and helicopters;

water/sea-transport vehicles such ships, boats and hydro-planes.

4. The Internet-based shipping, tracking, and delivery information network of claim 2, wherein said machine-readable content comprises information content selected from the group consisting of:

bar-coded shipment tracking numbers; and

alpha-numerically expressed shipping information, such as the shipper'"'"'s address, the shipment components and its contents, the number of packages in the shipment, the destination address including street address and postal code, the shipping and delivery service requested, customs clearance requirements, and the like.