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US 12,657,964 B2Granted
Handling of mail items
AssigneeStamp Free Limited
InventorsChris Galley, Hugh Craigie Halkett, Tim Higginbotham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of verifying the identity of a mail item, the method comprising obtaining a first visual representation of at least a portion of a mail item, determining a first postal identifier based on the first visual representation, obtaining a second visual representation of at least a portion of the mail item, determining a second postal identifier based on the second visual representation, comparing the second postal identifier with the first postal identifier, and enabling processing of the mail item based on the comparison step.
Claims17
A method of verifying the identity of a mail item, the method comprising:
- obtaining using a first imaging component of a first device, a first visual representation of at least a portion of a mail item;
- determining a first postal identifier based on the first visual representation by:
- extracting at least one first identifier from the first visual representation, the first identifier comprising one of:
- a first generated sequence of characters, or one of a plurality of predetermined sequences of characters;
- wherein the extracting comprises performing one of:
- image recognition;
- pattern recognition;
- optical character recognition;
- or intelligent character recognition;
- and
- generating the first postal identifier based on the at least one first identifier;
- activating the first postal identifier, the step of activating comprising associating the first postal identifier with one or more of:
- time stamp;
- validity period indicator;
- or status flag;
- obtaining, using a second imaging component of a second device, a second visual representation of at least a portion of the mail item;
- determining a second postal identifier based on the second visual representation in substantially the same manner as the corresponding first postal identifier;
- and
- a comparison step comprising comparing the second postal identifier with the first postal identifier, the comparison step further comprising an additional verification step, the verification step comprising:
- identifying a first set of visual features of the first visual representation;
- identifying a second set of visual features of the second visual representation;
- comparing the first set of visual features to the second set of visual features;
- and
- enabling processing of the mail item based on the comparison step.
21 more elements
A method for a computing device, the method comprising:
- receiving at least a first data packet from a user device, the first data packet comprising first data comprising at least one of:
- a first visual representation of a mail item obtained from a first imaging component of a first device, or a first postal identifier determined based on the first visual representation, wherein the first postal identifier is determined by:
- extracting at least one first identifier from the first visual representation;
- the first identifier comprising one of:
- a first generated sequence of characters;
- or one of a plurality of predetermined sequences of characters, wherein the extracting comprises performing one of:
- image recognition;
- pattern recognition;
- optical character recognition;
- or intelligent character recognition;
- and
- generating the first postal identifier based on the at least one first identifier;
- activating the first postal identifier, the step of activating comprising associating the first postal identifier with one or more of a:
- time stamp;
- validity period indicator;
- or status flag;
- receiving at least a second data packet from a distribution centre device, the second data packet comprising second data comprising at least one of:
- a second visual representation of the at least a portion of the mail item obtained from a second imaging component of a second device, or a second postal identifier determined based on the second visual representation wherein the second postal identifier is determined in substantially the same manner as the corresponding first postal identifier;
- and
- comparing the first data with the second data, the step of comparing comprising comparing the second postal identifier with the first postal identifier and further comprising an additional verification step, the verification step comprising:
- identifying a first set of visual features of the first visual representation;
- identifying a second set of visual features of the second visual representation;
- comparing the first set of visual features to the second set of visual features;
- and
- transmitting a comparison result to the distribution centre device.
22 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.