Assembly for franking postal matter, and multi-carrier shipping system

A method of franking postal matter with an assembly for franking postal matter, wherein the assembly comprises a control module, memory means having predetermined memory regions connected to the control module, receiving means communicatingly connected with the memory means for receiving data transmitted via transmission means;

• the method which comprises:
• downloading, with receiving means, at least one table of data from the transmission means, wherein the table of data contains information linked to at least one condition;
• putting the assembly into operation and immediately storing, with the control module, the at least one table of data received by the receiving means into one of the predetermined memory regions of the memory means;
• subsequently selecting, with the control module, from the at least one table of data a relevant table of data and information regarding specific functions to be available in the assembly for franking postal matter as a function of the at least one condition;
• monitoring an expiration date associated with the table of data with the control module;
• automatically downloading with the control module, on or after the expiration date, an updated table of data from the memory means when the updated table of date is available in the memory means;
• and
• downloading with the control module and the receiving means the updated table of data from a carrier when no updated table of data is available in the memory means for allowing continuous service during a period of changing carrier rates.

An assembly for determining shipping costs for items to be shipped with a carrier selected from a plurality of carriers, comprising:

• a printer module;
• input means;
• a programmable clock module operating independently of whether the assembly is in an operating or non-operating state, said programmable clock module being programmed with an applicable local time of a specified geographic location;
• display means;
• a control module connected with said input means, said programmable clock module, said display means and said printer module;
• an internal memory having predetermined memory regions connected to said control module, receiving means communicatingly connected with said internal memory for receiving data tables transmitted via transmission means;
• said receiving means having means for downloading at least one data table from the transmission means, the at least one data table containing information linked to at least one condition;
• said control module being programmed to load the at least one data table from the transmission means via said receiving means into said predetermined memory region of said internal memory upon the occurrence of said at least one condition, said receiving means downloading a plurality of the data tables from said transmission means and each of the data tables being associated with a respective shipping carrier;
• said control module having means for storing the at least one data table received by said receiving means into one of said predetermined memory regions of said internal memory means at least when the assembly is put into operation or turned on, said control module for a least one of the carriers automatically selecting relevant data tables and automatically downloading an updated relevant data table;
• said control module being programmed to compute a final mailing cost for the various carriers from inputs received from the data tables;
• and
• said control module including a comparator for comparing the mailing costs derived from the plurality of data tables and means for displaying a result of the comparison.

A method of determining shipping costs for items to be shipped with one of a plurality of carriers, with a franking assembly comprising a control module, a memory having predetermined memory regions connected to the control module, and a receiver communicatingly connected with the memory for receiving data transmitted via transmission means;

• the method which comprises:
• inputting shipping information into the franking assembly, recalling, with the control module, data tables each associated with a different shipping carrier from the memory;
• selecting appropriate data tables from the recalled data tables in accordance with the shipping information;
• monitoring expiration dates associated with each of the data tables with the control module;
• automatically downloading with the control module, on or after the expiration date, an updated data table from the memory when the updated data table is available in the memory;
• downloading with the control module and the receiver, the updated data table from a carrier when the updated data table is not available from the memory for allowing continuous service during a period of changing carrier rates;
• and
• calculating, with the control module, shipping costs for the items to be shipped from the respective data tables and as a function of the shipping information.