EP0675463A1 - Franking machine with additional displays - Google Patents

Abstract

The electronic franking machine has a keyboard for entry of postal values and other information, a printer and a means of recording the total postage. The assembly is housed in a secure box with a display to show the accumulated postal value. The display is housed inside the box, with a window to allow it to be viewed externally. The machine has in addition an external serial connector to couple the display information to a second display (40) fitted outside the box. This display has a serial connector to allow connection to the first connector. The display may show all or part of the information on the internal display. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic franking machine comprising printing means, means for entering postal values, printing means and postal accounting means, all of these means being enclosed in a security box, and first display means, for displaying so-called "regulatory" postal accounting data, these first display means being arranged in said box, so that the data displayed therein are visible from outside the box .

The known electronic franking machines are constructed so that the postal accounting data, which represent sums of money and which are stored there, are protected from all kinds of fraud; for this purpose, they include a security box, closed by a lock, a plumb or any other suitable device, which contains the printing means, the printing management circuits, and the postal accounting circuits; such a machine has been described for example in document FR-A-2,360,136.

In general, for these machines to fulfill their role perfectly, their design and construction must comply with strict safety rules. As such, these machines are studied and put into service under the control of the postal services of the various countries. It follows that it is relatively difficult to do upgrade these machines, because any modifications to an existing machine must give rise to an approval procedure. In addition, the postal services do not like to see too many types of franking machines in service because that complicates the task of the services in charge of control.

Furthermore, the need arises for a franking machine having not only the basic postal functions, but also capable of offering the user other functions, particularly in the field of management. In another vein, there is an increasing need for a machine capable of being able to be adapted to the requirements of various types of clientele, without, however, adapting new functions to meet these requirements, in question the PTT approval.

One of the functional extensions desired relates to display. In fact, postal administrations require at least the display of so-called "regulatory" postal data, these consisting of the content of certain sensitive machine registers in which, for example, the postal balance or accumulated postage are stored. On the other hand, users want to be able to have access to management functions and for this they need to see other data displayed such as: statistics, number of franked envelopes with a given rate etc ... In addition , from one type of clientele to another, or from one country to another, the format of the data to be displayed may vary.

It has been proposed in document FR-A-2,407,536, a franking machine which does not have a display in the security box, but which is provided with a transmission line to deport the display in a box external. The disadvantage of such a machine is that fraudsters could "manipulate" the data to be displayed, so that, for example during the statement of the postal balance operated by the postal services, the cumulative postage displayed may not correspond to the cumulative postage actually made. This is why the solution which consists in moving the display outside the housing is not satisfactory.

The present invention proposes to solve all the problems mentioned here and related to the display.

To this end, it aims at a franking machine of the kind mentioned above, characterized in that it also comprises, on the one hand, a serial transmission link transmitting permanently, outside the security box, data to be displayed including at least some of the data displayed by the first display means and, on the other hand, a device external to the security box comprising second display means and a serial reception link capable of cooperating with said transmission serial link to display all or part of the data transmitted.

The present invention also relates to additional display means adaptable to a postage meter comprising printing means, control and postal accounting means, means for entering postal values and first display means for displaying postal accounting data called "regulatory", and further comprising a serial transmission link transmitting outside the security box, permanently, data to be displayed including at least some of the data displayed by the first means of display, said additional display means being associated with a serial reception link capable of cooperating with said serial transmission link, so that all or part of the data transmitted can be displayed on the additional display means.

Thanks to these provisions, the present invention overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks. Indeed, the second display means, or the additional display means, make it possible to display the desired data by the user. All the data transmitted by the serial link need not be displayed, and a selection can be made from it.

It will be observed that the first display means remain integral with the security box and protected by the latter, the post office being able to access it to operate these usual checks.

In a preferred embodiment, the machine is characterized in that the external device is arranged to be adaptable to said security box, so as to mask the display of the data achievable by said first display means.

This advantageous arrangement makes it possible to avoid the user being hampered by the continuous display of data on the first display. In practical terms, at the user level, everything happens as if the first display means had been replaced by the second.

• la figure 1 est un schéma fonctionnel d'une machine à affranchir,
• la figure 2 est une vue partielle simplifiée de la machine à affranchir illustrée en figure 1,
• la figure 3 est une vue correspondant à la figure 2, la machine à affranchir ayant été munie des seconds moyens d'affichage,
• la figure 4 est un schéma fonctionnel du dispositif comportant les seconds moyens d'affichage illustrés en figure 3, et
• la figure 5 est une vue correspondant à la figure 4, illustrant une variante de réalisation.

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of a franking machine,
• FIG. 2 is a simplified partial view of the franking machine illustrated in FIG. 1,
• FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2, the franking machine having been provided with second display means,
• FIG. 4 is a functional diagram of the device comprising the second display means illustrated in FIG. 3, and
• Figure 5 is a view corresponding to Figure 4, illustrating an alternative embodiment.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a postage meter according to the present invention.

Conventionally, the franking machine comprises input means 11 for postal values, connected has a postal control and accounting circuit 12, the latter being connected to electromechanical printing means 13. There is also provided a regulated power supply 16, supplying the entire machine.

The structure of the means 11, 13, 16 is well known to those skilled in the art. The input means may for example consist of a keyboard or an input of binary data from a control member external to the franking machine. The control and accounting circuits include various memory and microprocessor registers, intended to control the electromechanical printing means 13. The control and accounting circuits shown diagrammatically under the reference 12 also include sensitive memories intended for memorizing postal data such as than the postal balance or the cumulative postage. This and other data can be displayed on an external display 15a, 15b. All of the means 11, 13, 16, as well as the circuit 17 for controlling the display 15a, 15b are enclosed in a tamper-proof security box, and possibly sealed, only the reading window of the display 15a, 15b being arranged so that it is visible from the outside of the housing.

All of these provisions are extremely conventional in the field of franking machines. Reference may usefully be made to document FR-A-2,360,136, the content of which is integrated here and which describes a franking machine using such means. In addition, the franking machine used in this embodiment, is the one manufactured and marketed by the applicant under the reference "MINIPOST" since 1990, apart from the means described and represented in the figures and which bear on them a number of reference greater than or equal to 20. The "MINIPOST" machine implements means identical to means 11 to 17, the housing 14, the circuit 12 and the power supply 16 having been substantially modified as explained below. The characteristics already known of the means 11 to 17, and not modified by the present invention, will therefore not be described in more detail here.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the safety box 14, at the place where the display 15 is arranged, which will be called in the following description "first display means". These means include two display lines 15a, 15b. The displays 15a, 15b are arranged on inclined support walls 18a, 18b.

According to one aspect of the invention, contacts 21 are arranged on the external housing 14. In this embodiment, these contacts are arranged on the support 18a, and are in the form of oblong areas capable of cooperating with contacts spring carried by the structure of the second display means.

According to another aspect of the invention, the control and accounting means 12 are adapted to transmit data, including regulatory postal data, to a serial link. In the embodiment chosen and shown, the serial link is constituted by a set of two emitting diodes 22, 22 ', arranged in a conventional manner and connected to the control and accounting circuit 12, the latter having been adapted to transmit signals binary at diodes 22, 22 'representing the postal data required by the post ("regulatory" data) as well as a set of data including the position of all counters such as ascending, descending, fold counters, statistical information, information on the state of the machine (incidents, information for maintenance). The diodes 22, 22 ′ are here of the SIEMENS type, reference SFH 487.

FIG. 3 shows an external device comprising a second display, arranged on the franking machine illustrated in FIG. 2.

The external device 30 comprises a lower housing 31 and an upper housing articulated on a hinge 33, so that it is orientable. The lower housing 31 includes a lower part 32 of a shape suitable for marrying the external shape of the security housing 14, at the level of the support walls 16a, 16b of the display lines 15a, 15b.

The lower housing 31 comprises two movable fasteners 34, 34 ', arranged laterally and adapted to cooperate with the lateral tabs 35, 35' arranged on the housing 14, to fix the external device 30 there.

The lower case 31, which comes into contact with the safety box, is provided with two spring contacts, arranged to bear on the contact pads 21, 21 ′ and thereby allow the supply of the external device 30. In the figure 4, the spring contacts have been shown diagrammatically under the references 43, 43 ′.

According to the invention, the external device includes a serial reception link capable of cooperating with the serial transmission link. In this embodiment, the serial reception link 41 comprises two photo-transistors 42, 42 '. The photo-transistors 42, 42 'are arranged on the lower housing 31 so as to be opposite the emitting diodes 22, 22', when the housing 31 is fixed on the safety housing 14, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The photo-transistors used in this embodiment are of the SIEMENS type, reference SFH 309.

Inside the upper box 32, is positioned, opposite a reading window 37, a display 40 with two lines 40a, 40b of sixteen characters of liquid crystal brand OCULAR (746 Lingco Drive at RICHARDSON TX 75081, this Company realizing custom liquid crystal displays), as well as an electronic card. The electronic card essentially comprises a circuit 46 for controlling the display 40 (here an integrated circuit marketed by PHILIPS under the reference PCF 8576), as well as the connection circuits to the display 40 and the serial reception link 41, constituted in this case by the phototransistors 42, 42 '. This circuit also includes supply conductors 44 (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 4) connected to the spring contacts 43, 43 ', and supplying power to the display 40 and the integrated circuit 46.

The diagram of the control circuit 46 of the liquid crystal display is available in the PHILIPS catalog and is classic in the state of the art. It will therefore not be described in more detail here. It will be noted that it is capable of receiving binary data such as that transmitted by the photo-transistors 42, 42 ′ on its inputs, and of carrying out the whole of the processing to deliver to the liquid crystal displays, the appropriate control signals, so as to display said data.

As a variant, in FIG. 5, it is possible to interpose between the control circuit 46, and the serial reception link 41, a selection circuit 50 comprising a decoder of the data received from the serial link 41, and a series of doors allowing to allow certain selected data to pass to the control circuit 46. This arrangement makes it possible to select the data to be displayed. It will be observed that the selection circuit 50 is arranged outside the security box 14, and that it does not have to be subject to the same strict postal security rules as the devices arranged inside the security box. 14. In this way, it is possible to plan by a selection circuit adapted to each type of clientele, without having to question the approval of the whole machine.

In both embodiments, the external device or the additional display means which have just been described, are designed to be fixed on the machine above the displays integrated into the machine, which is thereby protected. In this way, the user benefits from the improved performance of the additional display device, but the postal services can always check the postal balances on the first display means 15a, 15b which are protected.

Of course the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described and shown, but encompasses all variants within the reach of ordinary skill in the art.

In particular, an optical type serial link has been described. Such a serial link can be replaced by a galvanic type serial link.

Claims (4)

Electronic franking machine of the kind comprising means for entering (11) postal values, printing means (13) and control and postal accounting means (12), all of these means being contained in a security box (14), and first display means (15a, 15b) for displaying postal accounting data called "regulatory", these first display means being arranged in the box, so as to allow the reading of said data from outside the housing, machine characterized in that it further comprises on the one hand, a serial transmission link (22, 22 ') transmitting permanently, outside the security housing (14) , data to be displayed including at least some of the data displayed by the first display means (15a, 15b) and, on the other hand, a device (30) external to the safety box comprising second display means (40a , 40b), and a bond s series of receiving (42, 42 ') capable of cooperating with said serial transmission (22, 22') to display all or part of the data transmitted. Franking machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the external device (30) is arranged to be adaptable to said security box, so as to mask the display of the data produced by said first display means. Franking machine according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said serial links are made in optical form. Additional display means adaptable to a franking machine comprising printing means (13), control and postal accounting means (12), input means (11) of postal values and first means of display (15a, 15b) for displaying postal accounting data known as "regulatory", and comprising in in addition to a serial transmission link (22, 22 ') continuously transmitting outside the security box (14) data to be displayed including at least some of the data displayed by the first display means, said means additional display (40) being associated with a serial reception link (41) capable of cooperating with said serial transmission link (22, 22 '), so that all or part of the transmitted data can be displayed on the additional display means.

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