Patent ID: 7613639

Claim:
A secure on-line system for printing value bearing items (VBI) comprising: a client system configured to interface with a plurality of users; and a server system configured to communicate with the client system over a communication network comprising: a secure database remote from the users including a data record for each of the users; and a plurality of stateless cryptographic devices, each of the plurality of stateless cryptographic devices remote from the plurality of users and configured to perform authentication, processing value for the VBI, and generation of indicia data for the plurality of users, wherein before each of the authentication, processing value, and generation of indicia data for a given user is performed, an available cryptographic device in the server system retrieves the data record for the given user directly from the database, and wherein after the authentication, processing value, and generation of indicia data are performed, the client system instructs a printer to print the VBI.