Patent ID: 6549640
Filing Date: 2003-04-15
Classification: G07B,G07D

Abstract:
A method for printing postage using a postage meter, the improvement comprising:hiding information in a customer supplied graphic so that the amount of postage debited by the meter is hidden in the graphic; and a postal indicia indicates the amount of postage debited by the meter, wherein the graphic contains a plurality of pixels, and a portion of the pixels form a code that indicates the amount of postage that has been paid, wherein the pixels that comprise the code are arranged in columns and rows, and the amount of postage paid is encoded by the pixels in the columns, wherein a portion of one of the columns is encoded by the pixels to indicate tens of dollars of postage paid; a portion of one of the columns is encoded by the pixels to indicate dollars of postage paid; a portion of one of the columns is encoded by the pixels to indicate tens of cents of postage paid; a portion of one of the columns is encoded by the pixels to indicate the number of cents of postage paid; and a portion of one of the columns is encoded by the pixels to indicate tenths of cents of postage paid.