Electronic postage scale system and method
AssigneeAscom Hasler Mailing Systems, Inc.
InventorsRobert G. Schwartz, Allen A. Crowe, James S. Emmett, Fetneh Eskandari, Martin F. Palange, Mark E. Simcik, Robert Swanbery, Robert J. Japenga, Joseph L. Lehman, William A. Weirsman, George P. Rahgo
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Abstract
In an improved electronic postage scale system, non-keyboard devices are used to select shipping service options provided by the system. For example, a bar-code scanner, a voice-recognition device or a remote computer is configured to emulate keycodes from the system keyboard and can be operatively connected through a keyboard interface to select shipping options.
Claims10
An electronic scale system comprising:
- a weight evaluator for determining the weight of a package;
- a non-keyboard input device for accepting an input representative of a selection of service whereby said package is to be shipped, said non-keyboard device comprising an element for generating at least one keyboard signal from an accepted input and configured to transmit the at least one keyboard signal representative of said selection of service;
- a processing element for determining shipping cost of said package as a function of said weight and said selection of service;
- and
- a keyboard interface for receiving said at least one keyboard signal from said non-keyboard input device and transferring said signal to said processing element.
A method for use in an electronic scale system comprising the steps of:
- determining the weight of a package;
- receiving inputs by a non-keyboard apparatus;
- generating keyboard signals from said inputs by said non-keyboard apparatus, said keyboard signals representing at least a selection of service whereby said package is to be shipped;
- transmitting said keyboard signals from said non-keyboard apparatus to a processing element of said system through a keyboard interface;
- and
- determining shipping cost of said package as a function of said weight and said selection of service.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.