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:
Aug. 08, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 25, 2011
Geoffrey C. Begen, Lake Forest, CA (US);
Geoffrey C. Begen, Lake Forest, CA (US);
Stamps.com Inc., El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods which operate to reserve an amount of value associated with a value bearing indicia (VBI) request or requests are shown. Embodiments facilitate completion of a multiple VBI session without failing due to insufficient value balance once the session has begun. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments facilitate later or subsequent (e.g., scheduled) completion of a VBI session, whether a session for a single VBI or multiple VBI, without failing due to insufficient value balance. Value reservations may be made automatically and/or manually. Embodiments provide various reservation priority levels, such as to individual users, user groups, user systems, sessions, types of sessions, jobs, etc., in order to facilitate completion of various desired operations without failure due to insufficient value. Value reservation techniques according to embodiments do not introduce additional transactions into a normal VBI session flow.