Delivery management system and method using smart communicator

Abstract

Disclosed is a delivery management system and method using a smart communicator. The delivery management system includes a selling server for selling articles online; a delivery server for managing delivery of articles sold by the selling server; a mailbox which reads information from an information storage attached to an arrived article at a destination under the control of the delivery server; and a home network server which stores ordered article information, determines whether the arrived article is correctly delivered on the basis of a comparison between the ordered article information and the arrived article information read from the information storage, transmits the result of the comparison to a smart communicator, controls follow-up management of the delivery according to a remote control of the smart communicator. Accordingly, it is possible to check the arrival of an article and control follow-up management on the articles delivered correctly or incorrectly using the smart communicator.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings;

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a conventional online shopping and delivery system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an article tracking system according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is block diagram illustrating the home network server of FIG. 2 in more detail;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the smart communicator of FIG. 2 in more detail;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for remotely checking the delivered article using the smart communicator according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an article delivery checking system using a smart communicator according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 7A to 7B are flow illustrating a method for remotely checking the delivered article using the smart communicator according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A delivery management system using a smart communicator, comprising: a selling server for selling articles online;a delivery server for managing deliveries of articles sold by the selling server;a mailbox for reading information from an information storage means associated with an arrived article under the control of the delivery server; anda home network server for storing ordered article information, determining whether the arrived article is correctly delivered on the basis of comparison between the ordered article information and the information read from the information storage means, transmits the comparison result to a smart communicator, and controls follow-up management of the delivery according to a remote control of the smart communicator.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information storage means associated with the arrived article includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the ordered article information includes ordered articles list and delivery schedules of one or more ordered articles.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the home network server transmits misdelivery information to the delivery server when the arrived article is determined to be mis-delivered;the delivery server requests information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article to the smart communicator; andthe smart communicator transmits the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article, which is input by user of the smart communicator, to the home network server and the delivery server.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the mailbox includes: an RFID reader for reading information from the RFID tag; anda local communication module for transmitting to the home network server the information read from the RFID tag.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the home network server includes: a local communication unit for receiving, from the mailbox through a local communication link, the information read from the RFID tag;a remote communication unit for communicating with the smart communicator and receiving remote control commands from the smart communicator;a storage unit for storing the ordered article information;an article information analysis unit for determining whether the arrived article is correctly delivered by comparing the ordered article information and the information read from the RFID tag; anda control unit for transmitting misdelivery information to the smart communicator when the arrived article is determined mis-delivered and receives the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article from the smart communicator.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the smart communicator includes: a local communication module for receiving the misdelivery information from the home network server and transmitting the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article to the home network server;a storage means for storing the ordered article information and the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article;a keypad for enabling input of the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article; anda controller for transmitting the information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article to the home network server and the delivery server.

8. A delivery management method using a smart communicator, comprising: ordering an article from a selling server online;storing ordered article information received from the smart communicator;reading an article identifier associated with an arrived article;transmitting information read from the article identifier to the smart communicator;determining whether the arrived article is correctly or misdelivered delivered on the basis of the read information;transmitting information on whether the arrived article is correctly delivered to the smart communicator; andmanaging re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of managing the re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article includes: transmitting misdelivery information to a delivery server when the arrived article is determined to be the mis-delivered article;receiving information for re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article in response to a request from the delivery server; andmanaging the re-delivery of the ordered article and withdrawal of the mis-delivered article according to a predetermined routine.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the article identifier includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the ordered article information includes ordered articles list and delivery schedules of the ordered articles.

12. A delivery management system using a smart communicator, comprising: a selling server for selling articles online;a delivery server for managing deliveries of articles sold by the selling server;a mailbox, controlled by the delivery server, having a mail drop reading information from an information storage means corresponding to an arrived article and controlling the mail drop to be opened or closed according to an approval of the article; anda home network server for storing ordered article information, determining whether the arrived article is correctly delivered on the basis of comparison between the ordered article information and the arrived article information read from the information storage means, transmitting the comparison result to a smart communicator, controlling follow-up management of a corresponding delivery according to a remote control of the smart communicator.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the home network server includes a door phone for establishing a communication link with the smart communicator via the home network server such that a deliveryman can communicate with the smart communicator.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the information storage means includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the ordered article information includes ordered articles list and delivery schedules of the ordered articles.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein: the home network server transmits denial information to the smart communicator when an arrived article authentication is denied;the smart communicator selectively establishes a communication link with the door phone such that user of the smart communicator can communicate with a delivery person, and transmit an open/close command input by the user to the home network server; andthe home network server communicates with the mail drop of the mailbox to control the mail drop to be opened or closed according to the open/close command.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the mailbox includes: an RFID reader for reading information from the RFID tag;a local communication module for transmitting the information read from the RFID tag to the home network server; andan mail drop controller for controlling the opening and closing of the mail drop according to the open/close command received from the smart communicator.

18. A delivery management method using a smart communicator, comprising: ordering an article from a selling server online;storing ordered article information received from the smart communicator;transmitting information read from an article identifier corresponding with an arrived article to the smart communicator;determining whether the arrived article is approved on the basis the read information;transmitting information on whether the arrived article is approved to the smart communicator; andcontrolling the mail drop to be opened or closed according to a remote control of the smart communicator based on the information on whether the article is approved.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of controlling the mail drop includes: transmitting denial information to a delivery server when the article is denied;performing communication between a smart communicator user and a deliveryman through a door phone according to the denial information;receiving, from the smart communicator, information on whether to open or close the mail drop; andcontrolling the mail drop to be opened or closed according to a control command from the smart communicator.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the article identifier includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the ordered article information includes ordered articles list and delivery schedules of the ordered articles.