Patent Application
20060161505
Organizations may send quantities of physical mail to their clients or potential clients (hereinafter “mail-recipients”), such as so-called mass mail, bulk mail, etc. These pluralities of physical mailings may extend into the tens or thousands of individually addressed mail-pieces. As used herein, a “mail-piece” is a single unit of mail, such as for example an envelope containing correspondence, a flyer, a postcard, a package, or the like. In recent years, it has become possible to supplement or even replace the delivery of physical mail-pieces with e-mail. There continues, however, to be a need for physical delivery of hard copies of mail-pieces to mail-recipients via a mail delivery network, such as the United States Post Office, United Parcel Service, any overnight carrier, or the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “mail network”).
Certain entities provide mail services such as printing, stuffing (if needed), and/or addressing quantities of mail-pieces for subsequent processing through the mail network. These certain entities are referred to herein as “mail-service providers.” An example of a mail service provider is Deutsche Post PrintCom Service, which may provide for handling of business mail an entity.
As the greatest profit for mail-service providers is achieved by processing the largest volumes of mail, mail-service providers will typically set price-breaks that may reduce the cost per mail-piece as the number of mail-pieces increases. Moreover, certain mail-service providers are disinclined to process small quantities of mail-pieces and have set minimum quantity requirements on orders. The term “small quantities” is relative and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Many mail originators, therefore, may not be able to receive the advantageous pricing set for the largest orders and/or may not be able to use the services of certain mail-service providers because the mail-service providers' minimum quantity requirements will not be met.
Known systems and methods do not provide mail originators, such as religious or community service organizations, schools, or businesses, for example, with an opportunity to receive a per mail-piece pricing level that is usually available to mail originators serving comparatively larger numbers of mail-recipients. Nor do known systems and methods alleviate the problems of meeting mail-service providers' minimum quantity requirements. Another need may be to provide mail originators with archival storage of their mail content and/or mailing lists. Accordingly, the present inventors perceive these and other needs in the art.
In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, a system and method is disclosed to help satisfy the needs of originators of a relatively small quantity of multiple mailings.
In the example of
From time to time, a mail coordinator 132 may combine the plurality of orders 102, 104, 106, 108, or subsets thereof, stored within one or more of the plurality of servers 126, 128, 130. The plurality of servers 126, 128, 130 may be coupled to the mail coordinator 132 via a firewall 150. The firewall 150 may be implemented in software within a computer system running the mail coordinator 132 or in a stand-alone piece of hardware. The firewall 150 may protect the mail coordinator 132 from an attack from the outside that may arrive via an interface between it and one or more of the servers 126, 128, 130 or via a coupling to a communications network 146, such as the Internet.
As illustrated in
The mail coordinator 132 may combine orders into at least one combined order 134. Accordingly, a combination of orders 102, 104, 106, 108, or subsets thereof, may be combined to create one or more combined orders. For example, orders 102, 104, 106, 108 may contain mail-pieces directed to mail recipients in a particular region or country (e.g., Germany or the western region of the United States). Thus, in a combined order the mail coordinator 132 may generate a first combined mail order 134 which contains a first subset of mail-pieces bound for mail-recipients in California, while substantially simultaneously generating a second combined mail order (shown as 135 in
In the illustrative embodiments of
While individual orders 102, 104, 106, 108 may not meet or exceed a mail-service provider's minimum order plurality, the combined order 134 can be generated to at least meet the mail-service provider's minimum order plurality. Moreover, it may be possible to combine a plurality of orders, or subsets thereof, from one or more mail originators, such that a favorable price per mail-piece can be negotiated or obtained for the mail originator(s) 110, 112, 114, 116. Another advantage, as described herein below, may be that a single order to multiple geographic regions can be divided into multiple sub-orders. Each of the sub-orders may go to a mail-service provider that is geographically proximate to (e.g., within or nearby) the region within which the recipients of the sub-order are located. As used herein, geographically proximate may be measured in terms that vary from an area corresponding to a United States ZIP code up to areas in excess of the size of a country. As used herein, the term “region” may comprise portions of countries or combinations of countries. This sub-division for localization of the mail-service provider(s) may be advantageous in reducing the time between mailing of a mail-piece and the mail-piece's receipt by its intended recipient.
In some embodiments, the mail coordinator 132 may transmit the combined order 134 to one of the plurality of mail-service providers 138, 140, 142, in accordance with instructions provided by, or predefined agreements with, the mail originator. In some embodiments, the mail coordinator 132 may select which of the plurality of mail-service providers 138, 140, 142 will receive the combined order 134. As noted both hereinabove and hereinafter, a combined order may be comprised of one or more subsets of one or more original orders. Thus, an original order may be combined with other orders in its entirety or may be divided into subsets, with each subset going to one or more mail-service providers. A predefined list of mail-service providers may be stored in a memory 154 of the mail coordinator 132. Memory 154 may be any medium capable of storing instructions and of being read by a machine such as a compact disk, hard drive memory, floppy disk memory, DVD-ROM, CD-ROM or any type of machine-readable (computer-readable) storing medium. The set of instructions may be included within a computer program (which as is well known comprises a plurality of instructions) that is executable by a computer system. The list may include, for example, the regions served by the mail-service providers, their geographic location, and rates charged for various services.
Mail aggregation system 100 may receive orders from one or more mail originators 110, 112, 114, 116. The mail originators 110, 112, 114, 116 may not have knowledge of the identities of other mail originators 110, 112, 114, 116 with whom their own order, or subset thereof, will be combined. However, in some embodiments, an indication of the identities of some or all of the mail originators 110, 112, 114, 116 in a combined order 134, may be observed by one or more other mail originators.
In some embodiments, as part of a transmission process, metadata may be added to the data sent to mail aggregation system 100. Metadata may be added, for example, by an application running on one or more of the computers 302 coupled to the LAN 304. Metadata may be added, for example, by a metadata adder 306 that may be embodied in one or more of the computers 302 coupled to the LAN 304. Metadata may include, for example, identification of the mail originator, the number of mail-pieces in an order, a source, location, and/or filename(s) of address files comprising lists of addresses of mail-recipients to be applied to the mail-pieces. In general, such metadata may be useful for sending a communication from one location to another location via an intermediary, such as server 126, without a need to “look into” the communication to obtain the recipient's address.
In some embodiments, a local buffer 308 may provide a location for intermediate storage of all data comprising an order 102, 104, 106, 108. The local buffer 308 may provide a capability of repeating a transmission of an order. The local buffer 308 may provide a capability to delete designated files and re-start an order transmission to a mail aggregation system 100. In some embodiments, the local buffer 308 may be provided by space, e.g., hard disc space, on one or more of the computers 302 that may be coupled to the LAN 304. In another embodiment, the local buffer 308 may be a piece of hardware coupled to the LAN 304.
Orders may be directed from the local buffer 308 to one or more servers 126, 128, 130 of a mail aggregation system 100 via a communication network 146 such as the Internet. The local buffer 308 itself may be coupled to a communications network interface device 310 coupled to the LAN 304. The network interface device 310 may be a stand-alone device or it may be integrated into one or more computers 302 on the LAN 304. The communications network interface device 310 may include a firewall 312. Alternatively, the firewall 312 may be resident in a stand-alone device. As known to those of skill in the art, a firewall may limit the exposure of all devices it is coupled with to attack from outside.
In one embodiment, an order may be, for example, an electronic transmission of, for example, instructions to print copies of a first letter that is stored as an attached file. In another embodiment, a order may be, for example, an electronic transmission of, for example, instructions to print copies of a first letter that is stored as an attached file, stuff the copies into envelopes, put the addresses found in a second attached file onto the envelopes, place postage on the envelopes, and send all envelopes to a post office for mailing. In one instance, an order may be, for example, an electronic transmission of a predefined instruction that provides a pointer to a file comprising a master document and another pointer to a file comprising a list of addresses or other information to be merged into individualized copies of the master document.
In the back-end, the mail coordinator 132 may transmit a combined order 134 to a mail-service provider, such as mail-service provider 138, 140, 142. The transmission may be routed through a communications network 146, such as the Internet.
The mail coordinator 132 may also ensure that international deliveries of mail are sent to certain international mail-service providers based on, for example, promises of performance set out in predefined contracts (a.k.a., service level agreements). A service level agreement may set forth, among other things, a maximum delivery time (that is, the time between the mailing and receipt of a mail-piece). For example, a mail-service provider may agree to deliver mail within one day of its receipt of a mail delivery order for one price, and agree to deliver mail within one week for a different price.
The mail coordinator 132 may also ensure that international deliveries of mail are sent to international mail-service providers based on a degree to which the mail-service provider is geographically proximate to the mail recipients. For example, if a mail originator was in the United States but one or more mail-recipients were in Germany, then a mail-service provider may be chosen that is local to Germany. This choice, for example, may reduce overall costs to the mail originator. Moreover, mail-service providers that are geographically local to mail-recipients may be selected to reduce the delivery time of the mail-pieces. In one example, a mail originator in Germany, desiring to send invoices to mail recipients in the Eastern and Western regions of the United States, could result in the selection of mail-service providers in New York and Los Angeles, respectively. The time between mailing and receipt of an invoice (i.e., delivery time) will be less for local mailings than for international mailings. Also, note that the above example encompasses an acceptable process whereby an order from one mail originator may be divided and sent to two or more mail mail-service providers.
The mail coordinator 132, in accordance with an embodiment of a system, may allow a mail-service provider, such as mail-service provider 140, to act as a print service dealer. A mail-service provider may send many different pieces of mail to many different recipients. For example, the mail-service provider may send any number of individual invoices, each having content different from the next, to any number of recipients. While one piece of mail (e.g., an invoice) may go to only one recipient, nothing herein restricts the use of sending several different pieces of mail (e.g., several unique invoices) to one recipient. Additionally, a mail-service provider may, for example, merge a master document with addresses from an address list file and print the mail-pieces (for transmission through the mail system). In acting as a print service dealer, the mail coordinator 132 may obtain good rates based on a combination of a plurality of orders and/or subsets thereof.
In some embodiments, the printed results may be archived, for example, by the mail coordinator 132. Archival storage may be accomplished in any number of formats, such as GIF or TIF. In some embodiments, archives may be stored on optical media, for example, in optical storage device 148. It is noted that in some embodiments archival records may be made available to users, such as mail originators. Those of skill in the art will understand how to accommodate user access to archival storage devices, such as optical storage device 148. In some embodiments, the printed results can be returned to the mail originator for further processing.
In some embodiments, orders 102, 104, 106, 108 may be provided in one or more formats, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), Portable Document Format (PDF), or other document formats. In other words, there may be no need to have pre-printed paper on the mail-service provider's side. This feature may reduce a mail-service provider's storage costs associated with specialty paper.
In some embodiments, mail originators can customize their own systems to select which form and/or format of data the mail originator wishes to send or receive. Likewise, a mail-service provider may also be able to customize its own systems to select which form and/or format of data it wishes to send or receive. For example, one entity may select to send and receive data via an e-mail program with attachments while another entity may select to send or receive data via a short message service (SMS) enabled system. A third entity may wish to send or receive data via facsimile. Of course, the form and/or format of data to be received may be different from the form and/or format of data to be transmitted. This may be true for any mail originator or mail-service provider. The ability of a mail originator or mail-service provider to customize a system in the manner disclosed is a further benefit of the invention. In embodiments, such customizing is transmitted to aggregator system 100, for example over an Internet transmission. For example, a mail mail-service provider may transmit mailings to recipients via Internet transmission of Adobe® PDF (Portable Document Format) files, while the mail coordinator 132 may transmit notifications and confirmations of certain things, such as occurrence of predefined events or the reaching of milestones, to the mail originator. As another example, a party that is to receive a document (e.g., an invoice) may customize they way the are to receive the document, such as by selecting receipt by standard mail, by facsimile, by email with an attached .pdf file, not to receive any more such documents, etc. The aggregator system 100 may maintain an Internet portal where all relevant communications regarding customizing may be directed. A recipient, which may not be a direct customer of the mail aggregator 100, may be directed to this portal as an enclose to a standard mailing or at the Internet site of a mail originator. A rule engine may be used to define how document transmissions are made. There may be a default way of transmitting, and entities (mail originators and mail receivers) may be able to overrule this default with their own preferences.
In some embodiments, the aggregator system 100 may provide electronic mailboxes to give mail originators access to archived (not printed) documents.
A further benefit of a use of a system and method in accordance with the invention is an ability to track a status of an order and to obtain information concerning an order's delivery date and time.
The combining process may continue periodically or aperiodically. Successive receptions of a plurality of orders may be triggered by, for example, a predefined timetable or a polling of servers to determine if a sufficient quantity of orders have been received to justify their combination into an aggregate or combined order.
The above is a detailed discussion of the certain embodiments. It may be understood that the examples discussed are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the configuration to that shown. It is of course intended that the scope of the claims may cover other embodiments than those described above and their equivalents.
