Patent Application
20080147423
The present invention relates to a verification method and system to confirm receipt of a mailpiece by its intended mail recipient and, more particularly, to a method and system which employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to establish timely and reliable recipient verification.
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a method of identifying unique information and/or devices using radio waves. Typically, a reader communicates with an RFID tag/device which holds unique digital information in an embedded microchip/processor. The tag/device typically employs a receiving antenna which acquires energy from an external energy source to power the microchip/processor. The tag/device may then transmit information to the interrogating reader or communicate with other tags/devices within a defined field or zone.
More specifically, RFID systems can be passive, active or semi-passive. A passive RFID system employs a passive tag/device having a receiving antenna which is sufficiently large, or selectively shaped/dimensioned, to capture (or harvest) energy from a surrounding electromagnetic field, i.e., the radio frequency energy, to power the passive tag/device. The receiving antenna is electrically connected to the central microchip/processor to perform various preprogrammed functions. An active RFID system employs an active tag/device having an energy source, e.g., an embedded battery, to power the active device and broadcast signals to the reader. Consequently, active RFID systems do not require an electromagnetic field to power the tag/device. A semi-passive system is similar to active systems in the sense that an energy source is employed to power a tag/device, however, the energy is used to activate or augment the microchip's processing capability rather than to broadcast signals back to the reader. The tags/device employed in semi-passive systems are also referred to as battery-assisted tags inasmuch as a portion of the energy is acquired from the tag while another portion is obtained from the read field of the antenna. As such, semi-passive tags can increase the read range of the RFID system.
RFID systems facilitate tracking of various items (i.e., items which have an accompanying RFID tag/device) for the purpose of controlling merchandise, maintaining inventory levels, or monitoring the location and/or flow of important documents. At present, however, RFID tags are principally used in the retail and distribution industries as a preferred means for controlling and maintaining high value inventory such as electronic equipment, home appliances, etc. While the cost to implement such RFID tags/devices has diminished dramatically with increased use, the cost of such RFID systems continues to prohibit their widespread use in lower value retail/industrial items.
Another technology to which the current invention is directed relates to methods for verifying whether an item, e.g., a parcel, package or mailpiece has been properly or timely delivered to a mail recipient. Generally, verification methods have been limited to several low-cost techniques which can be highly unreliable and/or imprecise. For example, a signed “return receipt” only ensures that a mailpiece has been received by a person residing, or located, at the destination address at the time of delivery. While such methods may ensure that the mailpiece has not been inadvertently misplaced, it does little to verify that the intended and actual recipients are one and the same. Further, while it is possible to subsequently perform a forensic signature analysis, such methods fail to ensure that the mailpiece has reached its intended recipient.
Other methods of verification may involve the electronic scanning of a barcode symbology known to be located at a particular destination. That is, a delivery agent may be required to scan the barcode upon reaching the destination. As such, electronic scanning can minimally verify that the delivery agent arrived at the location at a particular time. To the extent that the delivery agent has arrived at the destination address and is not motivated by other considerations (e.g., mail theft/fraud), it is reasonable to conclude that the mailpiece was delivered.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a verification method and system to confirm receipt of a mailpiece by its intended mail recipient and to a method which employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to establish timely and reliable recipient verification.
A method and system is provided for confirming and/or verifying receipt of a mailpiece by an intended mail recipient. The method includes the step of establishing a relationship between the intended mail recipient and an RFID tag affixed to the mailpiece. Upon delivery of the mailpiece, the actual mail recipient is caused to affect communication between an RFID enabled phone in the possession of the actual mail recipient and the RFID tag of the mailpiece. By comparing the information acquired by the RFID enabled phone and the RFID tag, (i.e., the relationship information stored on the RFID tag), a determination can be made as to whether the intended mail recipient is the actual mail recipient. Alternate embodiments of the invention effect confirmation/verification by capturing various biometric characteristics of the mail recipient and comparing such information to previously stored biometric data of the intended mail recipient.
Reference is now made to the various figures wherein like reference numerals designate similar items in the various figures and in which:
The present invention describes a method and system for confirming and/or verifying the delivery of a mailpiece to an intended recipient. In the context used herein the term “mailpiece” means any article including a letter, parcel, brochure, newspaper, magazine, mail unit or item which may be handled by a delivery agent such as the United States Postal Service (USPS), United Parcel Service (UPS), and Federal Express (FEDEX) etc. for delivery to a mailpiece recipient. A “mail unit” is any mailpiece or group of mailpieces which are physically constrained or bound together such as a bundle of newspapers or magazines.
Generally, the sender of a mailpiece may have a desire to know that a mailpiece has been delivered to a particular recipient. It may not be sufficient, as may be the case when delivering an important document such as a legal notice, to rely upon a signature to authenticate its delivery. As discussed in the background, the prior art methods of delivery confirmation generally rely upon evidence that the mailpiece has reached a destination and/or has been received by an individual residing, or at least located, at the intended destination. The actual mail recipient may or may not be the intended recipient, and a signature obtained may or may not be authentic. It will be appreciated therefore that important documents and/or parcels containing high value articles (which are becoming more frequent with the increased volume of internet commerce and mail order shipping) will require more reliable/accurate forms of confirmation/verification.
The method and system of the present invention is capable of inquiring and responding to the fundamental tenants/questions of a robust verification security system. That is, the method and system can confirm an individual's identity by authenticating answers to the following: “What I am”, “What I know”, and “What I have”. The various methods to authentic a recipient's identity will become apparent in light of the subsequent detailed description of the inventive method/system.
Before discussing the method steps in detail, it will be useful to describe some of the system elements used in the practice of the inventive method. One such system element, shown in
The RFID portion or shell 10S of the phone 10 operates in a manner very similar to readers employed in conventional RFID systems. That is, the RFID shell 10S emits electromagnetic energy which is harvested by the antenna 12A of an RFID tag to energize the microchip/microprocessor 12P of the RFID tag 12. With the power acquired, the microchip 12P of the RFID tag 12 is capable of receiving and/or transmitting information (e.g., information stored or recorded by/in the microchip 12P) to or from the RFID-enabled phone 10. While the RFID-enabled phone 10 generally will communicate with a single RFID tag 12, it should be appreciated that the RFID phone 10 may communicate with multiple tags, though an anti-collision algorithm will be necessary to enable communications.
RFID-enabled phones of the type described, and those which are currently available, generally operate in the 13.56 MHz frequency range. Although, it will be appreciated that other operational frequencies can be used to energize an RFID tag. Furthermore, such phones operate using Near Field Communication (NFC) which is a function of the frequency range, and simply means that the shell 12 of the phone 10 must be in the proximity of the RFID tag 12 to establish and/or maintain communication, i.e., generally within a few centimeters. Consequently, communication therebetween will generally require that the phone 10 be waved or wand directly over the RFID tag 12. One such RFID-enabled phone which is commercially available is manufactured and sold by Nokia having a regional office in Irving, State of Texas and having its headquarters in the country of Finland. More specifically, the company offers a Nokia NFC Shell for use in connection with its Nokia 3220 cellular phone.
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In
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To respond to the Sender's request, the Service Provider SP will need to collect a significant amount of verification data and, for the purposes of the exemplary embodiment discussed herein, it is assumed that all such data can be acquired/obtained via public and personal records. For example, the Service Provider SP may establish a database 14 having the following information/fields: the ID or serial number of the RFID tag, Name and Address of the Intended Mail Recipient MR, RFID enabled phone number of the intended Mail Recipient MR, Mail Recipient personal identification number (PIN) or social security number (SSN) and various Biometric Characteristic data of the Mail Recipient. With respect to the latter, the Biometric Characteristic data may include the voice print signature, fingerprint, iris or retinal scan data of the intended Mail Recipient.
In Step B, the RFID tag 12 is activated/read to store the serial number or ID in the computer database 14. At this time, the RFID tag may or may not be affixed to the mailpiece 20, though the RFID tag is necessarily inserted within, attached or affixed to, the mailpiece 20 prior to its delivery in Step C. In the case of a mail unit, the RFID tag may be attached to only one of the mailpieces/items contained therein, or be affixed to the package which binds or contains the individual mail pieces/items.
In step D, the mailpiece is opened and read by the actual Mail Recipient MRA. The recipient is referred to as the “actual” Mail Recipient MRA inasmuch as it has not, as yet, been determined that the actual Mail Recipient MRA and intended Mail Recipient MRI are one and the same. Instructions may be provided to the actual Mail Recipient MRA to waive or wand his/her RFID enabled phone 10 over or in close proximity to the RFID tag 12 (best seen in
Upon taking this active step, the Service Provider SP can now ascertain in Step E, whether the actual Mail Recipient MRA and intended Mail Recipient MRI are the same. While this step satisfies the portion of security which asks “what I have” or “Do I have or am I operating a cell phone registered to the intended Mail Recipient?”, other tests or conditions may be satisfied to obtain higher levels of confirmation. For example, the actual Mail Recipient can be asked to capture a picture, via a cell phone digital camera or optical imaging system, of the mailpiece in his/her possession. The image can be mailed back to the Service Provider for confirmation.
With respect to questions of “what I know”, the Service Provider can require the RFID-enabled cell phone operator to input a personal identification number (PIN), his/her social security number (SSN) or other information which may only be known to the cell phone operator. As such, in addition to obtaining an acknowledgement from a Communications Provider CP that the person operating the RFID enabled phone 10 is registered to an individual having the same name as the intended Mail Recipient MRI, a further confirmation is now provided by comparing personal identification numbers (PINs) or the social security number (SSN) to the characteristic data on file in the database 12.
With respect to the questions concerning “what I am”, the Service Provider can ask the RFID-enabled cell phone operator (still referred to as the actual Mail Recipient MRA) to capture certain of his/her biometric characteristics for comparison to biometric data which is on file in the database 12. For example, actual Mail Recipient MRA may be asked to capture a facial image of him/herself for subsequent comparison purposes. Inasmuch as cell phones are becoming more sophisticated and can incorporate high resolution devices, it is well-within the skill of those in the art to incorporate a digital scanning device on the face of the cell phone to capture biometric data such as fingerprints or a scan of the operator's iris or retina. Of course, having this information on file in the database 12 may be more difficult to obtain. It will be appreciated, however, that such biometric data will be more available as such identification methods become more widespread in terms of there use. Inasmuch as a cell-phone includes a microphone, it is also well-within the skill of the art to obtain a voiceprint signature of the operator to be compared to a voice signature stored in the database 12. In this embodiment, voice recognition software can be used to ascertain whether the actual Mail Recipient MRA and intended Mail Recipient MRI are one and the same.
If, in step F, it is determined that the actual Mail Recipient MRA and intended Mail Recipient MRI are the same, then a message may be sent to the Mailpiece Sender MS in step F1 that a “positive” verification/confirmation has been obtained. If no verification/confirmation can be achieved or a “negative” result is obtained, then the Mailpiece Sender may be asked, in step F2, whether the mailpiece 20 should be resent in an effort to locate the intended Mail Recipient MRI.
While the invention has described a variety of methods to verify/confirm an operator's identity, it will be appreciated that a mailer may opt for one or a combination of verification techniques depending upon the confidence level he/she wishes to achieve. For example, a mail sender may opt to require one of each security measures e.g., request a PIN, a picture of the mailpiece and a picture of the mail recipient, to achieve a certain confidence level.
In summary, the present invention provides a method and system for confirming/verifying that a mailpiece has been sent to and received by its intended recipient. The invention employs a combination of presently and/or recently developed systems, e.g., RFID technology including RFID enabled phones, relational databases, digital scanning devices, imaging systems, wireless/optic communications networks/links, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), to more accurately and reliably ensure delivery of a mailpiece. Inasmuch as the implementation of such confirmation/verification methodology would greatly increase the quantity of RFID tags manufactured and used, it is anticipated that the per unit cost of such RFID tags would decrease substantially, e.g., from twenty-five/thirty cents ($0.25/$0.30) per tag to perhaps two to three cents ($0.02/$0.03) for each tag. Consequently, the cost of an RFID tag in combination with a mailpiece will not unduly burden the cost of delivery and present a significant obstacle or deterrent to the implementation of such confirmation/verification process. Moreover, it is further anticipated that the quality and resolution of various sensing devices disposed in combination with cellular phones will continue to improve.
Although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and deviations in the form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the scope of this invention.
