Postal services method and system

Abstract

A postal service is provided for routing mail objects such as an envelope or a parcel to a designated person. A user registers a pseudo name which is displayed on the mail object. The user also enters one or more profiles into a system. Various mail services may be set up by the profiles. Mail services include a follow me service allowing a user to specify a different delivery address for a date range, a mail delivery notification service, a vanity stamp service, and a bulk mail service. Changes made in the profiles take immediate effect. A payment method may be designated in a franking profile.

1 . A method for routing a mail object in a postal service to a designated person, the method comprising the steps of: 
 locating a user profile from a registered pseudo name displayed on the mail object; and    executing one or more mail services as selected by a user in the user profile.    
   
   
       2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the profile comprises one or more sub profiles.  
   
   
       3 . The method as claimed in  claim 2  wherein the one or more sub profiles comprise a franking profile, a naming profile or a dynamic mail function profile.  
   
   
       4 . The method as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the franking profile comprises a designated method of payment for the mail object.  
   
   
       5 . The method as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the naming profile comprises name and address, and return name and address information for the registered pseudo name.  
   
   
       6 . The method as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the dynamic mail function profile comprises a list of mail services available to the user of the registered pseudo name.  
   
   
       7 . The method as claimed in  claim 6  wherein the dynamic mail service comprises a follow me mail service, a mail delivery notification service, a vanity stamp service or a bulk mail service.  
   
   
       8 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the follow me mail service comprises modifying the naming profile of the registered pseudo name to update information to enable redirection of the mail object.  
   
   
       9 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the mail notification service comprises displaying the registered pseudo name in a return field on the mail object and sending an automated electronic delivery notice to an email address.  
   
   
       10 . The method as claimed in  claim 7  wherein the vanity stamp service comprises registering a personalised image to be displayed on the mail object.  
   
   
       11 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the bulk mail service comprises not sending the mail object to a registered pseudo name having bulk mail blocked.  
   
   
       12 . The method as claimed in  claim 2  wherein the profile and the one or more sub profiles comprise a valid date range for when the profile and the one or more sub profiles are active.  
   
   
       13 . The method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the pseudo name is a unique pseudo name for the user.  
   
   
       14 . The method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the pseudo name is registered via an Internet registration service or a central reservation facility.  
   
   
       15 . The method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the pseudo name is linked to the profile and the user accesses the linked profile to modify the information contained in one or more sub profiles.  
   
   
       16 . The method as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the modified profile is updated in a data store and made available to the postal service to be performed as specified by the user in the modified profile.  
   
   
       17 . The method as claimed in  claim 4  wherein the franking profile is accessed to determine a designated method of payment based on a sender name or a receiver name in the naming profile.  
   
   
       18 . The method as claimed in  claim 1  further comprising reading the registered pseudo name with a scanning system.  
   
   
       19 . The method as claimed in  claim 18  wherein the scanning system further comprises an optical character recognition scanner.  
   
   
       20 . A postal service for routing a mail object to a designated person, the service comprising: 
 registering a psuedo name to be displayed on the mail object and a user profile for selecting one or more mail services;    determining the registered pseudo name displayed on the mail object to locate the user profile; and    executing one or more mail services as defined in the user profile.    
   
   
       21 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the profile comprises one or more sub profiles.  
   
   
       22 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 21  wherein the one or more sub profiles comprise a franking profile, a naming profile or a dynamic function profile.  
   
   
       23 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 22  wherein the franking profile comprises a designated method of payment for the mail object.  
   
   
       24 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 22  wherein the naming profile comprises name and address, and return name and address information for the registered pseudo name.  
   
   
       25 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 22  wherein the dynamic mail function profile comprises a list of mail services available to the user of the registered pseudo name.  
   
   
       26 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 25  wherein the dynamic mail services comprises a follow me mail service, a mail delivery notification service, a vanity stamp service or a bulk mail service.  
   
   
       27 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the follow me mail service comprises modifying the naming profile of the registered pseudo name to update information to enable redirection of the mail object.  
   
   
       28 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the mail notification service comprises displaying the registered pseudo name in a return field on the mail object and sending an automated electronic delivery notice to an email address.  
   
   
       29 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 26  wherein the vanity stamp service comprises registering a personalised image to be displayed on the mail object.  
   
   
       30 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the bulk mail service comprises not sending the mail object to a registered pseudo name having bulk mail blocked.  
   
   
       31 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 21  wherein the profile and the one or more sub profiles comprise a valid date range for when the profile and the one or more sub profiles are active.  
   
   
       32 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the pseudo name is a unique pseudo name for the user.  
   
   
       33 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the pseudo name is registered via an Internet registration service or a central reservation facility.  
   
   
       34 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the pseudo name is linked to the profile and the user accesses the linked profile to modify the information contained in one or more sub profiles.  
   
   
       35 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 34  wherein the modified profile is updated in a data store and made available to the postal service to be performed as specified by the user in the modified profile.  
   
   
       36 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 23  wherein the franking profile is accessed to determine a designated method of payment based on a sender name or a receiver name in the naming profile.  
   
   
       37 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  further comprising reading the registered pseudo name with a scanning system.  
   
   
       38 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 37  wherein the scanning system further comprises an optical character recognition scanner.  
   
   
       39 . The postal service as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the pseudo name is a unique pseudo name.  
   
   
       40 . A system for routing a mail object in a postal service to a designated person, the system comprising: 
 means for registering a pseudo name and selecting one or more mail services in a user profile;    means for determining a registered pseudo name to locate a user profile associated with the registered pseudo name; and    means for executing the one or mail services in the user profile.    
   
   
       41 . A computer program product directly loadable into the internal memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of: 
 locating a user profile having a selected mail service, from a registered pseudo name displayed on a mail object; and    executing the selected mail service.