Postage meter that provides on a mailpiece evidence of postage paid together with cryptographically secured, third party certified, non-shipping information about the sender of the mailpiece
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorMichael J. Critelli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A postage metering system that dispenses postage on a mailpiece, the postage metering system including accounting circuitry to account for the postage dispensed; apparatus for providing on the mailpiece evidence of postage paid and third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping information about the sender of the mailpiece. A method implements the postage metering system described above.
Claims24
An electronic indicium for use on an item being shipped by a sender to a recipient, the electronic indicium comprising:
- an integrated circuit chip having a memory;
- and
- wherein the memory has stored therein evidence of shipping payment and third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping, non-product information about the sender.
A postage metering system that dispenses postage on a mailpiece, the postage metering system comprising:
- accounting circuitry to account for the postage dispensed;
- means for providing on the mailpiece evidence of postage paid and third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping, non-product information about the sender of the mailpiece.
A method for providing information on an item being shipped, the method comprising the steps of:
- A) providing on the item evidence that shipping costs for the item have been paid;
- and
- B) providing on the item third party certified, cryptographically secured non-shipping, non-product information about the sender of the item.
An electronic indicium for use on an item being shipped by a sender to a recipient, the electronic indicium comprising:
- an integrated circuit chip having a memory;
- and
- wherein the memory has stored therein evidence of shipping payment and third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping information about the sender and
- wherein the third party certified, cryptographically secure, non-shipping information about the sender is information about at least one of credit worthiness of the sender, financial status of the sender, the organizational structure of the sender, a rating of the sender by the third party, and a rating of a sender product by the third party.
A postage metering system that dispenses postage on a mailpiece, the postage metering system comprising:
- accounting circuitry to account for the postage dispensed;
- means for providing on the mailpiece evidence of postage paid and third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping information about the sender of the mailpiece;
- and
- wherein the third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping information about the sender is at least one of a creditworthiness assessment, a product rating, a financial report about the sender, and an organizational structure of the sender.
A method for providing information on an item being shipped, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing on the item evidence that shipping costs for the item have been paid;
- and
- providing on the item third party certified, cryptographically secured, non-shipping information about the sender of the item, wherein the third party certified, cryptographically secure, non-shipping information about the sender is information about at least one of credit worthiness of the sender, financial status of the sender, the organizational structure of the sender, a rating of the sender by the third party, and a rating of a sender product by the third party.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.