Claims
- 1. A postage meter module having a configuration for an internal cost center printouts, comprising:
- a printing unit for printing postal indicia and cost center printouts;
- a print control unit connected to said printing unit;
- input/output devices connected to said print control unit;
- memory devices connected to said print control unit;
- a pixel memory having a field and at least one memory area for accounting data into which data are loaded and converted and from which data are read out and converted, the conversion being a blockwise orthogonal rotation of the pixel memory field;
- a device for orthogonal rotation of said pixel memory field, to permit a block of a print image with accounting data having been electronically rotated by 90.degree. or by 270.degree. in a direction of printing, to be temporarily stored in or read out from said at least one memory area of said pixel memory;
- said print control unit reading out print image data corresponding to the accounting data by blocks from said pixel memory; and
- said print control unit controlling said printing unit to switch over from printing postage indicia to printing the accounting data in a form of the cost center printouts.
- 2. The configuration according to claim 1, wherein said device for rotation of said pixel memory field is disposed in one of said print control unit and said control unit, and said device for rotation operates with at least one of hardware and software.
- 3. The configuration according to claim 2, wherein said pixel memory receives the accounting data from the control unit for display in an output device in the printing direction in the form of a print image by blocks,
- said print control is connected to at least one first area of said pixel memory and to the control unit, and
- said device for orthogonal rotation of said pixel memory field is connected to said pixel memory for reading out a block of a print image with accounting data having been electronically rotated by 90.degree. or by 270.degree. in the direction of printing from said at least one first area of said pixel memory.
- 4. The configuration according to claim 2, wherein said device for orthogonal rotation of said pixel memory field is connected to said pixel memory for inputting at least one block of a print image with accounting data into at least one second area of said pixel memory having been electronically rotated by 90.degree. or by 270.degree. in the direction of printing,
- said print control unit is connected to said second area of said pixel memory and to the control unit, and
- said print control unit receives the accounting data to be displayed in a display device in the printing direction in the form of orthogonally rotated blocks of a print image, during an output of print data.
- 5. The configuration according to claim 1, wherein said pixel memory contains at least two separate memory areas from which said print control unit reads out print image data according to the accounting data block by block,
- said pixel memory is connected to the control unit for supplying said pixel memory with the accounting data to be displayed in an output device in the direction of printing in the form of a print image block by block,
- each block of a print image with accounting data is stored temporarily in said first area of said pixel memory and converted by said device for orthogonal rotation of said pixel memory field and transmitted to at least a second area of said pixel memory for temporarily storing a block of a print image with accounting data rotated electronically by 90.degree. or 270.degree. in the direction of printing in said second area of said pixel memory before printout.
- 6. The configuration according to claim 1, wherein said device for rotation of said pixel memory field includes at least one electronic switch and a device for generating addresses.
- 7. The configuration according to claim 1, wherein said electronic switch includes a multiplexer, and said device for generating addresses includes at least one read-only memory for converting the addresses individually.
- 8. The configuration according to claim 7, including a plurality of tri-state buffers of said multiplexer, a state machine of said print control unit for controlling said multiplexer for reading out the data from said at least one memory area of said pixel memory, a first counter for generating low addresses for internal addressing of the data of each block, and a second counter for generating area addresses for addressing said at least one memory area.
- 9. A process for an internal cost center printout with a printing device for printing out variable information, which comprises:
- switching over operation of a print head of a postage meter from printing postage for postal matter to printing a cost center printout via user inputs received by a control unit of the postage meter;
- accessing and compiling accounting data stored in a cost center memory to formulate the cost center printout via the control unit working together with input/output devices;
- converting the accounting data into graphics pixels via the control unit and printing the accounting data with the print head of the postage meter to create the cost center printout.
- 10. The process according to claim 9, which comprises, based on the switchover operation:
- after the accessing and compiling steps, entering the accounting data into a working memory, decompressing the accounting data, and processing the accounting data,
- after the converting step temporarily storing the accounting data by blocks in a pixel memory,
- placing the accounting data regarding at least one cost center in each block plus either data for the purpose of identification or data totaled up in accordance with selected areas for each of the respective cost centers in which there has been some activity, and
- generating an address field for the cost center printout and using the print head for printing postage indicia for printing the cost center printout wherein the cost center printout differs from the printing postage indicia.
- 11. The process according to claim 9, which comprises performing another switchover operation in a print control unit before a print unit of the postage meter module is used for the internal cost center printout, and rotating a print image in the form of blocks orthogonally by blocks, preferably by 90.degree. in the direction of printing, before the printout.
- 12. The process according to claim 9, which comprises performing another switchover operation in a control unit, and completing an orthogonal rotation of blocks containing information groups in conjunction with other storage areas of working memory according to a program stored in a program memory.
- 13. The process according to claim 11, which comprises performing the other switchover operation in the control unit by entering data with converted addresses or with unconverted addresses into selected memory areas of the pixel memory and reading out the data with the converted addresses or the unconverted addresses.
- 14. The process according to claim 10, which comprises temporarily storing the blocks having been rotated orthogonally in different ways, in memory areas of the pixel memory.
- 15. The process according to claim 10, which comprises placing a number x of information groups in one block, electronically rotating a print image being present in the form of k blocks by blocks in a print direction so that lines become columns and columns become lines, wherein k blocks contain only accounting data on m.sub.A =y*{(x*k)-1}-1 cost centers, placing an identification in a first information group of at least one first block of one print image, placing a summation showing totals for the accounting data in a last information group of a last block of a print image, and uniformly distributing the information groups on blocks and checking the blocks via a display before being printed.
- 16. The process according to claim 9, which comprises requesting a second strip from a strip feed and printing the second strip if a first strip is not sufficient to print out all of the cost centers, and identifying the strips with at least a date, a number of the internal cost center printout and a number of an order in which it appears.
- 17. The process according to claim 9, which comprises executing a user dialogue for authorizing and selecting the contents of the printout and displaying use of the postage meter module for each cost center, before the internal cost center printout.
- 18. The process according to claim 17, which comprises including in the user dialogue a separate authorization procedure for certain cost centers requiring a higher level of security, and limiting access to this cost center information to only a certain group of people, including in a cost center routine an input request for an area to cost centers, for an order in a sequence of cost center printouts and for an order of a list within a printout for each cost center and forming information groups automatically.
- 19. The process according to claim 9, which comprises creating a list within a cost center according to optional printouts.
- 20. A postage meter assembly, comprising:
- a postage meter module including a control unit, a printing unit with a postage meter print head, input/output devices connected to said control unit, and memory devices connected to said control unit;
- a configuration for printing an internal cost accounting printout with said postage meter module having said postage meter print head, said configuration comprising:
- a) a printing unit input device for switching to an internal cost accounting print mode;
- b) said control unit connected to said printing unit, said control unit being programmed to:
- block a franking function of said postage meter module upon switching to the internal cost accounting print mode;
- process a user dialog, to process accounting data for the internal cost accounting printout, and to intermediately store the accounting data for the printout;
- c) a print control unit connected to said print head of said postage meter module, said print control unit receiving the accounting data from said control unit, and said print head of said postage meter module printing the internal accounting printout.
- 21. The configuration according to claim 20, wherein said control unit is programmed to prompt a user of said postage meter module for input, upon switching to the internal cost accounting print.
- 22. The configuration according to claim 20, wherein said control unit is programmed to selectively display accounting data and to assemble selected accounting data for the cost accounting printout in cooperation with said input/output devices.
- 23. The configuration according to claim 20, wherein said input device includes a selection device for selecting a predetermined cost center or a predetermined group of cost centers.
- 24. The configuration according to claim 20, including a pixel memory, said control unit includes an output logic, and said control unit is programmed to transfer print image data from said output logic to said pixel memory, said control unit being connected to said print head of said print module via said print control unit, said print control unit supplying the print data in columns of pixels to said print head, and wherein said print head is not moved while printing said print data.
- 25. The configuration according to claim 20, including a pixel memory, wherein said control unit is programmed to assemble accounting data, to read into a working memory, to process the accounting data and convert the accounting data into graphic pixels, to intermediately store the pixels in blocks in said pixel memory, and to output the print image data according to the accounting data in blocks from the pixel memory through said print control unit.
- 26. The configuration according to claim 20, wherein said control unit is programmed to print cost accounting data onto a print medium with said print head of said postage meter module.
- 27. The configuration according to claim 26, wherein said control unit is programmed to mark the print medium according to a print medium sequence with said print head of said postage meter module.
- 28. A process for an internal cost center printout with a printing unit of a postage meter module for printing out variable information, which comprises:
- switching over operation of a printhead of a postage meter module from printing postage for postal matter to printing a cost center printout;
- subsequently driving the printing unit of the postage meter module in internal cost accounting mode, by multiple repetition of a pixel field rotation routine which includes reading data with non-converted addresses into selected memory areas of a pixel memory and reading out the data with converted addresses; and
- printing the cost accounting printout with the printhead otherwise used for printing postal matter and switching back the printhead of the printing unit to a mode in which postage indicia is printed with the print control unit after the cost center printout is printed.
- 29. The process according to claim 28, wherein blocks of data are intermediately stored in printing pauses.
- 30. A process for an internal cost center printout with a printing unit for printing variable information, which comprises:
- switching over to a routine for an internal cost center printout and subsequently driving a printhead of a printing unit of a postage meter module to an internal cost center printout mode;
- reading in data with non-converted addresses into selected memory areas of a pixel memory of the postage meter module and reading out the data with non-converted addresses; and
- printing the cost center printout by controlling the postage meter-module printhead with a print control unit; and
- switching back the printhead of the printing unit to a mode in which postage indicia is printed with the print control unit after the cost center printout is printed.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
42 24 955.4 |
Jul 1992 |
DEX |
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Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/097,159, filed on Jul. 26, 1993, now abandoned.
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
97159 |
Jul 1993 |
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