Patent ID: 7233929

Claim:
A method for generating meter refund indicia data, the method comprising: providing a secure network between a postage value administrator and a postal service provider; authenticating a user at a user computer by a server on the secure network, wherein the server comprises a database and a cryptographic module; accessing meter refund withdrawal software executing on a user computer and transmitting to the server a request for a meter refund using the meter refund withdrawal software; processing the meter refund request via a meter refund application executing on the secure network at a support personnel computer; contacting the cryptographic module by the meter refund application; calculating the meter refund by the cryptographic module; generating indicia data for the calculated meter refund by the cryptographic module by accessing meter refund information from the database; transmitting the generated indicia data from a vault wherein the vault comprises the server; and printing the indicia including the indicia data.