Patent Application
20070067249
The present invention relates exclusively to the field of mail processing and more particularly it concerns a method of providing the delivery of a franking service via a telecommunications network.
Today, when a private individual or a very small enterprise (VSE) not in possession of a franking machine wishes to frank mail, it is necessary, optionally after weighing, to affix a stamp onto each envelope or package to be sent. An alternative which does not apply to packages can involve the purchase of pre-franked envelopes. However, this limited solution only concerns standard mail without value-added services such as traceable mail, recorded-delivery mail or the registered letter for example, these services most often requiring a visit to the receiving offices of the postal authority for registration.
There is a need, which is currently not being met, for a more universal method of delivering franking services, applicable both to envelopes and packages and which avoids the abovementioned drawbacks, particularly one that can be accessed by anyone 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and which is particularly simple to put into effect.
The object of the present invention is, therefore, a novel method of delivering a franking service, including the following operations:
Thus, the use of a portable telephone enables any franking service to be obtained and automatically paid for at any time and, therefore, independently of post office opening hours.
Depending on the embodiment envisaged, the operation of connecting to the server system can include either the transmission by a portable communications device of a call to a voice server associated with the server system of the franking services provider or the display by the communications device of a home page of the franking services provider.
Depending on the embodiment envisaged, the operation of entering said unique identification number can include either a manual entry via the keypad of the communications device of a string of alphanumeric characters printed on the mail item and forming this unique identification number, or a digital capture by the communications device of a barcode printed on the mail item, said barcode preferably being a two-dimensional code selected from the following codes: Aztec code, Codablock, Code one, Code 16K, Code 49, data matrix, PDF 417, QR Code, Supercode, or a reading/interrogation by the communications device of an RFID tag carried by the mail item or its contents.
The operation of communicating postal information in relation to the selected service includes at least the communication of the geographical area of the destination of the mail item and the weight class of the mail item.
Depending on the embodiment envisaged, the operation of paying for the franking service selected by the user can include either a credit check of the user's account at the server system of the franking services provider, or a check of the user's telephone credit at a server system of the user's telephone operator, or a secure payment by payment card.
The invention also relates to a communications device intended to put into effect the method of delivering a franking service advantageously comprising one of the following devices: a desktop computer, a portable computer, a mobile or portable telephone, a web-enabled personal digital assistant, a web-enabled portable computer.
The invention also relates to a computer program including code instructions for performing the steps of the method of delivering a franking service when it is executed on the communications device.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more clearly apparent from the following description, provided for information and non limitative of the invention, in reference to the attached drawings, in which:
To carry out the method of the invention, this mail item is firstly provided with a unique identification number 14A, preferably sequential or of the random non-reusable type, which was printed during the process of creating the mail item, which ensures the printing quality thereof, and the uniqueness of which ensures that two mail items cannot under any circumstances bear the same number. In an alternative embodiment, this identification number can be stored in a contactless chip, or RFID tag, carried by the mail item or its contents. It is important to note that in contrast to a stamp or a postmark of a franking machine, this number does not represent any franking value and therefore does not contain any monetary value.
When it is printed, this unique identification number is advantageously presented in the form of a code with a high capacity for coding digital or alphanumeric data and error correction, such as two-dimensional barcodes of which the best known are: Aztec code, Codablock, Code one, Code 16K, Code 49, data matrix, PDF 417, QR Code, or Supercode. The high coding capacity of this type of code (including up to 4296 characters at the higher end) thus makes it possible for the code to include not only the identification number but also other information relating to the mail item, such as a format reference in the case of an envelope or a manufacturer's number and a country code, such as recommended by the EPC (Electronic Product Code) standard developed by the standardisation organisation of the same name.
In the process of delivering the requested franking service, the communications device is placed in communication with a franking services delivery server system 18 to facilitate the entry of different parameters relating to the requested service, this server being in turn capable of being placed in communication with a postal authority server system 20 intended to receive the different data relating to this service for the purpose of checking the validity thereof, and optionally with a telephone operator server system 22 for the purpose of debiting the cost of the corresponding franking transaction directly from the telephone account which may be held by the user of the service.
The portable communications device 10 is any data processing device enabling long distance wireless communications via a terrestrial or satellite wireless telecommunications network (such as the GSM, UMTS, WiMax networks, etc.) such as a mobile or portable telephone, a web-enabled personal digital assistant or a web-enabled portable computer. In the embodiment envisaged, it can include a digital capture device 10A, such as a digital camera or a two-dimensional barcode reader, or a contactless chip reading/interrogation module 10B designed to cooperate with a transponder (RFID tag) carried by the mail item or its contents when these are therewith provided.
In an alternative embodiment, the communications device 12 is any data processing device enabling communication via a wired communications network (such as the public switched telephone network or ISDN digital networks for example) such as a desktop computer or a portable computer. In the embodiment envisaged, it can include a digital capture device 12A, such as a Webcam or a two-dimensional barcode reader, or a contactless chip reading/interrogation module 12B designed to cooperate with a transponder (RFID tag) carried by the mail item or its contents when these are therewith provided.
The server system 18 located at a site of the franking service provider includes one or more central processing units comprising one or more databases and the control and management thereof are accomplished in the conventional manner by one or more computer terminals (not shown). The server system 20 of the postal authority includes a similar structure with one or more databases, in particular a database of the identification numbers. Similarly, the server system 22 of the telephone operator includes a similar structure with one or more databases, in particular a customer database containing accounting data.
In a first step of putting the method into effect, the user wishing to send a mail item 14 which he/she has previously acquired will click 100 on the franking application icon. This action will place the user in automatic communication with the server system 18 of this service and cause the screen depicted in
It will be noted that when the mail item (or its content) is fitted with an RFID tag, this viewing window will display the identification number retrieved automatically from this tag by the reading/interrogation module 10B, 12B.
The next step of the method then consists in selecting, by a simple click 102, the desired franking service among the different services proposed by the application, for example: standard mail, express mail, traceable mail, registered mail with or without acknowledgement, etc., then entering (action 104 depicted in
Once the last entry operation is made, the amount payable for the requested franking service will be displayed on one of screens depicted in
If, on the other hand, the user does not agree to his/her account being debited (by declining the aforementioned acceptance), if his/her credit is insufficient or he/she does not have a telephone account (for example in the case of a prepaid card user), the screen in
Thus, with the present invention, any user can in a very simple manner send any mail item, be it an envelope or a package, to any destination without having to visit an office of the postal authority to have the mail franked. The unique identification number (which replaces the stamp or the postmark of a franking machine and plays the role thereof although it has no monetary value) carried on each mail item enables the postal authority, when the mail item is deposited at one of its receiving offices, to process this item by checking the postal data (service requested, destination, weight, etc.) associated with this number in the provider's databases or in its own databases, and to deliver it or otherwise to its recipient depending on whether the payment appropriate to the requested service has been registered.
It will be noted that while the present invention has been described essentially with reference to a mail item provided with an identification number of the 2D-barcode type, it can be envisaged in a more simplified version that this number is a simple alphanumeric code formed by a string of one or several tens of alphanumeric characters machine-readable by means of an OCR reader or simply entered directly by the user via the keypad of his/her communications device after being connected to the provider's server system, this connection possibly taking the form of a call to a voice server associated with the server system which will offer the user all of the choices previously described.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0509182 | Sep 2005 | FR | national |
