Remotely rechargeable postage meter

A postage meter capable of remote recharging by communication with a host, comprising:

• a central processor unit;
• a constant nonvolatile register operatively connected to said central processor unit to indicate a predetermined meter number fixedly assigned to the postage meter;
• a nonvolatile register operatively connected to said central processor unit to store and indicate an amount of postage resident in the postage meter;
• an account number register operatively connected to said central processor unit to store and indicate at least one credit card number;
• and
• a modem operatively connected to said central processor unit to transmit the credit card number and the postage meter number to the host to request an increase in the amount of postage resident in the postage meter and to receive an authorization from the host that the account number is valid and creditworthy.

A method of recharging a postage meter, comprising the steps of:

• (a) transmitting from a modem of a postage meter to a host credit card number and a postage meter number to request an increase in the mount of postage resident in a nonvolatile register of the postage meter;
• (b) receiving in the host the credit card number and the postage meter number from the postage meter requesting an increase in an amount of postage;
• (c) searching a list of valid postage meter numbers stored in a register of the host to confirm that the postage meter number is valid;
• (d) verifying that the credit card number is valid and creditworthy;
• and
• (e) transmitting via the modem an authorization approval from the host to the postage meter to increase the amount of postage in the nonvolatile register of the postage meter when the postage meter number is confirmed as valid in said step (c) and the credit card number is verified as valid and creditworthy in said step (d).