ENHANCED PAYMENTS FOR SHIPPING

• US 20150262320A1
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Parameswaran, Sathiyan, Besserer, Bruce, Costides, Nicholas, Hilbush, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 10,643,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products are provided for initiating shipment of and payment for shipping a parcel. For example, in one embodiment, a customer/user can receive a message on a user device from a carrier that includes an authorization code for shipping a parcel. After the customer/user ships the parcel, the carrier can charge a variety of accounts for the shipping charges, including a wireless services provider associated with the user device. In another embodiment, the customer/user can interact with a kiosk to ship the parcel. In this embodiment, the carrier can also charge a variety of accounts for the shipping charges, including a wireless services provider.

Claims

1. A method for validating an identity of a user, the method comprising:

receiving, via a kiosk, input information from a user;

transmitting, via the kiosk, at least a portion of the input information to a computer system to enable the computer system to determine whether the input information of the user corresponds to stored identification data associated with the user and to enable the computer system to generate and provide a message comprising a code to a user device of the user in response to determining that the input information corresponds to the stored identification data of the user; and

receiving, via the kiosk, input of the code from the user to determine that the input of the code is the correct code that was provided to the user device of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the input information comprises a phone number of the user device which comprises a mobile device of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the stored identification data comprises a phone number associated with an account for wireless services of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to receiving the input of the code, the method further comprises:

causing display, via the kiosk, of a request for the input of the code provided to the user device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

causing display, via the kiosk, of at least one other request for additional input in response to determining that the received input of the code is the correct code.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the other request comprises data requesting classification of at least one parcel for shipment.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein:

generate and provide further comprises generating and providing the code in response to determining that the account for wireless services of the user is valid.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the code is associated with one or more predefined parameters.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined parameters define (a) a time period in which the code is valid and (b) a number of times the code is usable for shipments.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining that the received code authorizes shipment of at least one parcel on behalf of the user;

correlating the code with a tracking number for tracking shipment of the at least one parcel and shipping information;

facilitating storage of the code in association with the phone number and the shipping information; and

generating a shipping transaction for shipment of the at least one parcel on behalf of the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the shipping transaction comprises a transaction for determining shipping charges for the shipment of the at least one parcel, wherein the method further comprises:

charging the shipping charges to an account of the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting that the account comprises the account for wireless services of the user, and

wherein determining the shipping charges for shipment of the at least one parcel further comprises automatically determining a weight of the at least one parcel.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one parcel is delivered to the kiosk for receipt of the parcel.

14. An apparatus comprising a kiosk for validating an identity of a user, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to at least:

receive input information from a user;

transmit at least a portion of the input information to a computer system to enable the computer system to determine whether the input information of the user corresponds to stored identification data associated with the user and to enable the computer system to generate and provide a message comprising a code to a user device of the user in response to determining that the input information corresponds to the stored identification data of the user; and

receive input of the code from the user to determine that the input of the code is the correct code that was provided to the user device of the user.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

detect that the input information comprises a phone number of the user device which comprises a mobile device of the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

detect that the stored identification data comprises a phone number associated with an account for wireless services of the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein prior to receive the input of the code, the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

cause display of a request for the input of the code provided to the user device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

cause display of at least one other request for additional input in response to determining that the received input of the code is the correct code.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the other request comprises data requesting classification of at least one parcel for shipment.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

generate and provide the message further comprises generating and providing the code in response to determining that the account for wireless services of the user is valid.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the code is associated with one or more predefined parameters.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the predefined parameters define (a) a time period in which the code is valid and (b) a number of times the code is usable for shipments.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

determine that the received code authorizes shipment of at least one parcel on behalf of the user;

correlate the code with a tracking number for tracking shipment of the at least one parcel and shipping information;

facilitate storage of the code in association with the phone number and the shipping information; and

generate a shipping transaction for shipment of the at least one parcel on behalf of the user.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the shipping transaction comprises a transaction for determining shipping charges for the shipment of the at least one parcel, and wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

charge the shipping charges to an account of the user.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the kiosk to:

detect that the account comprises the account for wireless services of the user; and

perform the determining of the shipping charges for shipment of the at least one parcel by automatically determining a weight of the at least one parcel.

26. A computer program product for validating an identity of a user executing a kiosk, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured to receive input information from a user;

an executable portion configured to transmit at least a portion of the input information to a computer system to enable the computer system to determine whether the input information of the user corresponds to stored identification data associated with the user and to enable the computer system to generate and provide a message comprising a code to a user device of the user in response to determining that the input information corresponds to the stored identification data of the user; and

an executable portion configured to receive input of the code from the user to determine that the input of the code is the correct code that was provided to the user device of the user.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising:

an executable portion configured to detect that the input information comprises a phone number of the user device which comprises a mobile device of the user.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising:

an executable portion configured to detect that the stored identification data comprises a phone number associated with an account for wireless services of the user.