Described herein is a novel idea of capturing the image and information of POD (Proof of Delivery) through mobile camera and by transmitting the same to consignment/shipment tracking data base of the company web server in real time enabling all its customers to access the POD image instantly all across the world.

Background of the Invention

This invention / innovation relates to how a novel method of capturing the image of the physical copy of the Proof of Delivery (POD) in real time using a very cost effective mobile device. While there have been very expensive hand held devices to capture the signatures on the hand held, this unique & innovative process aims at capturing the image of the Proof of Delivery (the paper) with the receiver's signature, their company seal, date and time of receipt using. This image capture of POD is achieved through a low cost mobile device having a camera and also GPRS connectivity.

There has been two different type of process prior to this methodology:

a) The Proof of delivery is sent to a location, in most case a centralized place in the country or more than on location spread across the country where the paper i.e. POD is scanned using a scanner, the image is stored for future access.

In this process the following were the challenges

- Many a times the POD is lost in transit

- For the image to be scanned there is a delay which can be in days as the copy of the POD needs to travel from the delivery location to the location this scan has to happen

- There is a huge cost of couriering

b) The other method is to carry a high end hand held device which very expensive where the receiver's sign. The signature is then uploaded to the database.

- The shortcoming of this process is that only signature is available on the soft copy,

- The company seal, signature etc, are not there on the hard copy of the POD

- The hand held devices are very expensive

A mobile camera with GPRS facility is used in the present new process which connects to the shipment tracking data base network of the company and for the purpose a JAVA based tool is developed in house which facilitates the mobile user, with the auto generated updation of docket/consignment nos. taken by him for giving the delivery on that particular day on daily basis, by interlinking and capturing the data from the Pickup Delivery Challan (PDC) master software file, which gets auto generated through a in house software system. The date and time with a option to change the time in case if there is any network problem for uploading at the place and time of delivery of consignment. Mandatory updation of the name of the person is received after the delivery of the consignment on behalf of the consignee/receiver, on the part of the mobile user/delivery agent. It also has a provision for attaching the image of POD and an uploading button is provided in the mobile screen for the purpose.

To ensure the authenticity and security of the image updation the system will only allow and accept the updation done by the authorised delivery associate, as their identification no. is mapped with the respective registered / controlled mobile nos. allocated to each such Delivery Associate which ensures only the registered mobile user, by using the registered mobile no- with the help of the allotted passwords alone can carry out the said POD image uploading activity/process.

This process further automatically updates the POD image/information data instantly on web server immediately after uploading the POD image through GPRS which enables the customer to view the image of the Proof of delivery delivery in real time. This process of Image of POD uploading into the shipment tracking data base of the web server is a unique process the company has developed which can be performed with nominal cost and provides the POD image data information in real time which makes the said process developed by the company stands out when compared with the huge scanners and large equipment used and the large scale money incurred by competitor company's to give effect to the similar service to their customers.

The present process developed by the company helps the company to put up strong competition to all its rival competitors players in the Logistic supply chain industry and helps the company to kill its competition and capture the market leadership with its said cost cutting edge process.

In the event, if the said unique and innovative process developed and used by the company are divulged or made known by others which will likely create competition to the company besides hitting its plans to increase its business on the basis of its said developed process.

Apart from the above said method it also helps the company to avoid and reduce the risk of non-update of POD remark for want of loss of POD receipt.

It also helps in securing the POD remark even in case the POD is lost in transit i.e. from delivery location to HO (Head Office) for scanning which provides the benefit of 100% delivery information update on a website in real time unlike 4 to 7 days time taken at present which depends upon the distance and the transit days.

The POD image/data capturing in the said manner, also protects the interest of the company and defend the claims of the customers wherever POD image/data is lost.

Presently other companies are using the huge scanners and other equipment for uploading of the POD information by incurring huge costs taking a bottom line hit. No other company is adopting and following this unique, innovative, cost effective and real time information providing business process of capturing the image of POD through mobile camera and by using GPRS facility uploading into the shipment tracking data base of its web server and using it further as a tool for their business process.

By using of said which business process the company can saves incurring huge operational costs while making viewable to all its customers the POD image in real time and at the same time increases the work efficiency of the company substantially.

There are certain other benefits of the present method like;

It makes the concerned delivery associate accountable against the delivery updations done by him through his allocated mobile and preventing him from taking any different stand and deny his liability.

Fixing the responsibility and liability and making the associate fully accountable for the delivery updations done from his allocated mobile.

Plugging even the remote chances of tampering the POD remark by any interested persons during the physical transit of the POD.

Saves the courier charges of movement of the POD all across to CBC (Central Billing Centre) for the purpose of scanning and billing.

Authentication of electronics data transmitted under Information Technology Act bringing evidentiary value to the same.

Substantial cost saving viz. saving the company from incurring money for the purchase of huge scanners and other related equipment.

Advantage on competition as the unique image of POD uploading in real time into the shipment tracking database of the web server gives the company a cutting edge as to cost and work /service efficiency.

The said developed Business process also helps the company to avoid and or reduces the risk of non-update of POD remark for want of loss of POD receipt.

It also helps in securing the POD remark even in case the POD is lost in transit i.e. from delivery location to HO (Head Office) for scanning which provides the benefit of 100% delivery information update on a website in real time unlike 4 to 7 days time taken at present which depends upon the distance and the transit days.

The POD image/data capturing in the said manner, also protects the interest of the company and helps defend and deal with the claims of the claimants effectively in the cases wherever Physical POD is lost or misplaced in transit.

Object of the Present Invention

a) To do the same through a very cost effective device like a low end mobile/camera.

b) Eliminate the loss of POD's in transit, which in turns affect the companies billing and receivable.

c) To provide real time image & information to the customer.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention can provide cost effective solution for continuous research and development internally.

• Need to provide Customer with Delivery Information Real Time.

■ To provide customer with the Proof of Delivery i.e. the Receiver's Signature, Company Seal, Date & Time of Delivery etc., and these information is to be provided within the same day of delivery,

• Should be Cost Effective.

• Solution should be easy to be implemented.

• Need to eliminate the courier cost of movement of Physical copy of POD to the
Centralized Location

• Most importantly it eliminates the Loss In Transit of the Physical Copy of the POD.

This project focuses on capturing Shipment's Delivery information and most importantly the Proof Of Delivery (POD) the image of POD in real time through an innovative and very inexpensive method. The captured information is available on the main database for all the customers instantaneously.

The innovative Project Solution works on low cost entry-level Mobile phones with GPRS and image capturing capability. On delivery the information is directly updated to the central database using the mobile phones with GPRS connectivity & the image of the document (POD) is also captured and uploaded to the database as well.

This project is used by close to 1000 of our Delivery Personnel & Franchisee spread over more than 240 distinct locations in our country. Using this more than 20,000 transactions and 20,000 image upload per day are done.

In addition to the Delivery information update and Proof of Delivery uploads, lots of other features was also provided to the user on the mobile device, these happens in "Real Time".

The other features enabled are -

Docket (Airway Bill) Tracking

Rate Finder

Location Finder and

Pin code Finder

Description of the invention

The technology and mobile evaluation for this project have gone through the exhaustive testing and research processes.

Different programming languages/tools for the mobile application development have been evaluated. The main aim is to build a light weight application which can support different make and model of entry as well advance mobile phones.

While mobile phone evaluation we have tested and evaluated the picture quality of POD using different mobile phones to achieve the desired quality POD snaps. We have taken images with different resolution and work out for a image resolution 640 X 480 with a image size of 50-80 KB.

From the above disclosure, the object of the invention stated herein has been completely fulfilled. Having now fully described this invention, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the same can be performed within a wide and equivalent range of conditions,

formulations and other parameters without affecting the scope of the invention or any embodiment thereof which is governed by the claims followed hereafter.

We claim;

1) A process of capturing the image of the physical copy of the Proof of Delivery (POD) in real time using a cost effective mobile device used for capturing the image of the POD with the receiver's signature, their company seal, date and time of receiving and sending the same to a network connected device.

2) The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the software platform used to deliver the data to a network connected device is JAVA/JSP.

3) The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resolution of the photographs of the POD image is 640x480 pixels.

4) The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the size of the photographs of the POD image is 50-80 kb,

5) The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the maximum number of image uploads in the database in a single day is 20,000.