Patent Publication Number: US-10769289-B1

Title: Systems and methods for electronic document delivery, execution, and return

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/987,343, filed Jan. 4, 2016 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/199,728, filed Mar. 6, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,230,246, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/653,032, filed Oct. 16, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,708,225, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/329,856, filed Dec. 19, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,859, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/194,174, filed on Aug. 19, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,083,129. This application is also related in subject matter to, and incorporates herein by reference in its entirety, each of the following: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/194,185, filed on Aug. 19, 2008; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/194,201, filed on Aug. 19, 2008. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL 
     The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods that deliver documents from an originator to a recipient in an electronic manner, effectuate execution of the documents, and return the executed documents. In particular, the present disclosure relates to delivery of documents by way of a document processing merchant that also performs document-related services for the recipient and returns the documents on behalf of the recipient, all in an electronic manner. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In a typical scenario, an organization such as a business may wish to send one or more documents to a recipient in an especially time-sensitive manner. For example, the documents may relate to a transaction between the organization and the recipient where time is of the essence, where the time frame within which action must be taken is relatively short, or the like. In any case, the documents must he delivered to the recipient in an expeditious manner. Accordingly, the organization may print the documents for the recipient, place the documents in an appropriate delivery package, and then deposit the packaged documents with an expedited delivery carrier that then proceeds to deliver the packaged documents to the recipient in the expedited manner. 
     Typically, the expedited delivery carrier is one of several large and known carriers that specialize in the expedited delivery of packages and may in fact have developed a large and sophisticated physical plant to effectuate such expedited delivery. For example, the carrier may be the FedEx Corporation of Memphis Tenn. or the United Farce! Service (UPS), Inc. of Greenwich Connecticut, and may have a vast network of sorting facilities, transferring facilities, pickup vehicles, delivery vehicles and even aircraft. However, even with such an expedited carrier service, the packaged documents are at best typically delivered into the hand of the recipient on an overnight basis, in at least some instances, such overnight delivery is not fast enough for purposes of the organization and/or the recipient. 
     Moreover, even with the use of such an expedited delivery carrier, the organization still is required to maintain facilities both to print the documents and to package same in a form amenable to the carrier. Particularly if the organization has a relatively high volume of such documents that are to be delivered to a multitude of recipients, the cost of such facilities can be quite significant, as can the cost charged by the carrier to deliver all of the packaged documents to all of the recipients thereof. 
     Notably, even when packaged documents are delivered to a recipient, it is oftentimes the case that the recipient must take action with regard to the delivered documents and then return the documents to the organization. Usually, such action includes signing the documents, and perhaps even having the signed documents notarized. At any rate, taking such action can take precious time, for example if a notary public is not immediately available to notarize the signed documents, and once such action is taken, returning the documents to the organization can take even more precious time, even if an expedited delivery carrier is employed to effectuate such return on an overnight basis. 
     Of course, in the present electronic age the organization may deliver the documents electronically to the recipient, perhaps by way of electronic mail or electronic facsimile. The recipient may then take at least some actions with respect to the delivered documents and immediately return same electronically to the organization, again perhaps by way of electronic mail or electronic facsimile. For example, if signing is required, the recipient may print and sign the documents and then return the signed documents. However, the recipient may not have the necessary systems and functionality available thereto to receive and return the documents electronically. Moreover, and perhaps critically, other actions such as the notarizing may require an undesirable delay in the return of the documents, especially if a notary public is not immediately available to the recipient. 
     Accordingly, a need exists for an electronic document delivery system that delivers documents from an organization to a recipient and that receives the documents as executed or the like from the recipient in an expedited manner. 
     SUMMARY 
     The aforementioned needs are satisfied at least in part by systems and methods employed to expedite electronic delivery and return of a document, the document is sent to an electronic mail system to be received by a recipient, where the document as sent is stored in an electronic form. The recipient is informed that the document is available thereto at any of a plurality of merchants where the document may be retrieved. The recipient visits one of the plurality of merchants and at the visited merchant retrieves the document in the electronic form from the mail system to a computing device at the visited merchant. The recipient then reviews and executes the document at the visited merchant, and sends the executed electronic document to the organization by way of the visited merchant and the computing device thereat. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of various embodiments of the present innovation, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the embodiments, there are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently envisioned. As should be understood, however, the embodiments of the present innovation are not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an example of a computing environment within which various embodiments of the present innovation may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an electronic document delivery system including an organization sending a document to a recipient by way of a kiosk or the like at a merchant in accordance with various embodiments of the present innovation; and 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram showing key actions performed in connection with the electronic document delivery system of  FIG. 2  in accordance with various embodiments of the present innovation. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Example Computing Environment 
       FIG. 1  is set forth herein as an exemplary computing environment in which various embodiments of the present innovation may be implemented. The computing system environment is only one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality. Numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations may be used. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use include, but are not limited to, personal computers (PCs), server computers, handheld or laptop devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, embedded systems, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like. 
     Computer-executable instructions such as program modules executed by a computer may be used. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Distributed computing environments may be used where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network or other data transmission medium. In a distributed computing environment, program modules and other data may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary system for implementing aspects described herein includes a computing device, such as computing device  100 . In its most basic configuration, computing device  100  typically includes at least one processing unit  102  and memory  104 . Depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device, memory  104  may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.), or some combination of the two. This most basic configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 1  by dashed line  108 . Computing device  100  may have additional features/functionality. For example, computing device  100  may include additional storage (removable and/or nonremovable) including, but not limited to, magnetic or optical disks or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 1  by removable storage  108  and non-removable storage  110 . 
     Computing device  100  typically includes or is provided with a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computing device  100  and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. 
     Computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory  104 , removable storage  108 , and non-removable storage  110  are all examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM. ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information, and which can accessed by computing device  100 . Any such computer storage media may be part of computing device  100 . 
     Computing device  100  may also contain communications connection(s)  112  that allow the device to communicate with other devices. Each such communications connection  112  is an example of communication media, Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared and other wireless media. The term computer-readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media. 
     Computing device  100  may also have input device(s)  114  such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Output device(s)  116  such as a display, speakers, printer, etc., may also be included. All these devices are generally known to the relevant public and therefore need not be discussed in any detail herein except as provided. 
     Notably, computing device  100  may be one of a plurality of computing devices  100  inter-connected by a network  118 , as is shown in  FIG. 1 . As may be appreciated, the network  118  may be any appropriate network, each computing device  100  may be connected thereto by way of a connection  112  in any appropriate manner, and each computing device  100  may communicate with one or more of the other computing devices  100  in the network  118  in any appropriate manner. For example, the network  118  may be a wired or wireless network within an organization or home or the like, and may include a direct or indirect coupling to an external network such as the Internet or the like. 
     It should be understood that the various techniques described herein may be implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatus of the presently disclosed subject matter, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the presently disclosed subject matter. 
     In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device generally includes a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. One or more programs may implement or utilize the processes described in connection with the presently disclosed subject matter, e.g., through the use of an application-program interface (API), reusable controls, or the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations. 
     Although exemplary embodiments may refer to utilizing aspects of the presently disclosed subject matter in the context of one or more stand-alone computer systems, the subject matter is not so limited, but rather may be implemented in connection with any computing environment, such as a network  118  or a distributed computing environment. Still further, aspects of the presently disclosed subject matter may be implemented in or across a plurality of processing chips or devices, and storage may similarly be affected across a plurality of devices in a network  118 , Such devices might include personal computers, network servers, and handheld devices, for example. 
     Electronic Document Delivery System 
     In various embodiments of the present Innovation, and turning now to  FIG. 2 , an organization  10  such as a business wishes to send a document  12  to a recipient  14  in an especially time-sensitive manner. Here, the organization  10  may be most any organization, although typically the organization  10  would be a large organization that sends many documents  12  to recipients in the especially time-sensitive manner. For example, the organization  10  may be a banking or financial services organization or an insurance organization, among other things; the recipient  14  may be a customer of the organization  10 , among other things; and the document  12  may relate to a transaction being effectuated between the organization  10  and the recipient  14 . 
     Typically, although by no means necessarily, if the document  12  is especially time-sensitive, then the transaction between the organization  10  and the recipient  14  is of some importance, such as for example a transaction to effectuate a mortgage or other loan, a transaction to effectuate a life insurance policy or other insurance policy, a transaction to open a banking account or other account, etc. Correspondingly, based on the importance of the transaction, the document  12  as sent to the recipient  14  is to be signed and perhaps even notarized, and the signed and notarized document  12  is to be returned to the organization  10  for further processing. As should be understood, such notarizing typically involves a notary public  18  or the like witnessing the document  12  being signed or ‘executed’ by the recipient  14  and/or verifying the identity of the recipient  14 , and then the notary public  18  in turn executing a statement on the document  10  to that effect, although the notarizing may take other forms. 
     In various embodiments of the present innovation, the organization  10  does not print the document  12  for the recipient  14  and ship the printed document  12  to the recipient  14  by way of an expedited delivery carrier in the manner that was set forth above. Instead, the organization  10  delivers the document  12  electronically to the recipient  14  byway of a document processing merchant  18  that is relatively local to the recipient  14  and that has sufficient facilities to electronically receive the document  12  from the organization  10 , print the received document  12  for the recipient  14 , effectuate all necessary’ actions with respect to the document  12  by the recipient  14 , and thereafter electronically return the document  12  to the organization  10 , 
     As may be appreciated, to receive and return the document  12 , the merchant  16  typically may employ an electronic mail system  20  that receives and transmits electronic mail from and to the organization  10  among other places. As set forth below, the mail system  20  may include additional features specific to delivery of the document  12  from the organization  10  of the recipient  14 . As may also be appreciated, the necessary actions effectuated by the merchant  16  with respect to the document  12  may be most any appropriate actions, although such actions typically include allowing the recipient  14  to review and sign or execute the document  12 , and perhaps providing a notary public  18  to notarize the signed or executed document  12 . Thus, the merchant  16  is expected to have such a notary public  18  on staff or at least 
     In order that the document processing merchant  18  can be relatively local to the recipient  14  and bearing in mind that the recipient  14  may conceivably be located most anywhere, the merchant  18  may be a branch or the like of a document processing business  22  or the like that has sufficient numbers of such branches/merchants  16 , at least in most major metropolitan areas. For example, the document processing business  22  may be a business such as FedEx Kinko&#39;s Office and Print Centers (‘FedEx Office’), which is a subsidiary of the aforementioned FedEx Corporation, or The UPS Store or Mail Boxes, Etc. store, both of which are subsidiaries of the aforementioned United Parcel Service, Inc. Moreover, by employing such businesses  22 , the organization  10  may leverage existing relationships with the related expedited delivery carriers. 
     In various embodiments of the present innovation, and turning now to  FIG. 3 , it is seen that the organization  10  and the recipient  14  enter into a transaction in which it is necessary that the organization  10  sends a document  12  to the recipient  14  in an especially time-sensitive and/or expeditious manner. Accordingly, the organization  10  creates the document  12  in an appropriate electronic form and sends the document  12  in the electronic form to the electronic mail system  20  of the document processing business  22  byway of an inter-network connection therebetween such as the internet ( 301 ). The electronic form may be as a regular email message with the document  12 , or may be another form, and the another form may be specific to the mail system  20 . Sending such document  12  to the mail system  20  and storing same thereat is known or should be apparent to the relevant public and therefore need not be set forth herein in any detail other that which is provided. 
     As should be understood, the mail system  20  is under the auspices of the business  22  and not any particular merchant  18  that is a branch of the business  22  so that the recipient  14  need not specify delivery of the document  12  to any particular branch/merchant  16 . Instead, the recipient  14  is informed by the organization  10  that the document  12  is awaiting the recipient  14  and may be printed out at any branch/merchant  16  of the business  22  ( 303 ). Thus, the mail system  20  is akin to and in fact may include a spooler at which documents  12  are spooled and may be retrieved at any branch/merchant  16  of the business  22 . 
     Note that each document  12  may contain confidential information, or at least information that should not be revealed publicly. Accordingly, to retrieve the document  12  from the mail system  20 , and to provide some degree of confidentiality, the recipient is supplied by the organization  10  with a retrieval code that must be entered at the branch/merchant  16  to identify the document  12  and release same from the mail system  20  ( 305 ). Such retrieval code may be supplied by the organization  10  to the recipient  14  in any appropriate form, such as for example orally during a telephone conversation or by electronic mail, and at any appropriate time such as for example when the recipient  14  is notified that the document  12  is to be delivered thereto. 
     As should be understood, the retrieval code as supplied by the organization  10  to the recipient  14  as at  305  should also be supplied by the organization  10  to the mail system  20  when sending the document  12  in the electronic form to such mail system  20  as at  301 . Accordingly, the mail system  20  can associate the retrieval code with the sent document  12 , perhaps in a database or the like associated with such mail system  20 , such that the retrieval code can be employed to retrieve the document  12  thereat. Note that the retrieval code may also be employed to encrypt and decrypt the document  12  at the mail system  20  if desired, or that such encrypting and decrypting may be performed in another manner if desired. 
     Thus, the recipient  14  with the retrieval code visits a local branch/merchant  16  of the business  22 , and at such merchant  16  provides the retrieval code to retrieve the document  12  in the electronic form from the mail system  20  ( 307 ). Note merchant  16  and the clerk may then communicate the retrieval code to the mail system  20  of the business  22  by way of an appropriately networked computing device  24  at the merchant  16 . Alternately, the recipient  14  may enter the retrieval code into the computing device  24  himself or herself, perhaps at a self-service kiosk  26  or the like at the merchant  16  dedicated to that function. 
     Upon receiving the retrieval code, the mail system  20  delivers the document  12  for the recipient  14  to such recipient  14  at the local merchant  16  ( 309 ). Delivering such document  12  from the mail system  20  to the local merchant  16  is known or should be apparent to the relevant public and therefore need not be set forth herein in any detail other that which Is provided. Thus, the recipient  14  or clerk may print the delivered document  12  at the merchant  16  to review same, or the recipient  14  may review the document  12  in an electronic from, particularly if the recipient  14  is employing the computing device  24  at a kiosk  26 . 
     As was set forth above, the recipient  14  may be expected to sign/red document  12  and return same to the organization  10  ( 310 ). In addition, the executed document  12  may require notarization by a notary public  18  ( 311 ). If so, the delivered document  12  may be printed at a printer or the like at the kiosk  26  with the computing device  24 , so that the recipient  14  can in fact sign/execute same and perhaps have the executed document  12  notarized by a notary public  18 . Alternately, if feasible and permissible, the recipient can electronically sign/execute the delivered document  12  and perhaps have the executed document  12  notarized by a notary public  18 . 
     As may be appreciated, such electronic signing/executing and notarizing may take any appropriate form. For example, the signing/executing and notarizing may be performed with a mouse or with an electronic stylus and tablet at the kiosk  26  at the merchant  16 , and/or may involve the electronic presentation of one or more digital certificates and the performance of one or more digital signatures over the US-0526.07 delivered document  12  based on cryptographic keys associated with the digital certificates. In any case, it is advisable that if a notary public  18  is required to notarize a document  12  at the merchant  18 , such merchant  18  should have a notary public  18  on staff and readily available, or at least readily available. 
     Thereafter, the signed or signed and notarized document  12  is returned by the recipient  14  to the organization  10  in an electronic form byway of the merchant  18  ( 313 ). In particular, if printed out and signed, the document  12  may be scanned back into the electronic form at a scanner or the like at the kiosk  26  with the computing device  24 . and the scanned document  12  in the electronic form is then appropriately transmitted from such computing device  24  either directly back to the organization  10  or indirectly back to the organization  10  byway of the mail system  20  of the business  22 . In either case, such transmitting Is known or should be apparent to the relevant public and therefore need not be set forth herein in any detail other than that which is provided. Alternately, if signed in the electronic form, scanning is not required and instead the signed document  12  in the electronic form is then appropriately transmitted from such computing device  24  either directly back to the organization  10  or indirectly back to the organization  10  by way of the mail system  20  of the business  22 . In either case, the organization  10  may then employ the signed or signed and notarized document  12  as necessary and/or appropriate ( 315 ). 
     Note here that the merchant  16  and/or the business  22  rightly should expect some payment for the services provided thereby to the recipient  14 , including receiving the document  12  from the organization  10 , printing the document  12 , notarizing the document  12 , scanning the document  12 , returning the document  12  to the organization  10 , and/or the like as may variously be performed. Such payment may be made by the organization  10  or the recipient  14 , as should be understood. In either case, inasmuch as the organization  10  may expect to deliver a large number of documents  12  to recipients  14  by way of the branches/merchants  16  of the business  22 , the organization  10  should be able to negotiate a favorable payment rate with the merchants  16 /business  22  for doing so, where the payment rate covers all necessary services in connection with the actions of  FIG. 3 . 
     In various embodiments of the present innovation, each kiosk  26  at a merchant  16  is organized to effectuate the actions of  FIG. 3  in a generally smooth and simple manner, at least as experienced by a recipient  14  employing such kiosk  26 . Accordingly, the computing device  24  at the kiosk  26  should employ an interface that easily guides the recipient through the use of such kiosk  26 , including entering the retrieval code, reviewing the retrieved document  12  in electronic form, printing and scanning the document  12  as may be performed, signing/executing the document  12  in electronic or paper form, notarizing the document  12  in electronic or paper form, and returning the document  12  to the organization, among other things. Such an interface is known or should be apparent to the relevant public and therefore need not be set forth herein in any detail. Accordingly, any appropriate interface may be employed. 
     Note too that the use of a kiosk  26  having a computing device  24  at each of several branches/merchants  16  of a business  22  may require a significant investment of capital to install and maintain all of such kiosks  26 , especially if the number of branches/merchants  16  of the business  22  is on the order of hundreds or thousands. While the organization  10  might be expected to contribute such capital, the business  22  may discover that the capital for such kiosks  26  can be derived solely from payments made in connection with the use thereof while still leaving a significant profit. Moreover, the business  22  may discover that by hosting such kiosks  26  in the branches/merchants  16  thereof, significant numbers of people may visit the merchants  16  that would not otherwise do so, and such significant numbers of people may in the course of such visits purchase additional products and services of the merchants  16  that have significant value. Accordingly, such kiosks  26  may be treated as loss leaders or the like if found to lead to additional purchases at the merchants  16 . 
     In various embodiments of the present innovation, the computing device  25  at the kiosk  26  employs a returning program  28  to return the document  12  in the electronic form to the organization  10 . As should be understood, such a returning program  28  may be accessed directly or may be accessed indirectly, for example as a pseudo-printer driver that does not actually print the returning document  12  but instead appropriately formats and sends the returning document  12  in the electronic form to the organization  10 . In any case, the use of the returning program ensures that the returning document  12  is sent to the correct location, such as for example a central delivery address at the organization  10 , perhaps by having such location encoded therein or by having encoded therein a pointer to the correct location. 
     Also, the use of the returning program  28  allows the returning document  12  to be marked with information that will allow the returned document  12  to be routed to the correct location within the organization  10 , especially if such information is not already present in the document  12 . For example, the returning program  28  may be required to query the recipient for a name and identification number thereof and perhaps an appropriate contact within the organization, all of which is placed on the returning document  12  in an appropriate manner, perhaps as a watermark or as printing in a margin, or even as a cover sheet appended to the document  12 . Additionally, the use of the returning program  28  allows for encrypting the returning document  12  if need be, and/or sending the returning document  12  according to a particular secure delivery mechanism. 
     CONCLUSION 
     The programming believed necessary to effectuate the processes performed in connection with the various embodiments of the present innovation is relatively straight-forward and should be apparent to the relevant programming public. Accordingly, such programming is not attached hereto. Any particular programming, then, may be employed to effectuate the various embodiments of the present innovation without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. 
     In the present innovation, systems and methods provide an electronic document delivery system that delivers documents  12  from an organization  10  to a recipient  14  and that receives the documents  12  as executed or the like from the recipient in an expeditious manner, especially where an action that must be taken with respect to the document  12  cannot be performed by the recipient  14 , such as notarizing. The electronic delivery system delivers the document  12  to a document processing merchant  16  or the like who can print the document  12 , perform the action that cannot be taken by the recipient  14 , and then return the document  12  to the organization  10  on behalf of the recipient  14 . 
     Such an electronic delivery system minimizes the need for an expedited delivery carrier to deliver the document  12  to the recipient  14  and back, and also minimizes the facilities that the organization  10  must maintain both to print the documents and to package same in a form amenable to the carrier. Particularly if the organization  10  has a relatively high volume of such documents  12  that are to be delivered to a multitude of recipients  14 . the savings from the electronic delivery system can be quite significant, as can the savings from the costs charged by the carrier to deliver all of such packaged documents to all of the recipients thereof. 
     With a kiosk  26  at a merchant  16  that effectuates all actions with respect to a document  12  electronically delivered to a recipient  14  thereat, such actions are performed quickly and efficiently, perhaps in as little as a few minutes, and the document  12  Is then quickly returned to the organization  10  in an electronic form. Especially when a document  12  delivered to a recipient  14  requires special action that the recipient cannot take, such as notarizing, the kiosk  26  and the merchant  16  can establish mechanisms for effectuating such a special action, such as for example ensuring that a notary public  18  is readily available. Such a kiosk  26  is also particularly useful to a recipient  14  that does not have the necessary systems and functionality available thereto to receive and return the document  12  electronically. 
     It should be appreciated that changes could he made to the embodiments described above without departing from the innovative concepts thereof. For example, although the present innovation is set forth primarily in terms of a mail system  20  at the business  22 , such mail system  20  may be established instead directly at a merchant  18 , or even within the organization  10 , Likewise, although the present Innovation is set forth primarily in terms of the merchant  16  being a document processing merchant, such merchant  18  may instead be an individual, such as for example a notary public  18  or a paralegal or attorney. It should be understood, therefore, that this innovation is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present Innovation as defined by the appended claims.