Patent ID: 8041649

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for calculating an estimated international delivery date, comprising: receiving, at a delivery processor, destination data comprising a destination address and a destination country of an item to be sent and origin data corresponding to an origin delivery office that receives the item to be sent, the origin data comprising origin location information, a scan date reflecting a date the item is scanned at the origin delivery office, and a scan time reflecting a time the item is scanned at the origin delivery office; based on the origin data, determining whether a cut-off acceptance time of the origin delivery office is predicated on an Inward Office Exchange or an Outward Office Exchange; if the cut-off acceptance time of the origin delivery office is predicated on an Inward Office Exchange, ascertaining the cut-off acceptance time of the origin delivery office based on at least the destination data; if the cut-off acceptance time of the origin delivery office is predicated on an Outward Office Exchange, ascertaining the cut-off acceptance time of the origin delivery office based on at least the origin data; determining whether the scan time is before the ascertained cut-off acceptance time; setting a start date and time for calculating the estimated international delivery date based on the scan time determination; determining a first estimated date and time that the item will be scanned at an outbound delivery office of the origin country, using the start date and time; determining a second estimated date and time that the item will be scanned at an inbound delivery office of the destination country; determining a third estimated date and time representing delivery of the item from the inbound delivery office of the destination country to the address from the destination data; calculating, by a processing unit, the estimated international delivery date based on the first estimated date and time, the second estimated date and time, and the third estimated date and time; and providing the calculated estimated international delivery date to a source data processor wherein determining the second estimated date and time comprises: determining a flight having a flight departure time for the destination country after the first estimated date and time; determining a scheduled flight arrival day and a scheduled flight arrival time for the flight; making a third determination as to whether the scheduled flight arrival time is before a latest arrival time for flights that permits same-day processing of the item at the inbound delivery office; making a fourth determination as to whether the latest arrival time for flights is before a cut-off acceptance time for scans at the inbound delivery office; and setting the second estimated date and time according to the third determination and the fourth determination.