Patent ID: 7457760

Claim:
A method of using digital electronic paper in the form of a reusable stamp comprising: affixing a stamp without a predetermined postage to an article to be mailed, wherein the stamp comprises a top layer having a visual display, middle layer having an electronics layer, and a bottom layer having an adhesive layer; swiping a smart card to encode the affixed stamp with a unique payment identifier issued by a payment authority and valid for a single payment, and other information such that the visual display automatically updates to show a representation of the encoded information; depositing the article with the encoded affixed stamp at a postal authority deposit location such that after the article is received by a postal authority, a postage value is determined automatically during a sorting process; verifying the visual display and the encoded information on the stamp for evidence of tampering; automatically requesting payment of the calculated postage from a payment authority using the unique payment identifier, and altering the adhesive through electrostatic manipulation to allow the removal of the affixed stamp so that the stamp may be reused.