| 摘要 |
A post-payment postage meter, of a kind in which operation is inhibited after the exhaustion of a measurable parameter (e.g. in response to an internal calendar), is reactivated by the input of a pseudo-random number generated by a remote accounting centre only if the number matches a pseudo-random number generated within the meter itself. In a preferred form, a portable memory device is shuttled (e.g. by post) between the meter and the accounting centre. At the accounting centre the latest accounting details from the meter are read and justified w.r.t. the holders account before the random number is generated and stored to the portable memory. At the postage meter the random number is compared against the internally generated number, and if justified, the operation of the meter is enabled and the latest accounting data is stored to the memory device for conveyance to the accounting centre. It is stated that the portable memory device can be replaced by telephonic transmission of data between meter and account centre. <IMAGE> |
