Technique for addressing and tracking in a delivery system
AssigneeHoldenart, Inc.
InventorWilliam Holden
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Existing delivery systems, such as the U.S. Postal System, can be modified to operate more efficiently, and to maintain confidentiality regarding a specific address and/or recipient identity. A coded designation, preferably alphanumeric, is assigned to individual recipients. Destination data, as well as other data regarding the recipient is accessed from a database using the coded designation. Recipient information is kept within the system and is not exposed to those outside of it, thereby maintaining a high level of confidentiality and security for the recipient. Because full addresses do not have to be read or otherwise input into the system, the use of the short coded designation provides more reliable operation, as well as much faster operation of the routing and delivery system.
Claims34
A method of addressing an item for delivery to an addressee at a destination, said method comprising:
- (a) marking at a point of origin said item with a predesignated encoded set of symbols, wherein the predesignated encoded set of symbols is defined by the addressee and does not include a physical address of the addressee, wherein the marking of said item comprises placing on the item a second predesignated encoded set of symbols associated with a sender for use in determining a return address;
- (b) using said predesignated encoded set of symbols to access a database to look up delivery information for the item related to the predesignated encoded set of symbols;
- and
- (c) using said second predesignated encoded set of symbols to access the database to look up delivery information for the sender related to the second predesignated encoded set of symbols.
The method of claim 6, wherein said second predesignated encoded set of symbols is an e-mail address for said sender.
A security system for routing an item for delivery to an addressee at a variable physical destination, said system comprising:
- (a) means for inputting a first predesignated encoded set of symbols, provided on said item at a point of origin, associated with said addressee and known to said addressee, said predesignated encoded set of symbols operating as an alternative to a physical address designation for the addressee and for inputting a second predesignated encoded set of symbols, provided on said item at a point of origin, associated with a sender for use in determining a return address operating as an alternative to a physical address designation for the sender;
- and,
- (b) a database containing first data specifying a current value of said variable physical destination, said first data being accessible by said predesignated encoded set of symbols;
- (c) means for displaying said first data responsive to input of said predesignated encoded set of symbols;
- and
- (d) means for using the second predesignated encoded set of symbols to access the database to look up delivery information for the sender related to the second predesignated encoded set of symbols.
A method for delivering physical items to recipients at physical addresses, comprising:
- storing a plurality of delivery records in memory corresponding to the recipients, each of the delivery records comprising a mail designation and a physical delivery address, the mail designation excluding the physical delivery address of each of the recipients and wherein the mail designation excludes a name corresponding to the recipient;
- from an external location, receiving a physical item for delivery having one of the mail designations printed on an exterior surface;
- using the mail designation on the received item to access the delivery records to identify the record associated with one of the recipients and to determine one of the physical delivery addresses associated with the mail designation for the one recipient;
- marking the received item with an indicator of the determined physical delivery address, the indicator excluding the name corresponding to the recipient;
- and
- delivering the received item based on the indicator;
- wherein the storing comprises receiving from the recipients the mail designations to be stored in the delivery records, whereby the recipients are able to select the mail designations.
A method of maintaining a database of delivery records for recipients of physical items including letters and parcels, comprising:
- providing a database comprising delivery records corresponding to a plurality of the recipients, wherein the delivery records each comprise fields for storing a mail designations password, and address information;
- receiving from each of the recipients a human readable alphanumeric code representing their mail designation and their password and a set of addressing data comprising their current physical delivery address;
- updating the delivery records in the database corresponding to the recipients by storing the human readable alphanumeric codes in the mail designation and password fields and the addressing data in the address information fields;
- and
- linking the database to a digital data network to provide access to the delivery records in the database to a delivery service based on an input mail designation, wherein the input mail designation is utilized to retrieve the password corresponding to one of the received mail designations matching the input mail designation.
A method for delivering physical items to recipients at physical addresses, comprising:
- providing a plurality of delivery records in memory corresponding to the recipients, each of the delivery records comprising a mail designation, a password, and a physical delivery address;
- receiving an item for delivery having one of the mail designations and a password printed on an exterior surface;
- using the mail designation on the received item to access the delivery records to identify the record associated with one of the recipients, to determine whether the received password matches the password in the record associated with the one recipient, and to determine one of the physical delivery addresses associated with the mail designation for the one recipient;
- marking the received item with an indicator of the determined physical delivery address;
- and
- delivering the received item based on the indicator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.