CA1267221A

CA1267221A - Unsecured postage applying system

Info

Publication number: CA1267221A
Application number: CA000506852A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Ronald P. Sansone; Michael P. Taylor
Original assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc
Current assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc
Priority date: 1985-08-06
Filing date: 1986-04-16
Publication date: 1990-03-27
Anticipated expiration: 2007-03-27
Also published as: US4831555A

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure An unsecured postage applying system wherein the printer and accounting unit are separated from one another by an unsecured link through use of encryption. The printer may be of any off the shelf type that is capable of printing alpha numerics or bar codes. More than one printer can be connected to a single accounting unit to provide a network of printers accommodated by the one accounting unit.

Description

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UNSECURED POSTAGE APPLYING SYSTEM

Background of the Invention Since the issuance o~ U.S. Patent No. 1,530,852 to Arthur H. Pitney, March 24, 1925, the postage meter has had a steady evolution. Throughout the years, two general types of postage meters have been used: one that uses a rotary type printer, known as a rotary postage meter, and the other that uses a stationary print head and a reciprocating platen, known as a flat bed postage meter. Most recently, there has been a change from completely mechanical devices to meters that incorporate extensive use of electronic : ::

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components. Although there have been a number of changes, there are certain elements that remain constant.
One of the constants has been that each meter had a printer included therein on a one-to-one basis, i.e. one metering device and one pxinting device incorporated iDto a unit. In postage meters, ~he need for security is absolute.
Such ~ecurity is applied in prior postage meters both to the printing portion of the meter and to the accounting portion.
The reason for the need of absolute security is because a postage meter is printing value, and unless security measures are taken, one would ba able to print unauthorized postage, i.e. postage for which no payment is made, thereby defrauding the U.S~ Postal Service. Most security measures -taken are of a ph~sical nature, but recently there have been suggestions for the use of encryption to assure that a postage indicia is valid. Mevertheless, such encryption has merely supplemented the physical security systems that have ~`
been used and suggested by the prior art.
Although postage meters have performed satisfactorily L
in the past, and continue to perfoxm satisfactorily, with the advancements in electronics and communications it is becoming apparent that ways of applying postage and accounting for the same can be achieved in systems that are less egpensive to fabricate ana more flexible in use while still providing the serviceability and security required.
"~-Su~mary of _he Invention --An unsecured postage applying system has been devised wherein an off the shelf`printer or a plurality of such pri~ters may be used to print the required postage and may ; 30 - be controlled through an unsecured link. This printex would be connected to a computer or a combination of computer and printex, such as a word processor, may be used. The computer or word processor would be in communication with a secure metering unit that would include accounting and encryption modules. This secure metering unit, in turn, would be communicable with a control center, either directly or through a user computer, which would be capable of inputing postage to the metering unit. With such a device, .

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a relatively inexpensive prlnter with great Plexibility may be used. ~ncryption is utilized to prevent the printing of unauthori~ed postage. This combination of flexible printing and encryption would allow an inexpensive way o~ processing mail~ ~ further advantage is that a plurality of printers can be connected to and served by a single metering unit in network fashion.

Various a~pects of the invention are as follows:
A system for applying postage; said system comprises:
a secure metering unit, said metering unit including a control module, an encryption generating means, connect~d to said control module, and accounting means, also connected to said control module, for accounting for postage applied;
a computer, external of said metering unit;
means for providing unsecured communication between said control module and said computer, and an unseeured printer for printing postage, sa~d unsecured printer communicating with said computer.
A system for applying postage; said system comprises:
a secure metering unit including a control module, an encryption generating me~ns connected to said control : 25 module and accounting means conn~cted to said control module:
a plurality of computers;
: mean~ for providing un~ecured communication between said metering unit and each of said computers: and ~t least one unsecured printer connected to each of said computers.
A method of applying po6tage to a mail piece; said method comprising the steps of:
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3a storing postage value within a secure metering unit;
selecting an a~ount of postaye to be printed;
communicating the amount cf po~tage to said matering unit;
generating an encrypted message within said metering unit;
com~unicating said encrypted message and said amount of postage to an unsecured printer;
causin~ said unsecured printer to print ~aid encrypted message and po~tage amount onto said mail piece; and subtracting the amount of postage applied from said postage value in said metering unit.

BrieP Descript.ion of the Drawina~
Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a system that utilizes the instant invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of a mail piece prepared in acc~rdance with the instant inve~tion; and Fig. 3 is a block diagram similar to Fig. 1 but : showing a syste~ with a network o~ printer~.

Datailed Descripti~n~o~ the Pre~erred ~b diment Referring initially to Fig. 1, an unsecured postage applying ~ystem is shown generally at 10 and includes a control center 12 and a ~etering unit 14 that are in c~mmunication with one another through a communicating device such as a telephone 16, facsimil~ machine, telex ; machine, and the like.
Located within the metering unit 14 is a modem, :~ ~ 30 port or converter l8 which interconnects the telephons : : 16 with a control module 20 o~ the metering unitJ which control module may be a CPU such as a IntelTM 8085 : :

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3b microproc~ssor. The control module 20 has a memory 19 and a clock 21 either integral or in connection therewith. The memory 19 would include ROM~ RAM
operation instructions as well as the meter or customer number and other us2ful infor~ation. In communication with the control module 20 is an encryption module 22 as well as an accountin~ module 240 The encryption module

2~ may be encrypted in accordance with the NBS Data ~ncryption Standard (DE~. A suitable device for such purpose is the Intel 8294 encryptor. The accounting module 24 may be a RAM that incorporat~s the ascending and descending registers as well as the transaction number. As is known, an ascending register is a register that records ' i:

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the amount of postage that has been dispensed, or printed, in all transactions and the descending register is that which records the value, or amount of postage, remaining in the metering unit which value decreases as postage is applied~ The transaction number is a unique number assigned by the control center 12 to the metering unit 14 at the time postage is charged or credited to the latter. Another modem 26 within the metering unit 14 interconnects the control module 20 with a u~er computer 28. It will be appreciated that the metering unit may be at the same loca~ion as the user computer 28 or remote therefrom. The u~er computer may be any type of computer that has input, memory, arithmetic, logic and output, for example~ a personal computer such as the IB~l persoDal computer AT. Connected to the user computer 28 is a user printer 30. Although the user printer may be of any type that is capable of printing individual alpha numerics or bar code, a dot matri~ printer is preferred. An e~ample of a dot matrix printer would be a thermal printer or an ink jet printer. Although the combination of a u~ar co~puter 28 and printer 30 is shown, it ~ill be appreciated hat a word proces~or 31 may be used as outlined in place of the two.
In the block diagram ~hown i~ Fig. 1, the control center 12 is a ~ource of postage value uch a~ a Pos~
Of~ice. System3 are ~nown whereby a postage meter may be charged re~otely upon a customer number being provided to the Post Of~ice~ The Po~t O~ice, in turn, will provid~
postage value that is a~tomatioally input to the customer's po~tage meter, or in thi~ ca e the accounting unit 14, and charged to the customer' 8 account. An example of such a system is di~clo~ed in ~.S. Pat. ~o. 4,097,923. Although thi~ praferred embodiment is described u~ing remote res~tting of the ~ostage value, it will be appreciated that the metering unit may be rech~rged by physically taking the . same to a post o~fice and paying for ~he amount of postage charg~d. In the sy tem of Fig~ 1, a secure postage meter is replaced by the accounting unit 14 that is a secure unit such that tampering by physicai, electronic or ma~netic means is inhibited. Security features sucb as a shield, ' ' ~ ' ~ . .
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break away bolts and the like are well known and the means for physically securins the metering unit will not be described. The metering unit 14 would have no display and would only be accessible by the user computer 28 upon a selected code being received by the control module 20 from the user computer 28. The user printer 30 is not a secure printer nor are the links between the user computer 28 and the accounting UDit 14 on the one hand and the user computer and the printer on the otherO The postage to be printe~ by the user printer 30 would include an encryption number that is generated by the encryption module 22. Such encryption may be based upon any recognized code such as DES, supra, or Rivest, Shamir and Adleman cipher (RSA). Upon the appropriate information being supplied to the metering unit 14 from the user computer, the encryption module 22 would generate an encryption number or encrypted message. This supplied information could include the customer number, the value of poætage, address information and the like. The encrypted message is communicated to the user computer-28 for subsequent printing of the encrypted message.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the control center 12 communicates directly with the user computer 28 via the telephone 16~ This communication link is shown by the dash line in Fig. 1. There are two primary advantages to having direct contact between the control center 12 and the user computer. The first advantage is one of cost. Because communication between the control center 12 and the user computer 28 is on the basis of computer to computer, the modem 18 is not required. More specifically, only one modem 26 would b needed in the metering unit 14 and all components and costs associated with the modem would be eliminated. The second advantage is that direct communication between the control center 12 and the user computer allows participation on ~he part of the user in funds transfer since the transaction would be displayed as being transacted on the CR~ of the user computer 28 and the user could observe and communicate any comments back to the control center 12.

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Referring now to Fig. 2, a scheme is shown whereby postage would be applied to a mail piece such as an envelope 34. In this particular configuration, an envelope 34 is shown with a label 36 attached to the block address portion of the envelope. It will be appreciated that the instant invention would include printing postage directly upon the mail piece or upon the block address portion of an insert that would be viewable through a window type envelope. The first line 38 of the label would have information relative to the amount of postage and the customer number. The second line 40 contains the date of the mailing, the time ,.~
the postage is imprinted and the class of mail. The thira :
line 42 contains an encrypted combination of numbers and letters that may be derived from the information on the -first two lines as well as information from the address of the recipient of the mail that follows this third line and information contained in the metering unit 14. For example, the first encrypted message B7C14 could relate to the postage amount and date, the second group 45647 to zip code, i~
-the third group 66646 ~o the customer number and ~ransaction number and the last group 40028 to the class of mail.
; Following these three lines 38, 40 and 42 are the name and --address of the mail piece recipient which is printed by the printer 28.
~ The postage amount, eustomer num~er, and zip code are transmitted by the user computer 28 t~ the contr~l module 20. The memory 19 proyides the transaction number and the clock ~1 provides the time. The encrypting module 2~ then generates an encrypted message and sends it to the user computer according to the system protoral. This encryption message line 42, is then printed by the user printer 30 on line 3 of the label 36 and the postage value is subtracted from the postage value stored in the accounting module 24.
With this information, a Postal Service representative would be able to input the encrypted message into a suitable computer and decrypt in accordance with the selected cipher to determine whether the postage is genuine~ -More specifically, if one were to select characters at random for the third line 42 in order to send a mail piece through the ;

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mail wikhou~ paying for the postage, it would be detected since the decrypted message could not be obtained from the information on the face of the label 38. Consequently, an unsecure printer 30 may be used because an unauthorized person would not be able to place an appropriate encrypted message 42 on the mail piece 34.
Although the system has been shown using a plurality of linesp it will be appreciated that the encrypted information --may bs printed anywhere on the label 36 or envelope 34.
The advantage of the system shown and described iD Fig.

3 is the use of a single metering unit for a plurality of printing stations. The metering unit 14 could belong to an individual who purchases postage from the Post Office and then supplies services to a number of other individuals :through co~nunication links. In Fig. 3 a network system is shown where like numbers are used to identify like parts as .in ~ig. l. The modem 26 within the accounting unit l4 acts ~-as a gateway between the control module 20 and a plurality . of user word processors 28-l, 28-2... 28-n. The user word processor may be any type of word processor having computer ;.
capability such as a Dictaphone 6000 word processor.
Although the word processors 28-l, 28,-2... 28-n are shown as -~
being connected in parallel, it will be appreciated that other types of connections may be used including serial, --- circular, star and the like.

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A system for applying postage; said system comprises:
a secure metering unit, said metering unit including a control module, an encryption generating means, connected to said control module, and accounting means, also connected to said control module, for accounting for postage applied;
a computer, external of said metering unit;
means for providing unsecured communication between said control module and said computer, and an unsecured printer for printing postage, said unsecured printer communicating with said computer.

2. The system as claimed in Claim 1 further comprises:
means for establishing unsecured communication between said control module and an external control center.

3. The system as claimed in Claim 1 further comprises:
means, for establishing unsecured communication between said computer and an external control center.

4. The system as claimed in Claim 1 further comprises:
at least one word processor connected to said metering unit.

5. A system for applying postage; said system comprises:
a secure metering unit including a control module, an encryption generating means connected to said control module and accounting means connected to said control module;
a plurality of computers;
means for providing unsecured communication between said metering unit and each of said computers and at least one unsecured printer connected to each of said computers.

6. The system as claimed in Claim 5 further comprises:
means for providing unsecured communication between an external control center and said control module of said secure metering unit.

7. A method of applying postage to a mail piece; said method comprising the step of:
storing postage value within a secure metering unit;
selecting an amount of postage to be printed;
communicating the amount of postage to said metering unit;
generating an encrypted message within said metering unit;
communicating said encrypted message and said amount of postage to an unsecured printer;
causing said unsecured printer to print said encrypted message and postage amount onto said mail piece; and subtracting the amount of postage applied from said postage value in said metering unit.

8. The method as claims 1 in Claim 7 further including the step of:
including postage information in said generation of said encrypted message.

9. The method as claimed in Claim 8 further including the step of:
communicating with a plurality of unsecured printers and selecting one of said printers to apply said encrypted message and postage onto said mail piece.