Patent ID: 7937332

Claim:
A method comprising: scanning a mail piece with a mail piece scanner at a first location to obtain a human-readable image and a machine-readable image in a single image, including a postal indicium representing postage-related information associated with the mail piece, the postal indicium being uniquely identifiable and having a human-readable portion and a machine-readable portion; sending postal indicium information to a point of automation at a second location different from the first location, the point of automation having a first computer programmed to verify postal indicia and to make comparisons by: comparing, with the first computer, the postal indicium information against stored postal indicium data to determine whether the postal indicium is valid; converting, with the first computer, at least one part of the human-readable portion of the postal indicium to at least one machine-readable character; comparing, with the first computer, the at least one machine-readable character with at least one character from the machine-readable portion representing the same information to determine whether the postal indicium is valid; and when the postal indicium is address dependent, comparing, with the first computer at the point of automation, a delivery point code read from the postal indicium with an address read from the mail piece, and checking a flag in the postal indicium to determine whether the delivery point code was validated before being printed on the mail piece; receiving an instruction on how to handle the mail piece at a second computer disposed at the first location, the instruction being sent by the first computer and being based on said comparisons at the point of automation; and processing the mail piece in a mail system in accordance with the received instruction.