Franking machine with integrated scale
AssigneeNeopost Technologies
InventorsPatrice Montigny, Yann Le Rigoleur
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A franking machine having a throat for receiving items to be franked, a platform where an item not fitting into said throat is placed, a weighing scale integrated at a bottom of the franking machine in order to minimise the footprint, at least a control unit for operating the franking machine, separated power supply and data transmission modules, wherein the franking machine and the weighing scale are configured to be operated through the control unit of the franking machine, and the weighing scale is configured to be decoupled from the franking machine to allow the weighing of large items such as parcels.
Claims20
A franking machine having a throat for receiving items to be franked, a platform where an item not fitting into said throat is placed, a weighing scale integrated at a bottom of the franking machine in order to minimise an overall footprint, at least one control unit that operates the franking machine, separated power supply and data transmission modules, wherein the franking machine and the weighing scale are configured to be operated through the control unit of the franking machine, and the weighing scale is configured to be decoupled from the franking machine to allow the weighing of large items such as parcels.
A franking and shipping system, comprising:
- a computer;
- a printer communicatively coupled to the computer;
- a franking machine having a throat for receiving items to be franked, a platform where an item not fitting into said throat is placed, a weighing scale integrated at a bottom of the franking machine in order to minimise an overall footprint, at least one control unit that operates the franking machine, separated power supply and data transmission modules, wherein the franking machine and the weighing scale are configured to be operated through the control unit of the franking machine, and the weighing scale is configured to be decoupled from the franking machine to allow the weighing of large items such as parcels.
A franking and shipping system, comprising:
- a franking machine having a throat to receive items to be franked, a platform sized and dimensioned to support an intermediate sized item not fitting into said throat of the franking machine, the franking machine further having a first power supply and a first data communications module;
- a weight scale on which the franking machine is selectively carried, the franking machine selectively removable from the weight scale to allow placement of large items to be franked on the weight scale, the weight scale having a second power supply and a second data communications module;
- and
- at least one set of control circuitry communicatively coupled to the franking machine and the weight scale and operable to control at least the franking machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.