The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 1992
Filed:
Apr. 11, 1990
Dennis T Gilham, Brentwood, GB;
Raymond J Herbert, Leigh-on-Sea, GB;
Abstract
A franking machine is disclosed in which the accounting and control circuits of the meter are housed in a secure housing and a printing device for printing a franking impression is located exterior to the secure housing and is connected to the accounting and control circuits. Strings of print data sent to the printing device are returned in a succeeding print cycle to a check circuit in the housing to check integrity of the print data received by the printing device. If desired the print data strings may include a security code. In order to detect if the printing device has been disconnected from the meter, the meter includes a circuit to send a pulse train to the printing device via the connection for print data and to receive a pulse train from the printing device. The circuit compares the pulse trains and if the comparison is unsuccessful inhibits further franking operations.