Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – For cost/price – Postage meter system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-31
2001-01-16
Cosimano, Edward R. (Department: 2761)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
For cost/price
Postage meter system
C705S060000, C705S401000, C705S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175827
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to providing a more efficient processing system with enhanced security by enabling verification of digital tokens where necessary information may not be readable, even when the reading is assisted with the use of conventional error correction codes. More particularly, the present invention relates to robust mail piece digital token verification systems, increasing the percentage of mail pieces where token verification can be achieved, even where full addressee information may not be able to be recreated, and with enhanced ability to automatically read addressee block information by providing on each mail piece information concerning the address block structure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Postage metering systems print and account for postage and other unit value printing such as parcel delivery service charges and tax stamps. These systems have been both electronic and mechanical. Some of the varied types of postage metering systems are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,457 for MICROCOMPUTERIZED ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER SYSTEM, issued Aug. 31, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,507 for ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER HAVING PLURAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS, issued Nov. 17, 1981; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,054 for STAND ALONE ELECTRONIC MAILING MACHINE, issued Apr. 1, 1986. Moreover, other types of metering systems have been developed which involve different printing systems such as those employing thermal printers, ink jet printers, mechanical printers and other types of printing technologies. Examples of these other types of electronic postage meter are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,533 for MICROCOMPUTER MINIATURE POSTAGE METER, issued Sep. 18, 1979; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,252 for POSTAGE PRINTING APPARATUS HAVING A REMOVABLE PRINT HEAD AND A PRINT DRUM, issued Jan. 15, 1985. These printing systems enable the postage meter system to print variable information which may be alphanumeric and graphic type of information.
Card controlled metering systems have also been developed. These systems have employed both magnetic strip type cards and microprocessor based cards. Examples of card controlled metering systems employing magnetic type cards include U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,518 for METERING SYSTEM, issued Sep. 16, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,360 for METERING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 7, 1980; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,871 for ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER SYSTEM SETTABLE BY MEANS OF A REMOTELY GENERATED INPUT DEVICE, issued Dec. 16, 1986. A microprocessor (“smart card”) based card metering system providing an automated transaction system employing microprocessor bearing user cards issued to respective users is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,903 for AUTOMATED TRANSACTION SYSTEM WITH INSERTABLE CARDS FOR TRANSFERRING ACCOUNT DATA, issued Feb. 13, 1990. Moreover, systems have also been developed wherein a unit having a non-volatile read/write memory which may consist of a EEPROM is employed. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,532 for SECURE TRANSPORT OF INFORMATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC STATIONS, issued Jul. 12, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,271 for SECURE TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC STATIONS, issued Mar. 6, 1990.
Postage metering systems have also been developed which employ encrypted information printed on a mail piece. The postage value for a mail piece may be encrypted together with other data to generate a digital token. A digital token is encrypted information that authenticates and enables verification of the integrity of the information imprinted on a mail piece including postage values. Examples of postage metering systems which generate and employ digital tokens are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,537 for SYSTEM FOR DETECTING UNACCOUNTED FOR PRINTING IN A VALUE PRINTING SYSTEM, issued Jul. 12, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,555 for SECURE POSTAGE APPLYING SYSTEM, issued May 16, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,246 for SYSTEM FOR DETECTING UNACCOUNTED FOR PRINTING IN A VALUE PRINTING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 4, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,645 for SECURE POSTAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 10, 1989; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,718 for POSTAGE AND MAILING INFORMATION APPLYING SYSTEM, issued Feb. 16, 1988 and the system disclosed in the various United States Postal Service published specifications such as Information Based Indicium Program Key Management System Plan, dated Apr. 25, 1997; Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Open System Indicium Specification, dated Jul. 23, 1997; Information Based Indicia Program Host System Specification dated Oct. 9, 1996, and Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Open System Postal Security Device (PSD) Specification dated Jul. 23, 1997.
These systems, which may utilize a device termed a postage evidencing device (PED), employ an encryption algorithm to encrypt selected information to generate the digital token. The encryption of the information provides security to prevent altering of the printed information in a manner such that any change in the values printed in the postal revenue block is detectable by appropriate verification procedures.
Typical information which may be encrypted as part of the input to a digital token includes the value of the imprint, the origination zip code, the recipient addressee information (such as, for example, delivery point destination code), the date and a serial piece count number. These items of information when encrypted with a secret or private key and imprinted on a mail piece provide a very high level of security which enables the detection of any attempted modification of the information in the postal revenue block, where this information may be imprinted both in encrypted and unencrypted form. These digital token systems can be utilized with both a dedicated printer, that is, a printer that is securely coupled to an accounting module such that printing cannot take place without accounting or in systems employing non-dedicated printers and secure accounting system. In this case, such as in personal or (wide area or local area) network computing systems, the non-dedicated printer may print the digital token as well as other information.
Digital tokens need to be computed and printed, for example, in the postal revenue block for each mail piece. The digital token transformation (DTT) computation requires a secret or private key, that has to be protected and may be periodically updated. One of the more difficult problems with encrypted evidence of postage payment is the key management problem. Indeed, the use two digital tokens (postal and vendor) is described in pending U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,251 for MAIL PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING DATA CENTER VERIFICATION FOR MAILPIECES, issued Feb. 14, 1995, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In such systems, the digital tokens are usually computed for every mail piece processed. This computation involves taking input data such as serial piece count, date, origination postal code and postage amount and encrypting this data with secret keys shared by the postage evidencing device (PED) and postal or courier service and by the postage evidencing device and device manufacturer or vendor. This sharing requires coordination of key updates, key protection and other measures commonly referred to as a key management system. The computation of digital tokens takes place upon request to generate tokens by a mailer. This computation is performed by the postage evidencing device. Thus, the postage evidencing device needs to have all the information required for computation, and, most significantly encryption keys. Moreover, refilling the postage evidencing device with additional postage funds also requires separate keys and a management process. In these systems, the process of token generation is accomplished with real time token computation and tokens can be computed for any combination of input parameters allowed by the system.
Various enhanced systems have been developed including systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,038 for ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE POSTAGE EVIDENCING SYSTEM, issued Sep. 26
Cordery Robert A.
Pintsov Leon A.
Chotkowski Kimberly S.
Cosimano Edward R.
Melton Michael E.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
LandOfFree
Robus digital token generation and verification system... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Robus digital token generation and verification system..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Robus digital token generation and verification system... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2509266