Method of Verifying the Validity of Digital Franking Notes and Device for Carrying Out Said Method
AssigneeDeutsche Post AG
InventorsPeter Fery, Jurgen Helmus, Gunther Meier, Dieter Stumm, Carsten Vullriede
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method for verifying the authenticity of a postage indicium generated using a franking key and applied onto a mailpiece, whereby cryptographic information contained in the postage indicium is decrypted and used for verifying the authenticity of the postage indicium. According to the invention the method is characterized in that a data key (KD) is generated and transmitted from a central payment assurance system to local payment assurance systems.
Claims20
1-19. (canceled)
A method for verifying the authenticity of a postage indicium generated using a franking key and applied onto a mailpiece, whereby cryptographic information contained in the postage indicium is decrypted and used for verifying the authenticity of the postage indicium, said method comprising the steps of
- generating a data key,
- transmitting the data by a central payment assurance system to local payment assurance systems and importing the data key by the local payment assurance systems,
- transmitting a result of the importing step to the central payment assurance system, and
- releasing the data key for the production of new postage indicia once the data key has been successfully imported into essentially all local payment assurance systems.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.