F.m.e. Corporation

John G Haines

Charles P Barker

Tracy F Slaughter

Albert L Pion

Cyrus Abumehdi

Marc Lecarpentier

Elizabeth A Simon

Christophe Henriot

Christopher M Mayer

Nolan G Rosenbaum

A technique for reconfiguring in the field postage meters having a set of features that may be selectively enabled or disabled by software. The technique provides security so that the meter company will always have a correct record of the configuration of the meter in the field. A technique is provided for reconfiguring in the field of external devices in communication with postage meters, the external devices having an external device feature set that may be selectively enabled or disabled by software. A technique for securely adding postage to a remote setting postage meter without the remote setting code is also provided. A technique for detecting the entry of an invalid code for remote setting the meter a predetermined number at times is also provided. Once detected, a security lock flag stored in memory is set which prevents the meter from being reset until the flag is cleared in a separate procedure.

Remote meter operation

A technique for reconfiguring in the field external devices in communication with postage meters, the external devices having an external device feature set that may be selectively enabled or disabled by software. The technique provides security so that any changes to the feature set is authorized. The meter is capable of being put into an I/O configuration mode by suitable entries from the keyboard, in which mode it is inhibited from printing postage. The meter has a storage register for a current or old I/O configuration number (IOCN), and can receive a desired new IOCN via keyboard entry. The meter calculates an encrypted I/O configuration request code that depends on the new IOCN. The I/O configuration request code, when communicated to a data center computer along with other validating identification information, is checked by the data center computer which computes the I/O configuration request code using the same algorithm. If the two values agree, the data center computer calculates an encrypted I/O configuration enable code that depends on the meter serial number. This is communicated to the meter, which receives the I/O configuration enable code and also calculates a I/O configuration enable code using the same algorithm as the data center computer. If the I/O configuration enable codes agree, the meter overwrites the old IOCN with the new IOCN, thereby reconfiguring the meter and the external devices.

Remote meter I/O configuration

A technique for reconfiguring in the field postage meters having a set of features that may be selectively enabled or disabled by software. The technique provides security so that the meter company will always have a correct record of the configuration of the meter in the field. The meter is capable of being put into a configuration mode by suitable entries from the keyboard, in which mode it is inhibited from printing postage. The meter has a storage register for a current or old meter type, and can receive a desired new meter type via keyboard entry. The meter generates an encrypted configuration request code that is partially based on the values of the old and new meter types. The configuration request code, when communicated to the data center computer along with other validating identification information, is checked by the data center computer which generates the configuration request code using the same algorithm. If the two values agree, the data center computer generates an encrypted configuration enable code. This is communicated to the meter, which receives the computer generated configuration enable code and also generates an internal configuration enable code using the same algorithm as the data center computer. If the configuration enable codes agree, the meter overwrites the old meter type number with the new meter type number, thereby reconfiguring the meter.

Remote meter configuration

A technique for securely adding postage to a remote setting postage meter without the remote setting code. The technique is readily implemented in the meter software. During this technique, the meter is manually set by a Post Office Clerk by putting the meter into a post office mode by pressing selected keys, entering the desired amount of postage, and exiting the mode. After exiting the mode, the meter is capable of printing postage. After printing some non-zero postage, the customer notifys a data center computer of the manual setting by performing an emergency clear procedure. First, the customer puts the meter into a remote setting mode by pressing selected keys. In this mode, the meter will generate and display an emergency request code. The customer passes the emergency request code with other identifying information to the data center computer. The computer generates its own emergency request code and compares the codes. If they are equal, then the computer will communicate an emergency enable code to the customer for entry into the meter. Upon confirmation against an internally generated emergency enable code, the meter will enable itself to be remotely set again.

Emergency post office setting for remote setting meter

An electronic postage meter with memory and a postage printing function having enhanced I/O capability. The meter, in addition to its normal mode of operation, has a transparent mode of operation wherein the meter keyboard and display can be utilized as a user interface to an external I/O device. During the transparent mode of operation, the meter maintains control and security over the meter memory and print function.

Postage meter transparent I/O interface

An improved electronic postage meter which includes a microcomputer (17), redundant memories ('BAMs') (35a-b), and fault flip-flops (30a-b). Improved circuitry for controlling the writing to the BAMs includes a timer ('BAM-protection timer') (40) coupled to the write-enable input of each of the BAMs. The BAM-protection timer has a trigger input (43) coupled to the microcomputer. The microcomputer is programmed to execute an instruction to generate a triggering signal at the BAM-protection timer's trigger input immediately prior to executing an instruction to write to the BAM. This opens a window for writing; the duration of the window is set to be just long enough to allow the completion of the write operation. The fault flip-flops, once set, unconditionally prevent writing to the BAMs, regardless of any other signals that might be present. The setting of the fault flip-flops is controlled by a first timer ('watchdog timer') (60) and a second timer ('second-chance timer') (62). In normal operation, the microcomputer periodically generates a trigger signal for the watchdog and second-chance timers. The watchdog interval exceeds the maximum interval between triggers under normal conditions. If a trigger is not received, the watchdog timer resets the microcomputer. The second-chance interval is longer than the watchdog interval, so that the second-chance timer times out and sets the fault flip-flops only if the restart still fails to produce a trigger signal within the specified time.

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Oakland, CA, United States of America

John G Haines