System and method for controlling the dispensing of an authenticating indicia

Claim 1

A general purpose processor-based system operable for outputting data pertaining to a postage meter stamp to be printed on a piece of mail, said system comprising: means for verifying that a universal storage means, programmed to contain a predetermined amount of postage that may be printed, is coupled to said system and is an authorized storage means, said means for verifying using data retrieved from said storage means; means for reading date information provided within said universal storage means; means for retrieving a portion of an amount of postage contained within said verified storage means; means for outputting data pertaining to said retrieved portion along with data operable for printing said postage meter stamp including an indication of said retrieved postage portion; and means operable prior to said outputting of data for displaying a graphical representation of said postage meter stamp including said retrieved portion of postage, wherein the postage meter stamp displayed is at least in part encoded by the general purpose processor-based system.

Claim 19

A method for printing a postage meter stamp on a piece of mail, said stamp including postage for mailing said piece of mail, said method comprising the steps of: coupling a portable processor device to a general purpose processor-based system to provide data communication therebetween; handshaking under control of an application program operable on said processor-based system with said portable processor device coupled to said processor-based system to read data including a serial number and a postage balance specific to said portable processor device; verifying that said portable processor device is authorized for use in printing postage meter stamps according to said method, said verifying step including reference to said read serial number data; reading date information specific to said portable processor device; receiving in said processor-based system one or more parameters pertaining to mailing of said piece of mail; determining a desired amount of postage for said piece of mail as a function of mailing parameters entered into said system and particular to said piece of mail; deducting under joint control of said application and memory contained within said portable processor device said postage from said postage balance resulting in a new balance stored within said portable memory device; and printing said postage meter stamp including said postage on said piece of mail, said printing occurring on a general purpose printer connected to said processor-based system.

Claim 20

A method for printing a postage meter stamp on a piece of mail, said stamp including postage for mailing said piece of mail, said method comprising the steps of: coupling a portable processor device to a general purpose processor-based system to provide data communication therebetween; handshaking under control of an application program operable on said processor-based system with said portable processor device coupled to said processor-based system to read data including a serial number and a postage balance specific to said portable processor device; verifying that said portable processor device is authorized for use in printing postage meter stamps according to said method, said verifying step including reference to said read serial number data; reading date information specific to said portable processor device; receiving in said processor-based system one or more parameters pertaining to mailing of said piece of mail; determining a desired amount of postage for said piece of mail as a function of mailing parameters entered into said system and particular to said piece of mail; deducting under joint control of said application and memory contained within said portable processor device said postage from said postage balance resulting in a new balance stored within said portable memory device; and printing said postage meter stamp including said postage on said piece of mail, said printing occurring on a general purpose printer connected to said processor-based system.

Claim 34

A system for printing a graphical security indicia utilizing a credit transferred from a portable processor of a plurality of portable processors, said system comprising: means for temporarily connecting a portable processor from a pool of portable processors to a computing system having its own processor separate from said connected portable processor, wherein portable processors of said pool have been initialized as portable processors suitable for printing said graphical security indicia; means for sending a data stream from said computing system to said connected portable processor, said data stream interacting with data previously stored unalterably within an authentic one of said pool of portable processors to produce a protocol internal to authentic ones of said pool of portable processors; means operable within said connected portable processor for ascertaining an expiration date of said portable processor; means for returning from authentic ones of said pool of portable processors under control of said produced protocol a data stream including a copy of at least a portion of said data unalterably stored within said connected portable processor; and means for generating, under control of said computing system and said returned encrypted data stream and in response to a determination that said expiration date has not transpired, a data stream for formulating said graphical security indicia adapted to be visibly observable at a location remote from said computing system and said portable processor.

Claim 35

A system for printing a graphical security indicia utilizing a credit transferred from a portable processor of a plurality of portable processors, said system comprising: means for temporarily connecting a portable processor from a pool of portable processors to a computing system having its own processor separate from said connected portable processor, wherein portable processors of said pool have been initialized as portable processors suitable for printing said graphical security indicia; means for sending a data stream from said computing system to said connected portable processor, said data stream interacting with data previously stored unalterably within an authentic one of said pool of portable processors to produce a protocol internal to authentic ones of said pool of portable processors; means operable within said connected portable processor for ascertaining an expiration date of said portable processor; means for returning from authentic ones of said pool of portable processors under control of said produced protocol a data stream including a copy of at least a portion of said data unalterably stored within said connected portable processor; and means for generating, under control of said computing system and said returned encrypted data stream and in response to a determination that said expiration date has not transpired, a data stream for formulating said graphical security indicia adapted to be visibly observable at a location remote from said computing system and said portable processor.

Claim 40

A system for printing a graphical security indicia utilizing a credit transferred from a portable processor of a plurality of portable processors, said system comprising: means for temporarily connecting one portable processor of a pool of portable processors to a computing system having its own processor separate from said connected portable processor, said pool of portable processors including particular ones of said plurality of portable processors initialized for use in printing graphical security indicia; means for sending a data stream from said computing system to said connected portable processor, said data stream interacting with data previously stored unalterably within an initialized one of said portable processors to produce a protocol internal to initialized ones of said portable processors; and means for returning from initialized ones of said portable processors under control of said produced protocol a data stream including a copy of at least a portion of said data unalterably stored within said portable processor and a date ascertained from within said portable processor, wherein said date provides a date stamp of said graphical security indicia, and wherein said date is utilized to prevent pre-dating and post-dating of said graphical security indicia.

Claim 41

A system for printing a graphical security indicia utilizing a credit transferred from a portable processor of a plurality of portable processors, said system comprising: means for temporarily connecting one portable processor of a pool of portable processors to a computing system having its own processor separate from said connected portable processor, said pool of portable processors including particular ones of said plurality of portable processors initialized for use in printing graphical security indicia; means for sending a data stream from said computing system to said connected portable processor, said data stream interacting with data previously stored unalterably within an initialized one of said portable processors to produce a protocol internal to initialized ones of said portable processors; and means for returning from initialized ones of said portable processors under control of said produced protocol a data stream including a copy of at least a portion of said data unalterably stored within said portable processor and a date ascertained from within said portable processor, wherein said date provides a date stamp of said graphical security indicia, and wherein said date is utilized to prevent pre-dating and post-dating of said graphical security indicia.