POSTAGE METERING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A STAND-ALONE METER HAVING VIRTUAL METER FUNCTIONALITY

摘要

A postage metering system includes a host processor having a printercoupled thereto. A postal security device (PSD) is coupled to the hostprocessor. The PSD includes first unique identification, first postal valuestorage and first digital signature generator. The host processor can requestand obtain from the PSD first evidence of postage payment to be printed bythe printer. The host processor can also request and obtain from a remotedata center second evidence of postage payment to be printed by the printer.For each metering transaction to be printed by the printer, the host processorinitiates the request for one of the first and second evidences of postagepayment. In one embodiment the host processor is a general purposecomputer.