Patent Grant
8100324
The field of the present invention is computer-based value-bearing items, and particularly, management of computer-based value-bearing item indicia.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will provide computer systems and methods for facilitating replacement of computer-based value-bearing items, including but not limited to customized, computer-based value-bearing items.
One exemplary embodiment of the present invention could be used, for example, in connection with image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items, such as, but not limited to, for example, PHOTOSTAMPS™. In particular, the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) does not currently support refunds for image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items. Therefore, if one or more image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items are misprinted, the USPS does not currently support refunding money paid for the misprinted image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items. Conventionally, if image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items were misprinted, new postage indicia was/were assigned to the replacement postage-indicia-bearing item(s). Instead of creating new postage indicia data for misprinted items as has conventionally been done, one exemplary embodiment of the present invention would provide computer systems and methods for remapping references for the replacement items to the original postage indicia data that had been created for the misprinted items.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the present invention is not limited to replacement of image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items. Rather, the present invention will apply equally to replacement of value-bearing items that comprise value-bearing item indicia that has been derived from, or comprises a subset of, or is otherwise cross-referenced to, or for which a relationship has been created for reference to, a set of full, digitally-signed value-bearing item indicia. For example, currently, the USPS does not support refunds for any computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items that do not bear full, digitally-signed postage indicia. Therefore, as will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, the present invention will be useful for providing replacements of postage-indicia-bearing, and other value-bearing, items that do not represent on their face full, digitally-signed value-bearing item indicia.
With the above-described alternative applications of the present invention in mind, one exemplary embodiment of the present invention would be used, for example, in situations where a postage rate increase occurred after printing one or more image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items for a first amount of postage. Conventionally, in order to provide postage labels for a new rate, a second set of postage indicia data might have been created for a second set of image-customized, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing items, each for the amount of the difference between the first amount and the increased rate. Instead of creating a new set of postage indicia data for a second set of labels as may have conventionally been done, one exemplary embodiment of the present invention would provide computer systems and methods for reassigning the original postage indicia data that had been created for the labels printed with the old rate to labels with postage indicia for the new rate.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention would further provide an exemplary computer system for generating a representation of a customized, computer-based value-bearing item that would comprise: an indicia requesting computer that is programmed to generate client requests to a value-bearing item indicia generating computer, wherein the value-bearing item indicia generating computer is programmed to generate a first set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data for each client request generated by the indicia requesting computer.
In the exemplary computer system for generating a representation of a customized computer-based value-bearing item, the value-bearing item indicia generating computer would be further programmed to: generate a second set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data for each client request; and save a record of a relationship between the first set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data and the second set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data. In the exemplary computer system for generating a representation of a customized computer-based value-bearing item, the value-bearing item is a postage-indicia-bearing item.
In an alternative embodiment of the computer system for generating a representation of a customized computer-based value-bearing item, the indicia requesting computer, as compared to the value-bearing item indicia generating computer, would be further programmed to: generate a second set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data for each client request; and save a record of a relationship between the first set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data and the second set of computer-based value-bearing item indicia data.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention would further provide an exemplary computer system for generating a representation of an image-customized computer-based value-bearing item; that system would comprise: a first set of computer program instructions, that when executed by an indicia requesting computer, would cause the indicia requesting computer to generate a client request for generic value-bearing item indicia data; a second set of computer program instructions, that when executed by an indicia generating computer, cause the indicia generating computer to receive the client request for generic value-bearing item indicia data, and generate a set of generic computer-based value-bearing item indicia data, wherein said set of generic computer-based value-bearing item indicia data comprises a digital signature; a third set of computer program instructions, that when executed by the indicia requesting computer, cause the indicia requesting computer to receive the set of generic computer-based value-bearing item indicia data; a fourth set of computer program instructions, that when executed by the indicia requesting computer, cause the indicia requesting computer to generate a set of image-customized computer-based value-bearing item indicia data for an image-customized value-bearing item, wherein said set of image-customized computer-based value-bearing item indicia data is generated using a subset of the set of generic computer-based value-bearing item indicia data; and a fifth set of computer program instructions, that when executed by the indicia requesting computer, cause the indicia requesting computer to record a mapping of the set of image-customized computer-based value-bearing item indicia data for the customized value-bearing item, to the generic computer-based value-bearing item indicia.
In one exemplary computer system for generating a representation of an image-customized computer-based value-bearing item, the indicia requesting computer and the indicia generating computer would comprise the same computer. However, in an alternative embodiment, the indicia requesting computer and the indicia generating computer would be different computers. In one exemplary embodiment, a first processor in a single computer would serve as an indicia requesting computer device and a second processor in the single computer would serve as an indicia generating computer device.
In the exemplary computer system for generating a representation of an image-customized computer-based value-bearing item, the image-customized value-bearing item comprises an image-customized postage-indicia-bearing item.
A fourth exemplary method that would be provided by the exemplary embodiment of the present invention would be for customizing value-bearing items, and would comprise: generating a customized value-bearing item comprising a set of customized value-bearing item indicia, wherein said set of customized value-bearing item indicia corresponds to a set of customized value-bearing item indicia data, and wherein said set of customized value-bearing item indicia data is derived from a corresponding set of digitally-signed value-bearing indicia data.
In the fourth exemplary method, the set of customized value-bearing item indicia data does not include a digital signature.
In the fourth exemplary method, the method would further comprise: recording a relationship between the set of customized value-bearing item indicia data and the corresponding set of digitally-signed value-bearing indicia data.
A further exemplary method would be provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention for using a computer-based postage system for facilitating replacement of an original, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing label having an original value, in response to a request for a replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing label for a replacement value, said method comprising: identifying a set of digitally-signed, original, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data corresponding to the original, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing label for the original value; wherein the request for a replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing label comprises a request to allocate the original value across multiple instances of a corresponding denomination value, wherein each corresponding denomination value is less than the original value, the request to allocate comprising: a number of instances, and for each respective instance of the number of instances, a corresponding respective denomination amount; and obtaining a set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data for each respective instance for the corresponding respective denomination amount.
In such a further exemplary method, the method would further comprise: generating a set of replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data comprising a subset of the set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data and further comprising an indication of the corresponding respective denomination amount.
In such a further exemplary method, the method would further comprise: creating an index that maps a relationship between: the set of replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data; the set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data; and the set of full, digitally-signed, original, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data.
In some further exemplary embodiments, a computer system would provide for facilitating replacement of an original, customized, postage-indicia-bearing label having an original value, in response to a request for a replacement, customized, postage-indicia-bearing label for a replacement value. In such a further exemplary embodiment. In such a further exemplary embodiment, the computer system would be programmed to: identify a set of digitally-signed, original, postage-bearing indicia data corresponding to the original, customized, postage-indicia-bearing item for the original value; determine if the replacement value and the original value are different; if the replacement value and the original value are different: calculate a replacement value difference, obtain a set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, postage-indicia-bearing indicia data for a value corresponding to the replacement value difference, and update an ascending register and a descending register with the replacement value difference; and if the replacement value and the original value are equal: obtain a set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, postage-indicia-bearing item indicia data for a value corresponding to the replacement value.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings in which:
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described herein with respect to an exemplary Internet application of the present invention. It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the exemplary Internet embodiment of the present invention is illustrative and non-limiting, and that the present invention will be equivalently applicable to non-Internet embodiments, including but not limited to, PC-based systems.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be implemented, in part, in an online Internet-based (also sometimes referred to herein as computer-based or PC-based) postage system. The United States Postal Service (USPS) provides the Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP). The IBIP facilitates computer-based Postage, also sometimes referred to as PC-based (Personal Computer based; also sometimes referred to herein as PC Postage), or Internet-based, Postage. In a typical Internet-based postage system, a user can purchase postage credit, and print the postage in the form of PC Postage onto a label or directly onto a mail piece at a printer connected to the user's own computer.
An example of a computer-based postage system is a software-based, online postage system described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/585,025 filed on Jun. 1, 2000, by Piers C. Lingle et al., “Online Postage Value Bearing Item Printing”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/690,066 filed on Oct. 16, 2000, by Craig L. Ogg et al., “Networked Cryptographic Module for Secure Printing of Value-Bearing Items”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/690,243 filed on Oct. 17, 2000, by Ari Engelberg et al., “Method and Apparatus for On-Line Value Bearing Item System” the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in full. Exemplary online postage system software comprises user code, also sometimes referred to as client software, that resides on a user's client system, and controller code, also sometimes referred to as server software, that resides on a server system. An exemplary on-line postage system may comprise a user system electronically connected to, or otherwise adapted for communication with, a server system, which in turn is connected to, or otherwise adapted for communication with, a USPS system. The server system is preferably capable of communicating with one or more client systems simultaneously.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the present invention would be equivalently applicable in contexts other than an Internet-based postage provider, including, but not limited to, other PC- and computer-based systems.
There are different types of IBIP postage. One type of IBIP postage is recipient-address specific and is date sensitive/date specific. Another type of IBIP postage is “generic” in that it is neither recipient-address specific or date sensitive/date specific.
IBIP postage is one type of Value Bearing Item (“VBI”). Value Bearing Items (“VBI” or value-bearing items) include, among other things, postage, coupons, tickets, gift certificates, currency, money orders, vouchers and the like. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/975,532 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING COMPUTER-BASED POSTAGE STAMPS” (hereinafter referred to as the “Generic VBI Invention”), the contents and disclosures of which are incorporated in full herein, discloses systems and methods for the creation of generic VBI postage, such that no intended recipient address need be specified, verified or indicated in any way on the created postage. The systems and methods disclosed in the Generic VBI Invention provided for the generation and printing of generic VBI, such as generic postage, that may be used at any time for any recipient, much like pre-printed postage printed and sold by the United States Postal Service (“USPS”). The terms “generic postage,” “generic Internet postage”, “computer-based generic IBIP postage” and “computer-based postage” are used synonymously herein to refer to postage that is non-recipient specific and/or non-date specific.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will provide a user-interface via which a user would order USPS-approved, customized computer-based IBIP generic postage labels. It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that although the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described with respect to customized computer-based IBIP generic postage labels, the invention would apply equally to other types of Value-Bearing Items. It will also be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference herein to customized computer-based postage labels is synonymous with customized computer-based postage-indicia-bearing items. It will be further understood that the term label applies equally to plain paper and to self-adhesive label stock—that is, the use of self-adhesive label stock as described herein regarding the exemplary embodiment is not a limitation of the invention; the invention would apply equally to customized computer-based postage-indicia-bearing items printed on other materials, including but not limited to paper, that may or may not have a self-adhesive substance on the reverse side for affixing to a parcel.
With reference to
The exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will bear an exemplary border 3 that will be selected by the user. In the exemplary embodiment, exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will comprise a particular postage label footprint characterized by a set of particular dimensions, e.g., width 9 and height 10. In the exemplary embodiment, width 9 will measure approximately 1.75 inches; height 10 will measure approximately 1.25 inches. On a sheet of 20 postage labels, a space measuring 1.3 inches in height and 1.8 inches wide will be dedicated to each image-customized computer-based postage label. In a variation of the exemplary embodiment, the user will be able to select one of a plurality of postage label footprints; each selectable footprint will be characterized by a corresponding height and width.
In the exemplary embodiment, image 2 will measure approximately 1.1 inches wide by 1.1 inches in height; image 2 will cover approximately two-thirds of the face of the exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1.
In the exemplary embodiment, exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will be characterized by a perimeter 83.
The exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will bear a human-readable indication of the country 4 for which the postage is approved. The exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will also bear a human-readable indication of an amount of postage 5. The exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will also bear a human-readable identifier (such as a serial number) 6 that will uniquely identify the particular image-customized computer-based postage label, or that will substantially uniquely or relatively uniquely identify the particular image-customized computer-based postage label, such as during a particular period of time. The exemplary image-customized computer-based postage label 1 will also bear a machine-readable set of information 7. In the exemplary embodiment, the exemplary machine-readable set of information (also referred to as machine-readable postage indicia) 7 will comprise a machine-readable representation of the serial number (that uniquely identifies, or that will substantially uniquely or relatively uniquely identify, the particular image-customized computer-based postage label (such as during a particular period of time), a machine-readable representation of the amount of postage, and machine-readable representations of other information.
A single machine-readable barcode may represent a plurality of items of information, such as, e.g., a serial number, and a postage value. Even though a barcode may graphically appear to be a singular item, it therefore may represent a plurality of items of information. Therefore, unless otherwise expressly indicated, the terms indicia and indicium may be used interchangeably herein to refer to the singular and the plural.
More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment, the machine-readable postage indicia 7 will comprise 18 bytes of data and 2 bytes of encoder filler, structured according to the USPS Information Based Indicia Program IBI data dictionary format. IBI Data Dictionary and Indicia Types, Document version 5.2, USPS Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP), Sep. 29, 2003. In the exemplary embodiment, the machine-readable postage indicia 7 will be generated by a secure vault (the term “vault” is used herein to refer to a postage server located in a secure data center); the secure vault will maintain a one-to-one association of each serial number 6 (that uniquely identifies, or substantially or relatively uniquely, identifies, such as during a particular period of time, a particular image-customized computer-based postage label 1) with a corresponding, and similarly unique (or substantially or relatively unique, such as during a particular period of time), machine-readable postage indicia 7; the secure vault will maintain a record of each serial number 6 and the corresponding machine-readable postage indicia 7.
Returning with reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, communication network 12 will comprise the Internet. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the communication network may take many different forms, such as a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wired telephone network, wireless network, or any other network that supports data communication between respective entities.
Clients 10a-10z may embody one of a variety of different forms. In one illustrative embodiment, one or more of Clients 10a-10z may comprise personal computers; other of Clients 10a-10z may comprise computers or any other device, whether now known or in the future discovered, that has processing capabilities and that may engage in communication over a communications network such as communication network 12.
Each respective client device 10a-10z will be in communication with a respective display device 11a-11z. Each respective display device, e.g., in the example using client 10a, display device 11a, will be integral to, or connected to, or otherwise in communications with, the respective client device, e.g., 10a.
Clients 10a-10z will be in communications with the communication network 12 through communication links 14a-14z. A communication link e.g., 14a, could comprise a wireless communication, a dedicated line connection, cable communication, satellite communication, telephone communication, or any other type of communication now known or in the future discovered. In addition, each client, e.g., client 10a, may have access to a printer, such as printer 16a. Optionally, a local network may serve as the connection between some of the clients and the Internet 12.
The postage label customization website 19 will also be in communication with the Internet via one or more communication links, e.g., 25. As with communication links 14a-14z between the client devices 10a-10z respectively, communication links, e.g., 25, between the postage label customization website 19 and the Internet could comprise a wireless communication, a dedicated line connection, cable communication, satellite communication, telephone communication, or any other type of communication now known or in the future discovered.
A web browser 1002, such as, for example, NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR®, or MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER®, or some other web browser software, will be installed on each client device, e.g. 10a. Reference herein to web browser 1002 should not be read as referring to any particular web browser brand. Further, reference to a web browser 1002 should not be read as implying that every client computer, e.g., 10a through 10z, all use the same web browser. Rather, each client 10a will have one web browser, that could be selected from various web browsers, whether now known or in the future discovered, with which to control communications between the respective client device, e.g., 10a, and the Internet. Further, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the invention will apply to any computer program or set of computer instructions, whether a web browser or some other software now known or in the future discovered, that is adapted to allow a user to retrieve and render hyper-media content from one or more server computers available for communication via a communications network, such as the Internet.
It should be noted that the use of suffixes such as “a” through “z” in connection with numbered elements of the FIGURES herein are exemplary and are not a limitation of the invention to any particular number. Rather, the suffixes “a” through “z”, and similar notations, are used herein to an unknown number of similar elements; although the number is unknown, the “a” through “z” suffix notation is used to express a representation of 1 to many.
Communications between a client, e.g., 10a, and the postage label customization website 19 will be provided via secured eCommerce communications, such as through SSL; HTTPS, which stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer”, is an acronym that is often used to describe such a secured eCommerce communications. However, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference to SSL or HTTPS herein is not a limitation of the invention. Rather, other communication protocols, whether now known or in the future discovered, could be used.
SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer,” a protocol developed by NETSCAPE® for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data that is then transferred over the SSL connection. Both NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR® and MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER® web browsers, support SSL; many websites use SSL protocol to protect the exchange of confidential user information, such as credit card numbers.
With reference to
Continuing with reference to
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be further characterized by a customized postage label generation environment 1201 in which a customized postage label image generation server 1202 will generate a representation of a sheet of customized computer-based postage labels. The representation of a sheet of customized computer-based postage labels would comprise, in the case of the exemplary embodiment, 20 individual customized postage label representations, all of which would be characterized by the same image and the same set of customization features (e.g., size, position, vertical orientation, horizontal orientation). The customized postage label image generation server 1202 will order generation of unique (or substantially or relatively unique, such as during a particular period of time) postage indicia (postage indicia data) for each customized postage label and will inject the generated postage indicia (postage indicia data) into each respective customized postage label representation.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be further characterized by a production environment 1301 in which sheets of customized computer-based postage labels will be printed. The sheets of customized computer-based postage labels will each be visually inspected for quality assurance according to a post-print quality assurance procedure.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be further characterized by a shipping environment 1401 in which sheets of customized computer-based postage labels approved by the post-print quality assurance procedure will be assembled to fulfill an order, and will be shipped to the respective recipient as indicated by the ordering user.
With reference to
In
In the exemplary embodiment, software named MACROMEDIA FLASH® would be installed on each client computer to facilitate viewing of the exemplary user interface of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, MACROMEDIA FLASH® is a software program that integrates video, text, audio, and graphics.
As depicted in
Continuing with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, a single customizable postage label template type is provided; the blank template will be characterized by a single set of parameters and by a single set of customizable elements; the display of the blank template will be formatted in a single way. However, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that in alternative embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of template types could be provided to the user for selection without varying from the spirit of the present invention. In such an alternative embodiment, the user's selection of a particular template type would be communicated to the postage label customization website 19. Each template type would be characterized by a respective set of parameters and by a respective set of customizable elements; a display of a blank template corresponding to each template type would be formatted according to the respective template type and would be adapted to facilitate customization of the respective set of customizable elements. In such an alternative embodiment, the postage label customization website 19 would detect the user's indication of a selection of a particular template type, and would generate and cause the display of a blank template corresponding to the user-selected template type.
Returning to the exemplary embodiment, with reference to
The exemplary user interface blank label template screen 500 will provide an onscreen button 520 that, when clicked by the user, will facilitate the user selecting a new image with which to customize the blank customizable image field 534. In the exemplary embodiment, before a user would be able to use the postage label customization service, the user would need to first establish a password-protected account. An exemplary Sign-In/Create an Account screen 800 is depicted in
Returning with reference to
If the user has previously established an account, the user would be able to login by entering the user's email address in the email address login field 807, by entering the correct password in the login password field 808, and by clicking the Log In button 809. Because the establishment of an account with an eCommerce website is well understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, details about the establishment of an account are not further elaborated herein.
In an alternative embodiment, a user would be able to upload images, customize computer-based postage labels and request to proceed to checkout before being asked to login. If the user had not previously established an account, the user would at that time “Create an account” before proceeding with checking out.
With reference to
With reference to the exemplary embodiment, once a user of the exemplary embodiment has established an account, the user will be able to access a personal image gallery. The exemplary user interface to the user's personal image gallery will facilitate the user uploading one or more images to the user's personal image gallery for use in customizing postage labels. In the exemplary embodiment, users will each be able to store up to ten (10) images in their personal image gallery. It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the description of a 10-image storage limit in the exemplary embodiment is illustrative, and is not a limitation of the present invention.
As depicted in
Once a user had identified a particular file in the image source identification window 1901, an Upload button 1903 would be provided that, when clicked, would upload the file from the file designated in the image source identification window 1901. After the file is uploaded, the user could then click on a “my image gallery” display button 1904. Clicking on the “my image gallery” display button 1904 would cause the exemplary embodiment to display the exemplary image gallery summary screen 1800 such as is depicted in
As depicted in
In the exemplary embodiment, the user could exit the exemplary order status report screen 2100 and return to the previous screen by clicking on a close button 2105.
The exemplary embodiment will support various image formats, including GIF, BMP, JPG, and TIF. The image formats listed are illustrative and not a limitation of the invention; image formats now known and in the future discovered could be equally supported by an embodiment of the present invention. Users will be able, therefore, to upload and save images using any of the supported image formats. Size and resolution of each image will depend on the file format used.
Returning with reference to
If the user clicks the select-a-new-image button 520, and if a particular image that the user wants to use is not displayed in the user's gallery list, the user will need to upload the particular image and then select it from the user's gallery list.
If, on the other hand, the user clicks the select-a-new-image button 520, and the particular image that the user wants to use is listed in the user's gallery list, the user will be able to click on the “click & drag” field 504 on the exemplary user interface blank postage label template screen 500, click on the listing of the desired image, and drag the desired image to the blank customizable image field 534 (see element 534′ described below with reference to
Continuing with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, the exemplary user interface blank postage label template screen 500 will also provide a border customization field 512 with forward 511a and backward 511b buttons to scroll through a plurality of border color and/or pattern options. In the exemplary embodiment, the default border color/pattern will be a particular solid color, e.g., black. If a user selects a customized border, the customizable border field 533 will be customized according to the user's selection (see element 533′ described below with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, the exemplary user interface blank postage label template screen 500 will also provide a total price 535 per sheet of customized postage labels. Once a user has selected a postage amount 503, the total price field 535 will be updated (see element 535′ described below with reference to
The exemplary embodiment is described herein with reference to sheets of customized postage labels. In the exemplary embodiment, a user will be required to order a full sheet of customized postage labels; orders for partial sheets of customized postage labels will not be allowed. In the exemplary embodiment, each sheet of customized postage labels will contain 20 customized postage labels.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that in alternative embodiments, it would be possible in the spirit of the present invention to facilitate partial sheet orders, to facilitate shipping label orders, e.g., with one “postage label”, postage label, and/or shipping label per page, and/or to facilitate other variations on order quantities and requirements.
In the exemplary embodiment, the exemplary user interface blank postage label template screen 500 depicted in
Returning with reference to
The respective client, e.g., 10a, will, in function 115, receive, render or otherwise obtain the preview display of the customized postage label, e.g., via the web browser resident on the respective client device, and will present the preview display (see
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the user will be able to separately customize each customizable field (image 534, border 533, and amount 532) on the exemplary user interface blank postage label template screen 500 depicted in
Returning with reference to
If, on the other hand, the user determines, in function 120, that the customized postage label is satisfactory, then the user could proceed, in function 130, to submit the order (the user could indicate that, for example, the user is ready to “Check Out” by, e.g., clicking the “Check Out” button 536 depicted in
For any particular customized postage label 601 in the order 600, the user could click on the edit image field 602 to refine the customization of that particular postage label. The exemplary shopping cart summary screen 600 would also provide a sub-total 607 that would reflect the total of all customized postage labels in the order, a shipping fee 608, an amount of tax 609 (however, there is presently no tax for U.S. postage), and a Total Price 610 for the entire order. The exemplary shopping cart summary screen 600 would also provide an option to return to the user's image gallery 613, and an option to upload another image to the user's image gallery 614. The user would be able to modify the quantity field for any customized postage label listed by placing the cursor on the quantity field 605 and entering a different number; the user would be able to request recalculation of the total order by then clicking the Recalculate button 611. When the user is satisfied with the summary of the order as presented on the exemplary shopping cart summary screen 600, the user would be able to click on the Checkout button 612 which would take the user to further order finalization screen, such as are depicted in
Once the user has entered the appropriate billing information and confirmed the order by clicking on the appropriate confirmation button 652 or 670 as the case may be, the user would be presented with a final Confirm Your Order screen.
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, security measures for encrypting user credit card information will include the following. Card encryption will use Advanced Encryption Standard (“AES”—which would be implemented in the exemplary embodiment in the RijndaelManaged.NET Framework class). The key will be generated as follows: at server startup, a user from a Data Center Operation (“DCO”) and a user from the security officers group must both input a password; each password will be input into the PasswordDeriveBytes class (which uses Windows' CryptoAPI's CryptDeriveKey) to generate 256 bits; once both passwords have been entered, the AES key is generated by applying an exclusive “OR” function to (“XOR'ing”) the following three items:
1.) The DCO member's password-derived 256 bits.
2.) The Security Officer's password-derived 256 bits.
3.) 256 bits from a file stored on the server itself.
Including the 256 bits from the file stored on the web server in the exemplary embodiment process to generate the AES key will allow pass-phrase changes without having to re-encrypt the stored cards in the database. In an alternative embodiment, generating the key from just the two password-derived bit sequences would not permit password changes without re-encryption.
In the exemplary embodiment, the AES key will be verified by comparing a stored SHA1 (“SHA1” is an acronym for Secure Hash Algorithm-1—an algorithm that computes a 160-bit representation of a message that can be used in creating and verifying digital signatures) hash with the hashed value of the final XOR'ed AES key value.
In the exemplary embodiment, user credit card information will be stored in the database encrypted using AES in Cypher Block Chaining (“CBC”) mode. The padding method will be PKCS #7. A random Initialization Vector (“IV”) will be created by the RijndaelManaged class upon instantiation. The IV will be generated using the RNGCryptoServiceProvider class which will use CryptoAPI's CryptGenRandom.
In the exemplary embodiment, in addition to storing the encrypted card number on the database, the IV, a Message-Digest algorithm 5 (“MD5”) hash of the card number, and the first six plain-text digits (the BIN number) will be stored in the database. (MD5 is a message-digest algorithm developed by Ron Rivest. It is useful for digital signature applications where a large message has to be “compressed” in a secure manner before being signed with a private key.) The card will be given an ID number, which will be the way to identify a card for use in a later, subsequent transaction.
In the exemplary embodiment, security measures for encrypting the postage ordered will include the following. In the exemplary embodiment, postage orders will be saved in the form of Portable Data Format (“PDF”) files. The PDF files containing the postage to be printed will be encrypted prior to being saved on disk. The encryption will be done with an AES in CBC mode. The AES key will be 256 bits and will be randomly generated for each PDF file. A random IV will also be generated. The AES key will be encrypted with a 1024-bit RSA public key (RSA is an acronym for the last names of the inventors (Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman) of an encryption algorithm that they invented in. Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding (“OAEP”) padding will be used. The PDF file will be saved to disk as ordernumber.PDF.aes. The content of the file will be as follows:
1.) The length in bytes of the encrypted AES key (will occupy 8 bytes in the file).
2.) The RSA encrypted AES key.
3.) The length in bytes of the AES IV (will occupy 8 bytes in the file).
4.) The AES IV.
5.) The AES encrypted PDF data.
The RSA private key will be kept on a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) flash drive for use by the administrative person downloading the encrypted PDF files.
Returning with reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, an entry for an order on the order database (element 50,
In the exemplary embodiment, with reference to
With reference to
The exemplary embodiment will provide a Quality Assurance inspection interface, sometimes referred to herein as the Inspector Admin (administrative) Tool. The exemplary Inspector Admin Tool will allow for the processing of image review, and image approval or rejection. In order to use the Inspector Admin Tool, a Quality Assurance inspector/reviewer (also sometimes referred to as an Inspector, or alternatively, a QA User) 1 would log in to the Inspector Admin Tool.
With reference to
The first pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer to log in will receive the first image, in chronological Order Number order, available at that time, in the pre-print quality assurance queue (element 1103,
In the exemplary embodiment, non-supervisory inspectors/reviewers will not be able to choose from the pre-print quality assurance queue (element 1103,
With reference to
The pre-print quality assurance reasons, e.g., 901 through 906, are illustrative and non-limiting; additional quality assurance reasons could be listed; a pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would scroll through additional reasons using a window up key 908, down key 910, or tab 909.
The pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would be able to input comments in the comment field 907, and would be able to scroll through the comments using a comment window up key 911 or down key 912. Once the pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer was satisfied with their assessment of the image 534′, the pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would click on the Submit button 921.
Clicking on the Submit button 921 would cause the next image in the pre-print quality assurance queue (element 1103,
In the exemplary embodiment, a QA Supervisor will, through a computer interface, assess the aesthetic and legal acceptance of an image escalated for supervisory review. A QA Supervisor may also review images previously reviewed but not escalated by non-supervisory QA users on a random or other basis. Access to the QA Supervisor interface will be determined by Windows user group roles. In the exemplary embodiment, the QA Supervisor interface will be identical to the QA User interface with differing underlying functionality. Images will be made available to the QA Supervisor interface through an escalation process. Images can be escalated due to a QA User being unsure as to its disposition or for other reasons including but not limited to review of rejected images. A QA Supervisor, through the supervisory role, will also be able to override the decision of a non-supervisor QA User. A QA Supervisor will be able to select an image for review and the QA Supervisor's selection will not being limited by an image queue. Accordingly, a decision on the disposition of a particular image can be deferred, if deferral is determined to be appropriate by a QA Supervisor.
In one alternative embodiment, each image will be separately and independently reviewed by two different non-supervisory pre-print quality assurance inspectors/reviewers (QA Users). Each independent non-supervisory pre-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer will indicate their assessment of an image. An image will not be considered to have passed quality assurance unless both non-supervisory pre-print quality assurance inspectors/reviewers approve the image, or unless a Supervisory QA User (also sometimes referred to herein as a QA supervisor, or as a QA supervisory user) approves the image.
In the exemplary embodiment, material considered to fall in a Critical category will be rejected from use with USPS postage; critical category material will include content that is considered harmful, illegal, or controversial. Exemplary critical category material quality assurance standards in the exemplary embodiment will include content with:
Material containing content that may be copyrighted material, that is not owned by the person who submits the image for print, will be considered to be in an “Intermediate” Material category. It can be very difficult to assess whether a person submitting an image owns the copyright. Therefore, in the exemplary embodiment, QA reviewers will only exclude images at the behest of a particular copyright owner.
With reference to
If, on the other hand, in test function 260, the image(s) pass quality assurance review, then, with reference to
With reference to
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that file and database architecture can be subject to many variations without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that description herein of information being saved to a particular file or database is exemplary, illustrative and non-limiting. Reference herein to any particular file or database will be understood to apply equally to any and all computer-readable media, whether now known or in the future discovered, including but not limited to: computer-readable storage media such as disk, CD, RAM and/or ROM memory of the particular computer that is performing the save or retrieve/read operation; or RAM and/or ROM memory of any computer; or to a communication medium, whether now known or in the future discovered, such as, for example, a communication via an Internet communication, whether wireless, or otherwise. Further, the description herein of the exemplary embodiment “saving” information will be understood to apply equally to committing the information to storage or communication, including, for example, saving information to a file, a database, or any other type of representation of information, and/or communicating the information via, e.g., an Internet communication, whether wireless or otherwise.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that saving orders in the exemplary embodiment for fulfillment to an order database (element 50,
Before describing processing of pre-print quality-assurance-passed orders, it is noted that, as will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, alternative embodiments could provide alternative quality assurance processing. For example, in one alternative quality assurance processing embodiment, a database will be provided that contains images, or links to images, that are considered to fail quality assurance standards. Herein, this particular database will be referred to as the Bad Image Database.
As each user-ordered image is examined during pre-print quality assurance review, the Bad Image Database would be checked for the particular user-ordered image being reviewed. To determine whether or not a match exists between a particular user-ordered image and the images on the Bad Image Database, image search technology will be used. If a match is found between the user-ordered image being reviewed and an image on the Bad Image Database, the Quality Assurance user/reviewer would be alerted.
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, any of various ways could be used to alert a Quality Assurance user/reviewer that a match has been identified between a user-ordered image being reviewed and an image on the Bad Image Database. For example, each user-ordered image (e.g., element 3100a,
The Customer ID 3006 displayed on the alternative exemplary pre-print image quality order status screen (
Following the information described above with respect to
For each line item in an order, a line item number, e.g., 3101a (
For each line item in an order, a description, e.g., 3104a (
For each line item in an order, a value (e.g., in cents), e.g., 3108a (
For each line item in an order, an Original image filename, e.g., 3118a (
For each line item in an order, any Image QA (QA1) votes 3150a (
QA1 is sometimes used herein to refer to pre-print quality assurance/review. QA2 is sometimes used herein to refer to post-print quality assurance review.
The description below of the content (e.g., 3120a-3132a (
Each exemplary display of an Image QA (QA1) vote would comprise, e.g., a vote reason description (e.g., 3120a (
For an order to pass QA review, each image in the order must pass QA review. For an image to pass QA review, it must be reviewed by a QA user, or as mentioned above, depending on the embodiment, possibly by multiple QA users, and receive a passing vote from each QA user. If an image received a failing vote from one or more QA users, the failing vote could be overridden by a QA supervisory user. For example, a QA supervisory user could choose the Delete Vote option (e.g., element 3132b,
As depicted in
As depicted in
The exemplary pre-print image quality assurance manager queue image reason screen depicted in
The exemplary pre-print image quality assurance manager queue image reason screen depicted in
The exemplary pre-print image quality assurance manager queue image reason screen depicted in
The exemplary pre-print image quality assurance manager queue image reason screen depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-identified statuses are exemplary and non-limiting. Further, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the alternative exemplary QA embodiment of the present invention described above with respect to, e.g.,
As previously mentioned above, a QA user could obtain detailed customer information about a particular customer, e.g., customer 3006, by clicking on the Customer ID 3006 field depicted in
With reference to
Continuing with reference to
Continuing with reference to
Returning with reference to
Returning with reference to the exemplary embodiment, and with reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, each image generation server 1202 will execute a “modified client” generic Internet postage software application. That is, each image generation server 1202 will act as a modified generic Internet postage client device.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/975,532 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING COMPUTER-BASED POSTAGE STAMPS” (sometimes referred to herein as the “Generic VBI Invention”), the contents and disclosures of which have been previously incorporated in full herein, describes client interaction with a generic Internet postage server, and describes in detail, the generation of generic Internet postage indicia. As described in Generic VBI Invention specification, each user client computer device would have client software installed to facilitate generic Internet postage; each user client would typically have associated with it an Ascending Register and a Descending Register to track the amount of funding provided and available for use in purchasing postage.
In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and as compared to client software installed on and being operable on each respective user client computer device, a “modified” version of the generic Internet postage client software application would be operable on each image generation server 1202—this “modified” version of the generic Internet postage client software is referred to herein as a “modified client”. As opposed to being operable on each user client device to facilitate requests via each respective user client device for generic Internet postage, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the respective “modified client” is operable on each respective image generation server 1202; each respective “modified client” would issue requests for generic Internet postage.
Accordingly, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference herein to a “modified client” generic Internet postage software application is distinguished from client software as previously described above that is operable on each respective user client device.
In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a respective “modified client” (element 1209,
In the exemplary embodiment, software executing on the exemplary image generation server would log in to a generic Internet Postage account once per session.
As depicted in
In the exemplary embodiment, in exemplary image server function 300, the software executing on the exemplary image generation server would assemble an image of a sheet of customized postage labels for each image (element 601,
In the exemplary embodiment, customized postage label features associated with an order are represented in PDF format. Therefore, in the exemplary embodiment, the assembly in exemplary image server function 300 by the image generation server (element 1202, depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference herein to a server, such as a reference to the image generation server, or to a function [of a server], performing a particular action will be understood to mean that software executing on that server, such as software executing on the image generation server, performs the particular action.
Continuing with reference to function 280 in
The image generation server (element 1202, depicted in
As will be described further below, this Order ID number will be printed, both in human readable text and as a scannable barcode (a machine readable representation of the Order ID number), on the corresponding sheet of printed customized postage labels. The printing of the Order ID number on each sheet of printed customized postage labels will facilitate bundling of all printed sheets for an order for final shipment to the recipient designated by the user.
With reference to
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference herein to a file or a database is non-limiting and is an exemplary description of a computer-readable storage medium.
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, each generic Internet postage label request transaction generated in image generation server function (element 310 in
Further, in contrast to the typical association as described in the Generic VBI Invention of an individual Ascending Register (AR) and a Descending Register (DR) with each user client, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a respective general AR and a respective general DR will be associated with, and available to, each of the respective “modified clients” resident and executing on the respective image generation server(s) 1202.
With reference to
In generic Internet postage server function 400, each generic Internet postage label request transaction 51 will be examined, and for each generic Internet postage label request transaction 51, a generic Internet indicia transaction 402 will be generated. Each generic Internet indicia transaction 402 will comprise a representation of full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia (or indicia data). In one embodiment, the representation of the full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia generated could comprise a representation of machine-readable information, such as a representation of a 2D barcode; in the exemplary embodiment, however, the representation of the generated full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia will comprise data fields that will later be used to generate a machine-readable 2-D barcode.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the contents of a set of full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based postage indicia data and/or full, digitally-signed, computer-based postage indicia data may vary from one embodiment to another.
In the exemplary embodiments described herein, original, digitally-signed indicia data is sometimes referred to as full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based postage indicia data; replacement, full, digitally-signed indicia data is sometimes referred to herein as replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based postage indicia data. However, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the present invention applies to value-bearing items for which original, digitally-signed indicia data, whether generic or not, was created, and for which the value-bearing item bears an indication of a subset, or otherwise derived version, of the original, digitally-signed indicia data.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that exemplary full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia may comprise a number of elements, including, for example the exemplary fields depicted in
The exemplary full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia data elements depicted in
For each generated generic Internet indicia transaction, function 400 will save on database 401 information about the generated generic Internet indicia transaction 402, including the unique (or substantially or relatively unique, such as during a particular period of time) generic Internet postage label request transaction ID that was associated with the generic Internet postage label request transaction that triggered function 400 to generate the generic Internet indicia transaction 402. In the exemplary embodiment, generic Internet indicia transaction 402 will comprise a unique (or substantially or relatively unique, such as during a particular period of time) serial number comprising a master serial number corresponding to a sheet of postage labels, a minor serial number extension that will uniquely identify each postage label on the sheet, a meter number, and Ascending Register information, and other data fields mentioned above regarding full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia data; in the exemplary embodiment, the unique (or substantially or relatively unique, such as during a particular period of time) serial number will be saved as, and will serve, as, a key in database 401 to the generated, full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that in an alternative embodiment, that rather than transaction 402 comprising full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data, a transaction 402 could be created that would comprise a derivative or subset of the full, digitally-signed, generic postage indicia data. Such derivative or subset postage indicia data is sometimes referred to as “IBI Lite” indicia data. An exemplary embodiment of exemplary IBI Lite indicia data is depicted in
Returning with reference to the exemplary embodiment, in image generation server function 320, for each postage label requested in an order, a customized postage label transaction 52 will be generated. In the exemplary embodiment, the number of postage labels in an order would be equal to the total of twenty postage labels (because there are twenty postage labels per sheet in the exemplary embodiment) times the quantity (element 605,
In image generation server function 330, each generic Internet indicia transaction 402 will be matched with the corresponding customized postage label transaction 52.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that generic Internet indicia transactions 402 and customized postage label transactions 52 may be saved on separate files, or on the same file, or be otherwise communicated, for access by subsequent functions.
If a match is detected in image generation server test function 340 between a generic Internet indicia transaction 402 and a corresponding customized postage label transaction 52, then image server function 350 will then build a derivative of the full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia data contained in generic Internet indicia transaction 402. Exemplary derivative postage indicia data for the corresponding customized postage label in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will comprise the data fields depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that one reason for deriving a set of postage indicia data for use on a customized postage label, from full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data, would be to provide customized postage label indicia that does not require as much visual space on the face of a customized postage label as does full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia.
As compared to the large number of fields described above for full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia data, data for the exemplary indicia for a customized postage label would contain, as described above with respect to
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described exemplary contents of exemplary IBI Lite postage indicia data fields is illustrative and not a limitation of the present invention.
The alternative exemplary IBI Lite postage indicia data depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the data used as a key to corresponding full, digitally-signed, generic postage indicia is not a limitation of the present invention. Other fields could be used as a key without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, In a further alternative exemplary embodiment, the lookup key could comprise, for example, the exemplary Piece Counter 1501 in combination with the exemplary 3-byte PSD Serial Number 1503 as depicted in
Returning with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, barcode module (element 1210,
Continuing with image generation server function 350 depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that, in contrast to the above-described derivation from full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia of postage indicia for use on a corresponding customized postage label, it would be possible to use the full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia on the corresponding customized postage label. However, doing so would occupy, even with the employment of a 2-D barcode representation of the full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia, more space on the face of the corresponding customized postage label.
With reference to
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that one or more than one record on a database, or on multiple databases, could be used to store information about a particular transaction. Description herein regarding a singular database or record will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art to be illustrative and non-limiting and to apply equally to multiple databases or records; description herein regarding multiple databases and/or records will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art to be illustrative and non-limiting and to apply equally to singular databases and/or records.
Once the record(s) for the corresponding full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) that was provided on generic Internet indicia transaction 402 and saved on database 401 is found, it would be updated to reflect use of the indicia (and/or indicia data) before proceeding to the end/return function 420.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described approach for generating full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) and then printing on a customized postage label another, derivative, set of indicia, is an exemplary configuration of elements, functions and logic. Other alternative approaches are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in
In one alternative exemplary embodiment, client interface 1209a would be installed on a server separate from the image generation server 1202 and would be used to execute many of the functions described above with respect to generic Internet postage server function 400 in the exemplary embodiment in producing generic Internet postage indicia. For example, optionally separate client interface 1209a would, for example, receive, or otherwise recognize, each respective request for a respective particular amount of postage; log into an account; deduct an amount for the requested amount of postage from the account; generate full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data); and then pass the full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) to the server that called it, e.g., the image generation server 1202.
In the exemplary alternative embodiment, the image generation server 1202 would then be responsible for protecting use of the full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) to ensure that the money deducted for the requested postage amount is appropriately used. That is, the image generation server 1202 in the exemplary alternative embodiment could be used to save the full, digitally signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) to a database (e.g., element 401,
In an exemplary batch embodiment of the present invention, customized postage could be printed using a batch processing system. The batch processing system would be implemented by using a “further modified client” running in batch mode. The further modified client would assemble each order as described above and would make a request to generate a list of postage indicia data by sending serial numbers, starting label number, total number of labels, and postage amount information to the generic Internet postage server. After receiving such a request, the generic Internet postage server would create a block of data (total number of labels times the current size of the generic postage indicia data) with generic postage indicia data for each label; the generic Internet postage server would send the block of generic postage indicia data back to the batch processing system.
Upon receiving the block of generic postage indicia data, the batch processing system would derive customized postage indicia data for each customized label in a manner similar to that previously described above, would create machine-readable customized postage indicia for each label using the previously-described barcode module (element 1210,
The further alternative exemplary high-level logic functions depicted in
As with the exemplary embodiment, with reference to
As with the exemplary embodiment, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, each image generation server 1202 will execute a “modified client” generic Internet postage software application.
As with the exemplary embodiment, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, software executing on the exemplary image generation server would log in to a generic Internet Postage account once per session.
As further depicted in
As depicted in
As depicted in
In the further alternative exemplary embodiment, function 3400 would transform the original image according to the user-specified customization instructions (see, e.g., elements 110 and 220,
In the further alternative exemplary embodiment, for each customized postage label in the order being processed, function 3500 will perform logic functions to generate customized postage indicia (and/or indicia data) (described in some detail below with respect to
In the further alternative exemplary embodiment, for each sheet in the order being processed, function 3600 will generate an Order ID Number (in a manner previously described above with respect to the exemplary embodiment); generate a machine-readable Order ID Number (also in a manner previously described above with respect to the exemplary embodiment); draw a logo (drawing a logo is an optional function; a logo would, e.g., be relevant to the Internet postage provider); and draw the Order ID Number and the machine-readable Order ID Number.
In such a way, the software executing on the further alternative exemplary image generation server would draw an image of a sheet of customized postage labels for each image (element 601,
As with the exemplary embodiment, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, customized postage label features associated with an order are represented in PDF format. Therefore, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, the drawing in further alternative exemplary image server function 3600 by the image generation server (element 1202, depicted in
As in the exemplary embodiment, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, communications 1205 (
Further, as in the exemplary embodiment, in the further alternative exemplary embodiment, a respective general AR and a respective general DR will be associated with, and available to, each of the respective “modified clients” resident and executing on the respective image generation server(s) 1202.
As was previously mentioned above, the logic functions depicted in
If no voided indicia data is available and a request has been made (by the modified client, element 1209 in
Function 3552 will retrieve account information from a PSD (Postal Security Device) database 3570; account information will include the current Ascending Register and Descending Register amounts. Database 3570 will contain PSD (Postal Security Device) records. Account information is information contained within PSD records. Function 3554 will validate that the retrieved account record is signed. Function 3556 will generate full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data in response to the request and will update the Ascending Register and Descending Register according to the amount of postage indicated in the request. Function 3558 will re-sign the account record information. Function 3560 will store the updated, re-signed account record in the PSD database 3570. Function 3562 will send, return, or otherwise make available, the generated full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data, to the image generation server (element 1202,
Whether full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia data had to be newly generated by the generic Internet postage server (element 1203,
As with the exemplary embodiment, customized postage indicia data in the further alternative exemplary embodiment is derived from full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia data and will comprise the data fields depicted in
In the further alternative exemplary embodiment, function 3584 will store in database 3586 a mapping of the generated customized postage indicia data to the full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia data.
Continuing with reference to
Returning with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, the download (depicted in
1.) A pass phrase will be chosen at key-generation time.
2.) This pass phrase will be input into the .NET PasswordDeriveBytes class along with eight bytes of salt generated by the RNGCryptoServiceProvider class. (A “salt” can be used in password-protected cryptography; a salt can be viewed as an index into a large set of keys derived from a password; a salt value may comprise random data that is sometimes included as part of a session key—when added to a session key, the plain text salt data is placed in front of the encrypted key data; salt values are added to increase the work required to mount a brute-force (dictionary) attack against data encrypted with a symmetric-key cipher). The result will be 256-bytes that will be used as the AES key in step 4.) below.
3.) A RSACryptoServiceProvider class instance will be created and a random key will be generated.
4.) The random RSA key will be encrypted using AES-CBC with a random IV and the derived AES key.
5.) An XML file (the “private key file”) will be created containing:
6.) Another XML file (the “public key file”) will be created using the RSACryptoServiceProvider.ToXmlString( )method.
7.) The public key will be installed on the web server to use during PDF generation.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that an AES key is an example of a symmetric key.
In the exemplary embodiment, there will be no signature on the file. Source authentication will be handled by the SSL connection during the download.
The exemplary embodiment will provide a download utility with which to download the images of sheets of customized postage 60 (
Download personnel (the “download user”) will access the download utility user interface to request that the download utility load the RSA private key file (the exemplary creation of which was previously described above).
Once the RSA private key file is loaded, the download utility would decrypt the RSA private key using the salt and IV stored in the file. The download user would be prompted by the download utility user interface for the pass phrase. The download user would enter the pass phrase. The download utility would then provide the pass phrase, along with the salt, to a module named “PasswordDeriveBytes”. The PasswordDeriveBytes module would generate the number of bytes specified in the file. The download utility would then use the number of bytes as the AES key to decrypt the RSA key.
In the exemplary embodiment, the private key file would not be copied to the local hard drive during the download process.
In the exemplary embodiment, the download would occur over an SSL connection using either a client certificate or username/password pair to authenticate the download client. Depending on the network setup at the printer, the exemplary embodiment may also restrict the IP address of the download client.
In the exemplary embodiment, a server certificate issued by the Internet Postage provider would be used on the server. In the exemplary embodiment, the download application would only trust a certificate issued by the Internet Postage provider. Use of an Internet-Postage-provider-issued certificate would mitigate any DNS-spoofing/phony certificate issues while attached to the printer's network. Ensuring physical custody of the download client device being strictly maintained by a trusted party, such as an employee of the Internet Postage provider, would serve to enhance the chances of successfully mitigating DNS-spoofing/phony certificate issues using the Internet-Postage-provider-issued-certificate approach. Properly firewalling and patching the download client device would similarly serve to enhance the chances of successfully mitigating DNS-spoofing/phony certificate issues using the Internet-Postage-provider-issued-certificate approach. That is, ensuring that the download client machine is in trusted hands and is uncompromised enhances security for downloading, delivering and printing the customized postage labels.
In the exemplary embodiment, printing, post-print quality assurance inspection/review, invoicing, and fulfillment would be accomplished in a single facility by personnel of the Internet Postage provider and/or by third-party personnel supervised by personnel of the Internet Postage provider. As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, alternative embodiments of the present invention would provide for printing by third-party personnel; configurable indicators would be monitored after-the-fact by Internet Postage provider personnel.
With reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, a log procedure will be provided for printing customized postage label orders. In the exemplary log procedure, the printing device will be operated by a printer, who will be third-party personnel (an employee/representative of a company other than the Internet Postage provider); a printing supervisor will be an employee of the Internet Postage provider.
The first step of the exemplary log procedure will be for the printing supervisor to input, at the beginning of every print session, a start print counter number into an exemplary postage print log book. The start print counter number would be a number, a type of “odometer” reading, from the printing device. In the exemplary log procedure, the printing supervisor, an employee of the Internet Postage provider, and the third-party printer, will both sign the start print counter number indicated for the particular print session in the exemplary postage print log book.
In the exemplary embodiment, the printing supervisor, or another employee of the Internet Postage provider, will serve as the download user.
Once the start print counter number for the print session has been signed in by both the printing supervisor and the third-party printer, the download user will start the secure download of files across the internet over SSL at this point using the download utility user interface to initiate the download utility. Once the files have been downloaded onto the download client device (e.g., a laptop), the download client device will be disconnected from the Internet.
Once the download client device has been disconnected from the Internet and local network, the download user will use the download utility user interface to instruct the download utility to decrypt the downloaded PDF file.
In the exemplary embodiment, download client device will then be directly connected to the printing device, which in the exemplary embodiment will be an HP Indigo printer and the printing device will be taken off line from the local network.
The downloaded customized postage PDF file will be loaded onto the printing device by the printing supervisor, or by the download user, or by some other employee of the Internet Postage provider. The third-party printer will place the downloaded PDF file into the printer queue 1305 for printing, as the printing supervisor monitors the printing. At the end of the print session, all PDF files will be removed from the printer. The printing supervisor will then record an end print counter number; both the printing supervisor and the third-party printer will then sign off on the end print counter number entered in the postage print log book.
At the end of the print and fulfillment session (after all prints and reprints are done) the final print counter value will be recorded in the exemplary postage print log book and signed off by the printing supervisor and the third-party printer. All PDF files from the laptop will be removed at the end of the print and fulfillment session (after post-print quality assurance inspection and review (described further below) and after all prints and reprints).
In the exemplary embodiment, reconciliation would then be undertaken. The number of prints (the difference between the start print counter value and the end print counter value) should be equal to the number of pages in the PDF file plus any misprinted pages. Any misprints or spoils will be voided. Misprinted sheets and rejected orders will be forwarded/returned to personnel within the Internet Postage provider organization for manual handling to resolve misprint problems. A copy of the daily exemplary postage print log book will be handed into to personnel within the Internet Postage provider organization for manual handling to resolve misprint problems, along with any misprints. In the exemplary embodiment, the exemplary postage print log book will remain in the possession of the printing supervisor.
With reference to
With reference to
The respective Order ID number will be printed in both human-readable text and will be barcoded on each sheet of labels.
Continuing with reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, fluorescent ink will be applied in a pre-determined pattern on each computer-based postage label on a sheet of a plurality of computer-based postage labels. Each computer-based postage label comprises a perimeter (element 83,
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that many features of fluorescent ink application can be programmed, including, in addition to the general characteristics mentioned above, the luminescence (amount of reflectance). That is, in a particular pattern, the ink applicator could be programmed so that fluorescent ink applied in a first location in the particular pattern could be applied with a first magnitude of luminescence that would be visible in a first range of light frequency; fluorescent ink applied in a second location in the same particular pattern could be applied with a second magnitude of luminescence that would be visible in a second range of light frequency; the first range of light frequency would not overlap the second range of light frequency. By varying luminescence in the above-described manner, only the portion of the pattern applied with the first magnitude of luminescence would be visible when subjected to illumination of a frequency within the first range; only the portion of the pattern applied with the second magnitude of luminescence would be visible when subjected to illumination of a frequency within the second range.
In the exemplary embodiment, a programmable computer-based ink applicator, such as, for example, a HEWLETT-PACKAGE® Inkjet printer, would be used and would be programmed to apply fluorescent ink in a pre-determined pattern, in a pre-determined position relative to a particular location of the perimeter of each customized computer-based postage label, according to a pre-determined density and/or luminescence of ink application.
In the exemplary embodiment, the programmable computer-based fluorescent ink applicator would be programmed to apply fluorescent ink in a distinct manner for each postage label; the manner in which fluorescent ink would be applied to a particular postage label would be recorded in a database in association with a identifier, such as the serial number, of the particular postage label. The manner in which fluorescent ink was applied to a particular postage label would be available for authentication of a particular postage label. For example, the programmable computer-based fluorescent ink applicator would be programmed to apply fluorescent ink in a particular manner for a postage label with a particular serial number. The particular manner could comprise a particular pattern, a particular density, and/or a particular position relative to a particular location on the perimeter of the particular postage label, or other value-bearing item.
A particular postage label, or other value-bearing item, to which fluorescent ink had been applied and for which the manner of application had been recorded, could later be tested for authentication.
As depicted in
As depicted in element 2205 of
Returning with reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, Printed Content will be reviewed for two reasons: a) to ensure that only acceptable content shall be used for USPS-approved mail and b) to ensure that the product is a high-quality print-job. In addition to rejecting content that falls in either the Critical or Intermediate categories of material content previously described above with respect to pre-print quality assurance, post-print quality assurance will also review printed customized postage labels to ensure that the print job is of high quality. An unacceptable print job in the exemplary embodiment will include:
1. Material that carries smearing, stains, blots, or smudges;
2. Material that has faulty adhesiveness;
3. Material that is off-centered, skewed, or slanted;
4. Material that carries no color or faulty coloring; and/or
5. Material that is badly cropped.
Material that is rejected because of unacceptable print quality will be reprinted at not cost to the user; the unacceptable print quality material will be destroyed.
The exemplary embodiment will provide a post-print quality assurance computer interface to facilitate post-print quality assurance inspection and review.
In the exemplary embodiment, a post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer will visually inspect each sheet of labels. The post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer will use a bar-code scanner connected to a computer to scan the barcode that has been printed onto each respective sheet of printed customized postage labels. Once the barcode is scanned, the post-print quality assurance computer interface would cause the Order identifier scanned from the barcode to be displayed in the Order ID field 913 in the exemplary post-print image quality assurance review screen 900′. If no scanner is available, a post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer could manually enter each order identifier; the manually entered Order identifier would be displayed in the Order ID field 913 in the exemplary post-print image quality assurance review screen 900′.
The post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would then review the printed images corresponding to the scanned/entered Order identifier and would highlight one of the review reasons in the Reason window 920′. If the post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer approved the image, the inspector/reviewer would highlight “OK” (element 901′,
The post-print quality assurance reasons, e.g., 901′ through 905′, and 915, are illustrative and non-limiting; additional quality assurance reasons could be listed; a post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would scroll through additional reasons using a window up key 908′, down key 910′, or tab 909′.
If the inspector/reviewer highlighted any reason (.e.g., any of elements 902′ through 905′, or 915, as depicted in
The post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would be able to input comments in the comment field 907′, and would be able to scroll through the comments using a comment window up key 911′ or down key 912′. The post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer could check the Don't Clear field 916 to preserve the comments entered in the comment field 907′.
Once the post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer was satisfied with their assessment of the printed images corresponding to the scanned/entered Order identifier displayed in Order ID field 913, the post-print quality assurance inspector/reviewer would click on the OK button 914.
In the exemplary embodiment, rescanning an Order identifier barcode for an image that has not yet been “committed” would allow a new reason code to be designated for the image.
In the exemplary embodiment, any order containing at least one rejected image (one image corresponds in the exemplary embodiment to one Order identifier) would be cancelled and the customer would not be charged; all printed sheets in the order would be returned to a central administrative entity within the Internet Postage provider organization (sometimes referred to herein as “Commerce”) to be reconciled; a physical count of the sheets must equal the corresponding count of sheets recorded in the database. Commerce would physically secure the printed sheets pending USPS inspection, after which the sheets would be shredded.
The exemplary embodiment would provide a Postage Database. This exemplary Postage Database would be a cache of the following: generic Internet Postage Master Serial Number; generic Internet Postage minor serial number extension; Indicium Bits. Any postage refunded or otherwise not used will be re-assigned into the Postage Database; the Postage Database would be updated to return the amount of postage charged.
In the exemplary embodiment, in both pre-print and post-print Quality Assurance inspection and review, a QA Supervisor shall arbitrarily review image assessments made by non-supervisory QA users (non-supervisory QA inspectors/reviewers). A QA Supervisor shall also monitor queue length and date of oldest files as will be recorded and reported by the exemplary embodiment. In the exemplary embodiment, the Quality Assurance inspection interface (the Inspector Admin Tool) will provide configurable indicators; the exemplary embodiment will report information related to the configurable indicators to show items or general status of quality assurance processing that falls out of acceptable service levels.
Returning with reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In the exemplary embodiment, in the event that a completed order is shipped and later discovered to have contained an image that violates QA standards, records in the system (depending on the embodiment, e.g., in database 351,
With reference to
Once respective orders have been fulfilled, the postage label customization process is complete, as depicted in the “end” function 298.
With reference to
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, once a postage label, such as for example, an image-customized postage label as described hereinabove, has been printed, it may happen that the printed postage label is unsuitable for mailing, for example, it needs to be reprinted due to printing errors. Or, as may sometimes happen, a USPS rate increase may be announced or go into effect after an order for postage labels, such as for example, an image-customized postage labels as described hereinabove, has been printed. In such a case, the printed postage labels would not be sufficient postage under the new USPS rate; the postage labels would require either supplemental postage to meet the new USPS rate for a mail piece, or the postage labels need to be reprinted to reflect the higher USPS rate.
In both of the cases mentioned above, one way to resolve the misprint of, or some other need to reprint, the postage labels might be to request a refund from the USPS for the postage labels that had already been printed, but which are not suitable for mailing. However, as previously mentioned above, for image customized postage labels as described hereinabove, and for other postage labels that do not bear on their face a representation of full, digitally-signed postage indicia, the USPS does not currently provide for refunds. Therefore, some other way is needed to address such situations where image-customized postage labels or other postage-indicia-bearing labels that bear some form of IBI Lite or other indicia derived from full, digitally-signed indicia data, need to be reprinted, either for the original amount, for an increased amount, or possibly, split or otherwise apportioned for multiple amounts.
One exemplary embodiment of the present invention would provide methods and systems for printing replacement postage labels. The methods and systems for printing replacement postage labels would comprise remapping references to the original customized, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data). In particular, when the original full, digitally-signed, generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) was generated, as was previously described above, exemplary indicia (and/or indicia data) for a customized postage label would have been generated to contain, as described above with respect to
That is, there was an original mapping between the customized (IBI Lite/derived) postage label indicia (and/or indicia data) and the corresponding full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data); the serial number was contained in the customized postage label indicia (and/or indicia data) and was used as a key to the corresponding, full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data). A record or other indication of the mapping or relationship between the customized postage label indicia (and/or indicia data) and the corresponding full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) would have been saved in an exemplary mapping database (see, e.g., element 351,
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that reference herein to storing, building a record of, receiving a record of, sending, or the like, with regard to postage indicia may include a reference to postage indicia data.
As previously mentioned above, in some alternative embodiments, data fields other than, or in combination with, the serial number, could be used as a key. For example, in one alternative embodiment, the entire customized postage label postage indicia (encoded in machine readable form, depicted as element 7,
Or as previously mentioned above, other fields could be used as a key without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, In a further alternative exemplary embodiment, the lookup key could comprise, for example, the exemplary Piece Counter 1501 in combination with the exemplary 3-byte PSD Serial Number 1503 as depicted in
In the case of replacing printed image-customized (or other IBI-Lite-bearing) computer-based postage-indicia-bearing labels with replacement image-customized, (or other IBI-Lite-bearing) computer-based postage-indicia-bearing label(s), one exemplary embodiment would receive a request, such as, for example, by the ordering user, or by an administrative user, such as, for example, a Quality Assurance user, for a replacement for an original customized value-bearing item. The request by the user for the replacement image-customized, computer-based postage-indicia-bearing label(s) would correspond to a particular replacement value. In some cases, the replacement value would be equal to the original value associated with the original, full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data). In other cases, the replacement value would be different, such as in the case of a USPS postage rate increase, than the original value associated with the original, full, digitally-signed generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data). In particular, in the case of a USPS postage rate increase, the replacement value would be greater than the original value.
Such an embodiment would, for example, generate an exemplary request for a set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, value-bearing item indicia data corresponding to the replacement value of the replacement image-customized, computer-based postage-indicia-bearing label(s).
In one such embodiment, a set of computer program instructions would be provided, that when executed by one computer (for example, the Image generation server, element 1202 in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the description herein of two computers is exemplary and non-limiting; the invention would apply equally to a single computer performing all the relevant actions described or to more than two computers performing all the relevant actions described.
Such an embodiment would, for example, receive the request for the set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, value-bearing item indicia data and generate a set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data in response to the request for a set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, value-bearing item indicia data for the replacement value.
Alternatively, such an embodiment could determine, before generating the request, whether the replacement value equaled the original value. If the replacement value equaled the original value, such an embodiment could generate the request for the set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, value-bearing item indicia data for the replacement value. If, on the other hand, the replacement value exceeded the original value, such an embodiment would calculate the difference between the replacement value and the original value and generate the request for the set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, value-bearing item indicia data for the difference in value.
In a further alternative embodiment, it would also be possible for a user to request replacement postage-indicia-bearing labels indicia data comprising an apportionment of the original value to a number of smaller-denomination replacement values. For example, if a single label had originally been printed for, say, for example, a large amount such as $10, and the label was not used, the ordering user might want to replace the single large denomination label with, for example, one-ounce first-class postage, such as, for example, $0.42, and if the single large amount denomination did not split evenly over the requested denomination, then, for some additional number of smaller-denomination labels, such as $0.01 and/or $0.02, or some combination thereof.
In the exemplary user interface depicted in
If the user's request could be validated, then the system would analyze the user's indication(s) of replacement numbers of labels 3404-1 through 3404-4 and corresponding replacement denomination values 3405-1 through 3405-4. In order for one or more replacement labels to be printed, the user would need to click the exemplary “REPLACE” button 3407 on the exemplary user Replacement.
As a user inputs numbers (3404-1 through 3404-4) and replacement denomination values (3405-1 through 3405-4), the exemplary embodiment would report the Total Replacement Value 3406; the exemplary system would update the Total Replacement Value 3406 with each change or addition that the user might make.
In one such exemplary embodiment, the exemplary user interface would require that the Total Replacement Value equaled or exceeded the Original Label Value 3403 before allowing the system to continue with the Replacement function when if the user clicked on the “REPLACE” (or otherwise labeled) button 3407. However, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described exemplary system imposition of a greater than or equal Total Replacement Value is illustrative and is not a limitation of the invention.
With the exemplary Replacement Request user interface screen depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described exemplary four number input fields and replacement value input fields are illustrative and not a limitation of the invention. Further, it will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described exemplary user interface is illustrative and not a limitation of the present invention.
Alternative ways of providing for such a split/apportionment request could be provided without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, an administrative user could scan in the postage indicia and the exemplary system could perform a lookup based on the scanned postage (IBI Lite) indicia (or other value-bearing-item indicia) to locate the corresponding full, digitally-signed postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia and its value. Further, other ways could be provided for apportioning the original value. For example, the system could “propose” a replacement denomination value and corresponding number of replacement labels.
In an embodiment that provided apportionment/splitting of an original label value over a plurality of replacement label values, one such exemplary embodiment would generate a new set of full, digitally-signed postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data and a corresponding new set of IBI Lite postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data for each new replacement label, and would cross-reference, or otherwise indicate a relationship between, each new set of full, digitally-signed postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data and each corresponding new set of IBI Lite postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data for each new replacement label to the original, replaced, full, digitally-signed postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data; the replaced IBI Lite postage (or other value-bearing-item) indicia data would be destroyed or otherwise designated as replaced.
In one exemplary embodiment, a set of computer program instructions would be provided, that that when executed by the other computer (for example, the secure vault indicia generator server, element 1203 in
In one such embodiment, a set of computer program instructions would be provided, that when executed by the one computer (for example, the Image generation server, element 1202 in
In a case where multiple replacement values would be used to equal the original value, such an embodiment would generate a request for each set of replacement, full, digitally-signed value-bearing item indicia data for each of the multiple replacement values.
In an embodiment where the relevant actions are being done between two computers (e.g., an Image generation server, such as, for example, element 1202 in
Such an embodiment would then, for example, extract a replacement subset of data from the set of replacement, full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data and use the replacement subset of data to generate a set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data (e.g., replacement, IBI Lite Indicia data) for a replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item.
Such an embodiment would then, for example, create a replacement cross-reference between the set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data, the set of replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data, and the set of original, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data.
Such an embodiment would then, for example, save the replacement cross-reference in a computer-readable memory, such as in the exemplary mapping database, e.g., element 351,
Such an embodiment would then, for example, generate a replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item comprising the set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data that corresponds to the set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data.
In some such embodiments, the replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item would comprise an image-customized postage-indicia-bearing item such as an image-customized, computer-based, postage label. In other such embodiments, the replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item would comprise some other type of Value Bearing Item (VBI).
As described above, such embodiments would provide an exemplary method for facilitating replacement of customized value-bearing items, in response to a request to replace an original, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item for an original value, with a replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item for a replacement value. Such an exemplary method would comprise identifying a full, digitally-signed, original, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) corresponding to the original, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item for the original value. Such an exemplary method would further comprise determining if the replacement value and the original value are different.
If the replacement value and the original value are different, such an exemplary method would further comprise: calculating a replacement value difference; obtaining a set of full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia data for a value corresponding to the replacement value difference; and generating a set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) comprising a subset of the full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) and further comprising an indication of the replacement value.
If the replacement value and the original value are equal, such an exemplary method would further comprise: obtaining a full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) for a value corresponding to the replacement value; and generating a set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) comprising a subset of the full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data) and further comprising an indication of the replacement value.
Such an exemplary method would further comprise creating an index or other indication of a relationship that maps a relationship between the set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data), the full, digitally-signed, replacement, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data), and the full, digitally-signed, original, generic, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia (and/or indicia data).
Such an exemplary method would further comprise generating the replacement, customized (e.g., IBI Lite), computer-based, value-bearing item comprising the set of replacement, customized, computer-based, value-bearing item indicia. In the exemplary method, the set of replacement customized value-bearing item indicia data would not include a digital signature.
If, on the other hand, the replacement value is different than the original value, such an embodiment would take the exemplary “No” path 5010 and would test in test function 5020 to determine if the replacement value is greater than the original value. In one such embodiment, if the replacement value was not greater than the original value, such an embodiment would take the exemplary “No” path 5022 and would notify the user in exemplary function 5050 that no refund or replacement postage label was available. It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the above-described approach of not allowing a replacement postage label to be printed if the replacement value is less than the original value is not a limitation of the present invention. Rather, in other embodiments, it would be possible to process a replacement request by printing postage labels for the replacement value and giving the requesting user a credit for the difference without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
If in test function 5020 it is determined that the replacement value is greater than the original value, then the subject embodiment would take the exemplary “Yes” path 5021 and would calculate in function 5030 a difference amount equal to the replacement value minus the original value and would set the postage value to the replacement value before proceeding to request generic Internet postage indicia data in function 5060.
In exemplary function 5060, such an exemplary embodiment would further comprise requesting in exemplary function 5060 generic Internet Postage indicia data. In the subject embodiment, the request in exemplary function 5060 for generic Internet Postage indicia data will comprise a request for full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data) in the exemplary manner previously described above.
In such an embodiment a is depicted in
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the illustrative description herein of exemplary functions being performed by two different computers is not a limitation of the present invention. Rather, the functions could be performed by a single computer or by more than two computers without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
In the subject embodiment, once generic Internet Postage indicia data has been requested by the exemplary image generation server 1202 in exemplary function 5060, the exemplary generic Internet postage server 1203 would receive in exemplary function 5070 the request for generic Internet postage indicia data. The subject embodiment would then retrieve in exemplary function 3552 exemplary account information from an exemplary PSD (Postal Security Device) database 3570. In the subject embodiment, exemplary account information will comprise the current Ascending Register and Descending Register amounts.
In the subject embodiment, exemplary PSD database 3570 will contain exemplary PSD (Postal Security Device) records. Exemplary account information will be information contained within the exemplary PSD records. In the subject embodiment, exemplary function 3554 will validate that the retrieved account record is signed.
Then, in exemplary test function 5075, the difference amount will be tested. If the difference amount is equal to zero (0), then the subject embodiment would take the exemplary “Yes” path 5076 and would generate in exemplary function 5090 the requested generic Internet postage indicia data for the postage value before continuing to exemplary function 5100.
If, on the other hand, the result of exemplary test function 5075 is that the difference amount is not equal to zero (0), then the exemplary “No” path 5077 would be taken and the subject embodiment would generate in exemplary function 5080 the requested generic Internet postage indicia data for the difference amount. The subject embodiment would then update in exemplary function 5110 the Ascending and Descending Registers with the difference amount, would re-sign in exemplary function 5120 the exemplary account record, and in exemplary function 5130 would store the updated, re-signed exemplary account record in the exemplary PSD database 3570.
The subject embodiment would then, proceed to exemplary function 5100 and would send, return, or otherwise make available, the generated generic Internet postage indicia data to the requestor.
In exemplary function 5140, the exemplary image generation server 1202 of the subject embodiment would receive, detect, or otherwise recognize the generated generic Internet postage indicia data. The subject embodiment would then generate in exemplary function 5150 replacement, customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) comprising a subset of the generated generic Internet postage indicia data and would comprise an indication of the replacement value.
In some such embodiments, an optional test function 5160 would be performed to test the difference amount. In such embodiments, if the difference amount is equal to zero (0), then the embodiment would take the exemplary “Yes” path 5170 and would proceed to exemplary optional function 5190 at which the original “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) would be destroyed. In such embodiments, if the difference amount is not equal to zero (0), then the embodiment would take the exemplary “No” path 5180, and would generate in optional exemplary function 5185, exemplary “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) for the difference amount, and would then proceed to exemplary optional function 5190 at which the original “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) would be destroyed.
It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the exemplary optional functions described above regarding the creation of an “IBI Lite” indicia (and/or indicia data) for the difference amount, and regarding destroying the original “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) are illustrative and non-limiting.
In exemplary function 5200, the subject embodiment would generate a mapping between the replacement, “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data), the replacement generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data), and the original generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data).
In an embodiment in which the exemplary optional function 5185 had generated exemplary “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia for the difference amount, then exemplary optional function 5210 would be performed to include in the mapping a reference or other relationship to the generated exemplary “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) for the difference amount.
In an embodiment in which the exemplary optional function 5190 had not been performed, then exemplary optional function 5220 would be performed to include in the mapping a reference or other relationship to the original, “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data).
In exemplary function 5230, the subject embodiment would then store the mapping in an exemplary mapping database 5300.
In one such embodiment, the mapping of the multiple indicia (and/or indicia data) could comprise concatenating the various “IBI Lite” customized, computer-based, postage indicia (and/or indicia data) (original and replacement), and the generic Internet postage indicia (and/or indicia data) (comprising full, digitally-signed, generic, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data) in the exemplary manner previously described above) (original and replacement).
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, the USPS may scan computer-based postage indicia and then send the scanned computer-based postage indicia to the corresponding provider of the computer-based postage indicia for validation.
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, information about electronically read, or otherwise sensed, indicia may be communicated in various ways. For example, the USPS may scan computer-based postage indicia and then send data sets of scanned computer-based postage indicia data, either encoded or decoded, to the corresponding provider of the computer-based postage indicia for validation. Or the USPS could send data sets of scanned images to the corresponding provider. Alternatively, the USPS could send the corresponding provider an email message with a link to a particular Internet address or other location where data regarding scanned computer-based postage indicia could be accessed. The above-mentioned ways of communicating information about electronically read or sensed postage indicia are illustrative and are not a limitation of the present invention.
If a match for the scanned computer-based postage indicia is found, then the exemplary “Yes” path 6232 would be taken and the subject embodiment would test in exemplary test function 6234 whether the replacement amount of the scanned “IBI Lite” postage indicia is equal to the original amount and the difference amount. In particular, such an embodiment would use the scanned replacement “IBI Lite” postage indicia to access the mapping of the replacement value “IBI Lite” postage indicia (and/or indicia data) to the full, digitally-signed, computer-based postage indicia (and/or indicia data) for both the original value and the difference amount. The subject embodiment would add the original value and the difference amount and test the resulting total in exemplary test function 6234 with the replacement value of the scanned replacement “IBI Lite” postage indicia. If the original amount and the difference amount equal the “IBI Lite” replacement amount, the subject embodiment would take “Yes” path 6237 and would notify in exemplary function 6240 the USPS that the scanned computer-based postage indicia is valid. For example, as depicted in
Returning to exemplary test function 6230, if, on the other hand, a match for the scanned computer-based postage indicia is not found, then exemplary “No” path 6231 would be taken, and the subject embodiment would notify in exemplary function 6235 the USPS that the scanned computer-based postage indicia is not valid. For example, as depicted in
Returning to exemplary test function 6234, if the scanned “IBI Lite” replacement amount does not equal the total of the original amount and the difference, then the subject embodiment would take the “No” path 6236 and would notify in exemplary function 6235 the USPS that the scanned computer-based postage indicia is not valid, such as, for example, as depicted in
The response file 6260 would be transmitted 6265 (or otherwise provided or made available) to the USPS.
Other features of the invention are implicit in the above-provided description and/or are depicted and/or implicit in the accompanying Figures.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection by the copyright owner, Stamps.com Inc., its successors and assigns. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Although this invention has been described in certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Moreover, to those skilled in the various arts, the invention itself herein will suggest solutions to other tasks and adaptations for other applications. Thus, the embodiments of the invention described herein should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents rather than the foregoing description.
This application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/729,148, titled “COMPUTER-BASED VALUE-BEARING ITEM CUSTOMIZATION SECURITY”, filed on Mar. 27, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,954,709, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/994,768, titled “COMPUTER-BASED VALUE-BEARING ITEM CUSTOMIZATION SECURITY”, filed on Nov. 22, 2004 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,842; Issued Jul. 17, 2007), the entire contents and disclosure of which are incorporated herein in full by reference as if stated in full herein, which in turn claimed priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/591,433, titled “COMPUTER-BASED VALUE-BEARING ITEM CUSTOMIZATION SECURITY”, filed on Jul. 27, 2004, the entire contents and disclosure of which are incorporated herein in full by reference as if stated in full herein.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60591433 | Jul 2004 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 10994768 | Nov 2004 | US |
| Child | 11729148 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 11729148 | Mar 2007 | US |
| Child | 12316240 | US |
