Method for operating a digitally printing postage meter to generate and check a security imprint

US6041704A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Francotyp-Postalia GmbH · DE

Inventor

• Dieter Pauschinger · Berlin, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 9, 1997
• Grant date: Mar 28, 2000
• Expiry date: Dec 9, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G07B2017/00967
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

In a method for a digitally printing postage meter machine and for generating and checking a security imprint, critical franking information together with a signature are printed on a mail piece in the machine-readable area of the franking format. A print head having a standard printing width can be utilized for the imprint, which is human-readable and also reliably machine-readable, because the machine-readable information set to be printed is reduced by a modified public key method, with the private write key and the algorithm for encryption being stored at the postage meter machine site in a security device. The public read key and its certificate can be taken from a data base at the postal site, allocated to the postage meter machine identifier. The public key method modified for postage meter machines makes use of a simple key generation and encryption of the message at the postage meter machine site and a simple decrypting of the message at the postal site.