Loading patent…
AssigneeThe Escher Group, Ltd.
InventorsAndrew V. Sutherland, Michael R. Klugerman, Frank M. D'Ippolito
Estimating the term…
A system is disclosed for distributing postage over a public network in a manner that is secure in the case of third party interception, indicia for which can be efficiently printed by a postal customer on items to be mailed, and that facilitates authentication of the printed indicia. When the postal customer purchases postage from the postal service, the postal service provides information which the postal customer uses to generate pseudo-random numbers associated with the respective units of postage. When the postal customer prints an indicium for a respective unit, it appends the associated pseudo-random number, which the postal service uses to authenticate the indicium. The pseudo-random numbers are generated using a methodology by which the postal customer can generate pseudo-random numbers for units which have been purchased, but not for units which have not yet been purchased. Each indicium represents an amount of information which can be printed using a one-dimensional barcode, instead of two-dimensional barcodes required in other systems.
A postage metering system for generating and authenticating an indicium representative of a postage value comprising an element in an indicium value sequence defined by a selected maximum postage value, the system comprising a postage meter and an indicium authenticator,
A postage meter for generating an indicium representative of a postage value comprising an element in an indicium value sequence defined by a selected maximum postage value, the postage meter being configured to generate the indicium, the indicium having an indicium value field for receiving the postage value and a random number field for receiving a random number, the postage meter being configured to generate the random number according to a predetermined methodology using random number generating information, the random number generating information including a seed value and another value, the seed value being a function of the selected maximum postage value and the other value, the predetermined methodology having the characteristics that
A method of generating and authenticating an indicium representative of a postage value comprising an element in an indicium value sequence defined by a selected maximum postage value, the method comprising the steps of
A method of enabling a postage meter to generate an indicium representative of a postage value comprising an element in an indicium value sequence defined by a selected maximum postage value, the postage meter including an indicium generator being configured to generate the indicium, the indicium having an indicium value field for receiving the postage value and a random number field for receiving a random number, the postage meter being configured to generate the random number according to a predetermined methodology using random number generating information, the random number generating information including a seed value and another value, the seed value being a function of the selected maximum postage value and the other value, the predetermined methodology having the characteristics that
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.