Patent ID: 6839695

Claim:
A postage meter system, comprising: a postage meter registered to a specific customer at a designated location for printing a postal indicium on a mail piece; and a data center remotely located from the postage meter, the data center including a locator application and a customer account file corresponding to the postage meter, the customer account file including specific customer identification data and designated location data; and wherein: the postage meter is in selective operative communication with the data center via the internet for establishing a transaction session with the data center; and during the transaction session, the data center: (i) employs the locator application to send homing signals back and forth between the postage meter and the data center along different routes through the internet and using a communication parameter associated with the homing signals to triangulate an actual location of the postage meter; (ii) compares the actual location with the designated location; and (iii) initiates updates to the postage meter system if the actual location and the designated location do not correspond.