Patent Application
20130268362
The present invention relates generally to advertising, and specifically to systems and methods for displaying visual information such as advertising correlated to deliverable mail pieces and general interest information to the public.
Companies spend vast sums each year attempting to deliver appropriate advertisements to a receptive audience. These companies use many different marketing techniques and forms of media to present effective advertisements. Each day these advertisements flood our society through traditional methods such as billboards, television and radio, and through new high-tech media such as the Internet. Companies also spend vast sums in advertising in the form of mail pieces delivered to consumers. In this type of advertising, the companies cannot be assured that the targeted audiences will view these mail pieces or simply discard them as being amongst other mail pieces considered as junk mail. There is presently no way to influence and/or increase the interest of the targeted audiences into viewing a given advertiser's mail piece over other advertising mail pieces.
Systems and methods are described for pushing advertising information from a host system to one or more vehicles of a fleet equipped with wireless mobile display systems. The vehicles can service local, regional and national geographic areas, as well as internationally. The advertisements may be correlated to and may relate to the mail pieces to be delivered, such as those pertaining to: products being offered and sold, services being offered, planned events and other deliverables, and information relevant to the public in general or the anticipated consumer within selected geographical areas. Thus, the term “mail pieces” is used in its broadest meaning and includes any type of physical product or deliverable such as, but not limited to, letters, flyers, packages, products, post cards, documents, pamphlets, magazines, advertising material, newspapers, brochures, and the like.
In one aspect of the invention, the advertising information is based upon data obtained from machine readable data such as an intelligent barcode, e.g., the United States Post Office (USPS) Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB), see “Intelligent Mail Barcode Technical Resource Guide”, prepared by the Intelligent Mail Planning and Standards, United States Postal Service, Jun. 30, 2009, Rev. 4.1, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, which provides visibility to the timing and delivery of specific mail pieces. The host system will push correlated advertising information to wireless mobile display systems residing on delivery vehicles, and will synchronize the delivery of the physical mail pieces within the fleet with the related advertisements that support the mail pieces, as well as optionally competitive advertisements if desired. The advertising information can be pushed based upon the vehicles known routes and/or specific locations in real time using GPS technology and utilizing localized information to display geographically relevant advertising or other information relevant to the public.
In one aspect of the invention, graphical and written advertising information, including optional sounds such as speech and music, can be communicated to digital displays mounted on United States Postal Service (USPS) Vehicles from a Host Computer System via a Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN). The advertising information can be specific to the route and/or location of each vehicle based upon known USPS delivery routes. Additionally, the advertising information can be specifically tailored or correlated to the exact mail pieces or mail category that is in the vehicle scheduled for delivery based upon information from, for example, an intelligent barcode such as the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode tracking system information. The system can schedule customized advertising information for each mail piece and every delivery vehicle (e.g., 200,000+ vehicle fleet) for every route for each day that the delivery vehicle is scheduled to deliver mail pieces to the route. The advertising information can be sent from the Host Computer System directly over the WWAN to the specific fleet vehicle or in some cases where the coverage of the WWAN is not adequate, a secondary WWAN known as the 900 MHz FLEX Paging Networks (FPN) will prompt an On Board Embedded Computer (OBEC) residing on the delivery vehicle to serve up the specific advertisement. The OBEC will receive its instructions and store the relevant advertisements via an IEEE802.11 (WIFI) network when it is parked at the Delivery Unit (DU) prior to departing for the daily route or receive the information in real time while in route from the host computer system in real time.
In one embodiment of the present invention there is described a method for advertising comprising correlating advertising information using a computer system with mail pieces to be delivered by one or more delivery vehicles; and displaying the correlated advertising information on a display of a delivery vehicle.
In a further embodiment of the present invention there is described a method of pushing advertisement information from a computer system to one or more delivery vehicles, the method comprising providing intelligent barcode data (IBD) from mailers to the computer system; providing mail pieces to a central processing plant; determining manifest data for the one or more delivery vehicles; pushing advertising information to the one or more delivery vehicles from the computer system based on the manifest data; and displaying advertising information on a display of a given vehicle correlated with the delivery of the mail pieces being delivered.
In a further embodiment of the present invention there is described a system for advertising information, the system comprising a computer system for receiving data associated with mail pieces to be delivered; a display for displaying the advertising information; and an advertising database for storing the advertising information to be displayed in association with the mail pieces; wherein the computer system pushes the advertising information stored in the advertising database for displaying on the display, the displayed advertising information correlated by the data to the mail pieces.
The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with features, objects, and advantages thereof may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:
In describing the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be used for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.
The present invention will be illustrated in accordance with one embodiment with respect to direct mail advertising delivered by the USPS. However, the present invention is applicable to a variety of other entities (e.g., United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express etc.) that deliver packages and products to consumers.
More specifically, the Intelligent Mail Barcode may carry a data payload of up to 31 digits comprised of the following elements as shown in Table 1.
The barcode identifier field is a 2-digit field that is reserved to encode the presort identification that is currently printed in human readable form on an Optional Endorsement Line (OEL)−. Generally, this field is left as “00” if an OEL is not printed on the mail piece.
The Service Type Identifier field is a 3-digit field that indicates participation, or the lack of, in various Postal Service programs. Each 3-digit value corresponds to a particular mail class with a particular, combination of service(s).
The Mailer Identifier (Mailer ID or MID) field is a 6-digit or 9-digit number that uniquely identifies a specific mail owner or mailing agent in the mail preparation process who has responsibility for the ownership, content, make up, or preparation of the mail.
The Serial Number is a 6-digit or 9-digit field depending on the length of the Mailer ID. The Serial Number can be populated with a number that uniquely identifies each mail piece (e.g., identifying the product or service being offered, the manufacture or supplier or other unique identification information) becoming a Unique Mailpiece ID. Alternatively the Serial Number may also be populated with a number that is unique to a mailing, becoming a Unique Mailing ID. The uniqueness method is left up to the mailer and can be achieved, among other things, by serializing the mail pieces, embedding Julian date, embedding mailing event, using recipient identifier, using database or mailing record ID.
The routing code field may contain a 5-digit ZIP code, a 9-digit ZIP+4 code, or an 11-digit delivery point code. When used on letters for automation-rate eligibility purposes, the routing code contains a delivery point code from CASS-certified software that accurately matches the delivery address. When used on flat-size pieces for automation-rate eligibility purposes, the barcode contains either a ZIP-4 or a delivery point routing code that accurately matches the delivery address.
The manifest data is provided to the USPS computer network 12 so that the network 12 can determine the approximate location of the vehicles and the mail pieces at a given time. The mail pieces to be delivered bearing the IMB are loaded onto racks 16 and loaded into a delivery vehicle 18. The USPS computer network 12 can employ the mainfest data to push advertising information to the delivery vehicle 18, as well as based on the type and/or content of the mail pieces being delivered. The USPS computer network 12 can be configured to push advertising information to each delivery vehicle in a fleet of vehicles. A given delivery vehicle can include a wireless mobile display system that includes an embedded computer coupled to a display mounted to the outside of the vehicle for displaying the advertising information. The wireless mobile display system can include a GPS device to provide a more exact location of the vehicle during a delivery time period so that the computer network 12 and/or the embedded computer residing in the delivery vehicle can synchronize the advertising information to be displayed on the outside of the vehicle with the delivering of the mail pieces supplied by the mailers and its associated advertising information at the point of deliver 20. In this manner, the recipients of the mail pieces are also provided with displayed advertising in hopes of facilitating the recipients in viewing the advertising information in the mail pieces.
The host server 42 can push the stored advertising information to a fleet of delivery vehicles and synchronize the delivery of the physical mail pieces supplied by the mailers within the fleet with advertisements or other information that support the mail pieces. The host server 42 pushes the advertising information directly over a WWAN server/router 54 to the specific delivery vehicle containing the mail piece to be delivered or in some cases where the coverage of the WWAN is not adequate, a 900 MHz FLEX Paging Networks (FPN) server controller 56 will prompt the wireless mobile display system on the delivery vehicle to serve up the specific advertisement.
The wireless mobile display system 70 can also include a global position system (GPS) 84 that provides accurate location information that can be used in conjunction with a delivery time period so that the computer network at the USPS and/or the embedded controller 72 can synchronize the advertising information to be displayed on the outside of the vehicle with the real time delivering of the mail pieces associated with the advertising information at the point of delivery. The wireless mobile display system 70 can also include a battery 80 for providing power to the wireless mobile display system 70. The battery 80 can be the vehicle battery or a battery dedicated to the wireless mobile display system 70. The wireless mobile display system 70 can also be configured as a “Hotspot”, such that the transceiver 76 or another dedicated transceiver 76 can broadcast advertising messages via IEEE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other transmission protocol in coordination with the displays that would provide requests to consumers to open their smart phones or digital devices to accept communications and advertising offers from the vehicle.
In view of the foregoing structural and functional features described above, a methodology in accordance with various aspects of the present invention will be further appreciated with reference to
The storage unit 122 can be provided with a wireless display system 125 such as previously described. The storage unit 122 is also provided with one or more displays 126, such as the type as previously described with respect to displays 32 residing on a delivery vehicle 30. Advertising information to be correlated with the mail pieces to be delivered within the storage unit 122 may be stored and pushed to the display 126 in the manner as previously described. In this regard, the advertising information may be stored on an advertising server residing in the computer system at a remote location, or residing within the storage unit 122. Each of the mail pieces will contain an intelligent barcode or other data to enable correlation of the mail pieces to the advertising information to be displayed. Accordingly, the advertising information may be pushed either remotely to the wireless display system 125 in the manner as previously described or directly from an advertising information storage device residing within the storage unit 122. In either event, the advertising information may be pushed to the display 126 at selected times as may desired or determined from the manifest data.
With reference to
According to embodiments, once the user has been redirected to the promoted product, he can purchase the product, for example, using conventional online shopping technologies. The item can then be shipped to the customer via, for example and without limitation, one of the USPS shipping products. Examples of the products are Express Mail, Priority Mail and Parcel Select. Alternatively, the purchased product can be delivered to the person via other shipping providers, or other modalities, such as in-store pick up. The foregoing notwithstanding, according to embodiments, the shipping of the product can be exclusive to the carrier who displayed the advertising information containing the QR code, such as the USPS. According to such an embodiment, the QR code could recognize and identify the carrier who displayed the advertising information (and QR code), and convey that information to the web site to which the user is redirected.
According to embodiments, the acts of scanning the QR code, viewing the product information, and/or shipping of the product can be monetized. For example, the promoter of the product could pay a “click charge” to the carrier whose screen 32, 126 displays the QR code every time the QR code is scanned. Alternatively, the “click charge” could be paid to a third party responsible for the screens 32, 126, or combinations of the two. Additionally or alternatively, exclusive product shipping arrangements may be made between the product promoter and the carrier whose screen 32, 126 displays the QR code scanned by the user.
What have been described above are examples of the invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the invention, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the invention are possible. For example, other data forms other than the IMB data may be used for correlating the advertising information to the mail pieces. Accordingly, the invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of this application, including the appended claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/820,258, filed Jun. 22, 2010, which claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/299,544, filed Jan. 29, 2010. The disclosure of the foregoing two applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61299544 | Jan 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12820258 | Jun 2010 | US |
| Child | 13826838 | US |
