Patent ID: 7853537

Claim:
A modular franking machine for processing empty or filled envelopes into fully or partially finished mailpieces, the machine comprising: at least a first module and a second module; a first envelope actor within the first module for moving the envelopes along an envelope processing path through the first module; a second envelope actor within the second module for moving the envelopes along the envelope processing path through the second module; a first envelope sensor within the first module for sensing the location of at least one of the envelopes within the first module; a second envelope sensor within the second module for sensing the location of at least one of the envelopes within the second module; module memory within each module for storing the respective distance between the respective sensor within each module and at least one of the respective upstream and respective downstream ends of each module, the respective distances used by the modular franking machine to determine the respective locations of the respective sensors within the entire modular franking machine; and a computer including a host processor and a host memory, for calculating and printing postage for each envelope fed through the machine and coupled to a system bus by a bus node controller; wherein the second module is coupled downstream from the first module within the envelope processing path, and the second module includes a processor system with a processor system memory for storing a table of data about modules including combinations of different modules; and wherein the host memory includes information pertaining to each module within the machine to identify additions and removals of modules from the modular franking machine.