Abstract:
This invention provides a delivery system which enables desired day and time of delivery and a relevant address and name to be notified to a delivery service operator while keeping the point of contact whose disclosure is not desired by the receiver of delivery. A business information processing device, using an identifier, accesses an information processing terminal storing delivery destination information regarding the address and name and the point of contact whose disclosure is not desired. The terminal, upon receiving a request for disclosure or a notification, transfers the request to a transferee terminal and obtains the user&#39;s consent or any desired information. The terminal is relieved of the need to disclose the confidential point of contact arbitrarily by transmitting only delivery destination information and any desired information to a business information processing device.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY  
       [0001]     The present application claims priority from Japanese application serial no. JP 2004-343287, filed on Nov. 29, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to a delivery service using network communication and a delivery information processing system for realizing such service.  
         [0003]     There is available an option which, when the sender of a parcel requests a parcel delivery service operator to forward a consignment, allows the sender to designate the day and time of delivery. When this option is exercised, prior adjustment of the day and time of delivery is needed between the sender and the receiver in order for the receiver of the consignment to be able to receive without fail at the first attempt of the delivering personnel to deliver it. Failure to make this adjustment properly may oblige the delivering personnel to bring the consignment to the receiver&#39;s address more than once on account of the absence of the receiver or some other reason, and eventually the sender&#39;s designation of the day and time of delivery may lose its sense. As a result, the parcel delivery service operator would have to bear the additional cost of redelivery and the receiver, the trouble of asking the operator for redelivery.  
         [0004]     To address this problem, an optional arrangement is available by which the parcel delivery service operator notifies the receiver of the planned day and time of delivery at the receiver&#39;s mobile information terminal or the like by e-mail or otherwise and confirm the receiver&#39;s presence at home (see Patent Reference 1: JP-A No. 2002-87546). There also is a known piece of literature according to which the mobile terminal is directly notified by e-mail (see Patent Reference 2: JP-A No. 2002-7527).  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     In order to use any of the options referred to above, either the sender should know the e-mail address, the telephone number or the like at which the receiver can receive the communication by using his or her mobile information terminal or the like, or the receiver should register his or her available point of contact with the parcel delivery service operator&#39;s information processing terminal in advance. Since both parties have to disclose their respective private points of direct contact, persons who want to limit the disclosure of their personal information to the inevitable minimum cannot avail themselves of such an optional service. Also, on the part of the parcel delivery service operator, the trouble of maintaining and managing the private points of contact registered by customers, and should any of such personal information leaks out, the operator&#39;s creditability would inevitably be marred.  
         [0006]     An object of the present invention, attempted in view of the problems noted above, is to provide a method by which the prospective receiver of a consignment can receive information on the consignment without registering or notifying his or her available point of direct contact to the information processing terminal of the sender or of the parcel delivery service operator, and the receiver can make the day and time of delivery of his or her preference known to the parcel delivery service operator.  
         [0007]     Another object of the invention is to provide a method by which the trouble of chit inputting can be reduced by enabling the information processing terminal of the parcel delivery service operator to readily acquire delivery information needed for delivery, including the names and addresses of the sender and the receiver, and by which the leak of such information can be prevented.  
         [0008]     In order to achieve the objects stated above, a network-utilizing delivery information processing system according to the invention includes an information processing terminal used by at least one of a sender and a receiver and a business information processing device used by a parcel delivery service operator.  
         [0009]     The information processing terminal includes a memory unit for storing the terminal&#39;s own identification (ID) information and delivery information and a communication unit for communicating the information to the business information processing device and other information processing terminals. The ID information includes what can uniquely identify the information processing terminal, such as an IP address or an IP telephone number, which should essentially be disclosed. The delivery information, required for identifying the destination of delivery, such as the name and address of the user of the information processing terminal, while the transferee information includes information on the point of contact at which the user can be directly contacted. The transferee information is not specifically limited to the telephone numbers of communication partners for the mobile telephone but may be the IP addresses and port numbers of the destinations of communication. It is necessary information for receiving notifications from the information processing terminal.  
         [0010]     The business information processing device is provided with a communication unit for communicating with the information processing terminal. In this system, first, at least one of the sender and the receiver, using the delivery information registering unit, registers, in advance, delivery information, ID information and transferee information into the memory unit of his or her own information processing terminal. The sender may notify the ID information instead of notifying the delivery information or the transferee information to the business information processing device. The communication unit of the business information processing device, using the ID information, connects to a uniquely identifiable information processing terminal, and transmits a request for disclosure of the delivery information. The communication unit of the information processing terminal, upon receiving the request for disclosure, checks whether or not the source of the request for disclosure is reliable.  
         [0011]     If information to the effect that a transfer is to be made to the transferee information processing terminal is set in the memory unit of the information processing terminal, the request for disclosure will be transferred to the transferee information processing terminal. The communication unit of the transferee information processing terminal receives and outputs the request for disclosure. The user of the transferee information processing terminal, when the response to the request for disclosure is inputted, transmits it to the communication unit of the information processing terminal. If the response received from the transferee information processing terminal received by the communication unit of the information processing terminal or a transferee information setting unit sets the transfer to be unnecessary and the information processing terminal has confirmed the source of the request for disclosure to be reliable, delivery information stored in the memory unit of the information processing terminal will be read out, and the delivery information and any information designated by the bearer designates are transferred to the business information processing device without having to notify any transferee information whose disclosure is undesirable to the business information processing device. Hereupon, the business information processing device can use these pieces of information for entry into delivery chits.  
         [0012]     Or if the response received by the communication unit of the information processing terminal from the transferee information processing terminal is a refusal to the request for disclosure, the response and any information designated by the user will be transferred to the business information processing device without having to notify the transferee information whose disclosure is not desired to the business information processing device.  
         [0013]     The configuration described above makes it unnecessary for any transferee to disclose transferee information whose disclosure to the business information processing device is not desired, and it is thereby made possible to realize prevention of avoidable leaks of any personal information such as transferee information on the point of contact at which direct contact is possible. Also, since the ID information used is what essentially is to be disclosed and even the delivery information which is to be kept confidential is notified to the business information processing device only after it has gone through processes of requesting disclosure and of authentication, avoidable leaks of any personal information such as delivery information can be prevented. Furthermore, as delivery information stored in the memory unit of the information processing terminal from which the communication unit of the business information processing device receives communication can be used, the trouble of manually writing delivery chits can be saved.  
         [0014]     According to the present invention, a delivery system which prevents leaks of personal information whose disclosure is undesirable from be realized. Or, a delivery system which can save the trouble of manually writing delivery chits can be realized. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a network-utilizing delivery system.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of sequence of execution until the acquisition of the sender&#39;s delivery information.  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of sequence of execution until the acquisition of the receiver&#39;s delivery information. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]     A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of a network-utilizing delivery system, which is a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is mainly composed of an information processing terminal  1 , a transferee information processing terminal  2  and a business information processing device  3 .  
         [0020]     The information processing terminal  1  is used by at least one of the sender and the receiver using the delivery service. Hereinafter, when distinction should be made between the two using parties, a sign S is added to the reference sign to denote the sender and R to denote the receiver, such as the sender information processing terminal  1 S or the receiver information processing terminal  1 R. For the transferee information processing terminal  2 , too, when distinction should be made between the two using parties, a sign S is added to the reference sign to denote the sender and R to denote the receiver. The business information processing device  3  is intended for processing information regarding delivery operations.  
         [0021]     The communication unit  10  of the sender information processing terminal  1 S can communicate with the sender&#39;s transferee information processing terminal  1 R and the business information processing device  3 .  
         [0022]     The memory unit  11 S of the sender information processing terminal  1 S can store delivery information  100 S needed for delivery including the sender&#39;s address and name, transferee information  101 S indicating the point of contact at which the sender can respond, ID information  120 S of the information processing terminal used by the sender, the sender&#39;s secret key data  130 S, the sender&#39;s public key data  131 S and the trusted public key data  132 S of another party whom the sender trusts.  
         [0023]     The memory unit  11 R of the receiver information processing terminal  1 R, like  11 S, can store delivery information  100 R needed for delivery including the receiver&#39;s address and name, transfer information  101 R indicating the point of contact at which the receiver can directly respond, identification (ID) information  120 R of the information processing terminal used by the receiver, the receiver&#39;s secret key data  130 R, the receiver&#39;s public key data  131 R, and the trusted public key data  132 R of another party whom the receiver trusts.  
         [0024]     A delivery information registering unit  12  can register in the memory unit  11  information needed for delivery including the address and name of the user of the information processing terminal.  
         [0025]     A transferee information registering unit  13  registers in the memory unit  11  transferee information  101  as the point of contact at which the user of the information processing terminal can directly respond, such as the user&#39;s mobile telephone number or e-mail address. This transferee information, whose coverage is not specifically limited to parties communicating with the mobile telephone, is necessary for receiving any notification from the information processing terminal, including for instance the IP address and the port number of the computer of the destination of notification. The information is only required to uniquely identify the information processing terminal.  
         [0026]     An encrypting unit  14  encrypts the contents of communication to be transmitted by the communication unit  10  by using the secret key data  130  and the public key data  131  to make it difficult for any third party to read the contents of communication.  
         [0027]     A decrypting unit  15  converts the contents of communication received by the communication unit  10  into a readable form by using the secret key data  130  and the trusted public key data  132 .  
         [0028]     A trusted public key registering unit  16  can register, in the memory unit  11 , parties whom the user of the information processing terminal  1  trusts, such as the public key  132  of the business information processing device  3 .  
         [0029]     A public key existence verifying unit  17  performs the role of handing over the trusted public key data  132  stored in the memory unit  11  to the decrypting unit  15 . If the received contents can thereby decrypted correctly, the requesting party can be identified and what is requested will be known.  
         [0030]     A delivery information acquiring unit  18  performs the role of reading out the delivery information  100  stored in the memory unit  11  and handing it over to the encrypting unit  14 . Since this enables the delivery information  100  to be transmitted to the business information processing device  3  in an encrypted form, the contents of communication cannot be readily read by any third party. A terminal ID collating unit  19  has a function to judge whether or not ID information transmitted from the communication unit  30  of the business information processing device  3  and received by the communication unit  10  of the information processing terminal  1  is identical with the ID information  120  stored in the memory unit  11 . If the two pieces of ID information are found identical, the unit will judge that it is addressed to the information processing terminal continues to process subsequently received data.  
         [0031]     A communication unit  20  can communicate with the communication unit  10  of the information processing terminal  1 . An output unit  21  outputs the contents received by the communication unit  20  and waits for a response from the user. An input unit  22  can input the response to the output and any desired information, and hands over the contents thereof to the communication unit  20 . A communication unit  30  can communicate with the communication unit  10  of the information processing terminal  1 . A memory unit  31  can store secret key data  310  of the information processing terminal  3 , public key  311  of the information processing terminal  3 , public key data  312  of the information processing terminal, and delivery information  320 . An information processing terminal identification (ID) input unit  32  can input an information processing terminal identifier (ID)  300  for identifying the information processing terminal to communicate with, and stores this information processing terminal ID  300  into the memory unit  31 . After that, the information processing terminal ID is handed over to the communication unit  30  and, if the information processing terminal  1  to which the information processing terminal ID is allocated is discovered, will start direct communication with the information processing terminal  1 .  
         [0032]     An encrypting unit  33  encrypts the contents of communication to be transmitted by the communication unit  30  with the secret key data  310  and the public key data  312  to make it difficult for any third party to read the contents of communication. A decrypting unit  34  decrypts the contents of communication received by the communication unit  30  with the secret key data  310  and the public key data  312  of the information processing terminal, and thereby converts the contents of communication into a readable form. A delivery chit creating unit  35  can create a delivery chit by using the delivery information  320  stored in the memory unit  31 .  
         [0033]      FIG. 2  shows an example of diagram of sequence of execution until the acquisition of the sender&#39;s delivery information. This example illustrates the flow of notification by the sender only of delivery information required for delivery without having to notify the business information processing device of the sender&#39;s own transferee information.  
         [0034]     First, delivery information  100 S, transferee information  101 S and identification (ID) information  120 S are stored in advance in the memory unit  11 S of the sender information processing terminal  1 S. When communication with outside is to be encrypted, the secret key data  136 S and the public key data  131 S are created in advance. Further, the sender information processing terminal  1 S acquires in advance the delivery service operator&#39;s public key  132  of which the delivery information  100 S can be disclosed. This process regarding encryption is not indispensable.  
         [0035]     The sender inputs the identification (ID) information  300  of the sender information processing terminal  1 S to the information processing terminal ID input unit  32  of the business information processing device  3 . The business information processing device  3  discovers the information processing terminal  1 S on the basis of the ID information  300 , and transmits a request for disclosure of the ID information  120 S and the sender&#39;s delivery information  100 . Having received the ID information  300 , the communication unit  10 S hands over the ID information  300  to a terminal ID collating unit  19 S to confirm that the party requested for disclosure is the information processing terminal  1 S, and checks whether or not it is identical with the ID information  120 S stored in the memory unit  11 S. If they are not found identical, either the ID information  300  and the request for disclosure are discarded or transferred to another destination. Or if they are found identical, it will be judged that the request is addressed to the sender information processing terminal and the processing will be continued.  
         [0036]     If the transferee information  101 S is registered in the memory unit  11 S, the request for disclosure will be transferred to the sender transferee information processing terminal  2 . The output unit  21  of the sender transferee information processing terminal  2  outputs to the sender a request for disclosure of the delivery information  100 S, and the input unit  22  hands over a response to it to the communication unit  20  to have it transmitted the sender information processing terminal  1 S. When the response is received by the communication unit  10  of the sender information processing terminal  1 , if the response is a refusal, the delivery information  100 S will not be transmitted to the business information processing device  3 , and the response and any desired information will be transferred to the business information processing device  3 . Or if the response is a consent, the delivery information  100 S and any desired information will be handed over to the encrypting unit  14 . In the encrypting unit  14 , the pieces of information are encrypted by using at least one of the secret key data  130 S and the trusted public key data  132 , and transferred to the business information processing terminal  3  via the communication unit  10 .  
         [0037]     When the communication unit  30  of the business information processing device  3  hands over the received contents to the decrypting unit  34 , the decrypting unit  34  decrypts the contents by using either the secret key data  310 S or the public key data  312  of the information processing terminal and thereby acquires the delivery information  100 S. The delivery information  100 S thereby acquired is stored into the memory unit  31  as the delivery information  320 . After that, the delivery chit creating unit creates a chit for delivery by using the sender&#39;s delivery information  320 .  
         [0038]      FIG. 3  shows an example of diagram of sequence of execution until the acquisition of the receiver&#39;s delivery information.  
         [0039]     This example illustrates the flow following the sequence shown in  FIG. 2  until the receiver&#39;s delivery information is acquired and a delivery chit is created without having to notify the business information processing device of the receiver&#39;s transferee information.  
         [0040]     First, the delivery information  100 R, transferee information  101 R and ID information  120 R are stored into the memory unit  11 R of the sender information processing terminal  1 R in advance. When communication with outside is to be encrypted, the secret key data  130 R and the public key data  131 R are created in advance. Further, the sender information processing terminal  1 R acquires in advance the delivery service operator&#39;s public key  132  of which the delivery information  100 R can be disclosed.  
         [0041]     The sender inputs the ID information  300  of the receiver information processing terminal  1 R to the information processing terminal ID input unit  32  of the business information processing device  3 . The business information processing device  3  discovers the information processing terminal  1 R on the basis of the ID information  300 , and transmits a request for disclosure of the ID information  120 R and the sender&#39;s delivery information  100 R. Hereupon, the sender&#39;s delivery information can be transmitted at the same time.  
         [0042]     Having received the ID information  300 , the communication unit  10 R hands over the ID information  300  to a terminal ID collating unit  19 R to confirm that the party requested for disclosure is the information processing terminal  1 R, and checks whether or not it is identical with the ID information  120 R stored in the memory unit  11 R. If they are not found identical, either the ID information  300  and the request for disclosure are discarded or transferred to another information processing terminal. Or if they are found identical, it will be judged that the request is addressed to the receiver information processing terminal and the processing will be continued.  
         [0043]     If the transferee information  101 R is transferred in the memory unit  11 R, the request for disclosure will be transferred to the sender transferee information processing terminal  2 R. The output unit  21 R of the sender transferee information processing terminal  2 R outputs to the sender a request for disclosure of the delivery information  100 R and the sender&#39;s delivery information, and the input unit  22 R hands over a response to it to the communication unit  20 R to have it transmitted to the sender information processing terminal  1 R. The transmission of the sender&#39;s delivery information, though not indispensable, provides the following advantages. Namely, by transmitting the sender&#39;s delivery information as well, not only verification to the business information processing device  3  but also the confirmation the sender himself or herself can be accomplished to make it possible to refuse to accept a consignment sent by a dubious sender.  
         [0044]     When the response is received by the communication unit  10 R of the sender information processing terminal  1 R, if the response is a refusal, the delivery information  100 R will not be transmitted to the business information processing device  3 , and the response and any desired information will be transferred to the business information processing device  3 . Or if the response is a consent, the delivery information  100 R and any desired information will be handed over to the encrypting unit  14 , in which the pieces of information are encrypted by using at least one of the secret key data  130 R and the trusted public key data  132 , and transferred to the business information processing terminal  3  via the communication unit  10 . The desired information mentioned above may include information the receiver desires to include, such as the preferred day and time of delivery and the place of delivery.  
         [0045]     When the communication unit  30  of the business information processing device  3  hands over the received contents to the decrypting unit  34 , the decrypting unit  34  decrypts the contents by using at least one of the secret key data  310 R and the public key data  312  of the information processing terminal and thereby acquires the delivery information  100 R. The delivery information  100 R thereby acquired is stored into the memory unit  31  as the delivery information  320 . After that, the delivery chit creating unit creates a chit for delivery by using the sender&#39;s delivery information  320 .  
         [0046]     Although the object of delivery is supposed to be a parcel in the embodiment described above, what is to be delivered need not be limited to a parcel. For instance, if the object of delivery is supposed to be data such as what the information processing terminal handles, and the parcel delivery service operator is instead an operator of service of delivery of data to the information processing terminal  1 , the invention can be applied to a data delivery system for use in a computer network with similar advantages to those ascribed in the foregoing description to the present invention.