| 摘要 |
<p>A postage metering system includes a postage meter (1) in bus communication with an external interface unit (11). The postage meter (1) operates under the control of a programmable micro control system (2, 4, 5) which is responsive to a number of postage meter program routines stored in the program memory (5) of the meter micro control system. The postage meter also includes a communication port (18) in bus communication with the micro control system and a keyboard (8) also in bus communication with the meter micro control system for entering operator instructions. An external interface unit (11) includes a micro control system (12, 30, 32) responsive to one or more program routines stored in the program memory (32) of the external interface unit. The external interface unit further includes a postage meter port (14) and a plurality of communication ports (15, 16, 17). The postage meter port (14) is in bus communication with the communication port (18) of the postage meter. The postage meter is programmed to be responsive to encrypted operator instructions inputted through the keyboard (8) to enable one or more of the postage meter program routines, and generate external interface unit instruction messages in response to the operator instructions. The external interface unit is programmed to be responsive to the instruction messages from the postage meter to enable one or more of the external interface unit program routines. <IMAGE></p> |
