Postal system intranet and commerce processing for on-line value bearing system
View Patent ↗An on-line system for printing a value bearing item (VBI) that includes a client subsystem for interfacing with a user, a cryptographic device remote from the client subsystem for authenticating a plurality of users, and a server subsystem capable of communicating with the client subsystem and having code for providing customer support to a user, for administering a user VBI meter, for providing payment administration support to a user, providing accounts receivable support to a user, meter refund and withdrawal processing support to a user, providing misprint processing support to a user, and providing payment processing and billing functions. A method implementing these features is also provided.
1. A method for generating meter refund indicia data, the method comprising:
providing a secure network between a postage value administrator and a postal service provider;
authenticating a user at a user computer by a server on the secure network, wherein the server comprises a database and a cryptographic module;
accessing meter refund withdrawal software executing on a user computer and transmitting to the server a request for a meter refund using the meter refund withdrawal software;
processing the meter refund request via a meter refund application executing on the secure network at a support personnel computer;
contacting the cryptographic module by the meter refund application;
calculating the meter refund by the cryptographic module;
generating indicia data for the calculated meter refund by the cryptographic module by accessing meter refund information from the database;
transmitting the generated indicia data from a vault wherein the vault comprises the server; and
printing the indicia including the indicia data.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the meter refund request allows a meter administrator to initiate the meter refund.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the meter refund request comprises generating reports including a withdrawal request report and a withdrawn meters reports.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the meter refund withdrawal software executing on the user computer comprises accessing a GUI to permit the user computer to interact with the server.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia is printed to an electronic file.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia is printed to a printer.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for searching for a customer.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for accessing a postage transaction history.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for placing an administrative hold on an account.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for accessing an e-mail history.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for executing a file transfer status and file download.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for executing a file transfer archive search.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for uploading quality assurance envelopes.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing code for providing print error credits to a customer.