Patent ID: 9639821
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: G06Q

Claim:
1. A method performed by a mail processing system, the method comprising: receiving at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece at a mail processing system prior to receiving the mail piece; storing in a sender and virtual mail database virtual mail piece data that includes the at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece prior to scanning an image of the mail piece; storing in a recipient database subscription preferences for a recipient, the subscription preferences subscribed by the recipient to include the subject matter of a mail piece to be delivered as a virtual mail piece and how and/or when the virtual mail piece should be delivered; receiving the mail piece at the mail processing system, the mail piece having machine-readable indicia on an exterior surface; processing, by the mail processing system, the mail piece to read the indicia on the exterior surface of the mail piece; decoding the indicia to produce a mail piece identifier; identifying a recipient of the mail piece and virtual mail piece data using the mail piece identifier; retrieving the subscription preferences from the recipient database according to the identified recipient; retrieving the virtual mail piece data from the sender and virtual mail database using the mail piece identifier; determining whether to send the recipient the virtual mail piece data based on the retrieved subscription preferences of the recipient; electronically sending a virtual mail piece to the recipient, the virtual mail piece corresponding to the mail piece, the virtual mail piece data, and the subscription preferences; delivering the virtual mail piece to the recipient prior to delivery of the mail piece to the recipient; and informing the sender when the virtual mail piece has been accessed by the recipient, the virtual mail piece including more or different information than contained in the mail piece.