System for updating postal rate information utilized by remote mail processing apparatus

A system for replacing obsolete postal rate data with new data used by a remote mail processing apparatus comprises a central data processor for generating the new data. An encoder translates the new data into electronic tone signals which are transmitted to the remote apparatus by, for example, telephone transmission lines. The electronic tone signals are translated back into new data by a decoder. A memory incorporated in the remote apparatus is equipped to store obsolete or new data at a plurality of storage locations and a programming transfer controller, which interconnects the decoder and memory, sequentially addresses each of the locations storing obsolete data, erases the obsolete data, and loads new data into the addressed location.

RELATED APPLICATIONS 
The present invention relates to a system for updating postage rate data in 
memories associated with remote mail processing apparatus through 
telephone transmission lines. In copending applications, Ser. Nos. 764,054 
and 763,999, filed simultaneously herewith, both entitled SYSTEM FOR 
REMOTELY RESETTING POSTAGE RATE MEMORY, and both assigned to the assignee 
of the present invention, a system for updating postage rate information 
utilizing carrier wave transmission is disclosed. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a system for replacing obsolete postal 
rate data with new data which is used by remote mail processing apparatus. 
The postage required to send a piece of mail from its point of origination 
to its destination is a function of the distance between those two points, 
its weight, and its class. Sophisticated mail handling apparatus, which 
are far more efficient than manual handling methods, are now available and 
usually include a data process capable of correlating information on 
weight, destination, and class of the mail being handled to automatically 
compute its required postage. Such apparatus, which is installed at a 
user's site, may include a scale which weighs the mail and loads weight 
information into the data processor and a keyboard through which 
destination and class information are loaded into the data processor. The 
postal destination may be expressed directly in terms of postal 
destination zone information or indirectly in terms of postal zip code 
information which is converted by the data processor into zone 
information. 
The data processor includes a memory which stores postal rate information 
as a function of mail weight, class, and destination zone and generates an 
output signal indicative of the required postage for each piece of mail 
handled. 
The mail processing apparatus may also include a postage printing device, 
that is, a postage meter, which is automatically set to print an 
appropriate amount of postage in response to the output signal generated 
by the data processor. The postage may be printed by the meter directly on 
each piece of mail or on a tape for transfer to each piece of mail. 
From time to time certain data stored in the memory of the data processor 
becomes obsolete. For example, changes in the amount of postage required 
for a given piece of mail may result from changes in postal destination 
zone designations, mail and weight classifications, and postal rates or 
any combination of these factors. When the factors are changed, the 
obsolete data must be replaced with new data if the mail processing 
apparatus is to work properly. In the past, in order to do this, the mail 
handling apparatus may have been physically taken to a central data 
processing unit so that the memory could be reprogrammed. Alternatively, 
the memory may have been modular in construction so that it alone could be 
taken to the central data processing unit to be reprogrammed. Either 
operation is inconvenient. Moreover, the U.S. Postal Service must rely 
upon users of the apparatus to return the apparatus or its memory for 
updating. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In a preferred embodiment, to be described below in detail, the system of 
the present invention is capable of replacing obsolete data used by a 
remote mail processing apparatus with new data without physically moving 
the apparatus to the location of a central data processing unit and 
without removing the memory in which such data is stored and transporting 
it to the central data processing unit. In particular, the new data is 
transmitted from the central data processing unit directly to the remote 
mail handling apparatus. Therefore, data updating is both easy and 
convenient. Furthermore, updating of obsolete data with the system of the 
present invention can be conducted more quickly on a more comprehensive 
scale reaching virtually all mail processing apparatus in the field. Thus, 
the Postal Service can more readily be assured that apparatus are equipped 
to calculate postage at any given time. 
In its preferred embodiment, the system comprises a central data processing 
unit for generating the new data as electronic signals. An encoder 
translates the electronic data signals into a transmittable form such as 
multifrequency tone signals. These tone signals are transmitted to the 
remote location of the mail processing apparatus by, for example, 
telephone transmission lines which, of course, already constitute a well 
established communications network. 
The multifrequency tone signals are ultimately conducted to a telephone 
receiver-transmitter at the site of the processing apparatus. The 
receiver-transmitter is linked to an acoustical coupler that is in turn 
connected to a multifrequency tone-to-data decoder that reconverts the 
multifrequency tone signals to electronic new data signals. 
The system further comprises a memory incorporated in the remote mail 
processing apparatus for storing obsolete and new data at a plurality of 
storage locations. A programming transfer controller interconnects the 
decoder and the memory. As it receives the new data, the controller 
sequentially addresses each of the locations in which obsolete data is 
stored, erases the obsolete data from the addressed locations, and loads 
new data into the addressed location optionally the controller may erase 
the entire memory before it commences to load new data. 
In this manner, obsolete data stored in any location in the memory of the 
mail processing apparatus may be replaced sequentially with updated, new 
data so that the apparatus can properly calculate postage. Further, the 
system of the present invention has the advantage of being able to 
simultaneously update data stored in a great number of mail processing 
apparatus without requiring movement of either the apparatus or of central 
data processing equipment. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system 
for replacing obsolete postal rate data with new data used by a mail 
processing apparatus to calculate postage at a location remote from the 
central data generating or processing unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As shown in the FIGURE, the system of the present invention has three basic 
components, namely, a central data generating station 10, a remote data 
processing apparatus 12, and a postage meter 14 for imprinting mail with 
appropriate postage. The remote data processing apparatus 12 and postage 
meter 14 are together considered to be a mail processing apparatus which 
takes raw data representative of various pieces of mail, computes postage 
in accordance therewith, and imprints the postage on the mail. 
In order to understand the system of the present invention it is first 
helpful to explain the components of the mail processing apparatus which 
are already known. This apparatus includes a memory which may be in the 
form of a complementary symmetry metal oxide semiconductor, random access 
memory 16 (CMOS RAM) which is connected to a system data processor 18 such 
as a Rockwell International P P S 4/2 by an address bus 20 and a data bus 
22. Alternatively, the memory 16 may be nonvolatile, electrically 
programmable, erasable, read only memory (EROM). However, for purposes of 
this description it will be assumed that the memory is a CMOS RAM. The 
CMOS RAM has a plurality of memory storage locations, each of which stores 
a bit of information that may be retrieved by an appropriate signal, and 
may be equipped with a battery back-up to maintain information stored in 
it over extended periods of time when the apparatus is not in use. 
Operation of the system data processor 18 is controlled by three input 
signal generators including a weight input signal generator 24, a mail 
class input generator 26, and a destination zone input generator 28. The 
weight input generator 24 may be a scale electronically coupled to the 
system data processor 18. The mail class 26 and destination zone 28 input 
generators are most conveniently in the form of a keyboard having keys 
representative of the digits "0" to "9" as well as various keys 
representative of various mail classes. Further, the CMOS RAM may be 
programmed with data permitting it to convert zip code information into 
zone information for ultimate calculation of required postage. Therefore, 
the destination zone input generator may be equipped to signal the memory 
for conversion of postal zip code information to postal zone information. 
Signals from the three input generators 24, 26, 28, are correlated by the 
system data processor 18 which then addresses a given storage location in 
the CMOS RAM 16 through the address bus 20. The data stored at that 
location in the form of a postage amount is retrieved from CMOS RAM 16 
through the data bus 22 and is conducted back to the system data processor 
18 where it may be loaded into a display such as a liquid crystal or light 
emitting diode (LED) display (not shown). This data output may also be 
used to generate a signal to set postage meter 14 or may be read by an 
operator who in turn manually sets a postage meter to print a 
corresponding amount of postage. 
Accordingly, the remote mail processing apparatus correlates three forms of 
input information, of which postage is a function, addresses a memory in 
accordance with the correlated input information and retrieves postage 
data from the addressed location. The retrieved data is used to signal a 
postage meter in order to correctly imprint mail with a proper amount of 
postage. The system of the present invention is used to update the data 
stored in the memory 16. 
As noted above, the system of the present invention includes a central data 
generating station 10 which comprises a central data processing unit 30 
such as a Digital Equipment Corp. P D P 11. This unit is programmed 
whenever necessary to generate new data which supersedes that stored at 
remote mail processing apparatus 12. For example, as noted above, when the 
U.S. Postal Service changes its postal rate schedule, data stored at the 
remote mail processing apparatus must correspondingly be changed. 
Similarly, should the Postal Service change its destination zone 
designations or mail classifications, similar data changes must be made. 
The central data processing unit 30 is programmed with all of the updated 
postal rate data at the central data generating station 10. The central 
data processing unit 30 is programmed to output the new postal rate data 
to data buffers in the appropriate format for outputting to any of the 
remote data processing apparatus 12. The revised postal rate data is sent 
out in serial format including start or header bits, control bits, the 
revised postal rate data bits, and stop bits. 
New data generated by the central data processing unit is conducted on line 
31 to a data-to-multifrequency tone encoder-decoder 32 also included in 
the central data generating station. The encoder-decoder converts the new 
data, which is preferably generated by the central processing unit in 
binary form, to multifrequency tones capable of being transmitted along 
telephone transmission lines. Specifically, this data may be encoded as 
one of 12 standardized tone signals generated by combination of two of 
seven standardized tones currently employed by the Bell Telephone System 
touch-tone dialing system. 
Once encoded as multifrequency tone signals, the data is transmitted over 
telephone transmission lines 34 to a telephone receiver-transmitter 36. 
The receiver-transmitter converts the signals to familiar acoustical 
tones. 
The remote data processing apparatus 12 is equipped with an acoustical 
coupler 38 which may be linked to the telephone receiver-transmitter. The 
acoustical coupler reconverts the acoustical multifrequency tone signals 
to electronic multifrequency tone signals that are in turn conducted by 
line 39 to a multifrequency tone-to-data decoder-encoder 40. The 
decoder-encoder reconverts the tone signals to binary form for loading 
into memory 16 in a manner described below. 
The remote data processing apparatus 12 further includes a programming 
transfer controller 42 which interconnects memory 16 and the 
multifrequency tone-to-data decoder-encoder 40 to control loading of new 
data into the memory 16. This controller 42 is connected to both the 
memory address bus 20 and data bus 22 and is connected to the 
decoder-encoder on line 41. The transfer controller 42 is operable in a 
standby mode and in a programming mode which are selected by the position 
of a security switch 46 in a control line 44. When switch 46 is open the 
controller 42 is in the standby mode and is incapable of disturbing the 
memory. Therefore, accidental erasure is prevented. However, when it 
becomes necessary to updata data stored in the memory, switch 46 is closed 
and the controller becomes operable to perform its data transfer function. 
The transfer controller 42 is also connected to the system data processor 
18 by a control line 47. Through a signal generated on line 47 the 
controller causes the system data processor 18 to release control of the 
memory 16 so that new data reflecting current postage rates may be entered 
into the memory. 
The transfer controller is capable of addressing each location in the 
memory in much the same fashion as is the system data processor 18. New 
data generated by the central data processing unit 30 also includes 
information indicative of the locations in which superseded obsolete data 
is stored. When each location is addressed, obsolete data stored therein 
is erased and new data is subsequently loaded into it from the central 
data processing unit through the component link including the data bus 22 
described above. 
As shown in the FIGURE, return lines 31', 34', 39' and 41' are capable of 
conducting signals back through the various components described above. 
Accordingly, the central data processing unit can index by means of the 
transfer controller from one storage location in the CMOS RAM 16 to the 
next in which obsolete data is stored. The indexing continues through all 
locations in which such data is stored unit the CMOS RAM is completely 
loaded with updated data as necessary. 
The exchange of data from the central data processing unit 30 to the 
programming transfer controller 42 may be in accordance with the following 
typical procedure: 
An operator at the remote data processing apparatus 12 telephones the 
central data generating station 10 and awaits a signal which indicates 
that the station is about to proceed with data transfer. The operator then 
places the telephone receiver into the acoustical coupler 38. 
The serial flow of tone encoded data over the telephone lines is converted 
from tone encoded data to digital levels at the decoder-encoder 40 and 
then proceeds to the programming transfer controller 42. At the controller 
42, the input signal from the central data processing unit 30 is 
recognized and an acknowledging signal is transmitted back to the central 
data processing unit 30 from the controller 42 on the output line 41'. 
Receipt of this acknowledgment signal at the processing unit 30 commences 
the data transfer process. 
Commercially available automatic dialing equipment may be employed to 
obviate the need for operator intervention. Thus, data transfer during off 
hours may be utilized to reduce operating costs. 
The controller 42 may request blocks of data to be retransmitted in the 
event that errors are detected in data transmission. 
The received data may be written directly into the CMOS RAM 16 or be stored 
at the controller 42 for transfer at the end of the telephone link. 
The switch 46 may be a manual operator actuated switch or automatically 
controlled by the controller 42. In either event, such switch 46 controls 
the write lines of the CMOS RAM 16 so tha the memory will not be 
inadvertently erased or overwritten during accessing by the system 
processor 18. 
The control line 47 is used by the controller 42 to deactivate the system 
data processor 18 during the data transfer writing procedure. Such control 
is necessary in order to prevent competition for the address and data 
lines 20, 22 by both the system processor 18 and the controller 42 which, 
would result in data mixing of the two systems. 
The controller 42 enters the revised postal rate data into the CMOS RAM 16 
in an orderly fashion. For example, first it addresses the byte location 
it wishes to write; then it writes the data. It increments to the next 
byte address and writes that byte and subsequently increments to all 
further byte addresses until it has written all the data bytes. 
Accordingly, it can be seen from the above description that a mail 
processing apparatus may be updated with new data that supersedes obsolete 
data without removing it to a central data processing location. Moreover, 
the memory need not be removed to such a data processing location. 
While a telephone link between the central data processing station 10 and 
the remote data processing apparatus 12 is disclosed above, it is to be 
understood that other remote data transmission techniques may be employed. 
For example, radio signal transmission may be used. Alternatively, the 
remote data processing apparatus may be directly connected to the data 
generating station by transmission lines without acoustical conversion of 
signals. 
In the system of the present invention the data-to-multifrequency tone 
encoder-decoder 32 and the decoder-encoder 40 may both be modems which 
include an acoustical coupler such as that available from Multi-Tech 
Systems, Inc., having Model No. FN30. The programming transfer controller, 
which is a micro processor, may be of the type available from General 
Instrument having Model No. PIC 1650. Finally, the CMOS RAM can be one 
such as Model No. TF4380A available from Texas Instruments. An 
electrically reprogrammable ROM available from General Instruments having 
Part No. 3400 EAROM can be used also. Of course, components equivalent to 
those mentioned above may also be used. 
While a specific embodiment of the present invention has been described 
above in detail, it is to be understood that this is for purposes of 
illustration. Modifications may be made to the described system for 
replacing obsolete data at a remote mail processing apparatus with new 
data by those skilled in the art in order to adapt this system to 
particular applications.