| 摘要 |
A method verifyies summary activity report representing the total postage expended by a postage meter (11) for a given activity period per preselected postal categories by generating a hash value representative of the postal transactions of the meter. As a first step, each transaction is recorded in the meter memory unit (17). The funding activity records are then retrieved from unit (17) by recorded postal category for the selected activity period. A hash value is then calculated for the retrieved records. The calculated hash value is encrypted and printed along with the retrieved record of funding activity. The printed report including the encrypted hash value is then inputted into a verification apparatus (30) by either key entry or optical scanner (32). The verification apparatus (30) then independently calculates a hash value based upon the inputted record of funding activity and generates an encrypted hash value representative of the inputted funding information. A comparison is made between the now derived encrypted hash value and the encrypted hash value generated by said verification apparatus. If the report has not been altered the encrypted hash values will be identical. <IMAGE>
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