Enhanced Services Electronic Mail

Abstract

A database includes one or more physical location identifiers such as postal addresses, delivery or street addresses, or geographic coordinates. A correlator correlates electronic addresses with physical location identifiers. The correlated electronic addresses can incorporate part or all of the corresponding physical location identifier. The correlated electronic addresses can further incorporate a reference to an individual, such as a name or title, or a reference to a group of individuals, such as by name. Correlated electronic addresses allow reception of electronic communication. Services offered with electronic delivery of correspondence to correlated electronic addresses include return receipt, insured delivery, certified delivery, forwarding, non-delivery notification, and non-electronic delivery. Costs associated with operation of the electronic mail may be covered by administration of postage or when the recipient elects electronic delivery of correspondence traditionally delivered by paper mail.

We claim: 
     
         1 . An apparatus to provide traditional first class mail services comprising at least one of forwarding services and certified delivery services for email, the apparatus comprising:
 a network server communicatively coupled to:
 a network to which a user communications device is also communicatively coupled; 
 a memory having: 
   a plurality of email addresses stored therein, each of the email addresses being correlated to a corresponding physical address; and   associative data that identifies associations between persons and at least some of the physical addresses;   
       the network server being configured to:
 receive from the user communications device via the network a request to deliver a first class email to a particular person; 
 determine whether the request is accompanied by sufficient postage to cover delivering the first class email to the particular person; 
 upon determining that the request is accompanied by the sufficient postage, postmark the communication to prevent reuse of the postage by a recipient of the first class email and use the associative data and the email addresses to deliver the first class email to the particular person. 
 
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the request to deliver the first class email to the particular person includes information to identify a physical address for the particular person and wherein the network server is further configured to:
 use the information that identifies the physical address to look up in the memory an email address to use to deliver the first class email to the particular person. 
 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of email addresses that each correlate to a corresponding physical address each have at least a portion of the corresponding physical address as a part of the respective email address. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising:
 upon determining that the request is not accompanied by the sufficient postage, determining if the request is associated with an existing authorization to obtain the sufficient postage. 
 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein the existing authorization to obtain the sufficient postage comprises, at least in part, an authorization to debit an existing account. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising:
 upon determining that the request is not accompanied by the sufficient postage, providing a response to the request to deliver the first class email to the particular person indicating that the first class email cannot be delivered for lack of the sufficient postage. 
 
     
     
         7 . A method to provide traditional first class mail services comprising at least one of forwarding services and certified delivery services for email, the method comprising: by a network server communicatively coupled to:
 a network to which a user communications device is also communicatively coupled;   a memory having:   a plurality of email addresses stored therein, each of the email addresses being correlated to a corresponding physical address; and   associative data that identifies associations between persons and at least some of the physical addresses;   accessing a set of rules that define how to respond to a request to deliver a first class email to a particular person as a function of postage requirements;   receiving from the user communications device via the network a request to deliver a first class email to a particular person;   using the set of rules to determine whether the request is accompanied by sufficient postage to cover delivering the first class email to the particular person;   upon determining that the request is accompanied by the sufficient postage, using the set of rules to postmark the communication to prevent reuse of the postage by a recipient of the first class email and use the associative data and the email addresses to deliver the first class email to the particular person.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the request to deliver the first class email to the particular person includes information to identify a physical address for the particular person and wherein the method further comprises:
 using the information that identifies the physical address to look up in the memory an email address to use to deliver the first class email to the particular person. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the plurality of email addresses that each correlate to a corresponding physical address each have at least a portion of the corresponding physical address as a part of the respective email address. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 upon determining that the request is not accompanied by the sufficient postage, using the set of rules to determine if the request is associated with an existing authorization to obtain the sufficient postage. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the existing authorization to obtain the sufficient postage comprises, at least in part, an authorization to debit an existing account. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 upon determining that the request is not accompanied by the sufficient postage, using the set of rules to provide a response to the request to deliver the first class email to the particular person indicating that the first class email cannot be delivered for lack of the sufficient postage.