Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~2slal~
C-307
; MAIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
ACCOUNT VALIDATION AND FALLBAC~ OPERATION
, .
¦ Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to mailing systems
and, in particular, relates to a mail management system
having a host system and one or more operator
workstations communicatively coupled thereto, the
invention providing for the dispensing of postage under
the control of the workstation subsequent to a time
when the host system verifies the validity of an
account code and, also, by a worksta~ion if the host
system i8 unable to communicate with the workstation.
Baak~round of the InVention
One particular concern in all 6ystems that dispense
postage, such as a postage meter, is that an accurate
2 n accountlng be made of all postage dispensed. This
accounting is required by law and, typically, is
accomplished by well known accounting registers within
the postage dispensing system. These registers may
have the form of ascending and descending registers.
Typically, the ascending register is incremented by a
value representative of the total value of the postage
dispensed while the descending register is
simultaneously decremented by the value of postage
dispensed. At any given time in the operation of the
3~
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system, the values of the ascending and descending
registerQ must reflect the total amount of postage
provided. In order to provide an initial amount of
postage funds to the system, the descending register is
charged with a value amount which represents the amount
of postage funds whlch will be dispensed, while the
ascending register is reset to a zero funds condition.
j Typically, if for any reason a component of the postage
dispenslng system becomes inoperative, the further
dispensing of postage is prohibited until the entire
system is once more operable.
The evolution of mailing systems has resulted in the
need for a mail management system which provides for
the centralized control over one or more postage
I dispensing devices in such n way that the activity of
¦ the devices may be monitored and recorded by a host
system. In this way, an accountln~ may be made of the
; activity of all of the postage dispensing devices which
are coupled to the host. This centralized control
leads to increased efficiencies and accounting
reliability in the overall operation of a mailroom. As
an example, in a large organization such 'as a
corporation the mailroom will typically perform mailing
services for a variety of different clients, such as
departments, within the organization. Individual
clients may be the marketing department, the product
department, the legal department and other diverse
interorganizatlon departments. In order that each
department may be accurately charged for the services
performed by the mailroom it is desirable to generate a
report which allocates, on a department by department
basis, the postage expenditure and the value of
129iB~8
services performed by the mallroom which are related to
mailing functions.
In other organizations the mailroom may be a primary
service provided by the organization, the organization
typically processing and mailing material for a number
of different clients. In this type of organization, it
¦ is essential that the postage dispensed and the
services related to the dispensing of this postage be
allocated on a client-by-client basis in order that
each client may be correctly invoiced for the postage
expended and the services rendered. Thus, it can be
realized that in any type of organlzation having a
~r mailroom that it is important that the mailroom be
capable of uniquely identifying each client 80 that
each client may be correctly invoiced.
As can be appreciated, in a large mallroom many
thousands of pieces of mail may be processed during the
course of a given day. Some of this mail may be
required to be mailed on or before a given date in
order to have value to the client or to the addressee.
If for any reason the mailroom were to become
inoperative for a period of time the mailing of these
pieces of mail may be delayed such that the mail may
lose its timed value. This i5 understandably an
undesirable situation.
As has been previously discussed, it is also essential
that the postage value of each piece of mail processed
by accurately accounted for to prevent the fraudulent
or the inadvertent dispensing of postage. In order to
prevent the fraudulent or inadvertent dispensing of
l2~ a
postage the mailroom may require that an operator
enter a client account code or number which is
transmitted from, for example, an operator workstation
to a host system for validation. After validating the
account code, the host may thereafter transmit a
postage dispensing enabling s~gnal to the workstation
to dispense the required amount of postage. As can be
,l appreciated, if the host system were inoperative the
¦l account validation may not occur, resulting in the; 10 inability of the workstation to enable an attachedpostage dispenslng device to dispense postage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
~i 15 The foregoing problems are overcome and other
advantages are realized by a mail management 6ystem
~MMS) which, in accordance with the method and
apparatus of the invention, receives and validates
client account identification eodes and which also
allows for the dispensing of postage even when the host
system iB inoperative.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a
MMS i5 comprised of a host system communicatively
coupled to one or more operator workstations. Each
workstation may further be coupled to a postage
dispensing device, such as a postage meter. Preferably
prior to the operation o~ the MMS for the dispensing of
postage, the host transmits the format of a valid
aceount identification code, or account code, to each
workstation. The actual value of the account code
may be maintained wlthin the host system.
Alternatively, the format may be ~tored within the
workstation upon the installation of the workstation by
an installer entering data indicative of a valid
account code. During normal operation of the system,
the workstation accept~ an account code and a
j 5 requested amount of postage entered by a workstation
i operator in order to initiate the dispensing of
I postage. The workstation verifies that the format of
the account code agrees with the format previously
entered. If the format of the account code entered by
the operator does not match that previously stored
¦i within the workstation, the workstation is operable for
indicating an error condition to the operator, thereby
allowing the operator to reenter the account code. If
the format of the entered account code agrees with the
ij ¦ 15 format ~tored within the workstation, the workstation
iB operable for transmitting this entered account code
to the host where the validation of the account code i5
accomplished. The validation may ihclude verifying
that the account code i8 a valid number assigned to an
active account. The validation may also involve the
verification that the account has sufficient funds on
depo~it to dispense the requested amount of postage.
If the account code is verified by the host, the host
i5 operable to transmit to the workstation a postage
dispensing enabling signal. The reception of this
signal by the workstation enables the workstation to
activate the attached postage meter to dispense the
postage. If the account code i~ not validated by the
host the postage enabling signal is not transmitted to
tbe workstation w~ich disables tbe workstation from
dispensing the requested amount of postage.
12918~8
In accordance with the invention, if for any reason the
host sy6tem is inoperable or unable to communic~te with
the workstation, the workstation is enabled to dispense
the requested postage after first verifylng that the
format of the account code matches the format of a
; predetermined valid account code previously stored
I within. This mode of operation i~ known herein as a
¦j fallback mode of operation. A record is maintained by
¦I the workstation for each such transaction, the record
including at least the account code and the amount of
postage dispensed for that account code while in the
fallback mode. At a time subsequent to the dispensing
of this postage and when the host system is once more
7~ operable to communicate with the workstation, the host
may command the workstation to transmit this record or
, records of transactions which occurred while in the
fallback mode of operation. After receiving these
records the host system may attempt to validate the
i account codes or the host may store the records to be
i 20 processed at ~ later time. If for any reason an
account code is found not to be valid, the host system
is operable to notify a MMS supervisor of such
condition, thereby allowing the supervisor to determine
the nature of the exception and to allocate, if
possible, the expended postage to a valid account.
Such n~tification may take the form of an error or
exception file which is generated by the host. If the
account code or numbers are determined to be valid, the
host system will increment the postage funds spent by
3~ those accounts during the time that the fallback mode
of operation was in effect.
~291818
In order for the workstation to dispense postage
without first receiving the postage dispensing enabling
signal from the host system, the MMS supervisor may
enter a predetermined secret password into the
workstation, thereby initiating the operation of the
~l' workstation in the fallback mode of operation.
ll
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE pR~WINGS
These and other aspects of the invention will become
h more apparent from the following detailed description
of the invention taken in con~unction with the
drawings, wherein:
Fig. l is a block dlagram showing a mailroom management
system in accordance with the invention:
1.
Fig. 2 shows a representative operator workstation
useful with the sy~tem shown in Fig. 1~
Fig. 3 shows the format of a typical client account
code; nnd
Figs. 4-21 show various display screen menus which may
be displayed to an operator during the operation of the
~S .
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.
DETAILE~ DESCRIP~ION OF T~E INV~TION
Referring first to Fig. 1 there is shown in block
diagram form a mailroom management system (MMS) 10
! emodying the principles of the invention. MMS 10 may
be seen to be comprised of a host 12 which is
bidirectionally coupled to a plurality of mail data
stations ~MDS), such as operator workstations 14, 16
and 18. Although three such workstations are shown in
Fig. 1 it should be realized that more or less than
three may be coupled to the host 12. For example, from
one to some large number of workstations, for example
¦ 16, may be so coupled to the host 12. The manner of
1 15 coupling between host 12 and a particular workstation,
¦ such as the workstatlon 14, may be by any of a variety
of well known data communication coupling means. Such
means may include bit serial data communication means
i ! ~uch as RS-422 or RS-232. The connection may also be
by a parallel data coupling means. The connection may
also be made via telephonic modem or by any of a number
of similar long distance data commlmication means.
~hus, it can be seen that an individual workstation may
be physlcally located proximate to the host 12 or may
be physically located at a great distance from the host
12.
Host 12 may be a microcomputer, a minicomputer, a
perqonal computer or even a main frame type computer.
In general, the host 12 has the characteristics of a
data processing system which is operable for
communicating with individual ones of the workstations
129~8~L8
g
14 through 18, and for executing a variety of software
programs such as programs suitable for the transmission
and reception of data to and frDm the workstations,
accounting programs suitable for accounting for postage
transactions, and report generation programs operable
! for producing reports indicative of postage and other
¦ expenditures on an account by an account basis. Other
¦ report~ generated by host 12 may be reports expressive
of overall machine, operator and mailroom productivity,
such as reports indicative of squipment usage,
equipment downtime and operator efficiency. As can be
appreclated, such programs may be goftware elements of
a data base management system (D~MS), the data base
nl 1 being comprised of indivldual nccount~ nnd accounting
; 15 data related to these accounts. Data, which typically
I comprises postage accounting data, may be stored within
j an internal memory of the host 12 and/or may be stored
on a data mass ~torage means 20 such as a well known
magnetic disk. The aforementioned software programs
! 20 may also be stored on mass storage means 20. Host 12
may also have a data archiving and backup means 22,
such as a tape ~torage device, for storing this postage
accounting data. A~so coupled to host 12 is typically
an operator data entry means, 6uch as a keyboard 24
whereby an operator may enter data and desired commands
into the host 12. The host 12 may also have data
output means which may comprie a well known display
device 26 for displaying entered data to the operator.
The data output means may al~o comprise a printer which
ls operable for printlng reports of mail transaction~
related data under the control of the host 12.
Each of the operator workstations 14 through lB may
also comprise a microcomputer or a similar type of data
lZ91818
processing system. Each of the workstations may also
typically comprise an integral data entry (DE) device
14a through 18a, respectlvely, such 4S a keypad or a
typewriter type keyboard. Each of the workstations may
S also comprise a local data storage ~DS) means 14b
through 18b, respectively, forl~the local storage of
¦ data, including postage related data. Each of the
, workstations may also comprise an integral printer (notshown) for printing postage related data for viewing by
an operator or, each may be coupled to an external
printer 28 for printing such data. Each of the
workstations may be communicatively coupled to a
postage meter 30, 32 and 34, although in some systems
¦ there may be a plurality of workstations only some of
' 15 which, or even only one of which i8 coupled to a
postage meter. Each meter comprises a postage indicia
generation means, such as n printer, and postage
accountlng register#. As has been previously
described, these register~ are typically an ascending
and descending registQr which are incremented and
decremented, respectively, by an nmount equal to the
amount of postage dispensed by the meter. The
accounting registers may be contained within a
non-volatile memory means within the meter, as is well
known in the art. Each of the meters 30, 32 and 34 is
operable to dispense postage when so commanded by the
attached workstation 14, 16 and 18, respectively. In
addition, each of the meters is operable for
transmitting at least the current values of the
ascending and descending registers to the attached
worXstation.
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11
In addition, each workstation may have a mail piece
weighing means such as a scale 36 attached thereto.
Each of the workstations may also be coupled to an
~nsertion machine, such as a highspeed insertion
machine 38 which is operable for collating a plurality
of mailpiece inserts, inserting this collation into an
envelope and subsequently conveying the envelope to the
j meter 34 to have the correct value of postage applied
thereto. Each of the workstations may also be coupled
to a mailing machine.
. I
One particular workstation which is particularly well
suited for the above described functions is known as
j the A305 workstation which is manufactured by Pltney
.! 1 15 Bowes Incorporated of Stamford, Connecticut.
Referring to Fig. 2 there is shown a representative
view of a typical workstation 40 which i8 suitable for
practicing the invention. It can be seen that the
workstation 40 has an alphanumeric keyboard 42 for the
entry of data and a display 44 for displaying the
entered data and other information, such as prompts for
information, to an operator. The workstation 40
also has a plurality of integral communications ports,
not ~hown in Fig. 2, such as RS-422 ports, at least
one of which is operable for bidirectional
communication with the host 12. other communication
ports, ~uch as ECH~PLEX ports, may be utilized for
coupling the workstation to a scale, printer, meter
and/or an inserter system. Workstation 40 may also
have a printer 46 for printing data for viewing by the
operator. The workstation 40 typically comprlses an
integral data processing means, such as a
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microprocessor device (not shown), and the requisite
program and data memory (not shown) for executing
software routines which are operable for providing a
number of different functions related to the overall
' 5 control of workstation 40. These functions may include
¦ the inputting of data from keyboard 42, the display andprinting of data and the communication of data with
¦ host 12 and other devices coupled to the communications
! ports (not shown).
1 10
~n general, the MMS system 10 operates as a distributed
data entry system wherein data is entered at one or
more workstations by an operator or operators. This
data generally relates to the processing of mail within
, 15 the mailroom. This entered data is collected and is
I stored by the host 12, typically, at the end of a
! ! mailing transaction. At desired, predetermined
i I interval~ this stored data may be formatted into a form
which iB suitable for the printing of reports. One
type of report is a "posting" report which is a summary
report of individual mailing transactions. These
printed reports may contain data related to postage
expenditures and other mail processing costs, the data
being organized in an account-by-account type of
format. Other reports may relate to operator or
machine productivity and may be organi~ed in an
operator or a machine format.
Referring now to Figs. 4-21 there are shown a plurality
of illustrative display screen menus which may be
displayed to an operator of the system 10 during the
operation of the system. Referring first to Flg. 4
there can be seen a Main Menu from which the operator
129~8~8
13
may select one of a plurality of 6ubmenus. For
example, if the Main Menu is displayed as shown in Fig.
4, the entry of the numeral 3 into keyboard 24 will
result in the Post Transactions submenu being displayed
l 5 to the operator. As can be seen, the Post Transactions
¦ ~ubmenu may prompt the operator to enter a date, the
date relating to an interval of time for which the
posting data i6 desired.
. .,
If the operator were to enter the numeral 4 when the
I Main Menu i5 di6played the Print Reports submenu would
be selected and displayed to the operator, as shown in
Fig. 7. As can be seen in Fig. 7, the Print Reports
q submenu comprises a number of different types of
reports which may be printed by the system 10, such as
Account Reports, Operator Reports and Mailroom Reports.
If for example, the operator were to enter the numeral
1 when the Print Report's submenu is displayed, the
Account Reports menu would be selected as shown in Fig.
8. In response to the displaying of the Account
Report's submenu the operator may further select which
type of Account Report is to be printed. The selection
of a particular Account Report by the operator results
in further submenus being displayed to the operator as
shown in Flg. 9.
Thus, it can be realized that these various menus which
are displayed by the host 12 to an operator facilitate
the operation of the system 10 by the operator. It
6hould be realized that the menus shown in Figs. 4-21
~re illustrative only and that more or less than the
menus shown may be employed in a given system, the
particular menus being employed possibly displaying
129~18
other data or data having a different format than the
particular menus shown in Figs. 4-21.
In order to differentiate between tbe possihly.large
number of accounts which are maintained by the host 12,
i each account is typically assigned a unique account
identlfication code, or account code. In order to
¦ express the account code, the host 12 may have a
predetermined maximum number of data bytes allocated
for expressing the account code. For example, an
" account code may be defined to be a data field of up to
_ 16 bytes in length. of course, not all of the 16 bytes
need be used in a given system.
q
Referring now to Fig. 3 there i6 shown one posslble
¦ format for an account code. As can be seen, the
account code 50 is comprised of ten alphanumeric
characters, re~ulting in six of the maximum of 16 bytes
in the account code data field being unused. Of
course, it ~hould be realized that the maximum number
of bytes in tlle field may be more or les3 than 16, and
that the actual number of nlphanumeric characters which
comprise the account code may be more or less than ten
up to the maximum number of bytes within the data
field. In accordance with the illustrative example of
Fig. 3, the first byte 52 of the account code is
defined to be an alphabetic character having a value
from A-Z. The remaining nine characters 54 are numeric
characters each of which has a value from zero to
nine. The remaining ~ix characterfi 56 of the data
field are unused ln this particular illustrative
example. AB can be appreciated, such an account code is
~29~811~3
capable of uniquely identifying a large number of
individual accounts.
The aforedescribed format of the illustrative account
code, that is, one alphabetic character followed by
nine numeric characters, may be transmitted from the
i host lZ to each of the workstations of the MMS. The
¦ workstations are thereby enabled to verify that an
account code entered oy an operator agrees at least
; 10 with this specified predetermined format of a valid
account code. Of course, the format of the valid
account code may also be permanently stored within each
work~tation within a suitable nonvolatile memory means.
h ¦ The actual value of an individual account code, such as
the account code shown (A1234567890) in Fig. 3, may be
stored within the host 12 for verification by the
host. It should be realized that in some systems the
format may be defined as all alphabetic characters, or
all numeric characters, or any desired combination of
alphabetic and numeric characters.
.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a
mailroom operator enters at the keyboard 42 of the
workstation 40 a client account code for a particular
job. The operator may also enter a value indicative of
a monetary value to be charged to that account, such as
a required amount of postage for the job. The term
"job" may be considered hereln to be any function
performed as a secondary identifier to an account.
That i6, one account ~ay have a plurallty of different
jobs simultaneously active in a mailroom. An
identifying job number enables the accounting and
productivity reports to be differentiated for each job.
1291818
16
For example, one ~ob may involve the mailing of one
piece of mail or a large number of pieces. Another ~ob
may involve the performance of a maillng related
service, such as the insertlon of literature within an
envelope, whereby the entered value may be indicative
of the time spent by the operator ln performing this
i servlce. Another type of ~ob may encompass accounting
for nonpostage related malllng expenses, guch as the
expenses incurred when a piece of mail i5 delivered by
a courler service.
After the operator enters the account code the
workstation verifies by a suitable data comparison
means that the format of the account code entered
agrees with the format for a valid account code, such
as the account code 50 ~hown in Fig. 3. If the format
of the entered account code does so agree, the
work~tation may then transmit to the host system 12 the
entered account code. The host then verlfies that the
entered account code is associated with an active,
valid account code. Typically, the host 12 will have a
data base of valid account codes which the entered
account code ls compared against. If the account code
iB found to be valid the account code may be
considered to be verified. The host may thereafter
transmit a postage dispensing enabling signal to the
workstation. The workstation, upon receipt of the
enabling signal, may then activate an attached postage
meter to dispense the requested amount of postage.
3~ After dlspens~ng postage, w~ich may involve dispensing
postage for a plurality of mailpieces, the workstation
thereafter transmits data ts the host, the data being
transaction data expressive of the total amount of
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12918~E~
17
postage dispensed. The workstation may obtain this
transaction data by interrogating the attached meter to
determine the current value of the meter ascending
register. The host then typically increments the
expended postage value associated with the account
code, thereby accounting for the postage dispensed by
i the meter during the preceding transaction.
¦ If the account code entered by the operator into the
workstation is found not to have a valid format, the
workstation may notify the operator by means of
display 44 that the format i8 invalid, thereby
permitting the operator to reenter the number. If the
host system determines that the entered account code is
an invalid account code for any rea60n, such as if the
account code has been designated as an inactive or
"locked" account, the ho~t 12 may not transmit the
enabling signal to the workstation, thereby prohibiting
the workstation from activating the postage meter.
As has been stated, the individual accounts maintained
by the host and/or the collected transaction data may
at any time be provided in the form of a report. Based
upon such a report, such as a posting report, a
supervisor of the mailroom is enabled to determine the
amount of postage expended and the cost of postage
related services allocated to each account, thereby
permitting each account to be correctly invoiced for
this amount.
In accordance with the ~nvention, if for any reason the
host system is unable to communicate with a particular
workstation, the workstation may still activate the
129~818
18
postage meter based upon the workstation verifying that
an entered account code has a valid format. In so
doing, the workstation will maintain a record within
lts memory of each entered account code having a valid
format and the amount of dispensed postage or charges
related to, for example, ~ervices associated therewith
during the period that the workstation is unable to
communicate with the host. At a time subsequent to the
dispensing of this postage, and when the host is once
more able to communicate with the workstation, the host
may command the workstation to transmit at least these
stored account codes and associated value amounts for
verification by the host that the account codes are
valid. If the account codes are found to be valid the
respective account amounts will be updated to reflect
the expenditures made during the time that the host
!i sy6tem wa~ unable to communicate with the workstation.
If for any reason an account code is found to be not
valid an exception file may be created by the host, the
file containing those account numbers and the related
expenditures which are for any reason found to be
invalid. This exception file may then be outputted by
the host for review by a mailroom operator, such as by
the mailroom supervisor, in order that the supervisor
may properly allocate, if possible, the expenditures to
valid account codes. This mode of opsration is
referred to herein as a fallback mode of operation.
In order to initiate this fallback mode of operation of
the workstation, the supervisor may ba required to
enter a predetermined 6ecret code number into the
workstation, the receipt of this predetermined code
number notifying the workstation that the fallback mode
. 1291a~L8
19
of operation is in effect. Thus, only the supervisor
or a limited number of mailroom operators may initiate
this fallback mode of operation, thereby preventing the
fraudulent or inadvertent dispensing of postage.
, 5
This fallback mode of operation overcomes the problems
~ of the prior art wherein a postage dispensing system
¦ was disabled by the failure of a system component. In¦ accordance with the invention, the mailroom may
¦l 1o continue in operation even lf the host 12 is unable to
communicate with the workstations. This fallback mode
of operation may also be advantageously employed in
those situations wherein it may not be desirable to
¦ maintain a constant, real-time communication link
between the host and a workstation. For example, if
j the host and the workstation are coupled together by a
long di~tance telephonic modem connection, it may be
economically desirable to place the workstation in the
fallback mode of operation during most of its
operational period, the long distance telephone link
being established only at desired intervals in order to
transmit to the host the records of account codes and
the charges associated therewith.
~s can be appreciated, a number of variations of the
apparatus and method of the invention disclosed herein
may occur to those skilled in the art. For example,
although the invention has been described in the
context of a postage dispensing system, the invention
may also be advantageously employed in a variety of
value printing systems wherein the values printed are
associated with one or more unique accounts. Such
value printing systems may be 6ystems that print
1291818
tickets for entertainment events or #ystems that print
lottery tickets. Also, the invention may be
advantageously employed in other than value printing
~ystems, such as ln systems that account for office
equipment usage. In such a #ystem, a workstation may
be coupled to a document copier, so that the usage of
j the copier can be accurately accounted for. For
example, in order to initiate a copying session to
generate copies of n document an operator may enter an
account code to which the cost of the copies is to be
charged. Thls data may then be collected by the host
at the end of the copying session for subsequent
incorporation lnto a report which summarizes the total
copier-related costs for the account over a given
period of time. Thus, the invention i8 not to be
considered to be limited by the embodiments disclosed
herein, the invention is lnstead intended to be limited
only as deflned by the appended claims.
