Patent ID: 6847952

Claim:
A postage metering system, comprising: a base including a base processor, a deck and a transport for feeding a mailpiece along the deck in a path of travel; a printer assembly operatively mounted to the base, the printer including a printer control module and a print mechanism under the control of the printer control module, the print mechanism being located adjacent to the path of travel for printing on the mailpiece, the printer control module being operatively mounted to the printer assembly; a user interface operatively mounted to the base, the user interface including a user interface processor in operative communication with the base processor and the printer control module, an internal socket for receiving a processor and an external processor reader interface connector for interfacing with an external processor; and wherein: the user interface processor includes a memory for storing a postage meter configuration indicator that controls whether the user interface processor accesses postage metering functionality at either the external processor reader interface connector or the internal socket.