摘要:
A system and method for allowing a customer to maintain multiple customer accounts used for generating and printing postage without having to maintain a minimum amount of funds in each account. When multiple accounts are maintained for a customer, only one the of the multiple accounts maintains pre-paid funds in the registers. The other accounts do not have any pre-paid funds, i.e., maintain zero funds, in the registers. When a customer account that does not have any pre-paid funds stored therein is utilized to generate postage, the register in that account is refilled for the exact amount of postage to be generated from a customer payment account. By performing on-demand postage refills for the exact amount needed to generate an indicium, the customer is no longer required to have funds committed to each customer account while still being able to utilize multiple accounts for multiple postage printing devices.
摘要:
A postage meter system includes a postage meter and a data center. The postage meter is registered to a specific customer at a designated location for printing a postal indicium on a mail piece. The data center is remotely located from the postage meter and includes a locator application and a customer account file corresponding to the postage meter. The customer account file includes specific customer identification data and designated location data. The postage meter enters selective operative communication with the data center via the internet for establishing a transaction session. During the transaction session, the data center: (i) employs the locator application to send homing signals back and forth between the postage meter and the data center along different routes through the internet and uses a communication parameter associated with the homing signals triangulate an actual location of the postage meter; (ii) compares the actual location with the designated location; (iii) initiates updates to the postage meter system if the actual location and the designated location do not correspond.
摘要:
Verfahren zur Datensicherung einer Frankiermaschine, bei dem in einem Datensicherungsschritt (107.3) in einem Verbindungsschritt zwischen der Frankiermaschine (102, 103, 104) und einer entfernten Datenzentrale (106) eine Verbindung über ein Kommunikationsnetz (105) aufgebaut wird, in einem Übermittlungsschritt in der Frankiermaschine (102, 103, 104) gespeicherte Daten als Sicherungsdaten an die Datenzentrale (106) übermittelt werden und in einem Speicherschritt die Sicherungsdaten in der Datenzentrale (106) gespeichert werden, wobei die Sicherungsdaten nutzerdefinierbare Konfigurationsdaten der Frankiermaschine (102, 103, 104) umfassen, die durch den Nutzer der Frankiermaschine (102, 103, 104) zur Konfiguration der Frankiermaschine (102, 103, 104) definierbar sind.
摘要:
A postal system includes a local computer (110, 300) having a user interface (316, 318) and an associated storage unit (322) for storing a secure data file that contains postal (e.g., accounting) data. A secure processing unit (140, 340, 400) interfaces with the local computer (110, 300) and performs the secure processing normally associated with a secure postal environment. The secure processing unit (140, 340, 400) can be designed to receive power from the computer to which it couples, and generally does not require special interconnect. By using the secure processing unit (140, 340, 400) to perform the secure processing and the local computer (110, 300) to perform other postal functions (e.g., user interface), complexity is reduced which translates to faster speed of operation and a more economical hardware design.
摘要:
A postage metering system (100) includes a postage meter (130) and a user interface (120) in communication with the postage meter (130). The user interface (120) includes a micro controller (122) and a memory (126). The memory (126) has stored therein a plurality of image data files (140) corresponding to different currencies. The postage meter (130) includes a micro controller (132) and a memory (134) having stored therein an indicator of meter currency type. The user interface uses the indicator of meter currency type from the postage meter (130) to select a particular one of the plurality of image data files (140) for use in printing a postal indicia (20).