Patent ID: 8155976
Filing Date: 2012-04-10
Classification: B07C,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: creating and storing a first inventory of items for delivery to one or more recipients and a second inventory of envelopes to contain the items, wherein each of the items has an item identifier that uniquely identifies that item among all the items in the first inventory, and wherein each of the envelopes has an envelope identifier that uniquely identifies that envelope among all the envelopes in the second inventory; selecting an item from the first inventory and placing the item in an envelope selected from the second inventory; reading, through a window in the envelope, the item identifier of the item in the envelope; locating, in a database based on the item identifier, a recipient address for a particular recipient; printing the recipient address on the envelope; and associating, in the database, the envelope identifier with the item identifier and information identifying the particular recipient; using a mail sorting machine, reading the envelope identifier on the envelope; locating a subscriber record associated with the envelope identifier in the database, wherein the subscriber record includes information identifying a recipient; and determining whether the envelope is among a set of envelopes that was expected to be used for the recipient identified in the subscriber record; receiving the envelope containing the item; when the item received in the envelope does not include the item identifier or does not match the item identifier associated with the item, reading the envelope identifier, locating information identifying a recipient in the database based on the envelope identifier, and using the information identifying the recipient to resolve how to handle the item.