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US 6,917,924 B1Granted
Automated package shipping machine
AssigneeUship Intellectual Properties, LLC
InventorsGary W. Ramsden, Kenneth Wayne Liles
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeUship Intellectual Properties, LLC
InventorsGary W. Ramsden, Kenneth Wayne Liles
Estimating the term…
A system for accepting and storing items for subsequent pickup by a commercial carrier includes a storage area which is defined by an outer housing, and a customer interface area that includes a weighing unit and a unit, such as a magnetic card reader, for accepting payment from a customer. The system may also include a control system that accepts address information from the customer through a key pad, and then instructs a printer to print an address label for the item. The system includes safeguards which prevent unauthorized access to the storage area, and will not provide a receipt to the customer until internal sensors verify deposit of the item. A manifest printer may also be provided for the benefit of the commercial carriers who service the system, to print out a summary of the transactions that pertain to each carrier. Alternatively, no storage area is provided. Instead, the item is given to a human attendant, such as a check out clerk of a grocery or hardware store and the like, with the appropriate mailing label for validation of receipt of the item by the attendant.
A method of mailing parcels and envelopes using an automated shipping machine, comprising the steps of:
An automated shipping machine for use in mailing parcels and envelopes, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.