Patent ID: 11861945
Assignee: PSI SYSTEMS, INC.
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. A method of facilitating transaction data retrieval from a postage vendor system database via label generation with multiple representations of a postage tracking identifier portion, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a vendor computer system associated with a postage vendor, a carrier-specific tracking identifier unique within a carrier computer system with respect to accounts recognized by the carrier computer system;
generating, by the vendor computer system, based on the carrier-specific tracking identifier, a postage tracking identifier having a length longer than the carrier-specific tracking identifier such that (i) the postage tracking identifier comprises the carrier-specific tracking identifier and (ii) the postage tracking identifier is allocated to a postage transaction and enables a mail piece associated with the postage transaction to be tracked within the carrier computer system;
allocating, by the vendor computer system, a trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier to the postage transaction in one or more databases of the vendor computer system;
generating, by the vendor computer system, a postage value indicium identifier such that the postage value indicium identifier comprises (i) the trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier and (ii) data representing a price associated with the postage transaction, thereby enabling the vendor computer system to identify the postage transaction using (i) the postage value indicium identifier without the postage tracking identifier or (ii) the postage tracking identifier without the postage value indicium identifier;
causing, by the vendor computer system, an end-user computer to be enabled to print the postage value indicium identifier as a first barcode on a first mail piece and the postage tracking identifier as a second barcode on a different portion of the first mail piece than the first barcode such that the trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier is represented at least twice on separated portions of the first mail piece, wherein the vendor computer system is associated with at least two vendor accounts, a first of the at least two vendor accounts being a funded account, and a second of the at least two vendor accounts being a fictitiously fundable account;
executing, by the carrier computer system, a fictitious transaction in the fictitiously fundable account in response to the vendor computer system printing the postage value indicium; and
executing, by the carrier computer system, a real transaction in the funded account in response to the first mail piece being identified as present in the mail stream by the carrier computer system.