Interactive physical mail content management
View Patent ↗A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for interactive mail management of physical mail. Physical mail is received in a mailbox. An identifier is read in response to receiving the physical mail in the mailbox. The physical mail contains the identifier. Information contained in the identifier is sent to the mail recipient. The mail recipient is able to identify instructions for communicating with a sender associated with the physical mail based on the information from the identifier.
1. A computer implemented method for interactive mail management of physical mail, the computer implemented method comprising:
receiving the physical mail in a mailbox;
responsive to receiving the physical mail in the mailbox, wherein the physical mail contains an identifier, electromagnetically reading the identifier, wherein the identifier is a radio frequency identification tag, wherein the mailbox comprises a scanner, wherein the scanner is a radio frequency identification tag reader, and wherein the scanner electromagnetically reads the identifier;
electromagnetically sending information contained in the identifier to a mail recipient using the mailbox, wherein the mailbox electromagnetically stores the information and a set of user preferences for electromagnetically accessing the information and the physical mail, and wherein the mail recipient is electromagnetically provided with instructions for electromagnetically communicating with a sender associated with the physical mail based on the information from the identifier.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mailbox is in a different location from a current location of the mail recipient.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the reading step further comprises:
transmitting a signal to the radio frequency identification tag to extract contact information.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier is any of a bar code, graphics, or text.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the reading step further comprises:
scanning the identifier to extract contact information.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a business transaction based on the information wherein necessary information for carrying out the business transaction is included in the information.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying relevant information included in the information to the mail recipient.
8. The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the necessary information includes an identification of the physical mail received.
9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mail recipient receives the information on a computing device.
10. A data processing system for interactive mail management of physical mail, the data processing system comprising:
a bus system;
a communications system connected to the bus system;
a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and
a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to receive the physical mail in a mailbox; to read the identifier responsive to receiving the physical mail in the mail box, wherein the physical mail contains an identifier, wherein the identifier is a radio frequency identification tag, wherein the mailbox comprises a scanner, wherein the scanner is a radio frequency identification tag reader, and wherein the scanner is used to read the identifier; to send information contained in the identifier to a mail recipient using the mailbox, wherein the mailbox stores the information and a set of user preferences for accessing the information and the physical mail, and wherein the mail recipient is provided with instructions for communicating with a sender associated with the physical mail based on the information from the identifier; and communicating with the sender based on the information.
11. The data processing system of claim 10 further comprising:
performing a business transaction based on the information wherein necessary information for carrying out the business transaction is included in the information.
12. The data processing system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for communicating with the sender are any of a phone number, email address, hyperlink, instant message identification, and text messaging number.
13. The data processing system of claim 10 , wherein the information includes an electronic identification label, and wherein the data processing system displays the electronic identification label to a mail recipient.
14. A recordable computer readable medium comprising instructions that cause a computer to perform interactive mail management of physical mail, the interactive mail management comprising the steps of:
receiving physical mail in a mailbox; electromagnetically reading the identifier responsive to receiving the physical mail in the mailbox, wherein the physical mail contains an identifier, wherein the identifier is a radio frequency identification tag, wherein the mailbox comprises a scanner, wherein the scanner is a radio frequency identification tag reader, and wherein the scanner electromagnetically reads the identifier; electromagnetically sending information contained in the identifier to a mail recipient using the mailbox, wherein the mailbox electromagnetically stores the information and a set of user preferences for electromagnetically accessing the information and the physical mail, and wherein the mail recipient is electromagnetically provided with instructions for electromagnetic communication with a sender associated with the physical mail based on the information from the identifier; and communicating with the sender based on the information.
15. The recordable computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the identifier is a radio frequency identification tag, wherein the mailbox is in a remote location based on a current location of the mail recipient, wherein the recordable computer readable medium further comprises:
computer usable program code for transmitting a signal to the radio frequency identification tag to extract the information.
16. The recordable computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the reading step further comprises:
displaying relevant information included in the information to the mail recipient.