Postal rating system with verifiable integrity

A postage evidence device comprising:

• means for storing a postal rate table in a non-volatile memory;
• means for storing a hash code based on information from the rate table in said non-volatile memory;
• means for receiving a request for printing of postage value;
• means for recomputing the hash code from said information from said rate table stored in said non-volatile memory;
• means for comparing the recomputed hash code based with said hash code stored in said non-volatile memory;
• and
• means for comparing said recomputed hash code and said stored hash code.

A system for verifying the accuracy of postal rating, comprising:

• means for scanning a mail piece to detect a hash code printed on a mail piece and rating parameters also printed on the mail piece;
• means for recomputing the rating process to determine the rating accuracy;
• and,
• means for determining the correctness of said rating for said scanned mail piece.

A method for postal rating, comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a postal rate table to a rating device;
• transmitting to said rating device a code, said code based on information from said rating table;
• generating a code based on information from the received rate table;
• and
• comparing the received code with the generated code.

A method of printing postage evidence, comprising the steps of:

• storing a postal rate table in a non-volatile memory;
• storing a code based on information from the rate table in said non-volatile memory;
• receiving a request for printing of postage value;
• recomputing the code from said information from said rate table stored in said non-volatile memory;
• and
• comparing said recomputed code and said stored code.

A system for verifying the accuracy of postal rating, comprising the steps of:

• scanning a mail piece to detect a code for a mail piece printed on said mail piece and rating parameters also printed on said mail piece;
• recomputing the rating process to determine the rating accuracy;
• and
• determining the correctness of said rating for said scanned mail piece.

A postal rating system comprising:

• a postal rating device having secure storage means;
• means for transmitting a postal rate table to said postal rating device such that said postal rate table is stored in said rating device secure storage means;
• means for transmitting to said postal rating device a hash code such that said hash code is stored in said rating device secure storage means, said hash code based on information from said rating table;
• means in said postal rating device for generating a hash code based on information from said received rate table stored in said rating device secure storage means memory;
• and
• means for comparing the received hash code with the generated hash code.

A method of printing postage evidence, comprising the steps of:

• storing a postal rate table;
• storing a code based on information from the rate table;
• receiving a request for printing of postage value;
• recomputing the code from said information from said stored rate table;
• and
• comparing said recomputed code and said stored code.

A method for a mailing system, comprising the steps of:

• generating a request for recharging a postage evidencing device with additional postage value to be printed;
• determining the validity of a rate table associated with said postage evidencing device;
• and,
• enabling recharging of said postage evidencing device if said rate table is determined to be valid.