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US 7,784,090 B2Granted
Systems and methods for dispensing postage stamps
AssigneeUnited States Postal Service
InventorsDaniel J. Lord, Roy R. Gordon, Wayne A. Wilkerson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Postage stamps are dispensed by receiving payment from a customer for a postage value at a point of sale terminal. The point of sale terminal requests and receives an authorization key from an authorization system. The authorization key is provided to the customer. Thereafter, the customer provides the authorization key to a postage dispensing machine, which provides postage stamps equivalent to the postage value.
Claims23
A method of dispensing postage indicia comprising:
- receiving payment from a customer for a postage value at a point of sale terminal;
- requesting, by the point of sale terminal, an authorization key from an authorization system;
- receiving, at the point of sale terminal, the authorization key from the authorization system;
- providing the authorization key to the customer at the point of sale terminal;
- receiving, at a postage dispensing machine, the authorization key from the customer;
- and
- providing postage indicia equivalent to the postage value from the postage dispensing machine when the authorization key received at the postage dispensing machine is verified by the authorization system.
4 more elements
A system for dispensing postage indicia comprising:
- a point of sale terminal for receiving payment from a customer for a postage value, requesting an authorization key from an authorization system, receiving the authorization key from the authorization system, and providing the authorization key to the customer;
- and
- a postage dispensing machine for receiving the authorization key from the customer and providing postage indicia equivalent to the postage value when the authorization key received at the postage dispensing machine is verified by the authorization system.
A method for dispensing postage, comprising:
- receiving payment from a customer for a postage value at a point of sale terminal;
- obtaining, by the point of sale terminal, an authorization code for the customer from an authorization system;
- receiving, at a postage dispenser, the authorization code input by the customer;
- and
- providing postage indicia equivalent to the postage value to the customer at the postage dispenser when the authorization code is verified by the authorization system.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.