System and method for electronic manifesting in a distribution network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10248988-B2
Application number	US-201514944029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2015
Priority date	Nov 17, 2014
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

System and method for providing electronic manifesting access for users of a distribution network. A distribution network may provide a user access point, such as by providing application programming interfaces. The access point may provide access the item tracking module upon receipt of valid credentials, such as a user's unique identifier. The access point may receive item information, generate an electronic manifest including the item information and the unique identifier, and allow for tracking the items on the electronic manifest.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manifesting items comprising:
providing a user interface device, the user interface device providing access to a an electronic manifesting system;
receiving, via the user interface device, an access request to access the electronic manifesting system;
assigning, by a processor, a unique identifier associated with a user;
storing, by a memory, the unique identifier;
providing, using a processor, based on the access request, access to the electronic manifesting system;
receiving, via the interface device, item information for one or more items;
generating, by a processor, a unique identifier for at least one of the one or more items;
associating, in a server of the electronic manifesting system, the unique identifier for the at least one of the one or more items with the user's unique identifier;
creating, by a processor, an electronic manifest including the item information and the user's unique identifier;
generating label information including the associated unique identifier for the at least one or more of the items in an item tracking apparatus configured to process the at least one of the items in an item distribution network; and
causing an output apparatus to automatically apply the unique identifier for the item to the at least one of the items in response to receiving the label information.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by a processor, item tracking information for the one or more items on the electronic manifest via the user interface device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the label information via the user interface device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the label information is provided via the user interface device such that a physical label can be generated for at least one item on the electronic manifest.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing electronic manifest information to a payment module.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising updating the electronic manifest upon receipt of payment for one or more of the items.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing a user interface device comprises providing an application programming interface comprising instructions for accessing the servere.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the access request comprises receiving, via the user interface device, an access request generated by a user-created user interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing a user access to the electronic manifesting system comprises authenticating a user based at least on the user's unique identifier.

10. A system of manifesting items comprising:
a user interface device configured to receive a user access request, and configured to provide electronic access to a server;
wherein the server comprises a processor which is configured to:
generate and store a unique identifier, the unique identifier associated with a user;
receive item information for one or more items;
generate and store a unique identifier for at least one of the one or more items;
associate the unique identifier for the at least one of the one or more items with the user's unique identifier;
generate an electronic manifest including the item information and the user's unique identifier; and
generate label information for the at least one of the items on the electronic manifest;

an item tracking apparatus configured to process the at least one item in an item distribution network; and
an output apparatus configured to receive the label information and configured to automatically apply the unique identifier for the item to the at least one of the items in response to receiving the label information.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the user interface device is further configured to provide item tracking information for items on the electronic manifest.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the user interface device is further configured to receive the label information from the server.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the user interface device is further configured to provide label information to a user such that the user can generate a physical label for the at least one item on the electronic manifest.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a payment module configured to receive electronic manifest information and associate the electronic manifest information with a payment account.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the payment module is further configured to update the electronic manifest upon receipt of payment for the at least one of the one or more items from the payment account.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the user interface device comprises one or more application programming interfaces comprising instructions for accessing the server.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface device is configured to receive an access request generated by a user-created user interface according to the one or more application programming interfaces.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the user interface device is configured to authenticate a user based at least on the user's unique identifier.

19. A system of manifesting items comprising:
means for providing a user interface device, the user interface device providing access to a server;
means for receiving, via the user interface device, an access request to access the server;
means for assigning a unique identifier associated with a user;
means for storing the unique identifier in the server;
means for providing, based on the access request, access to the server;
means for receiving item information for one or more items;
means for generating a unique identifier for at least one of the one or more items;
means for associating, in the server, the unique identifier for the at least one of the one or more items with the user's unique identifier;
means for creating an electronic manifest including the item information and the user's unique identifier;
means for generating label information for the at least one or more of the items on the electronic manifest;
means for receiving the label information and for processing the at least one of the items in an item distribution network; and
means for automatically applying the unique identifier for the item to the at least one of the items in response to receiving the label information.

Assignees

• United States Postal Service

Inventors

• Dixon Robert E
• Sullivan Kelley A

Classifications

• B07C7/005

  Computer assisted manual sorting, e.g. for mail · CPC title

• G06Q30/0635 Primary

  replenishment orders; recurring orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/0833

  Tracking · CPC title