EP2003619A2 - Procédé et agencement de sécurisation de données pouvant être définies par l'utilisateur d'une affranchisseuse - Google Patents

Procédé et agencement de sécurisation de données pouvant être définies par l'utilisateur d'une affranchisseuse Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2003619A2
EP2003619A2 EP07122887A EP07122887A EP2003619A2 EP 2003619 A2 EP2003619 A2 EP 2003619A2 EP 07122887 A EP07122887 A EP 07122887A EP 07122887 A EP07122887 A EP 07122887A EP 2003619 A2 EP2003619 A2 EP 2003619A2
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
data
backup
configuration
franking machine
postage meter
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP07122887A
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP2003619A3 (fr
Inventor
Clemens Heinrich
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Francotyp Postalia GmbH
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Francotyp Postalia GmbH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Francotyp Postalia GmbH filed Critical Francotyp Postalia GmbH
Publication of EP2003619A2 publication Critical patent/EP2003619A2/fr
Publication of EP2003619A3 publication Critical patent/EP2003619A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00016—Relations between apparatus, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office, in a franking system
    • G07B17/0008—Communication details outside or between apparatus
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00185—Details internally of apparatus in a franking system, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office
    • G07B17/00362—Calculation or computing within apparatus, e.g. calculation of postage value
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00185—Details internally of apparatus in a franking system, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office
    • G07B17/00435—Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00733—Cryptography or similar special procedures in a franking system
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00016—Relations between apparatus, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office, in a franking system
    • G07B17/0008—Communication details outside or between apparatus
    • G07B2017/00153—Communication details outside or between apparatus for sending information
    • G07B2017/00161—Communication details outside or between apparatus for sending information from a central, non-user location, e.g. for updating rates or software, or for refilling funds
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00016—Relations between apparatus, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office, in a franking system
    • G07B17/0008—Communication details outside or between apparatus
    • G07B2017/00153—Communication details outside or between apparatus for sending information
    • G07B2017/00169—Communication details outside or between apparatus for sending information from a franking apparatus, e.g. for verifying accounting
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00185—Details internally of apparatus in a franking system, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office
    • G07B17/00362—Calculation or computing within apparatus, e.g. calculation of postage value
    • G07B2017/00395—Memory organization

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method for data backup of a franking machine, in which a connection is established via a communication network in a data link step between the franking machine and a remote data center, data stored in a transfer step in the postage meter are transmitted as backup data to the data center and in a storage step the backup data is stored in the data center.
  • the invention further relates to a method for configuring a franking machine, in which a method according to the invention for data backup is used.
  • the invention relates to a corresponding arrangement for data processing, a corresponding franking machine and a corresponding data center.
  • the security data and usage data of the franking machine stored in a security module of the postage meter machine or elsewhere are transmitted to the data center at predeterminable times (for example at regular time intervals or during each communication of the postage meter machine with a remote data center) and stored there for data backup.
  • security data is understood to mean those data which are used in connection with the execution of security-relevant functions of the franking machine (for example cryptographic keys, digital signatures, cryptographic certificates, etc.)
  • usage data refers to those data Data are to be understood, which are representative of the actual use of the franking machine (for example, the contents of the postal registers or data, which show the usage broken down by different postal products).
  • the usage data are then statistically evaluated in the data center, for example, in order to be able to influence the use of the franking machine, as can be seen for example from US Pat EP 0 375 330 A2 is known.
  • a further problem of the currently known franking machines is that new or newly initialized franking machines, insofar as functions and settings of the postage meter machine that can be defined by the user, have to be configured comparatively complicated by hand by the user in order to set them to the desired one Stand up.
  • the present invention is therefore based on the object to provide a method for data backup, a method for configuring a postage meter, an arrangement for data processing, a postage meter or a data center of the type mentioned above, which or the above-mentioned disadvantages not or at least to a lesser extent and in particular allows a simple configuration or reconfiguration of the franking machine.
  • the present invention solves this problem with a method according to claim 1. It further solves this problem with an arrangement according to claim 15. It further solves this problem with a postage meter according to claim 31 and a data center according to claim 32.
  • the present invention is based on the technical teaching that a simple configuration or reconfiguration of a franking machine is made possible if backup data for the relevant franking machine itself or a master franking machine are stored in a data center, comprising user-definable configuration data of the franking machine, ie therefore data include, which are definable by the user of the postage meter for the configuration of the franking machine.
  • this makes it possible in a simple manner to enable the user of a new franking machine to configure his own franking machine quickly and easily by first selecting from a pool of master franking machines the one whose user-definable configuration comes closest to his ideas. Subsequently, the user can simply load the corresponding parts of the backup data of the selected master postage meter machine into his postage meter machine and thus achieve a quick configuration of his new postage meter machine.
  • such a master franking machine can also be another franking machine likewise operated by the users of the new franking machine.
  • the user of both franking machines (for example a company with several branches in which one of the franking machines is operated in each case) can then easily ensure that both franking machines have the same user-definable configuration.
  • the present invention therefore relates to a method for data backup of a franking machine, in which a connection is established via a communication network in a data link step between the franking machine and a remote data center, data stored in a transfer step in the postage meter as backup data the data center are transmitted and finally in a storage step the Backup data stored in the data center.
  • the backup data comprise user-definable configuration data of the franking machine which can be defined by the user of the franking machine for configuration of the franking machine.
  • the user-definable configuration data may in principle comprise any data that can be directly and freely defined by the user.
  • the configuration data preferably include, among other things, data for configuring functions of the franking machine. These include, among other things, user-definable configuration data that defines how certain data acquired or accumulated during the operation of the postage meter machine is stored for simplification of later evaluations. Consequently, this may therefore be data for the organization of the storage of usage data of the franking machine.
  • the configuration data may also include user-definable data for configuring a franking imprint that can be generated by the franking machine.
  • This may include, for example, data on clichés that can be selected by the user for a franking imprint that can be generated by the franking machine. This data may have been generated by the user himself on the franking machine. It is also possible to include cliched data loaded from the outside into the franking machine.
  • the configuration data preferably comprise, for example, user-definable data for determining menu sequences and / or menu contents of the franking machine. Additionally or alternatively, the configuration data may comprise user-definable data for associating functions of the postage meter machine with operations of input devices of the postage meter machine. This may be, for example, the functional assignment of certain keys or key combinations of the franking machine.
  • an input For example, a user or service technician
  • the data backup step can continue to be performed each time the relevant given time or non-time event occurs. However, in order to achieve the most economical operation, it is preferably provided that the data backup step is performed only if the data backup step is to be carried out for the first time after an initialization of the postage meter or if a change of the user-definable configuration data has taken place since the last execution of the data backup step. Thus, the data backup step is actually only performed when it is necessary to bring the data in the data center to a current state. As a result, unnecessary data transfers can be avoided.
  • the data transmitted and stored in the context of the data backup step can be limited to those data for which there is an updating requirement in the data center in order to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted.
  • only those user-definable configuration data can be transmitted as backup data in which a relevant change has occurred since the last data backup step.
  • the data backup step can be carried out as part of the processing of a separate, separate service protocol in which the data backup step is carried out as the only service between the postage meter machine and the data center.
  • the data backup step is embedded in a service protocol, during the processing of which one or more further services are performed between the postage meter machine and the data center.
  • the data backup step is carried out as part of a service performed between the postage meter machine and the data center, wherein the data backup step can be a sub-service of a service comprising at least one further service performed between the postage meter machine and the data center.
  • the backup data can in principle be stored in any suitable manner in the data center. For example, they can simply be stored in a special memory of the data center assigned to the franking machine. Preferably, however, it is provided that the configuration data are stored in the storage step in the data center linked with additional information, which allows a more variable handling of the backup data.
  • the additional information can basically have any suitable and desired information content.
  • the additional information preferably comprises an identification (preferably freely definable by the user) of the data backup step. Additionally or alternatively, the additional information may comprise a time information representative of the time of execution of the data backup step. In both cases, it is possible with a parallel storage of the backup data of multiple backup steps to identify and select a particular backup step at a later date based on its identification or its time.
  • the additional information may also include an identification of the franking machine (eg serial number) and / or of the user (eg customer number) of the postage meter machine in order to allow a correspondingly simple assignment of the security data to the franking machine or the user ,
  • the additional information may comprise a configuration information representative of the configuration of the franking machine that can not be defined by the user. These are, for example, the type, the software version, etc. of the franking machine.
  • the additional information may include authorization information required to authorize access to the backup data.
  • authorization information is a password.
  • any other, in particular arbitrarily complex, authorization mechanisms can also be implemented.
  • the backup data is stored from a plurality of data backup steps, so as to easy way to create the ability to optionally reconstruct an earlier configuration state, which has already followed several changes and in particular several backup steps.
  • the transmission of the backup data and their storage can be done in any suitable manner. In particular, this can be dispensed with a special backup of the data. However, it is preferably provided that the transmission of the security data in the transmission step and / or the storage of the security data in the storage step takes place using cryptographic means. In this case, the security can be designed such that the security data is protected against unauthorized access (read and / or write access) and / or unrecognized manipulation.
  • the backup data may only be stored for the purpose of configuring or reconfiguring postage meters.
  • the backup data in the data center and / or in a further data processing device that can be connected to the data center be further processed, in particular evaluated.
  • the further data processing device it is possible, in particular, for the further data processing device to execute a management program assigned to the user of the postage meter machine which processes the backup data further.
  • cost center data from user-definable cost centers for statistical purposes can be evaluated and further processed.
  • the present invention further relates to a method for configuring a franking machine, in which in a data protection step with a method according to the invention user-definable configuration data of a postage meter comprehensive backup data are stored in a remote data center and in a configuration step, at least a portion of the backup data from the data center in a postage meter loaded and used to configure the postage meter.
  • the backup data is loaded again into the same franking machine.
  • the backup data originate from a first franking machine and are used in the configuration step to configure at least one second franking machine.
  • the configuration step can, in turn, be carried out when any predefinable temporal or non-temporal events occur.
  • provision can be made for the configuration step to take place at the next production of a connection of the second franking machine to the data center following the data backup step.
  • the configuration of the second franking machine can be immediately enforced as soon as it establishes a connection with the data center.
  • the configuration of the franking machine in the configuration step can be done exclusively with the save data stored in the last data backup step. In preferred variants of the invention, however, it is possible to carry out a modification of the backup data in order to achieve a desired adaptation of the user-definable configuration data and thus the configuration of the postage meter machine in the configuration step.
  • a modification step which follows the data backup step and precedes the configuration step, the user-definable configuration data stored in the data center are modified and in the configuration step at least the user-definable configuration data modified in the modification step is loaded into the franking machine and used to configure the franking machine become.
  • the modification can be carried out by any authorized side.
  • it may be provided what the user of the postage meter machine himself makes a corresponding modification.
  • provision may be made, for example, for the data center to allow the user access to the stored configuration data via an optionally correspondingly secure access (for example a web portal or the like).
  • the user can, for example, via the modification of the configuration data of a master franking machine in one step the Configure multiple postage meters configured using the master postage meter configuration data.
  • the modification may relate to any user-definable configuration data.
  • the modification can be used particularly advantageously in connection with the selection and / or adaptation of plate data for the franking impression produced by the respective franking machine.
  • the data center allows the user access to a catalog of the cliché data available to him via a corresponding access (eg a web portal or the like). The user can then select the desired cliché, whose data are then incorporated in the modification step in the stored backup data.
  • the user-definable configuration data comprise cliché data for a franking imprint that can be generated by the postage meter and in the modification step the cliché data are modified, the modification of the cliché data being performed by replacing the previous cliché data with new cliché data.
  • the new cliché data can be selected from a plurality of available different cliché data depending on a specification of the user of the franking machine.
  • the present invention further relates to a data processing arrangement with a postage meter having a first memory and a remote data center having a second memory.
  • the franking machine and the data center are designed to establish a connection with each other in a data protection step via a communications network, to transmit data stored in the first memory as backup data to the data center and to store it in the second memory.
  • the security data comprise user-definable configuration data of the franking machine that can be defined by the user of the franking machine for configuration of the franking machine.
  • the present invention further relates to a franking machine which has the features described above and to a data processing device which comprises has features described above. This makes it possible to realize the above-described variants and advantages of the method according to the invention to the same extent, so that reference is also made here only to the above statements.
  • FIGS. 1 and 2 a preferred embodiment of the arrangement 101 for data processing according to the invention is described, with which a preferred variant of the method according to the invention for the configuration of a postage meter machine using a preferred variant of the method according to the invention for data backup is performed.
  • the assembly 101 comprises a number of x franking machines (FM), which include, among others, a first franking machine 102, a second franking machine 103 and a third franking machine 104.
  • the franking machines 102 to 104 can each be connected via a communication link, for example a data network 105, to a remote data center 106.
  • the franking machine 102 comprises, in addition to the usual, required for franking mail pieces FIG. 1 Components not shown include a first processing unit in the form of a first processor 102.1, a first security module 102.2, a first memory 102.3, an input / output unit 102.4 and a communication module 102.5, which are each connected to the first processor 102.1.
  • a first processing unit in the form of a first processor 102.1, a first security module 102.2, a first memory 102.3, an input / output unit 102.4 and a communication module 102.5, which are each connected to the first processor 102.1.
  • the first security module 102.2 is used in a customary manner to provide the security-relevant postal services required for the franking, such as, for example, the secure accounting of the franking values, but also the cryptographic security of certain postal data. Furthermore, the first security module 102.2 makes it possible to carry out cryptographic operations for the purpose of securing further data and for communication via the data network 105.
  • the first security module 102.2 comprises in a well-known manner a processor, a cryptography module for performing cryptographic operations (using cryptographic algorithms and parameters) and corresponding - possibly redundant - registers for storing the billing data stored in a physical and logically secured from unauthorized access area are arranged.
  • the data center 106 comprises a second processing unit 106.1, a second security module 106.2, a second memory 106.3 and a communication module 106.4, which are each connected to the second processing unit 106.1.
  • the second security module 106.2 provides security-relevant services, for example the cryptographic protection of certain postal or non-postal data or the communication via the data network, in a well-known manner.
  • the arrangement 101 for the first franking machine 102 can be used to make a backup in which certain data of the franking machine 102 are stored in the data center 106. Furthermore, the arrangement 101 can be used to configure the first franking machine 102 or one or more other franking machines 103, 104 using the data saved in the context of this data backup.
  • step 107.1 the method sequence of the method according to the invention for the configuration of a franking machine is started.
  • step 107.2 it is then checked whether the inventive method for data backup should be performed. This check can take place both in the franking machine 102 and in the data center 106.
  • any data of the franking machine 102 can be defined as backup data and saved in the data center 106.
  • Dier Backup data can include, among other things, postal data (for example the status of the security module 102.2, cryptographic certificates, etc.) or configuration data of the franking machine 102 that is not freely definable by the user of the franking machine 102 (for example information about the type, the software version, etc.).
  • the security data according to the present invention comprise user-definable configuration data of the franking machine 102.
  • these can be any data that can be directly and freely defined by the user.
  • the configuration data comprise data for configuring functions of the franking machine 102. These include, among other things, configuration data that can be defined by the user and define how certain data acquired or accumulated during operation of the franking machine 102 are stored (for example, to simplify later evaluations). Consequently, this may therefore be data for the organization of the storage of usage data of the franking machine.
  • An example of such organizational data is data relating to user-established cost centers to which the use of the franking machine 102 and thus the consumption of postage is assigned.
  • the backup data preferably also includes the data associated with the cost centers in operation (eg consumption data, etc.) in order to also protect them against data loss ,
  • the configuration data may also include data definable by the user of the franking machine 102 for the configuration of a franking imprint that can be generated by the franking machine 102.
  • This may, for example, be data on user-selectable clichés for the franking imprint.
  • This data may have been generated by the user himself at the franking machine 102 (for example, by entering a text via the input / output unit 102.4).
  • the user-definable configuration data may, for example, data definable by the user of the franking machine 102 for determining menu sequences and / or menu contents of the franking machine.
  • the Configuration data from the user definable data for the assignment of functions of the postage meter machine to operations of the input / output unit 102.4 include. This may be, for example, the functional assignment of certain keys or key combinations of the input / output unit 102.4.
  • a corresponding input for example, a user or service technician
  • the data backup is carried out only if it is to be carried out for the first time after an initialization of the franking machine 102 or since the last execution of the data backup a change of the data to be backed up has taken place.
  • the data backup is therefore actually only carried out when it is necessary to bring the data in the data center 106 to a current state. As a result, unnecessary data transfers can be avoided.
  • the data transmitted and stored in the context of the data backup for the purpose of reducing the amount of data to be transferred can be restricted to those data for which there is an updating requirement in the data center 106. For example, therefore, only those data can be transmitted as backup data in which a relevant change has occurred since the last data backup.
  • the data backup can be carried out as part of the processing of a separate, separate service protocol, in which the data backup is performed as the only service between the franking machine 102 and the data center 106.
  • the data backup takes place during the processing of a so-called remote value specification, in which new credit is loaded from the data center 106 into the franking machine 102.
  • a connection is first established in a connection step between the franking machine 102 and the data center 106 via the communication network 105.
  • the connection setup can originate both from the data center 106 and from the franking machine 102.
  • the connection setup can be initiated immediately if it is detected that a data backup should be performed.
  • the backup data stored, inter alia, in the first memory 102.3 of the postage meter machine are then transmitted to the data center 106.
  • the backup data are preferably converted by the processor 102.1 into a semantic format (for example encoded as an XML data stream) and transmitted to the data center 106.
  • the thus transmitted backup data are finally stored in a memory step in the second memory 106.3 in the data center 106.
  • a sequential storage of the backup data, d. H. the backup data of the current backup step 107.3 are stored in addition to possibly existing other backup data of the postage meter 102 from previous backup steps. Consequently, there is a history of the backup data in the data center 106.
  • the backup data are stored in a memory area 106.5 of the second memory 106.3 assigned to the first franking machine 102, so that an assignment of the backup data to the first franking machine 102 is already ensured thereby.
  • the backup data of the first franking machine 102 are stored linked with additional information.
  • the additional information includes inter alia an identification of the data backup step that can be freely defined by the user of the franking machine 102. This may be, for example, a file name or the like that can be specified by the user of the franking machine 102. The user of the franking machine 102 can assign this file name, for example, via the input / output unit 102.4.
  • the additional information includes a time information representative of the time of execution of the backup step 107.3.
  • the additional information may also include an identification of the postage meter 102 (eg, a unique and unique serial number) and / or the user (eg, a unique and unique customer number) of the postage meter 102, so as to provide a correspondingly simple assignment of the security data to enable the franking machine 102 and the user of the franking machine 102.
  • the additional information may include configuration information which is representative of the configuration of the franking machine 102 that can not be defined by the user, unless the backup data itself already includes such configuration information. These are, for example, the type, the software version etc. of the franking machine 102.
  • the additional information may include authorization information required to authorize access to the backup data.
  • authorization information is a password.
  • any other, in particular arbitrarily complex, authorization mechanisms can also be implemented.
  • the transmission of the backup data from the franking machine 102 to the data center 106 and the storage of the backup data is done in the present example using a hedge by well-known cryptographic means which are provided via the first security module 102.2 and / or the second security module 106.2.
  • the security can be designed in such a way that the security data is protected against unauthorized access (eg by regulating the read and / or write access or encryption of the data) and / or unrecognized Tampering (eg by so-called message authentication codes (MAC) or digital signatures, etc.).
  • MAC message authentication codes
  • the backup data can only be stored for the purpose of the configuration or reconfiguration of franking machines described in more detail below. In the present example, however, provision is made for the backup data to be further processed in a further data processing device 108 of the user of the franking machine 102 that can be connected to the data center 106 via the data network 105. For this purpose, the backup data are transmitted to the data processing device 108 after they have been stored in a step 107.4.
  • the data processing device 108 executes a management program assigned to the user of the franking machine 102 (for example, a merchandise management program), which processes the transmitted backup data further.
  • a management program assigned to the user of the franking machine 102 for example, a merchandise management program
  • cost center data from user-definable cost centers for statistical purposes in the data processing device 108 can be evaluated and further processed.
  • this evaluation it is possible inter alia to optimize the consumption costs of the user of the franking machine 102 by determining, for example, the most favorable postal carrier for the respectively determined usage profile, in total, or for individual cost centers, based on a usage profile created from the security data. It is understood that this evaluation or optimization can also take place in the data center 106 and can then be made available to the user of the franking machine 102.
  • the modification can be carried out by any authorized side.
  • the user of the franking machine 102 or another correspondingly authorized person or device can make such a modification.
  • the data center 106 of the corresponding authorized person or device via an optionally according to secure access (for example, a web portal or the like) allows access to the stored in the second memory 106.3 backup data.
  • secure access for example, a web portal or the like
  • the person entitled to modify the configuration of the franking machine 102 and / or other franking machines 103, 104 for example by modifying corresponding configuration data of the franking machine 102 contained in the security data, as will be explained in more detail below.
  • the modification may relate to any user-definable configuration data contained in the backup data.
  • the modification can be used particularly advantageously in connection with the selection and / or adaptation of cliché data for the franking imprint produced by the respective franking machine 102 to 104.
  • the data center 106 of a correspondingly authorized person or device starting from the data processing device 108 via a corresponding access (eg, a web portal or the like), accesses a catalog of the franking machine 102 to 104 or their Allows users to access cliched data.
  • the desired cliché can be selected by generating a corresponding default information. According to the default information, the data of this cliché are then inserted into the stored backup data in the modification step.
  • the available cliché data can be stored, for example, in the memory area 106.5, 106.6 of the second memory 106.3 assigned to the respective franking machine 102 to 104.
  • the catalog comprises further cliché data which is stored in a third memory 106.7 of the data center 106 and which is selected in the context of the access for appropriate remuneration, d. H. can be purchased.
  • a step 107.5 is therefore checked whether a modification of the backup data should be made. If this is the case, the backup data stored in the data center are modified in a modification step 107.6 as described above.
  • the user of the franking machine 102 for example, selects a new advertising cliche which is to appear in his franking imprints.
  • the cliched data previously contained in the backup data of the last data backup step 107.3 will then be replaced by the new cliché data replaced. It goes without saying that these changes to the backup data of the last data backup step can be documented accordingly in order to be able to understand them at a later time. Likewise, it can be provided that with the modification the backup data record of the last data backup step 107.3 can remain and from this only a new backup data record (with the corresponding additional information described above, in particular a separate identification and its own time information) is generated. This has the advantage that you get a complete history of the backup data.
  • the data center 106 backup data may be used to modify the configuration of the postage meter 102 or other postage meters 103, 104. For this purpose, it is checked in a step 107.7, to be performed on such a configuration. This check can be carried out both in the relevant postage meter 102 to 104 or in the data center 106.
  • the configuration can also be performed on the occurrence of any predefinable temporal or non-temporal events.
  • the configuration takes place immediately at the next data backup step 107.3 subsequent to the production of a connection of the relevant franking machine 102 to 104 with the data center 106.
  • the configuration of the relevant franking machine 102 to 104 can be immediately enforced as soon as it establishes a connection with the data center 106.
  • step 107.7 If it is determined in step 107.7 that a configuration of one of the franking machines 102 to 104 is to be carried out, the configuration of the respective franking machine 102 to 104 takes place in a configuration step 107.8.
  • a connection is first established between the respective franking machine 102 to 104 and the data center .
  • the configuration can also be carried out as part of a separate service protocol.
  • the configuration it is again possible for the configuration to be embedded in a service protocol, during the processing of which additional services (for example, a remote value specification) between the relevant franking machine 102 to 104 and the data center 106 are performed.
  • the security data used to configure the relevant postage meter 102 to 104 in the configuration step 107.8 may be selected by the user of the relevant postage meter 102 to 104 or another authorized person or device. For example, it may be provided that such a selection has been made by a preceding modification in the modification step 107.6 and the correspondingly modified backup data record is automatically used for the configuration.
  • the selected backup data are again loaded into the same franking machine, for example the (possibly previously modified) backup data of the first franking machine 102 are reloaded into the first franking machine 102 for reconfiguration.
  • the configuration can but also simply be provided to load into the postage meter 102 new cliché data or other configuration data previously selected in the modification step. As mentioned above, if necessary, only the cliché data can also be loaded into the configuration step 107.8 in the franking machine in question.
  • the first franking machine 102 can then be used as a master franking machine, the configuration of which is transferred to the other franking machines 103, 104 during the configuration step.
  • Such master franking machines also make it possible in a simple manner to enable the user of a new franking machine to configure his own franking machine quickly and easily by first accessing the data center 106 (via a web portal or the like) and from a pool of Master franking machines selects the one (for example, the first franking machine 102) whose user-definable configuration comes closest to his ideas. Subsequently, the user can simply load the corresponding parts of the backup data of the selected master postage meter machine into his postage meter machine and thus achieve a quick configuration of his new postage meter machine.
  • such a master franking machine can also be another franking machine likewise operated by the user of the new franking machine.
  • the user of both franking machines (for example a company with several branches in which one of the franking machines is operated in each case) can then easily ensure that both franking machines have the same user-definable configuration.
  • step 107.9 is then checked whether the procedure should be terminated. If this is not the case, jump back to step 107.2. Otherwise, the process flow is terminated in a step 107.10.
  • the above-described memories of the franking machine 102 and of the data center 106 may be formed, in whole or in part, both as separate memory modules and only as individual memory areas of a single memory module.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mathematical Physics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)
  • Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
  • Detection And Prevention Of Errors In Transmission (AREA)
  • Devices For Checking Fares Or Tickets At Control Points (AREA)
EP07122887A 2007-02-28 2007-12-11 Procédé et agencement de sécurisation de données pouvant être définies par l'utilisateur d'une affranchisseuse Withdrawn EP2003619A3 (fr)

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DE102007010114A DE102007010114A1 (de) 2007-02-28 2007-02-28 Verfahren und Anordnung zur Sicherung von nutzerdefinierbaren Daten einer Frankiermaschine

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EP2003619A3 EP2003619A3 (fr) 2011-03-16

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EP (1) EP2003619A3 (fr)
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US9437051B1 (en) * 2011-06-10 2016-09-06 Stamps.Com Inc. Systems and methods for providing operational continuity using reduced data replication
US9412131B2 (en) * 2012-06-26 2016-08-09 Francotyp-Postalia Gmbh Method and arrangement for specifying services provided by a franking machine
US9992175B2 (en) * 2016-01-08 2018-06-05 Moneygram International, Inc. Systems and method for providing a data security service

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EP2003619A3 (fr) 2011-03-16
US20080301387A1 (en) 2008-12-04
US8131959B2 (en) 2012-03-06
DE102007010114A1 (de) 2008-09-04

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