Patent Application
20250098887
The following invention refers to message boxes, suggestion boxes, institutional mailboxes, complaints, and suggestions management systems, opinion and feedback systems, messaging systems, and continuous improvement systems. Specifically, this invention refers to a mailbox with an integrated QR code which, after being scanned with a mobile device, allows access to a digital platform linked to the mailbox.
Before the invention of the mailbox, mail had to be personally delivered by the sender to a messenger; this procedure existed since time immemorial but persisted as part of the earliest postal services.
The oldest known precedent of a mailbox dates to year 15001, when Portuguese captain Pêro de Ataíde, after losing most of his fleet to a storm in South Africa, determined that he had to warn explorer João da Nova, who had an expedition planned in the same zone, about the incident; since he was unable to personally deliver that message given the circumstances, Pêro de Ataíde decided to place it in a shoe hung from a conspicuously large and strategically located milkwood tree, near the Cape of Good Hope. The message was found one year later by João da Nova, and after that, the so-called Postal Tree began to be used by numerous sailors and explorers as a site to leave messages for other sailors or European people. Later, the first proper postal mailbox dates to 1653, when a businessman from Paris placed in several corners of the city the earliest public collection boxes as part of a private messaging business2. Afterward, postal mailboxes spread around the world from 1850 to the early 20th century, when several countries established national postal services whose operation quickly faced several logistic hurdles, such as the need to personally go to a post office to send a letter, as well as the need to personally meet the mailmen in charge of last-mile delivery; thanks to the mailbox, sending and receiving mail in person was no longer necessary, and that significantly sped up the delivery process and substantially helped the earliest postal systems achieve their mission of delivering large amounts of letters in a rapid and expedite manner. 1Rodman, A., & Jacobson, M. M. (2022 May 25). The Post Office Tree. Retrieved from Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-post-office-tree-mossel-bay-south-africa.2Lawrence, K. (1995 Dec. 24). Before the Penny Black (First Series). Retrieved from rec.collecting.stamps Usenet newsgroup: https://norbyhus.dk/btpb.html.
The personal mailbox was developed based on the collection mailbox, to allow non-face-to-face delivery of mail in the last mile3. Before its invention, letters had to be personally delivered to the recipient; this quickly turned out to be an important logistic hurdle, as an early 20th-century estimation suggested that each mailman would spend every day an average of one hour and a half waiting for recipients to open the door and receive their letters4. Despite that situation, national postal services limited themselves to promoting personal mailboxes as devices to speed up delivery of letters5; this situation changed in 1912, when the United States Postal Service (USPS) introduced the iconic Joroleman mailbox6, so called for its creator Roy J. Joroleman, which combined a rectangular dome shape that allows water and snow to flow into the ground and thus prevents humidity from damaging the letters, with an inexpensive and resistant light caliber stainless steel body; these factors made it very popular in the middle of mass adoption of the particular mailbox, as it solved practically and economically the need to have a personal mailbox to receive letters, and allowed the personal mailbox to spread throughout the United States and the world. 3Smithsonian National Postal Museum. (2012 Nov. 4). Household Mailboxes. Retrieved from National Postal Museum web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20121104032443/http://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2b1b3_mailboxes.html.4Marsh, A. (2006 Mar. 20). Household Mailboxes. Retrieved from Arago: People, Postage & the Post: https://web.archive.org/web/20121104032454/http:/www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2032074.5United States Postal Service. (2022 May). Reaching out to everyone. In The United States Postal Service: An American History (p. 29). Washington, DC: United States Postal Service. Retrieved from United States Postal Service web site: https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100.pdf.6Forsite Mailboxes. (2019 Dec. 16). The Jorolemon (sic) Mailbox: How It Influenced Modern-Day Mailbox Designs. Retrieved from Forsite's web site: https://www.mailboxesandsigns.com/blog/2019/posts/the-joroleman-mailbox-how-it-influenced-modern-day-mailbox-designs/.
Based upon the personal mailbox, the suggestion box in its present incarnation was born in 1890 in the Senate of the United States as an initiative from Senator Daniel W. Voorhees7. Under the concept of offering an anonymous space for citizens to express their concerns to authorities, the American government operated these suggestion boxes as an exercise of direct democracy. By the decade of 1940, in the middle of World War II, the American government promoted the installation of suggestion boxes in factories to enable workers to submit suggestions aimed at increasing efficiency and productivity, qualities that were more necessary than ever in the middle of the war efforts; since then, the suggestion box has become part and parcel of all organizations, not just in workplaces, but also in places open to general public, so that patrons and establishment users can provide feedback about their experience in the premises. 7Smith, E. (2022 Jun. 17). Suggestion Box History: The Small Data Before Big Data. Retrieved from Tedium: https://tedium.co/2022/06/17/suggestion-box-history/.
Currently, the suggestion box is a standard part of all organizations. It is a communication channel through which workers and people can voice their improvement ideas, proposed solutions, initiatives, complaints, or any other situation that warrants attention from management. The use of suggestion boxes has many advantages for organizations: they improve the workplace by making employees feel like active protagonists of the organization's success, they allow management to always be aware of opportunities for improvement, they improve the grade of customer service through making customers feel valued and listened, they allow everyone's voices to be listened in environments prone to suppression of dissent, and they can even contribute to maintaining a violence and discrimination-free workplace8, among many other positive effects this practice has for everyone. 8Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute of the State of Guerrero. (2022 May 25). Manual for correct usage of the complaints and suggestions box for violence and discrimination-free work environments. Retrieved from Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute of the State of Guerrero, Mexico: https://web.archive.org/web/20220309014840/https:/iepcgro.mx/principal/uploads/normativa/manuales/manual_para_el _uso_correcto_del_buzon_de_quejas_y_o_denuncias_para_un_ambiente_laboral_libre_de_violencia_%20y_discriminacion.pdf.
However, the effectiveness of a suggestion box can only be real if management has a firm commitment to follow up on all the messages they receive through this channel, and bring any matter that arises from suggestion boxes to an effective conclusion; otherwise, the suggestion box can be dismissed by customers or employees as a useless practice, and may even backfire for the organization's public image by accidentally sending a message that it only pretends to show concern for its performance, without actually displaying any real commitment for improvement.
This situation becomes even more difficult if we consider that traditional suggestion boxes face numerous obstacles that hinder their effective usage by organizations. The use of physical paper slips to gather comments, complaints, and suggestions requires the presence of a logistic apparatus involving acquisition, supply, monitoring, collection, and follow-up; entry of comment slips on a computer system is a step where transcription errors may happen; several days may pass from slip collection to management follow-up; and the act of depositing a slip in the suggestion box does not offer any indication or inherent guarantee that it will be followed up or that its issuance may have an impact on the organization. These factors make the operation of suggestion boxes a difficult issue for organizations, and many even end up abandoning them due to the material and labor costs they entail.
Given the previous discussion, the use of digital platforms offers many advantages over traditional suggestion boxes. Replacing paper slips with electronic forms allows, among other things, for instant and reliable storage of messages, submission of complaints and suggestions with attached evidence, instant notification to management about daily business, and great simplification of the logistics and operation costs of suggestion boxes. The know-how it takes to implement and put such digital platforms in service reflects a serious commitment with continuous improvement and establishes a priori to users that their opinions will be taken seriously. In addition, the use of digital platforms allows for data processing techniques that can improve the quality of the information that arises from them, and opens the possibility of applying automated analysis techniques capable of providing high value-added information, which greatly improves reception of information as well as decision making for people and organizations.
However, one of the main obstacles that digital messaging and information-gathering platforms face nowadays, is their inherent lack of a form that conveys their purpose and invites people to use them. Unlike traditional suggestion boxes, whose shape clearly and simply establishes their purpose as a mechanism to physically place messages, digital platforms nowadays do not have any physical form that indicates their function and invites people to use them, which makes people overlook them as their purpose is not evident.
Currently, the QR code is well recognized by people around the world as an access medium for digital platforms thanks to its ability to encode ISO 8859-1 text in a machine-readable form. As mobile devices with a built-in camera became popular in the decade of 20109, this feature started to be used as a method to print URL addresses in physical objects that was more practical than transcribing them into a web browser; instead, users only need to open a QR code reader app in their devices, scan the code with their device's camera, and press a button to open the web page encoded in the code. QR codes became significantly popular since the COVID-19 pandemic10, during which the QR code was widely adopted as a measure to curb virus transmission in places such as workplaces, offices, airports, museums, public and private establishments, massive events, businesses, and shops, linking people with digital platforms, information resources, electronic payment systems, online catalogs, and many other electronic services. This, combined with its practicality, has made the QR code a well-recognized symbol to access a digital platform. 9Edwards, C. (2010 Dec. 6). QR Code Readers for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. Retrieved from 708 Media: https://web.archive.org/web/20110825233859/http://www.708media.com/qrcode/qr-code-readers-iphone-android-blackberry-windows-phone-7/.10Leger, B. (2020, Oct. 27). QR codes are replacing physical menus at restaurants. Retrieved from 225 Magazine: https://www.225batonrouge.com/food-drink/qr-codes-replacing-physical-menus-restaurants.
This utility model, therefore, aims to combine the universal symbol of the physical suggestion box with the QR code, thus creating a new generation of mailboxes capable of linking people and organizations to digital platforms. By reading it with a mobile device, the QR code allows access to a digital platform bound to the mailbox, which allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints, and suggestions, as well as attachment of files, audio, video, pictures, or any other multimedia element; thus using technology to improve quality of information and reduce the logistic and administrative costs of operating traditional suggestion boxes, solving the problem of how to invite people to use it, and enabling use of information technologies to improve customer-to-organization communication experience, as well as the experience of receiving and following up on the customer's voice.
Global usage of paper is nowadays declining. Digital platforms are replacing printed documents, causing a global decrease in demand for paper; this trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered massive worldwide adoption of digital platforms as a measure to prevent transmission through indirect contact, causing global paper usage to plummet. As a result, paper is becoming obsolete, as well as traditional suggestion boxes meant to deposit paper forms inside. Given this situation, the concept of the mailbox must be reconsidered and adapted to be on par with current technological and social changes.
This invention has a different function compared to its components, as it lacks the ability of traditional suggestion boxes to receive paper forms; in addition, it is also an improvement to messaging systems, as it replaces the obsolete practice of using paper forms with the modern practice of using digital platforms; bringing several advantages with it, such as allowing submission of information with attached files and multimedia content, allowing people's information to arrive immediately and ready to be addressed in an expedited manner, not requiring any paper or pens for its operation, and not generating any waste.
Espacenet. (2022 Jul. 5). Espacenet classification A47G2029/146. Retrieved from European Patent Office: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/cpc-browser#!/CPC=A47G2029/146/.
Deposit Receptacles for Parcels—Comprising Electronically Controlled Locking Means—The receptacle Comprising Identification Means, e.g. a Bar Code
Regarding mailboxes capable of displaying machine-readable data, we can identify U.S. Pat. No. 10,537,194 B212, which consists of a smart postal box in support of autonomous delivery nodes (via unmanned aircraft). This patent claims a smart postal box having a plurality of compartments, each one with rolling doors configured to actuate and move to expose a particular compartment, and an intelligent controller configured to determine the specific compartment where the package is to be delivered, associate it to an authorized entity, and actuate and move the rolling doors to only expose the specific compartment. This patent is different from the utility model in this application, because our invention displays mobile device-readable data through a printed QR code meant to be read by a person with a mobile device's camera, and its purpose is to function as a medium to connect to a digital platform where it is possible to send messages, comments, complaints and suggestions, with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video; whereas patent U.S. Pat. No. 10,537,194 B2 considers the possibility of displaying machine-readable data to unmanned vehicles through modulation of a light source, and its purpose is to receive physical parcels delivered via unmanned vehicles. 11Espacenet. (2022, Jul. 5). Espacenet classification A47G2029/146. Retrieved from European Patent Office: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/cpc-browser#!/CPC=A47G2029/146/12Byers, C. C., Salgueiro, G., Vellala, A., Bogadapati, S. K., & Mynampati, J. C. (2015). U.S. Pat. No. 10,537,194B2.
Household or Table Equipment—Supports, Holders, or Containers for Household Use—Mail or Newspaper Receptacles, e.g. Letter Boxes
In this classification, we have U.S. Pat. No. 9,336,667 B214, which consists of an electronic mailbox system composed of a mailbox housing with an inner cavity and slot for holding mail, a movable lid with open and closed positions capable of allowing or preventing access to the inner cavity, an electrically-operable lock system for the lid with open and closed positions, a sensor that detects when mail is inserted into the slot, a signal transmitter and receiver, and a microprocessor connected to the sensor, the locking mechanism, the transmitter and the receiver. The invention is used together with a mobile consumer electronics device capable of receiving notifications of physical mail having been received, as well as capable of transmitting a signal to the mailbox's electronic systems that make them open the lock. This patent is different from the utility model in this application because it is a traditional physical messaging box; the mailbox in this utility model, to the contrary, has been designed to make it impossible to deposit letters or papers in it, which makes it impossible to use for physical messaging. 13Espacenet. (2022 Jul. 5). Espacenet classification A47G29/12. Retrieved from European Patent Office: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/cpc-browser#!/CPC=A47G29/12.14Hammoud, H. (2013). U.S. Pat. No. 9,336,667B2.
Also in this classification, we have People's Republic of China patent CN10462224515, which consists of an intelligent mailbox unit controlled by a central processing device equipped with a barcode reader. Each user of the unit is assigned a mailbox and a tag with a printed barcode; to open their assigned mailbox, the user scans their label on the unit's barcode reader, and the corresponding lock opens. This patent is different from this application's utility model because its function is inverse: in this patent, the barcode is carried by the user on a tag and the reader is on the mailbox unit, whereas in our invention the barcode is on the mailbox and the QR code reader is on each user's mobile device. 15Dong, Z. (2015). People's Republic of China Patent No. CN104622245.
In this classification, we can also find People's Republic of China patent CN106955005A16, which describes a self-service postage kiosk that consists of a mailbox, an operation console with a keyboard and screen, a weighing device, a code reader, a receptacle, and a central computer. The process begins on the user's mobile device, which has been used previously to initiate the process of sending a letter and obtaining a confirmation QR code. Once such code has been generated, the user approaches the postage machine, presents the code displayed on their mobile device in front of the machine's code reader, places the letter on the weighing device, and the machine's screen will display another QR code. The user reads this code with their mobile device to access an electronic payment system where the postage is paid and receives another QR code as confirmation. This second code is presented in front of the machine's code reader, which prints a postage label that is pasted into the letter, which is then deposited in the mailbox. This patent is different from this application's utility model, because this patent's invention has a mailbox meant to receive physical letters, which is impossible to do with our invention as it was not designed to send letters or papers, and because it does not solve the problem that our mailbox solves, because patent CN106955005A is a self-service postage machine meant to automate the process of paying a letter's postage, whereas our utility model is a medium to connect to a digital platform that allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video. 16Dongliang, W., Yidi, Z., & Qiongyu, W. (2017). People's Republic of China Patent No. CN106955005A.
In this classification we have Australian patent AU201435702217, which consists of a smart mailbox with a data processor, an optional barcode reader, a box with a lock, a device to input a code to open the mailbox, a communication unit linked to a remote management terminal, an unlock code database that may reside in the mailbox or the remote terminal, and an electrical power unit. One aspect of patent AU2014357022's mailbox considers the addition of a mono- or bi-dimensional code reader linked to the data processor, which triggers a mailbox opening signal only if the code is in the valid codes database. 17Geng, X. (2013). Australia Patent No. AU2014357022.
This patent is different from this application's utility model because patent AU2014357022 is for a mailbox meant to receive physical parcels that opens by reading a mono- or bi-dimensional code on the parcel, whereas our mailbox, in addition to not having been designed to receive letters or physical parcels, has the QR code on the mailbox, which is laid out to be read by the user, and serves as connection medium to a digital platform that allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video.
Checkout Procedures—With a Code Reader for Reading of an Identifying Code of the Article to be Registered, e.g. Barcode Reader or Radio-Frequency Identity (RFID) Reader)
In this classification, we have US patent US2016/0241660 A118, which consists of a system for bridging people or devices through a remote digital platform acting as an intermediary in a scheme known as “if this then that” (IFTTT), where connection can be directly over the internet through a wi-fi module, or indirectly through a radio transmitter that uses as second intermediary an app for consumer mobile devices capable of connecting to both the radio transmitter and the remote platform; the mobile app also considers the possibility of each user generating for themselves a QR code to receive messages and notifications through the mobile app. 18Nhu, H. (2016). United States Patent No. 20160241660A1.
This patent is different from this application's utility model. On one hand, in patent US2016/0241660 A1, the task of generating the QR code, printing it, and placing it on the object meant for messaging is performed by the user; in our invention, the QR code is already integrated into the mailbox. On the other hand, in patent US2016/0241660 A1, this functionality is intended for printing a label to be pasted on a suitcase or personal belonging, to send the owner a message in case the object is lost and later found and thus assist the owner in its retrieval; whereas in our invention, the QR code is meant to connect people and organizations with digital platforms that allow for submission of messages, comments, complaints and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video, and is also part of a complete solution aimed at improving people's emotional closeness to digital messaging platforms through the universally recognized symbol of the physical suggestion box, solving the logistic and economic challenges that traditional suggestion boxes imply, and making use of the possibilities that digital platforms offer for message handling, information processing, continuous improvement, and decision making.
Electricity—Electric Communication Technique—Transmission of Digital Information—User-to-User Messaging in Packet-Switching Networks—Characterised by the Inclusion of Specific Contents—Annexed Information, e.g. Attachments
In this classification we can find US patent US2013/0041961 A1 (current status: abandoned due to failure to respond to an office action)19, which consists of a system and method for electronic communication using unique identifiers associated with electronic addresses, such as a car's registration plate, a person's face, or an e-mail address constructed out of personal data such as phone number, home address, credit card number, driver's license, Social Security Number (SSN), passport number, mobile phone IMEI code, GPS coordinates, DOI identifier or ISBN code of published books or scientific papers, or published patent number, among others. This identifier is used to send an electronic message with a consistent format, which may include attached data. The computer system that handles message delivery has a database of identifiers associated with personal profiles and allows access to received messages. 19Thrower III, F. M., & Phipps, A. M. (2012). United States Patent No. US20130041961A1.
This patent is different from this application's utility model, because our invention considers a QR code as a means to connect the user with a digital platform that allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints, and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video, and also includes a physical suggestion box that cannot receive any physical messages, as a mean to present the QR code with greater emotional proximity between users and digital platforms; patent US2013/0041961 A1, to the contrary, only acts as a private communication medium between people, does not consider any medium to display any kind of code, and considers use of unique and completely different identifiers.
In this category, we have identified US patent US2020/0184516 A120, which consists of a system and method for person-to-person messaging through mono- or bi-dimensional barcodes, as well as for tracking products and financial conversion. A data repository with internet-accessible multimedia content is associated with a code, which is scanned by the user to display the multimedia content associated with the code. This patent is different from this application's utility model because the purpose of this patent is to display multimedia content and does not consider any way in which the user may leave a message, whereas our utility model has the QR code presented via a suggestion box, and its linked content is a digital platform that allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video. 20Bigley, D. H. (2016). United States Patent No. US20200184516A1.
Given the aforementioned state of the art, and according to our searches in patent and utility model databases maintained by the USPTO, the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, IMPI), there is no such thing in the present-day state of the art as a mailbox with an integrated QR code which, when scanned, allows access to a digital platform linked to the mailbox, which allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio, video, or any other multimedia element.
This utility model relates to a mailbox that, unlike traditional mailboxes, cannot have papers deposited in it; instead, it has a QR code meant to be read with a mobile device. This QR code contains a URL that allows access to a digital platform, which allows the user that reads the code to submit messages, comments, complaints, and suggestions, with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio or video, or any other multimedia element; all of which is sent in real-time to the mailbox's managers.
The combination of two elements, a traditional mailbox and a QR code, creates a new generation of mailboxes capable of linking people to digital platforms, creating specific communication connections, as well as capable of using the options provided by electronic media to process data effectively, efficiently, and in real-time, while simultaneously maintaining the emotional closeness evoked by traditional mailboxes.
This utility model relates to a mailbox with an integrated QR code, which consists of 3 main elements: a box, a fixed lid with a slot, and an opening with a piece inclined inwards that has a QR code. This mailbox with an integrated QR code is meant to be placed in living, working, commercial, or government spaces, or any space open to the general public, whether by hanging it from a wall or screwing it to a base.
Its objective is to act as a communication medium, which allows for submission of messages, comments, complaints, and suggestions with the ability to attach files, pictures, images, audio, or video, through a QR code that, when scanned with a mobile device, allows access to a digital platform linked to the mailbox, where immediately submitting such content is possible.
This mailbox is conceived to operate as part of a communication system accessible via a URL, where each mailbox is linked to a distinct URL to identify each one uniquely. This invention does not require any power or supplies of any kind to operate.
To better understand the technical features of this invention, the following figures have been included as an integral part of this document:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| MX/U/2022/000230 | Jun 2022 | MX | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2023/056018 | 6/12/2023 | WO |
