Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02324098 2007-12-04
System and method for management of correspondence
The invention relates generally to postage meters (franking machines), and
relates
particularly to systems in which items of correspondence are to be dispatched
by any of
several different means. The application claims priority from patent US
6,897,973.
Background
It has been well known for many decades to use a postage meter which has
within a
secure housing an accounting means and a printing means. The accounting means
includes an ascending register indicative of postage that has been printed,
and typically
a piece counter indicative of the number of mail pieces that have been
printed. In many
countries including the United States, the accounting means also includes a
descending
register indicative of the amount of postage value available to be printed.
The printing
means is used to print postage indicia on mail pieces, typically by a relief
printing die
with characteristic fluorescent ink. Such postage meters have worked
exceedingly well
for decades and have proven to be reliable. While it is technically possible
to print
postal indicia for which no money has been paid to the post office, such fraud
is
relatively infrequent because it would be readily detectable through physical
inspection
of the meter for tampering.
The postage meter saves the postal authority from much of the work of
printing,
stocking and selling postage stamps. When postal rates change, the postage
meter user
can simply print the new postal amount, while the stamp user must queue up at
the post
office to purchase stamps in the new denomination.
In recent years it has been proposed to print postal indicia by means of
conventional
nonsecure printers such as laser printers, ink jet printers, and thermal
transfer printers.
Such printers are termed "nonsecure" because the printer itself is not in a
secure
housing and because the communications channel linking the printer to other
apparatus
is nonsecure.
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Under such a proposal, the question naturally arises what would prevent a user
from printing
the same postal indicium repeatedly, thereby printing postal indicia for which
no money has
been paid to the post office. The proposed anti-fraud measure is to store
information within
the indicia which would permit detecting fraud. The indicium would include not
only
human-readable text such as a date and a postage amount, but would also
include machine-
readable information, for example by means of a two-dimensional bar code. The
machine-
readable information would be cryptographically signed, and would include
within it some
information intended to make fraud more difficult. The information would
typically include
an identification of the postage meter license (granted by the meter
manufacturer or by the
postal authorities, depending on the country), an indication of the number of
mail pieces
franked, the postage amount, a postal security device identifier about which
more will be said
later, the date and time, and a zip code or post code of the mail piece
addressee.
There are, of course, many potential drawbacks to such an approach for
printing of postal
indicia. A user who intends to defraud the postal service might use a bar-code
reader to read
the contents of the indicium. (This capability illustrates the pointlessness
of trying to give
physical security to the printing means or of the communications channel by
which the
printing means is controlled.) The contents of the bar code could be used to
print identical or
nearly identical indicia, perhaps at a geographic distance. It would then fall
to the postal
service to perform an analysis on aIl or nearly all of the indicia scanned on
a particular day, to
try to identify duplicates.
Yet another drawback is that it is commonplace for a mail piece to get smudged
on the way to
the post office or within the post office, prior to the authentication
scanning by the post
office. If the post office is unable to read the bar code, the post office has
to decide whether
to return the mail piece to the sender, or risk delivering a mail piece
bearing a counterfeit
indicium.
The typical apparatus for printing such "encrypted indicia" postage includes
what is called a
postal security device or PSD. The PSD has a secure housing, and within the
secure housing
are the accounting registers as well as a cryptographic engine. The engine
permits
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cryptographic authentication and signing for communication with an external
device such as
the computer of the meter manufacturer or of the post office. The engine also
permits
creation of postal indicia which contain specified information and which are
cryptographically signed. The PSD may well be physically small as compared to
traditional
postage meters. The PSD may be the size of a PCMCIA card or the size of a
smart card.
Within the PSD the memory must be protected against inadvertent damage due to
malfunction of the processor of the PSD, for example as set forth in US Pat.
No. 5668973,
Protection system for critical memory information owned by the same assignee
as the
assignee of the present application. The PSD must handle power failure in a
graceful fashion,
for example as set forth in US Pat. No. 5712542, Postage meter with improved
handling of
power failure, also owned by the same assignee as the assignee of the present
application.
To reduce smudging, the printer may preferably be that described in PCT
publication no.
97-46389, Printing apparatus, also owned by the same assignee as the assignee
of the present
application. While it has been proposed that the PSD contain a real-time clock
which is
keeping time continuously, desirably this requirement may be avoided as
described in PCT
publication no. 98-08325, Printing postage with cryptographic clocking
security, also owned
by the same assignee as the assignee of the present application. PSDs can form
part of a
network with multiple printers as described in PCT publication no. 98-13790,
Proof of
postage digital franking, also owned by the same assignee as the assignee of
the present
application.
It has become commonplace in recent years to correspond by a variety of
different means, for
example by means of printed documents that are physically delivered, by means
of fax, and
by means of email. Among physically delivered documents there are documents
sent in
envelopes bearing addresses printed thereon, and documents sent in envelopes
or packages
that are addressed by means of adhesive labels.
It would be advantageous to have a system with great flexibility to
accommodate a number
deliver methods.
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Summary of the invention
In the system of the invention, a user provides inputs at a user interface.
The user's inputs
relate to the expected type of delivery. Alternatively the system may already
have
information stored as to the type of delivery to be used with particular
correspondents. The
system handles a sequence of items of correspondence. For each item it is
determined
whether the delivery will be by physical delivery of a printed document, by
fax, or by email.
Furthermore, it is determined whether a printed document will be enclosed in
an envelope
upon which an address is to be printed, or whether it will be enclosed in an
envelope or
package which receives printed address labels. In the case of physically
delivered items, the
system also generates a postal indicium which is either printed on an envelope
or on a label to
be placed on an envelope.
Description of the drawing
The invention will be described with respect to a drawing, of which:
Fig. 1 shows a flow chart depicting handling of correspondence in keeping with
the invention;
and
Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the system.
Detailed description
The system according to the invention is typified by a personal computer 50,
shown in Fig. 2.
The personal computer 50 receives, or has stored within it, information about
a number of
items of correspondence to be sent, all omitted for clarity in Fig. 2. The
computer 50 has at
least one printer 53, and preferably has more than one printer, one optimized
for printing on
paper sheets, and another optimized for printing on label stock and envelopes.
The computer
50 has a postal security device 52, as discussed above. The postal security
device 52 has
nonvolatile memory and a cryptographic engine, and under stored program
control it is able to
generate digitally printed postal indicia which will be accepted by the postal
authorities for
payment of postage. The indicia are printed on the printer 53. In addition,
the computer 50
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has connected with it, or includes, a Simple Mail Transport Protocol(SMTP)
server 54, and a
fax server or fax modem 55. The user controls the computer 50 through a user
interface 51.
As described in Fig. 1, there is a user interface. This may be a keyboard, a
touch screen, or
other user input device. The computer 50 handles input requests, formulates
desired outputs,
and manages the system with respect to configuration parameters such as
departmental
charge-backs. The data routing can take a document-printing path 2, a high-
volume
production printing path 3, a label printing path 4, a fax path 5, and an
email path 6. In the
case of an item of correspondence needing a postal delivery address, it is
desired to check the
address hygiene as at box 7 and to correct the address accordingly. In the
case of an
organization that charges back postage charges by departmental or other
accounts, then
chargeback is done for example in box 9. Many mail types, including business
and personal
envelopes, are eligible for discounts if the correspondence is presorted, so
presort and
bundling information is generated in boxes 8. In the case of an item of
correspondence that is
intended for an envelope with a printed address, the correspondence and
envelope may be
typed in box 10. Preferably a number of moderate-capacity printers are
employed so that if
one breaks, the load may be distributed among other printers.
In the case of high-volume production printing, the path of block 3 is
followed. If necessary,
the mail piece is inserted into an envelope and sealed in block 11.
In the case of a fax message, the path of block 5 is followed. The computer 50
passes the
correspondence to a fax modem, or to a fax server 55, which may be integral
with the
computer 50 or may be separate from it. The correspondence is sent by fax.
In the case of an email message, the path of block 6 is followed. The computer
50 passes the
correspondence to a simple mail transport protocol server 54, which may be
integral with the
computer 50 or may be separate from it. The correspondence is sent by email
over a TCP/IP
link, omitted for clarity in Fig. 2.
One of the chief drawbacks of the cryptographically signed postal indicium is
that the postal
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service may require that the indicium be based in part on a Zip code or post
code of the
associated mail piece. This leads to great difficulty in the event that an
indicium and its
associated addressed envelope or package become mismatched. The postal
authorities will
assume that the sender is engaged in mail fraud, for example trying to use a
single indicium
more than once on more than one mail piece. Thus it is highly desirable to set
up the system
so that if it is printing labels, it will not merely print postal indicia
labels, but will also print
the delivery address on a label. The address and postage labels are desirably
printed "two-
up", side by side or adjacent in the label printer. This permits automated
equipment, or a
human user, to place the two labels on a mail piece (e.g. an envelope or
package) at about the
same time, thus reducing the likelihood of a mismatch.
Stated differently, the invention comprises a system for management of
correspondence,
comprising a processor 50 having a user interface 51, said processor 50
communicatively
coupled with a printer 53, said printer disposed to print adhesive labels,
said processor 50 also
communicatively coupled with a fax modem 55, said processor also
communicatively
coupled with a simple mail transport protocol server 54; said system further
comprising
means receiving information indicative of items of correspondence to be
delivered, the
information regarding each item further indicative of at least one means of
delivery for said
item; said system further comprising means responsive to the information
indicative of the at
least one means of delivery for causing transmission by fax via the fax modem
55 in the event
that the information indicative of the at least one means of delivery
indicates fax, for causing
transmission by email via the simple mail transport protocol server 54 in the
event that the
information indicative of the at least one means of delivery indicates email,
and in the event
that the information indicative of the at least one means of delivery
indicates mail requiring
labels, causing the postal security device 52 to generate a postage indicium,
and causing the
printer 53 to print the postage indicium on a label. Optionally, in the event
that the
information indicative of the at least one means of delivery indicates mail
requiring labels, the
system prints an address label responsive to the information indicative of the
item to be
delivered, along with the label bearing the postage indicium.
Those skilled in the art will have no difficulty devising obvious enhancements
and
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improvements to the invention, all of which are meant to be encompassed within
the
invention, as defined by the claims that follow.
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