Abstract:
A method that enables the post to deliver letters, flats, post cards and packages (mail) addressed to a recipient name and unique code to be delivered directly to the recipient. Mail addressed to a name and a unique code would be captured by the post during the posts sortation process and rerouted to the delivery address of the unique code.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Reference is made to commonly assigned copending patent application Ser. No. 09/315,795 filed herewith entitled “Virtual Post Office Box” in the names of Ronald P. Sansone, Fran E. Blackman, Daniel Dlugos, Leon A. Pintsov, Denis Stemmle, and Francis X. Hines, Jr. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates generally to the field of mail delivery systems and more particularly to systems for delivering mail to the correct delivery address. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     From the dawn of civilization people have directly transmitted information from one person to another. Information was first transmitted by speech and later by the written word. Writings enabled people to transmit information by messengers from a location in which the sender of the writing was present to another location where the receiver was present. In time, postal services were developed in which a person would deliver a letter to the post office in one city and an agent of the post office would deliver that letter to a post office in another city, where the letter would be picked up by the person to whom the letter was sent. 
     Ever since the numeric codification of streets and buildings received general acceptance, an individuals&#39; name and their household postal addresses have been linked. The sender of a letter or package would deliver a letter or package to the post, that had the correct recipient postal address and the post would deliver the letter or package to the numeric street address of the recipient of the letter or package. A correct recipient postal address for the delivery of the letter or package to the recipient included: the name of the recipient; the street address of the recipient; the city and state of the recipient; and the zip code of the recipient. Thus, the correct recipient postal address is usually the actual location of the recipient. 
     Letters or packages addressed to a correct recipient postal address are sometimes not delivered because the recipient may have moved and not yet completed a change-of-address form with the United States Postal Service (USPS). In that case, what likely would have happened is that the new resident of the address would have marked the mail “Not at this Address” and put it back in a mail box. However, since the Postal Service would have no better address, it would have marked the mail piece “Undeliverable as Addressed,” endorsed the piece with “No Forwarding Address,” and returned the mail piece to the sender. In this scenario, the piece of mail returned to the sender is marked “Undeliverable as Addressed,” and is, in fact, undeliverable as addressed. 
     In other cases, however, a mail piece may be marked “Undeliverable as Addressed” when in fact the address is correct. Sometimes this happens because of a mistake on the part of a Postal Service employee. Other times, the addressee may have provided a change of address shortly after having moved, almost ninety days earlier, and then a mailing company, without pre-screening its mailing addresses before addressing its mail, uses an address for which the forwarding instructions expire before the mail can be delivered. In that case, the Postal Service will mark the mail, correctly, as “Undeliverable as Addressed,” and then the company&#39;s internal address database should be updated with current address information from, for example, the U.S. Postal Service National Change of Address (NCOA) database. 
     During 1997 the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mailed 99,919 refund checks to taxpayers that were returned by the USPS as undeliverable. The taxpayers may have written down their incorrect names and addresses, or the taxpayers may have moved without giving the IRS their new address. Other governmental agencies who make mass mailings also have large numbers of mail pieces returned as undeliverable. Mass mailers in the private sector, i.e. banks, brokerage firms, catalog companies, etc. also experience the above problem. Furthermore, mailers who want to send recipients valuable goods and/or legal papers, etc. want their mail to delivered to the correct person or entity. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a method that enables the post to reduce the number of undeliverable letters, flats, post cards and packages (mail) addresses to a recipient. The invention accomplishes the foregoing by: assigning a unique code to each recipient that specifically identifies the recipient, i.e., social security number, tax identification number, etc.; relating recipients code with recipients name and delivery address; relating recipients address changes with recipients name and unique code; permitting individuals or entities to add recipients unique code to the recipient mailing address; reading information on mail to capture the unique code when present, determining recipient&#39;s delivery address from recipients code and recipient&#39;s name. 
     An advantage of this invention is that each mail recipient will have a unique code that will always relate the recipients name and any address change with the unique code. Thus, the number of address change errors will be reduced and a larger percentage of mail will be delivered to the correct address. 
     In an alternate embodiment of this invention recipients unique code is encrypted. 
     In another alternate embodiment of this invention, the invention may be used in a corporate mail room. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a drawing showing how this invention may be used in the processing of bulk entry mail; 
     FIG. 2 is a drawing showing how this invention may be used in the processing of collection mail; 
     FIG. 3A is a drawing of a mail piece having a unique code in the address field; 
     FIG. 3B is a drawing of a mail piece having a unique code in the address field which the post has indicated the delivery address of the moved recipient; 
     FIG. 4 is a drawing showing how one may change the address to which their mail having a unique code will be delivered; 
     FIG. 5 is a change of address registration card  200 ; 
     FIG. 6 is a drawing of a flow chart showing a request by the post for a postal address for a unique code; 
     FIG. 7 is a drawing of a flow chart showing a request by a mail recipient requesting a routing change for their unique code; 
     FIG. 8 is a drawing of a flow chart showing the generation of a statement by access metering and billing process  69 ; and 
     FIG. 9 is a drawing of an alternate embodiment of this invention showing how the invention may be used in a corporate mail department. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings in detail and more particularly to FIG. 1, the reference character  11  represents the entry of bulk entry mail to the post. The post receives and process bulk entry mail and collection mail. Collection mail will be described in the description of FIG.  2 . Approximately 60 percent of the mail currently received by the United States Postal Service is bulk entry mail. Bulk entry mail is mail received by the post that is trayed, presorted, metered, bearing a permit or pre-cancelled stamp. Bulk entry mail that has been bar coded but not sorted correctly by the mailer will be scanned and sorted by bar code sorter/code printer  12 . Mail that is able to be scanned and sorted by sorter  12  is sent to a delivery bar code sorter/code printer  13  or a carrier sequence bar code sorter  14 . Sorters  13  sorts mail that is going to be delivered to other postal facilities. Sorter  14  sorts mail in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  15 . 
     Mail that can not be scanned and sorted by sorter  12  is sent to letter sort machine  16 . Letter sort machine  16  is a manually operated machine in which the operator enters a zip code for the mail. Machine  16  is a mechanical sorter that sorts the mail in accordance with the zip code entered by the operator of machine  16 . Mail that can be sorted by letter sort machine  16  is sent to carrier casing  17 . Carrier casing  17  is the process in which the postal carrier sorts the mail in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  15 . Mail that can not be sorted by letter sort machine  16  is sent to manual process  19 . Manual process  19  attempts to classify the previously rejected mail piece to: redirect the mail piece; declare the mail piece dead; or manually re-code the mail piece for redelivery. Then the mail piece that has not been processed in manual process  19  is re-coded in process  18 . In re-coder process  18  an operator may look up the unique code in unique code data center  75  and produce a label to be placed on the mail piece. Mail that can not be recorded in process  18  is sent to dead letters  10 . Bulk entry mail that has been presorted in accordance with the postal carrier route is sent in trays to manual process  19 . Then the mail would go to carrier casing  17  where the mail is sorted in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  15 . 
     Mail that has been scanned by bar code sorter  12  and mail that has been scanned by sorters  13  and  14  will be checked by unique code data center  75 , if scanners  12 ,  13  or  14  detect a unique code in the recipient address field of the mail, i.e., 1020 49 337 491XJDX092299 or scan a unique code in the bar code affixed to the mail by the mailer. Unique code data center  75  contains a name/address relational data base  68  (FIG.  4 ). Data base  68  will use the unique code number to determine the actual destination that the recipient wants the mail delivered to. The foregoing may be accomplished by looking up the unique code in data base  68  and determining the address that the owner of the unique code is currently having their mail delivered. Data base  68  supplies information to sorters  12 ,  13  and  14  and re-coder  18  via computer  54  so that sorters  12 ,  13  and  14  and re-coder  18  will place a bar code on the mail that indicates the zip code that the owner of the unique code is currently having their mail delivered. Sorters  12 ,  13  and  14  and re-coder  18  will also print the street, city and state that the owner of the unique code is currently having their mail delivered in human readable form. 
     FIG. 2 is a drawing showing how this invention may be used by the post in the processing of collection mail  21 . Approximately 40 percent of the mail currently received by the United States Postal Service is collection mail. Collection mail is metered, stamped or business reply permit mail that is placed in mail boxes or delivered to the United States Postal Service unsorted. Collection mail is sent to advanced facer canceller  22 . Facer canceller  22  first faces the mail. Then facer canceller  22  electronically identifies and separates prebarcoded mail, handwritten addresses and machine-imprinted address pieces for faster processing through automation. Mail that canceller  22  determines is optical character readable is sent to multi-line optical character reader/code printer  23 . Reader  23  reads the entire address on the mail, sprays a bar code on the mail, and then sorts the mail. Mail that is able to be scanned and sorted by reader  23  is sent to bar code sorter/code printer  24 . Mail that the mailer has prebarcoded and contains a facing identification mark is sent to bar code sorter/code printer  24 . 
     Mail that is able to be scanned and sorted by sorter  24  is sent to a delivery bar code sorter/code printer  25  or a carrier sequence bar code sorter/code printer  26 . Sorters  25  and  26  sort the mail in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  27 . Mail that canceller  22  determines is not optical character readable is sent to bar code sorter/code printer  28 . Mail that canceller  22  obtains electronic images from and mail that reader  23  obtains electronic images from transfers the electronic images to remote bar code system  32 . Bar code system  32  matches the look up zip code for the mail pieces from canceller  22  and merges them. System  32  electronically transmits the bar code information to sorter  28  where the bar code information is sprayed on the mail pieces. Mail that is able to be scanned and sorted by sorters  24  and  28  is sent to a delivery bar code sorter  25 . Sorters  25  and  26  sort the mail in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  27 . 
     Mail that can not be scanned and sorted by sorters  24  and  28  is sent to letter sort machine  29 . Mail that can be sorted by letter sort machine  29  is sent to carrier casing  30 . Carrier casing  30  is the process in which the postal carrier sorts the mail in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  27 . Mail that can not be sorted by letter sort machine  29  is sent to manual process  31 . Manual process  31  attempts to classify the previously rejected mail piece to: redirect the mail piece; declare the mail piece dead; or manually re-code the mail piece for delivery. Then the mail pieces that has not been processed in manual process  31  is re-coded in process  33 . In re-coder process  33  an operator may look up the unique code in unique code data center  75  and produce a label to be placed on the mail piece. Mail that can not be recoded in process  33  is sent to dead letters  9 . Then the mail would go to carrier casing  30  where the mail is sorted in the order that the mail is going to be delivered by postal carrier  27 . 
     Mail that can not be faced and cancelled by canceller  22  is sent to manual process  31 . Manual process  31  attempts to classify the previously rejected mail piece to: redirect the mail piece; declare the mail piece dead; or manually re-code the mail piece for redelivery. Then the mail that manual process  31  is able to classify is sent to carrier casing  30  before it is delivered by carrier  27 . Mail that can not be classified by process  31  is sent to recorder  33 . Recorder  33  will look up the unique code in unique code data center  75 . 
     Mail that has been read by reader  23  and mail that has been coded by system  32  or by re-coder  33  will be checked in unique code data center  75 , if a unique code  40  appears in the recipient address field of the mail or in the bar code affixed to the mail, i.e., 1020 49 337 491XJDX092299 or scan a unique code in the bar code affixed to the mail by the mailer. Unique code data center  75  contains a unique code name/address relational data base  68  (FIG.  4 ). Data base  68  will use the unique code number to determine the actual destination that the recipient wants the mail delivered to. The foregoing may be accomplished by looking up the unique code in data base  68  and determining the address that the owner of the unique code  40  is currently having their mail delivered. Data base  68  supplies information to reader  23 , sorters  24 ,  25 ,  26  and  28  and re-coder  33  so that sorters  23 ,  25 ,  26  and  28  and re-coder  33  will place a bar code on the mail that indicates the zip code that the owner of the unique code is currently having their mail delivered. Sorters  24 ,  25 ,  26  and  28  and re-coder  33  will also print the street, city and state that the owner of the unique code currently wants their mail delivered in human readable form. 
     FIG. 3A is a drawing of a mail piece having a unique code  40  as part of its address. Unique code  40  may be printed in alphanumeric characters, or as a one or two dimensional bar code, etc. Unique code  40  may be an encrypted version of recipients social security number or tax identification number, etc. The encryption may be based upon any recognized code such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) or the Rivest, Shamir and Adleman Cipher (RSA). Upon the appropriate information being supplied to an encryptor (not shown) from computer  54  (FIG. 4) would generate an encrypted code from its inputs and send the code back to computer  54 . The appropriate information may include recipients social security number or tax identification number, the date, time of the day the encryption was made to nanoseconds, the current address of the recipient, the number of unique codes requested in the last thirty minutes, etc. 
     Mail piece  36  has a sender address field  37  and material  38  that indicates the payment of the postage for mail piece  36 . Material  38  may be a postal indicia, postal permit or one or more stamps. The recipient address field  39  will only have to include the unique code  40 , i.e., 1020 49 337 491XJDX092299 and the name of the person or entity  41  to whom mail piece  36  is sent. The street address  46  and the city, state and zip code  45  may also be included on mail piece  36 . 
     FIG. 3B is a drawing of a mail piece having a unique code in the address field which the post has indicated the delivery address of the moved recipient. Mail piece  36  has a sender address field  37  and material  38  that indicates the payment of the postage for mail piece  36 . Material  38  may be a postal indicia, postal permit or one or more stamps. The recipient address field  39  will include the unique code  40 , i.e., 1020 49 337 491XJDX092299 and the name of the person or entity  41  to whom mail piece  36  is sent. The street address  46  and the city, state and zip code  45  may also be included on mail piece  36 . The post will print the delivery address  42  that the owner of the unique code currently wants mail piece  36  delivery to. The post will also print a postnet bar code  43  on the face of mail piece  36 . Bar code  43  represents the delivery address  42  in a coded form. 
     FIG. 4 is a drawing showing how a mailer may obtain a recipient&#39;s unique code and how a recipient may change the address to which their mail is currently being delivered. Mailers  50  may communicate their intentions regarding the determination of a unique code for particular parties or entities via a personal computer. 
     If, a mailer communicated with the post via a personal computer (not shown), the mailer may communicate with post office modem  52 , which is coupled to data center computer  54 . Computer  54  and the mailer&#39;s personal computer may have various protocols that are known in the art that must be satisfied before the mailers computer can obtain unique code and address information from computer  54 . After the protocols have been satisfied computer  54  may obtain enough information from the mailers computer and unique code name/address relational data base  68  to determine the recipients current address from recipients unique code. 
     A mailer may also communicate by physically going to a clerk&#39;s desk  55  at data entry site  55 . The mailer would then give the postal clerk a name and a unique code and the postal clerk would ask computer  54  to check unique code name/address relational data base  68  and determine recipients currently listed delivery address. The mailer may also mail name and unique code information to site  55  and request the current address for the name and unique code given. A recipient may also go to site  55  and give the clerk the change of address card shown in FIG. 5 to change their delivery address. 
     National name and address data base  65  is coupled to national postal code data base  66  and mailer request process  62 . Data base  65  includes the names and addresses of people and entities residing in the United States. National postal code data base  66  includes every valid postal deliverable address in the United States. Change request data base  67  is coupled to unique code name/address relational data base  68 . Data base  65  is used as a reference for data base  68  and changes to data base  68  are received from change request data base  67 . Postal code updates computer  70  will transmit new zip codes to national code data base  68  via modem  60 , computer  54 , process  62  and process  69 . Name or address updates computer  71  will transmit new name or recipient address changes to data base  65  via modem  60 , computer  54 , process  62  and process  69 . Data bases  65 ,  66  and  68  are periodically updated. 
     Computer  54  will obtain mail forwarding information for mail piece  36  by receiving the information from data base  68  when a proper mailer request is received from mailer user request process  62  and process  69  metered the above request. Data base  68  will indicate the current listed address for each name and unique code. Computer  54  will transmit the current address that the recipient has for their unique code in data base  68  to modem  56 . The current address will be sent in the form of a postnet bar code as well as in human readable text. Modem  56  will transmit the address to sorters  12 ,  13  and  14  and re-coder  18  (FIG. 1) and sorters  24 ,  25 ,  26  and  28  and re-coder  33  (FIG.  2 ). 
     Mailer request process  62  is coupled to computer  54 . Process  62  determines whether or not the mailer will receive the delivery address of the recipient when the name of the recipient and unique code are given. Process  62  also determines the delivery address for the name and unique number read by the post office. 
     FIG. 5 is a change of address registration card  200 . Card  200  may be used for registering a unique code or for changing the delivery address for the unique code. Card  200  indicates: the primary residence  201  of the person or entity who is registering for a unique code in space  202 ; their street delivery address in space  203 ; their delivery city in space  204 ; their delivery state in space  205 ; and their delivery zip code in space  206 . The assigned unique code  40  is shown in space  212 . Unique code  40  may be printed in alphanumeric characters, or as a one or two dimensional bar code, etc. Unique code  40  may be an encrypted version of recipients social security number or tax identification number, etc. The date in which the recipient having the unique code wants mail to be delivered their new delivery address or new residence  211  is shown in space  208 . The signature of the person who is obtaining a unique code or changing their delivery address will be placed in space  213 . The date the signature was signed in space  213  is indicated in space  214 . A biometrics  215  of the person whose signature appears in space  213  may also be placed on card  200 . Biometrics  215  may be: a picture of the person signing in space  213 ; the person&#39;s fingerprint; etc. 
     The recipient having the unique code may modify or change any information contained in card  200  by going to data center  75  (FIG. 4) and showing card  200  to the clerk. Biometrics  215  may be used by data center  75  to further authenticate the person modifying or changing any information contained in card  200 . 
     FIG. 6 is a drawing of a flow chart showing a request by the post for the current postal delivery address for a name and a unique code. The program begins in block  100  where a postal scanner (FIG. 1, FIG. 2) captures the name  41 , unique code  40 , and delivery address from a mail piece  36  (FIG. 3A, FIG.  3 B). Then the program goes to block  101  where the post requests data center  75  to lookup the current delivery address for the name and unique code number scanned. Now the program goes to block  102  where data center  75  receives a lookup request from the post. Next in block  103  data center  75  captures the identity of the post office that scanned the mail piece. 
     In block  104  the process searches the unique codes in data base  68  to find the current postal delivery address for the name and unique code captured. In block  105  the process determines whether or not the delivery address matches the name and unique code. Then the program goes to block  106  where access metering and billing process  69  meters the above transaction so that the post or mailer may be charged for the services provided. At this point in block  107  the process appends a new delivery address that matches the name and unique code captured, if the delivery address differs from the delivery address captured. The new delivery address is supplied in a postnet bar code format as well as in human readable text. Next in block  108  the post extracts the looked up address. Then in block  109  the post&#39;s scanners (FIG.  1  and FIG. 2) prints the looked up address on a mail piece in a postnet bar code format as well as in human readable text. At this point the program goes to block  110  where the post deletes the temporary file. Then the program goes back to the input of block  100 . 
     FIG. 7 is a drawing of a flow chart showing a request by a mail recipient requesting a routing change for their unique code. The program begins in block  120  where a mail recipient enters a request to have the delivery address for their unique code number changed to a different delivery address. Then the program goes to block  121  where the recipient enters their unique code. Now the program goes to block  122  where data center computer  54  validates the recipient by determining whether or not the recipient has the correct name and unique code. Next in block  123  computer  54  accepts the request from the recipient. In block  124  computer  54  makes the address change requested by the recipient. The requested changes are stored in data bases  67  and  68 . In block  125  access metering and billing process  69  meters the above transaction so that the post, mailer, or recipient may be changed for the services provided. Then the program goes to block  126 , where process  69  indicates the process was completed. Now the program goes to block  127  where the mailer receives a message that the requested address change has been completed. At this point the program goes back to the input of block  120 . 
     FIG  8  is a drawing of a flow chart showing the generation of a statement by the access metering and billing process  69  of FIG.  2 . The program begins in block  150  where a statement initiation process is begun. Then the program goes to block  151  where the current fees for the requested services are transmitted. Now the program goes to block  152  where data center computer  54  sorts the transactions metered by process  69  and records the transactions by specific mailers, recipients and the post. Next in block  153  computer  54  converts each transaction type to a cost. In block  154  computer  54  totals the cost for each specified mailer, recipient and the post. The program goes to block  155  to reset the account registers. In block  156  the program produces a done message upon completion of the task. Next in block  157  a printer (not shown) at data center  75  produces statements for the provided services. Then the program goes to block  158  to indicate that the printed statements are completed. At this point the program goes back to the input of block  150 . 
     FIG. 9 is a drawing of an alternate embodiment of this invention showing how the invention may be used in a corporate mail department. Many corporations and governmental agencies, including the military have large numbers of employees, soldiers, sailors or airmen that are employed at many different locations. The corporations and governmental agencies have created their own internal postal addressing system, i.e. APO (postal boxes for the military), etc. Some internal addressing systems include specific building designations and internal building locations, i.e. TC 3 26-22 (Technology Center, building 3, location 26-22). Many of the employees move from one location to another and the mail room and telephone directory often does not have their new mail internal and/or external mail delivery location. 
     Each company may have a plurality of mail rooms  305 . A mail room  305  will include a scanner  300 , data bases  301  and  302  and a computer  303 . Scanner  300  is coupled to computer  303 . Company internal mail code data base  301  is coupled to unique number name/address relational data base  302  and computer  303 . Data base  302  is also coupled to computer  303 . Data base  301  contains the companies internal mail codes and the employees who have those mail codes. Data base  302  links the internal mail codes with the employees name to a unique number. Input means (not shown) to computer  303  may be used to update data bases  301  and  302 . 
     Each company will have a mail room  310  that has world wide responsibilities. Mail room  310  includes: data bases  311  and  312  and a computer  313 . Company internal mail code data base  311  is coupled to unique number name/address relational data base  312  and computer  313 . Data base  302  is also coupled to computer  313 . Data base  311  contains the companies internal mail codes and the employees who have those mail codes. Data base  312  links the internal mail codes and the employees name and unique number. Input means (not shown) to computer  313  may be used to update data bases  311  and  312 . Computer  313  is coupled to each computer  303  and will supply world wide updates to data bases  301  and  302  via computer  303 . 
     Mail delivered to the company will be read by scanner  300 . Scanner  300  will read the name and unique code  40  affixed to the mail. The company may use the same manner as previously discussed to obtain code  40  or use a different method, i.e. the employees&#39; employment number may be used. The company may use this method to deliver its internal mail even though the post does not elect to use it. Scanner  300  will read the name and unique code  40  affixed to the mail. Scanner  301  will transmit the name and unique code to computer  303 . Computer  303  will match the name and unique code in name/address relational data base  302 . Computer  303  will cause scanner  300  to print the internal delivery address that represents the internal location of the owner of the unique code that the mail was addressed to. 
     The above specification describes a new and improved system and method for enabling the post to deliver mail addressed to a name and a recipient unique code to be delivered directly to the recipient. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. It is, therefore, intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.