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:
Jan. 22, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 21, 1999
J P Leon, San Carlos, CA (US);
Neopost Inc., Hayward, CA (US);
Abstract
A postage metering system includes a computer, a docking station, and a postage metering device. The computer includes an interface to receive postage information (i.e., from a user). The docking station couples to the computer, and the postage metering device operatively couples to the computer via the docking station (i.e., the postage metering device is removably coupled to the docking station). The postage metering device includes a secure metering device (SMD) that stores accounting information and, in some implementations, circuitry that performs secure processing. In some implementations, the postage metering device further includes a printer that couples to the SMD and prints indicia. In some implementations, the postage metering device is characterized at least by a “docked” operating mode and an “undocked” operating mode. The docked operating mode corresponds to the postage metering device being coupled to the computer, and the undocked operating mode corresponds to the postage metering device being uncoupled from the computer. Each operating mode is defined by a set of operating characteristics relating to, for example, funding of the metering device and printing of indicia.