Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – For cost/price – Postage meter system
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-15
2003-02-18
Hafiz, Tariq R. (Department: 3744)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
For cost/price
Postage meter system
C705S401000, C705S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06523014
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a franking unit and to a method for generating valid data for franking imprints, of a type suited for use in the domestic area and by users who send only a few items of mail.
2. Description of the prior Art
German PS 40 18 166 discloses a franking module for a personal computer for users with low mail volume. The franking module, which allows both the franking as well as the addressing of envelopes, is arranged in the personal computer's slot of a drive insert. Such a franking module is surrounded by a secured housing and has the same structure in terms of circuitry as a postage meter machine without a letter transport means. It is self-evident that a franking module de-equipped in this way can be offered more cheaply than a postage meter machine.
By using the franking module, the debiting of the franking valve and the printing of the franking stamp image cannot be externally manipulated. The address data are read from a memory administered by the personal computer and are supplied to the franking module via the internal information network. It is still possible, however, that faulty address data can be printed which will cause the mail carrier to have difficulty delivering the item to the recipient, or the item will not be able to be delivered at all. Given a digital printing process, it is difficult to determine whether the printed franking stamp image is merely an unpaid for copy of an earlier imprint which was combined with a desired, different address. Specific, red fluorescent inks that are difficult to copy have therefore been prescribed by postal authorities. As a result of the progress made in the meantime in color copiers and color printers, such a measure can no longer be considered a serious obstacle to producing counterfeit, unpaid imprints.
A printer with which letters can be printed and with which addresses can also be printed on envelopes also usually is connected to a personal computer. In principle, the envelope also can be franked with such a printing, however, it is difficult to prevent tampering given such open systems. A tamperer could attempt to supply data into the system via the unsecured connecting lines with fraudulent intent, the data appearing to come from an authorized source.
United States Postal Service (USPS) published a catalogue in 1996 identifying requirements for the design of future secured franking systems (Information Based Indicia program, IBIP). It is urged therein that certain data be cryptographically encoded and be printed on the letter to be franked in the form of a digital signature with reference to which the postal authority can check the legitimacy of franking imprints. According to estimates, the USPS suffers an annual loss of approximately $200 million due to fraud. These requirements have been differentiated according to type of postage meter machine. Conventional postage meter machines, which usually only print a franking stamp in red, are referred to as “closed systems” and, differing from those referred to as “open systems” (PC franking machines), need not co-incorporate the corresponding letter address into the encryption. A security module with advanced crypto technology and a secured housing in which data from a data center can be written continues to be prescribed for open systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,839 discloses sending update information to the postage meter machine as a data packet. A CRC check sum is used to check that the data transmission was free of error, but this conveys nothing about the correctness of the transmitted data content itself. A problem could arise because of the unprotected connecting line if a tamperer—with fraudulent intent—attempts to supply data into the postage meter machine as if the data came from the data center.
German OS 38 40 041 therefore discloses an arrangement in which a postage meter machine is connected to a central computer via a TEMEX dedicated line that is always in operation. The postal customer enters the desired franking value into the postage meter machine. This is transmitted to the central computer, which is connected to an endorsement computer at which the customer has a postal giro account. After checking for sufficient funds, the endorsement computer undertakes the debiting and the central computer enables the franking function. The postage meter machine itself also has additional postal memories that can be interrogated on the basis of the data connection and offer an additional security against data loss in case of a computer failure. The central computer triggers an alarm if this dedicated line is tapped in unauthorized fashion or is interrupted. Utilizing such a specific, secured line, however is complicated and is not possible everywhere.
European Application 373 971 discloses a communication system wherein communication of address data from a local data bank to a central data bank in a data center takes place. An updating of the stored address data in the one central data bank of the data center on the basis of the communicated address data and a modification of the address data of the local data banks present in the system on the basis of the updated data of the data center is also undertaken.
Equivalency of the data in every local data bank corresponding to the data in a central data bank is thus in fact achieved. Given an unprotected connecting line, however, having an incorrect address stored in the central data bank of the data center and having it transmitted from their to the respective local data bank of the other users cannot be prevented.
European Application 782 296 discloses a public key method for fetching a certificate from an address book memory via an unprotected communication connection, but this can only assure that the communicated message is authentic. A counterfeit message whose certificate is real, however, could just as easily be transmitted.
In addition to the correctness and veracity of a message, the correct debiting is also a concern in franking systems. A postage box in a terminal (U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,657) or a secured module (U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,694) in which the accounting data are stored has therefore already been proposed.
The terminal according to the solution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,657 is used as a telefax and franking device, whereby critical franking image data are requested from a data center and are then printed out as a franking imprint completed with other image data that are stored in the terminal. The communication between the terminal and the data center is secured with a cryptographic method, for example according to the known RSA method. The central processing unit of the terminal generates a security code from the data identifying the terminal and this is printed together with the postage value. A disadvantage of this approach is the tedious calculating work that the central processing unit must implement, first when image data are decrypted according to the RSA method and, second, when the security code is generated.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,694, a computer is equipped with a secured module. Given a request of a digital signature to such a secured module, the request ensuing dependent on a change with respect to the input postage value and a recipient address, the secured module then generates, first, a corresponding digital signature and communicates this to the microprocessor of the computer and, second, also implements the debiting. The microprocessor of the computer then generates a print image corresponding to the postage value and the recipient address as well as the communicated signature. A signature is not requested from the secured module only if neither the postage value nor the address is changed. A copy of the same imprint is thus not co-debited in the secured module. The authenticity check for every individual piece of mail is left to the mail carrier. Even the slightest differences in the address have an effect on the signature, however, it is not certain that the user will enter a valid recipient addre
Francotyp-Postalia AG & Co.
Hafiz Tariq R.
Norman Marc
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
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