The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 03, 2010
Filed:
Oct. 31, 2007
Ole-petter Skaaksrud, Lakeland, TN (US);
Cameron Dee Dryden, West Roxbury, MA (US);
Jeffrey Robert Smith, Westwood, MA (US);
Robert Russell Rhodes, Jr., Hingham, MA (US);
Wayne Luke Gordon, Boston, MA (US);
Xiaoxun Zhu, Marlton, NJ (US);
Ole-Petter Skaaksrud, Lakeland, TN (US);
Cameron Dee Dryden, West Roxbury, MA (US);
Jeffrey Robert Smith, Westwood, MA (US);
Robert Russell Rhodes, Jr., Hingham, MA (US);
Wayne Luke Gordon, Boston, MA (US);
Xiaoxun Zhu, Marlton, NJ (US);
Metrologic Instruments, Inc., Blackwood, NJ (US);
Fedex Corporate Services, Inc., Collierville, TN (US);
Abstract
An Internet-based shipping, tracking and delivery network is deployed, wherein at the point of shipment pickup, digital images of shipping documents are captured and processed, shipping information graphically represented the digital images is extracted and encoded into digital image files, and these digital image files are transmitted to an application server and for storage in an information DBMS and subsequent recognition and processing, while the shipment is in transit, from the point of shipment pickup to the first scanning point. At the first scanning point, and subsequent sorting and routing hubs in the network, the original shipment number assigned to the package shipment and graphically represented in said shipping document images, is used to access the DBMS and retrieve recognized shipping information for use in sorting and routing each package in the shipment to its point of destination. By virtue of the present invention, network-assigned shipment tracking numbers need not be assigned, nor special labels generated, for package and delivery operations.