Abstract:
A system and method for providing a database of physical postal addresses indexed to a general email identifier involves obtaining a plurality of physical postal addresses. The system and method validates whether each of the plurality of physical postal addresses are a valid physical postal address. The system and method next generates a general email address for each of the validated plurality of physical postal addresses and indexes each of the general email addresses to one of the plurality of physical postal addresses.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to the generation of an e-mail address database, and more particularly to the generation of an e-mail address database that is indexed to the physical postal address of an individual or property associated with the e-mail address. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Using e-mail addresses, individuals are able to quickly transmit various types of electronic information and messages to individuals through their e-mail address. The e-mail message may include text information for transmission to an e-mail recipient and may have various types of electronic files attached thereto to provide further types of information to the e-mail recipient. Present e-mail addresses are associated with individuals but have no particular relationship to the physical address where a person may live or work. Thus, if an individual desires to e-mail information to a particular address area, zip code or physical location, there is no way to tie an e-mail address to a physical mailing address. Thus, there would be a great benefit for having some type of mechanism for associating physical mailing addresses with particular e-mail addresses that may then be utilized for transmitting information to individuals associated with the physical mailing address. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    The present invention as disclosed and described herein, in one aspect thereof, includes a system and method for providing a database of physical postal addresses indexed to a general email identifier involves obtaining a plurality of physical postal addresses. The system and method validates whether each of the plurality of physical postal addresses are a valid physical postal address. The system and method next generates a general email address for each of the validated plurality of physical postal addresses and indexes each of the general email addresses to one of the plurality of physical postal addresses. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    For a more complete understanding, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings in which: 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which a postal grid of physical postal addresses may be indexed to an e-mail address; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram illustrating the manner in which the address to e-mail mapping system converts a list of physical postal addresses to a database of addresses indexed with a system generated e-mail ID and user generated e-mail IDs; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating the manner for converting the physical addresses into an index of assigned general e-mail IDs and customer designated e-mail IDs; 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  illustrates an address to e-mail indexed table; 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating the manner in which a user is validated by the system of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating the various system tables of the e-mail mapping system of the present disclosure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  illustrates the inter relationship and elements of the various tables and user profiles within the e-mail mapping system of the present disclosure; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which the unique electronic identifier generated by the address to e-mail system may be used to carry out electronic commerce and transactions. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers are used herein to designate like elements throughout, the various views and embodiments of a system and method for generating a mailing address indexed e-mail database are illustrated and described, and other possible embodiments are described. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instances the drawings have been exaggerated and/or simplified in places for illustrative purposes only. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the many possible applications and variations based on the following examples of possible embodiments. 
         [0014]    Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , there is illustrated a functional block diagram of the system for converting the US postal grid  102  to an address/e-mail index  104  using a postal address to e-mail mapping system  106 . The US postal grid  102  consists of all physical mailing addresses within the United States. The postal grid  102  includes every home address, business address, post office box, rural route address, etc. that an individual may address an envelope or package to and mail to within the US postal system. While the present description is made with respect to the indexing of e-mail addresses with the physical addresses of the US postal grid, the present invention will be applicable to the association of e-mail addresses with any postal grid system within any country. The address to e-mail mapping system  106 , as will be further described hereinbelow, associates a general e-mail identifier with each of the physical addresses within the US postal grid  102  in order to generate an address/e-mail index  104 . The information within the address/e-mail index  104  may be utilized to transmit information and electronic data to individuals that are associated with the physical addresses listed within the US postal grid  102 . 
         [0015]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is illustrated a functional block diagram of the address to e-mail mapping system  106  of  FIG. 1 . Within the address to e-mail mapping system  102  each of the physical postal addresses  202  are received from the US postal grid  102 . Each of the postal addresses  202  go through a validation and correction process  204  wherein each of the postal addresses  202  are confirmed as accurate and valid US postal addresses, and when incorrect addresses are found, these are corrected. Next, each of the validated and/or corrected physical postal addresses are associated with a system generated e-mail ID. The system generated e-mail ID is unique for each physical address that is received. Thus, an individual using the system generated e-mail ID or user selected ID associated with system generated ID may transmit an e-mail to an individual that is associated with the physical postal address. 
         [0016]    The system generated e-mail ID format of general e-mails may be of the form of [e-mail ID].epm, where the .epm is the top level domain name that is uniquely associated with all e-mail addresses that have been generated according to the present disclosure to be associated with a physical postal address. While the present discussion utilizes the .epm designation as the top level domain name, it will of course be realized that any top level domain name designation that is uniquely associated with e-mail addresses that are associated with the physical postal address as described herein would be applicable. 
         [0017]    This address/system generated e-mail ID index  206  may be accessed by individuals through a user registration process  208 . The user registration process  208  enables a user to register with the address to e-mail mapping system  106  and validate that they are living at or associated with a particular physical postal address  202 . Once the user is validated by the user registration process  208 , the user may associate an additional user designated e-mail ID with the address/system generated e-mail ID at  210 . This allows the user to receive e-mails associated with the postal address  202  at either of the system generated e-mail ID or user designated e-mail ID that is associated with the system generated e-mail ID. The user may also establish a number of sub accounts including additional user designated e-mail IDs that are also associated with the same physical postal address  202 . This enables multiple e-mails to the provided to differing individuals at a same physical address. 
         [0018]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is illustrated a flow diagram describing the process for generating an index of physical postal address with system generated e-mail IDs and customer designated e-mail IDs according to the present disclosure. The physical postal addresses are obtained from various available databases at step  302 . For each of the received physical postal addresses obtained at  302 , a validation process is performed at step  304  to confirm that the postal address comprises an actual physical postal address. This validation can be performed by, for example, a third party CASS program. Other types of validation programs or processes may also be used to perform the validation. When invalid addresses are found, these addresses are corrected at step  304 , as necessary, to provide an accurate physical postal address. After the address has been validated, a geo code indicating the geographical location of the postal address is associated with the physical postal address at step  304 . At step  306 , the validated physical postal addresses are indexed with the geo code IDs and a system e-mail ID. 
         [0019]    Once a general index has been created having the physical postal address associated with the geo code ID and system e-mail ID, customers that have registered with the system may designate their own e-mail IDs that are indexed with the physical postal address. Once the customer e-mail ID is received at step  308 , this newly received customer e-mail ID is indexed with the associated physical postal address at step  310 . Finally, additional customer e-mail IDs and subaccount e-mail IDs may also be provided, and once received at step  312 , are indexed with the physical postal address such that multiple customer e-mail addresses are associated with a single physical postal address location. 
         [0020]    Once this process is completed, the indexed table, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , may then be provided for use in providing e-mail contacts with the postal addresses. The table  402  illustrated in  FIG. 4  includes a plurality of entries that are each associated with a unique physical postal address  404 . The table  402  has associated with the postal address entries  404  and a number of identifier that are each indexed with a particular postal address. These identifiers include the geo code ID  406  that is an identifier indicating a geographic location associated with the address  404 . The general e-mail identifier  408  is the system generated e-mail address that is associated with the particular physical postal address  404 . 
         [0021]    Registered users with the system may establish additional e-mail identifiers with the physical postal address  404  including the user e-mail identifier  410  and the sub account e-mail identifier  412 . The user e-mail ID  410  is a user e-mail address that has previously been assigned or attributed to the user that may be also associated with the general e-mail ID  408  and the associated physical postal address  404 . Additional sub account e-mail IDs  412  may also be associated with the general e-mail ID  408  and physical postal address  402 . The sub account e-mail ID  412  comprises additional user e-mail addresses that are associated with the physical postal address  404  for additional users at the address. This would be a case wherein, for example, multiple members of a family were living at a same physical postal address  404 . Each sub account ID is associated with a husband, wife, or each of the children within the home. Each individual may also have multiple e-mail addresses associated with them within the sub account e-mail ID  412 . 
         [0022]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there is more particularly illustrated the manner in which a user is validated with respect to a provided address in order to enable the user to establish their own user e-mail ID and sub accounts with respect to a particular physical postal address and the system generated e-mail associated therewith. The user enters a name and address at step  502 . The address comprises a physical postal address location and the name of the user that is living or working there. Step  504  determines if the entered address is located within the provided master index of postal e-mail addresses and system generated e-mail IDs. If the address is not located within the existing database, inquiry step  506  determines if the entered address is a deliverable US postal address. If inquiry step  506  determines that the user has not entered a deliverable postal address, an error message is provided at step  508 . If inquiry step  506  determines that the entered address is a deliverable US postal address, the entered address is added to the database at step  510  and a system generated e-mail ID is indexed with the additional address at step  512 . 
         [0023]    After previously unentered postal addresses have been added to the database at step  510  and  512  or if inquiry step  504  determines that the user entered address is presently located within the database, the association of the user name with the provided postal address is validated at step  514 . The validation process at step  514  performs a procedure for confirming that the name that has been provided by the user at step  502  is in fact associated with the address that has been entered. The validation process may be performed in a number of ways such as the user answering one or more questions with respect to the property associated with the address that the user has entered. Additionally, the user may be required to enter information such as their date of birth, a driver&#39;s license number, a social security number or some other type of governmental or state issued ID, the name of their spouse and details about their spouse, information with respect to loans and/or mortgages associates with the property at the address, information with respect to a vehicle identification number of vehicles that are owned or leased by individuals associated with the property. 
         [0024]    Alternatively, the identity of the user can be established using some type of biometric data such as a retinal scan or fingerprint scan. The purpose of the process carried out at step  514  is to confirm in some manner that the user name that has been entered with respect to the address at step  502  is in fact validly associated with the address and entitled to received e-mail associated with the address. After the user match process is performed at step  514 , inquiry step  516  determines if a valid match has occurred. If not, an error message is provided at step  518 . If a valid match was achieved, the user is able to assign a user elected e-mail identifier with the physical postal address at step  520 . This enables the user to receive an e-mail at an e-mail ID of their choosing rather than the general e-mail ID that has been assigned by the system. 
         [0025]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , there are illustrated the various tables and their interrelationship associated with the address to e-mail mapping system  602  and the database of physical postal addresses indexed with general e-mail IDs and user designated IDs. The mapping system  602  may be implemented in a number of fashions including within a computer processing unit, programmable logic unit, online server, software program or any other type of computer based instructions or computer based instructional units that enable the various functions and processes that are described herein to be carried out with respect to the generated databases and informational databases that are accessed by the e-mail mapping system  602 . The mapping system  602  interacts with a national address table  604 , an address mapping table  606  and a user profile table  608 . The national address table  604  includes various types of information associated with each physical postal address that is entered into the system. The particular information will be more fully discussed hereinbelow. The address mapping table  606  includes information with respect to the particular addresses and e-mail IDs that are indexed/associated therewith. The user profile table  608  contains information with respect to the individuals that are registered with the system and have been validated via the process described previously with respect to  FIG. 5 . 
         [0026]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , there is provided more detail relating to the various tables contained within the address to e-mail mapping system and their interrelationship with each other and other related sub-tables. The national address table  702  includes the address information associated with each of the physical postal addresses that are stored by the system. Within the national address table  702  all possible addresses are derived and designed based upon the following elements. Each address ID will have four sections including state, city, address, unit number. The state is indicated using characters 1-3 of the address ID. The city field is indicated using characters 4-9 of the address ID. The address field is indicated using characters 10-16 of the address ID, and the unit number is indicated using characters 17-22 of the address ID. The address ID  704  is the particular physical address designator for a specific location such as 1234 Brown Street. Each address ID  704  has associated therewith a number of identifiers relating to the address. These include information such as the house number providing the numerical designator for an address, a predirection indicating pre directional of an address, the street name at which the address is located, a designator indicating a suffix of the address, a post direction indicating a post directional of an address, an apartment number indicating a particular apartment unit at a multi-unit address having a number of different living units or business units at a same top level address, a city indication, a state indication and zip code indication including both the five digit zip code and the four digit extended zip code. In addition to this type of standard address information a bar code may be included for providing a bar code identifier associated with each particular address. 
         [0027]    Additional information such as longitude and latitude of the address may provide a particular geo location designation for the address. A postal carrier route designator may also be provided such as Route 4, Box 15W. Country names and country codes may also be included within the address designation information for use when the database is used within multiple countries. The congress code indicates the Congressional District Code of that address. The DPV confirm code indicates the Mail Deliverable Flag of that address. A subdivision name may also be included in areas wherein a home is located within a particular sub division having a particular name for further identification of the address. 
         [0028]    Each address ID  704  has an entry within the national address table  702  that has some or all of this information associated therewith. The address mapping table  706  includes additional information with respect to the address ID. The address mapping table  706  uses the address ID  704  that references the address ID within the national address table  702 . The sub address ID is an incremental number starting with 0 for the primary household member and incrementing by 1 for each additional member of the household. The e-mail ID is a unique user ID that is chosen by the user when they register with the system. Within the address mapping table  706  are an e-mail ID for the assigned general e-mail ID and sub address ID for user designated e-mail IDs. The e-mail ID is the system generated ID that is associated with a particular physical postal address by the mapping system. The sub address ID may also be associated with the e-mail and include information such as user designated e-mail addresses associated with the address and additional user e-mail sub account addresses that are also associated with the address ID. 
         [0029]    An address mapping history sub table  703  provides information indicating when the address ID, sub address ID and/or e-mail ID were created providing date specific information with respect thereto. The address mapping future table  710  provides information with respect to the address ID, sub address ID and e-mail ID regarding a new property that the household intends to move to which is equal to the Address relocate service by USPS. The address mapping history table  708  and address mapping future table  710  enable the tracking of user movements. 
         [0030]    A user profile  712  associates a user ID with the general e-mail ID that has been generated by the system for registered and validated users. The user profile  712  information will have a listing of user information associated with each user ID such as name, birth date, profession of user, whether or not the user is disabled, phone number, hobbies, marital status, number of children, nationality and ethnicity. The user ID may also include particular information about the property at which the user lives such as flag, household count, porch light, a property ID and move-in date of the property. The user profile table flags designation provides additional information that the system can use to regulate the profile of the individual. The porch light identifier indicates whether the user is socially active. Various types of security information with respect to the user ID may also be included in the user profile  712  such as an indication of whether the user is authenticated, a password, last log-in time, last use IP address, security questions and security answers. Additional contact or alternative e-mail ID information may also be included within the user profile  712  to enable additional e-mail addresses to be associated with a particular address ID. 
         [0031]    The property ID  714  within the user profile  712  may additionally have a property table  716  associated therewith. The property table  716  includes a variety of different information about a particular property associated with an address ID. The property ID  714  can include information such as a subdivision name, latitude min value, latitude max value, longitude min value and longitude max value, a predirection value, street name, destinator, post direction, city, state and zip code including both the five digit zip code and four digit zip code. 
         [0032]    Additionally, a household ID  718  within the user profile  712  may include various household identification information. The household table  720  includes the various household IDs  718 . Each household ID  718  within the household table  720  includes information such as name of the individual in the household, their date of birth, their driver&#39;s license, their social security number, their spouse&#39;s name, also known as alternative identities, vehicle identification numbers of vehicles driven by the individual. Biometric information such as a retina image or fingerprint image of the individual may also be stored. The household table  720  provides details about individuals obtained from various sources containing personal information enabling the individuals to be uniquely identified. The household table  720  also includes the MyWalletID to enable an individual associated with the postal address to carry out electronic commerce transactions using the generated unique electronic identifier. The property table  716  provides information concerning the property such as each geographic location, type of construction, contents of the property, builder of the property, sub division in which the property is located and any mortgages associated with the property. 
         [0033]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , there is illustrated a block diagram describing the manner in which the address to e-mail system  804  may be used to provide secure electronic communications and transactions to unique identifiers associated with addresses in the postal group. Postal addresses  803  are provided to the address to e-mail system  804  in the manner described previously. As discussed hereinabove, the address to e-mail system  804  generates unique electronic identifiers that are associated with each of the postal addresses at  806  and enables individuals to register with the system and receive communications and carry out transactions using this unique e-mail identifier. The user registration process  808  enables a user to register with and receive information through the unique electronic identifier associated with a particular address. This allows household entities, users, associated with the postal address to carry out electronic commerce transactions using the unique electronic identifier. Using this unique electronic identifier, electronic commerce and other type of electronic transactions may be carried out at step  810 . Thus, the address to e-mail system enables the addresses  802  associated with the postal delivery system to be implemented in the electronic realm. The address to e-mail system transforms any standard postal address into a unique identifier source e-communications address  806 . The address to e-mail system  804  provides for secure electronic transactions enabling customers to use the system of address registration as an e-communications point to transact all levels of electronic commerce and transactions within a secure environment where they note the customer resides at a particular address associated with the unique electronic identification identifier. 
         [0034]    Thus, using the above-described system and method, a database having physical postal addresses indexed to a system generate e-mail identifier may be created. E-mails may then be transmitted to this e-mail address that is uniquely associated with the address. A user may register within the system to provide an additional user designated e-mail that may be uniquely associated with the physical postal address rather than using the system generated general e-mail address. Additionally, sub accounts may enable multiple individuals to be associated with the same physical postal address for situations where multiple individuals are living at a same location. This will allow information associated with the address to be e-mailed to individuals that are located at that address providing valuable delivery and potential marketing opportunities utilizing the created database. 
         [0035]    It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that this system and method for generating a database of physical postal addresses indexed to an associated e-mail address provides a convenient method for directing electronic mail to particular geographical areas. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description herein are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive manner, and are not intended to be limiting to the particular forms and examples disclosed. On the contrary, included are any further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope hereof, as defined by the following claims. Thus, it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments.