Pitney Bowes Inc.

Stephen C Nunnally

Jacques E Hasbani

Terri A Carroll

Edward M Rauh

Perry A Pierce

Kenneth Karbowski

Angela M Njo

Peter K Zanger

Glenn Boucher

John R Mattioli, Jr

The present invention is directed to a platform independent rate data structure for representing a rate chart for a carrier manager system and a method of calculating a rate using the platform independent rate data structure and carrier rate calculation software of the carrier manager system. The rate data structure represents the rate chart, and comprises a header and a data area. The header contains information which describes the content of the rate data structure. The data area may comprise a collection of expressions and a collection of subtables. The expressions are mathematical formulas representing rates. The subtables are formats representing rate chart data. A rate chart may be represented by a combination of subtables and/or expressions in a rate data structure. The amount of space required to represent the rate chart is reduced by the rate data structure representation of the present invention. The rate data structure representation is also platform independent.

Platform independent rate data and method of calculating a rate for a carrier manager using platform independent rate data

The invention is a method and system of loading a data object representative of carrier data and possible command structures, which can be identified by both name and date fields characteristics, into a Data Access System of a carrier management system. The method begins with receiving a request for an object and then determining whether or not the object resides in a first data table which is indicative of a plurality of characteristics of the object. If the object is not resident in the first data table, then the system assigns an initial time stamp and a permanence value to the object. Additionally, the method and system must determine the memory space, in the Data Access System, required for storing the object. De-referenced objects are removed from the memory until space is available that is greater than or equal to the memory requirement of the object. After memory is allocated to the object, the object is then loaded into the memory for use within the carrier management system. A directory table is then established for the object. The directory table includes: an object name; a set of associated data; and, an object table data pointer. The associated data includes an effective date; an expiration date; and, the modification status of the file.

Method and system for accessing carrier data

In a microprocessor-controlled apparatus a plurality of event vector tables and a plurality of event action blocks are defined and stored in memory to provide a determined set of actions to be performed in correspondence to activation by respective determined events. A profile interpreter processes action function sequences from these tables and commands the corresponding actions, sets a corresponding event-occurred flag and thereafter commands other actions and manipulates the flag by operation of respective profile action functions associated with the respective operations of the apparatus. The levels of operation may be arranged hierarchically so that additional modules may be added at a lower level without altering the control functions provided at the higher level. All of the primitive functions that can be realistically supported by the device controller are preferably included in the base software. Aggregate functions may be designed to support complex I/O functions such as scanning. In accordance with the invention these functions are activated by device profiles that are downloaded by the system software to each device controller during application initialization. These profiles can also be hard-coded into a source-format include-file to accommodate a standalone operation without download capability. Mailpiece tracking is included in the method.

Method for controlling electro-mechanical devices

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Bridgewater, CT, United States of America

Stephen C Nunnally