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US 12,608,983 B2Granted
Data stream enabled return mail services
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorNicole Blohm
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an embodiment, an apparatus comprises one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause: receiving a digital image of a particular item of mail and storing the digital image; causing data to be extracted from the digital image using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or by processing encoded data; based on the extracted data, matching the particular item of mail to particular mailing data from the data stream; determining, based, at least in part, on the extracted data and the particular mailing data, one or more actions to take with respect to the particular item of mail and, in response, causing performance of the one or more actions.
Claims17
An apparatus comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause:
- receiving an address change service (ACS) data stream created by a mail service prior to sending items of mail, the ACS data stream comprising initial mailing data and address change data for a plurality of items of mail;
- receiving data extracted from a digital image of a particular item of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or by processing encoded data;
- determining, based on the extracted data, recipient information of the particular item of UAA mail;
- determining, based, at least in part, on the recipient information and a set of one or more rules, one or more actions to perform with respect to the particular item of UAA mail, wherein:
- determining the one or more actions comprises identifying an error type of the particular item of UAA mail,
- the set of one or more rules specifies one or more first actions for a first error type and one or more second actions for a second error type,
- the first error type indicates that the recipient information does not match data in the ACS data stream,
- the second error type indicates that the recipient information and the data in the ACS data stream do not match data in a national change of address (NCOA) database, and
- determining the one or more actions further comprises selecting the one or more first actions or the one or more second actions based on the identified error type of the particular item of UAA mail;
- and
- performing the selected one or more actions with respect to the particular item of UAA mail.
11 more elements
One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of:
- receiving an address change service (ACS) data stream created by a mail service prior to sending items of mail, the ACS data stream comprising initial mailing data and address change data for a plurality of items of mail;
- receiving data extracted from a digital image of a particular item of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or by processing encoded data;
- determining, based on the extracted data, recipient information of the particular item of UAA mail;
- determining, based at least in part on the recipient information and a set of one or more rules, one or more actions to perform with respect to the particular item of UAA mail, wherein:
- determining the one or more actions comprises identifying an error type of the particular item of UAA mail,
- the set of one or more rules specifies one or more first actions for a first error type and one or more second actions for a second error type,
- the first error type indicates that the recipient information does not match data in the ACS data stream,
- the second error type indicates that the recipient information and the data in the ACS data stream do not match data in a national change of address (NCOA) database, and
- determining the one or more actions further comprises selecting the one or more first actions or the one or more second actions based on the identified error type of the particular item of UAA mail;
- and
- performing the selected one or more actions with respect to the particular item of UAA mail.
8 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving an address change service (ACS) data stream created by a mail service prior to sending items of mail, the ACS data stream comprising initial mailing data and address change data for a plurality of items of mail;
- receiving data extracted from a digital image of a particular item of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or by processing encoded data;
- determining, based on the extracted data, recipient information of the particular item of UAA mail;
- determining, based at least in part on the recipient information and a set of one or more rules, one or more actions to perform with respect to the particular item of UAA mail, wherein:
- determining the one or more actions comprises identifying an error type of the particular item of UAA mail,
- the set of one or more rules specifies one or more first actions for a first error type and one or more second actions for a second error type,
- the first error type indicates that the recipient information does not match data in the ACS data stream,
- the second error type indicates that the recipient information and the data in the ACS data stream do not match data in a national change of address (NCOA) database, and
- determining the one or more actions further comprises selecting the one or more first actions or the one or more second actions based on the identified error type of the particular item of UAA mail;
- and
- performing the selected one or more actions with respect to the particular item of UAA mail.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.