EP1067482B1 - Printed image - Google Patents

Description

It is known to print a printed image, consisting of several elements or parts, on a mail piece with a franking machine. For example, such a print image regularly consists of a postage stamp image, a date stamp image and an advertisement image as in Fig. 8 is shown.

In EP 0 762 334 A1 A method is described for producing a printed image which is printed on a carrier in a postage meter machine, in which the printed image is composed in the manner of an xy-matrix of picture elements to which pixel data is assigned in a memory. A microprocessor controlling the production of the print image accesses several pixel files. In each pixel file pixel data are summarized, which define a picture element or a text element of the printed image. Each pixel file is further associated with an identification code, under which the associated pixel or text element can be found. The microprocessor also accesses a control file containing a plurality of partial image files, each containing partial image data defining a partial image of the printed image. The microprocessor processes the partial image files of the printed image to be printed and, when processing the partial image files, uses the partial image data for generating the printed image from the pixel data of at least one pixel file designated by the respective reference code. After the partial image files have been processed, the microprocessor terminates the production of the printed image.

US 4,900,904 relates to an automated transaction system with insertable cards for downloading fees or program data. An automatic transaction system utilizes portable memory embedded memory cards to store charging information corresponding to various services and a terminal that receives an imported charge card and calculates the value of an item requested by a user at the terminal using the information that is on the charge card is stored, wherein the terminal further outputs the requested item having the calculated value. In a preferred system, the charge cards are used for different postal services or different services of a postal provider, and the issued item is a printed toll charge corresponding to the calculated value and the selected service provider or service.

EP 0 566 225 A2 relates to a method of data input to a postage meter prior to triggering a selected printing function, an arrangement for franking mail and generating a postage meter image each associated with the cost. The method comprises the following steps: an automatic change of the status of the last stored data contents in a franking machine for setting within a time window after switching on by means of a first transmission means and / or input of an automatic accounting number for the costs of a user's view and / or a printing function or the number of a printing function in a memory area of the memory device of the franking machine, with the aid of a further transmission means. In a dialogue, data for the smart card number card #, for the cost point number KST # and for the block number AD # are read from the unprotected memory area or, after the automatic password input via the franking machine, from the protected memory area of the smart card and used in the postage meter machine to block the cost page and the relevant advertising.

A method for producing a printed image which is printed by a postage meter on a carrier (mail item) is for example off EP 0 762 334 or EP 0 789 333 known. From these publications it is known that for printing a printed image consisting of several partial images, a microprocessor of the postage meter machine accesses several pixel files, wherein in each pixel file the pixels are combined, which define a picture element or a text element (partial image) of the printed image. Each pixel file is further associated with an identification code, under which the associated partial image (pixel or text element) can be found. The microprocessor also accesses a control file containing a plurality of partial image files, each containing partial image data defining a partial image of the printed image. The microprocessor processes the partial image files of the printed image to be printed and, when processing the partial image files, uses the partial image data for generating the printed image from the pixel data of at least one pixel file designated by the respective reference code.

It is desirable in known franking machines that certain functions of the franking machine can be performed only after authorization with a card or input of a password. Furthermore, there are safety regulations that prohibit certain parts of the printed image, such as the postage value and / or the date stamp, being designed individually. Also, the location of the date and / or postmark is set on a mail piece and should not be changed individually.

In the production of franking machines and their setting also occurs the problem that different rules on the layout of the print image are to be considered depending on the place of use. For example, postal regulations are different in the U.S.A. than in Germany. Although it is possible to program a franking machine with specific specifications and data from the manufacturer, this should only be done centrally by the manufacturer for safety reasons, but not in the other dealer levels. Such a central data input conflicts with the individual adaptation of the franking machine to different customers in different countries. Thus, every customer will want to print their own advertising message, even if it must also be prevented that an advertising imprint already has the form of a postage stamp (Rodney Rogers Scenario), so that falsely the advertising imprint alone is already considered a postmark. Therefore, and also because it must be avoided that in the postmark field indecent information (pornography) are made, it is desirable that the operator of the franking machine limited possible changes can be made so that each existing in a country regulations and safety regulations are met ,

It is also known to input print image data or partial print image data into the franking machine by means of a chip card. These data from the smart cards are transferred to a memory of the franking machine so that the microprocessor can assemble the partial image data required for printing.

Since it is usually not possible to predict in the production of the franking machine which user will use the franking machine in which way and this information about the user of the franking machine will be available only in the last distribution stages, it is desirable in view of the existing problem of compliance with regulations and security levels. that the individual setting of a franking machine on site, ie in the country of the franking machine user or in its premises can be made so that the individual design can be carried out quickly and inexpensively, under certain circumstances, in conjunction with the advertising agency of the franking machine operator.

The disadvantage of previous smart card systems is that in the manufacturer's adjustment of the franking machine only a small degree of flexibility is possible, or if the setting of the print image data in the last stages of distribution or the dealer is made, there is a risk of abuse and misadjustment the most important print image data. It also requires a very sound training and technical training on the sales side for data entry, which is not feasible for cost reasons.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages described, so that an image, in particular a printed image, can be generated, which ensures maximum safety and maximum possible flexibility for individual adaptation.

This object is achieved with the invention according to claim 1. Advantageous developments are described in the further claims.

The invention is based on the finding that an image, in particular the printed image to be printed by the franking machine, consists of several elements and that the elements are assigned different security levels. The deletion or modification of picture elements is therefore only possible if, when entering / changing new image data, the respective security levels required for the picture elements are fulfilled or their proof is provided.

If the template (authorization) of the required security level is not verified during the partial image input / partial image change, the desired new entry or change can not be made.

If, for example, a picture element to which a certain security level, for example security level 4, is assigned, is to be replaced by another picture element, this is only possible if, during operation of the postage meter machine, for example by a chip card, security level 4 (or higher) ) can be entered or detected.

By a hierarchical structure of security levels, it is possible to provide once for the necessary flexibility in the setting of the franking machines and on the other hand to exclude the possibility of unwanted manipulation. By a system in which (sensitive) pixels can only be deleted, re-entered or changed, if the proof for the fulfillment of the corresponding assigned security level is met, it also allows that picture elements with a lower security level, such as advertising texts, only can be entered, changed or released shortly before commissioning the postage meter.

Fig. 1

einen Ablaufplan für die Autorisierung;

Fig. 2

eine Tabelle mit der Zuordnung von Sicherheitsstufen für bestimmte Autorisierungen;

Fig. 3

die Darstellung eines Bildes bestehend aus mehreren Segmenten, die unterschiedliche Sicherheitsstufen aufweisen;

Fig. 4

einen Ablaufplan zum Erzeugen von Chipkarten mit kompletten Druckbilddaten;

Fig. 5

einen Ablaufplan zum Laden von gesamten Druckbilddaten;

Fig. 6

einen Ablauf plan zum Nachladen von Chipkarten mit Druckbildteilen;

Fig. 7

einen Ablaufplan zur Änderung von Druckbilddaten; und

Fig. 8

ein Druckbild, bestehend aus einem Poststempelbild, Datumstempelbild und einem Werbebild (Stand der Technik).

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. In the drawing represent:

Fig. 1

a flowchart for the authorization;

Fig. 2

a table of security level assignment for specific authorizations;

Fig. 3

the representation of an image consisting of several segments that have different levels of security;

Fig. 4

a flow chart for generating smart cards with complete print image data;

Fig. 5

a flowchart for loading entire print image data;

Fig. 6

a flow plan for reloading smart cards with printed image parts;

Fig. 7

a flowchart for changing print image data; and

Fig. 8

a printed image consisting of a postmark image, date stamp image and an advertising image (prior art).

FIG. 1 shows the flowchart for an authorization procedure. Here, it is assumed that the user of a franking machine inserts a chip card into a corresponding chip card reader of the franking machine in order to load, change or delete an image or elements of an image in a memory of the franking machine.

After pressing the "SETUP" key or pressing the S4 "TABLES RELOAD" key, the message "Input your authorizing card" is displayed on the postage meter machine. After entering the authorization card, for example user card, the "security level" (security level) stored on the card is stored in a memory of the postage meter machine. Thereafter, a dialogue between the franking machine and the chip card arises a, in the course of which print image data of the entire print image or only elements of the print image are exchanged, if sufficient authorization is given. After the end of the dialog, the authorization is deleted again and the program returns to the main program.

An example in which five authorization levels are provided for the franking machine will now be described. As already described, an authorization is performed by entering a smart card in the postage meter machine. FIG. 2 shows in a table the assignment of the different security levels, starting from 0 (lowest security level) to 4 (highest security level) to certain groups of people or different operating personnel.

The security level 0 here requires no authorization and is a chip card for "anyone", which can be used by a user of the franking machine.

Security level 1 is assigned to a user card (user card, chip card) and is intended for the normal user of the franking machine.

Security level 2 is the security level of a "master card", which is intended for the supervisory staff of the franking machine.

Security level 3 stands for a "dealer card" and is reserved for the dealer and the technical staff of the postage meter dealer.

Security level 4 authorizes the manufacturer and is only assigned to persons of the manufacturer or the technical staff of the manufacturer. Thus, while security levels 3 and 4 are intended only for a group of persons belonging to the manufacturer or distributors of the manufacturer, security levels 0, 1 and 2 are intended for groups of people wishing to (use) the postage meter.

The main purpose of the various levels of security is that the operation of the postage meter ensures that print image data of the postage meter, which are stored in the memory device of the franking machine, entered only in a very specific manner and only authorized by authorized persons, deleted and / / or can be changed.

It is assumed that the entire image or print image - shown in Fig. 3 - Which can be generated by the franking machine, consists of different elements, parts or segments, wherein an element, part or segment of an image can represent text, graphics or mixed text / graphics. Each print pixel (segment) optionally has two levels of security in its data structure, where security level (a) is a necessary level for loading from the smart card, and security level (b) is a necessary level for (manually) changing a print pixel.

Before loading a picture element from the chip card, the franking machine or the franking device checks whether the authorization of the chip card has a greater or the same level as the security level (a) of the print picture element. Security level 5 means that nobody can change this element data separately.

Before the change or the change of picture elements is permitted, the postage meter machine checks whether the authorization of the user or the card entered by the user is greater than or equal to the security level (b) of the print picture element. Security level 5 also means here that nobody can change or replace this segment data or this segment.

In this way it is possible for an operator with a Master Card (Security Level 2) to see the date and place stamp image - see FIG. 3 - could change with a chip card and an operator with a dealer card (dealer card) could change the date / place stamp image also manually.

The security levels of print pixels can be described as follows.

Security level 0 is not authorized by any special card, and for pixel segments with security level 0 (A or B), anyone can change the data at any time.

Authorization for security level 1 (a or b) is provided with a user card, by means of which elements in the print image data can be updated by a normal user or by the specialist staff of the franking machine (master) or by a dealer or his technical staff, which use the chip card for authorization.

Authorization for security level 2 is made by a master card, by means of which elements of the print images can be loaded or updated by the specialist operator for the franking machine, by the dealer or his technical staff using the master card. For example, advertising copy (security level A) or the date / place stamp (town circle, security level A) can be loaded / changed. In this case, the franking machine with the data for an advertising message and the date / place stamp is loaded by a smart card by means of the master card, this chip card being produced by a cliché workstation and operating this cliché workstation by the manufacturer of the franking machine or an authorized dealer becomes.

Authorization for security level 3 is made using the merchant card. This allows update of printed image item data by the dealer's technical staff using the dealer card. Using the dealer card, it is possible to make print image data for the endorsement (security level A) and for the date / place stamp (security level B). The dealer's technical staff may use the dealer card fonts and endorsement to load text from a smart card into the postage meter, this data being generated by a manufacturer's cliché workstation or an authorized dealer. These data are loaded into a print image data memory of the franking machine. The dealer's technical staff is also able to manually change text information of the date / place stamp image (but not the fonts thereof) by means of the dealer card, for which reason the security level for the date / place stamp of (B) is provided.

Security level 4 is authorized by the manufacturer's card (FP Card), can be changed / adjusted by means of the print image elements by the technical staff of the manufacturer using the manufacturer's card. This allows, for example, dates (month, year, day, century, date, etc.) of the date stamp image to be loaded. The technical staff of the manufacturer is able to load the fonts for the date of the date stamp image from a chip card (second chip card) by means of the manufacturer card. This chip card is generated by a Cliché workstation of the manufacturer and the data is read in the loading into a print image data memory.

Security level 5 is authorized by the manufacturer's R + D (Research and Development) card. This card allows you to load and change print elements with the highest security level. If by means of the card With the security level 5 pixels are read in, this is only possible if all (other) print image data are read in again.

As already stated, the idea of the various security levels is based on the fact that a security level is associated with or connected to a picture element in the print image data memory of the postage meter machine. In this way it is also possible to change the security levels with a function such as "First-time initialization of the print image data". It is therefore possible to provide different security structures for each country without the entire program sequence having to be changed.

The various functions of the individual chip cards are explained in more detail below. As already shown, there are once the cards with the stored security level and on the other hand cards that also contain print image data. If, therefore, certain print image data are to be read into the postage meter machine or to be changed or deleted, this can only be done using the respective authorization cards (user card, master card, etc.). The input of a printed image card in a corresponding chip card reading device of the franking machine is therefore not sufficient, but it also requires the input of the corresponding authorization card.

The cards (storage media) containing the print image data are usually of the AT42C256 type and contain a 32 kbyte EEPROM. These cards do not have a processor, but they store a specific code number and also store the (physical) type of chip card. The print image data chip card can be machine-independent, ie a machine number (the franking machine) is not stored in it. However, if a machine number is stored, it can be deleted with the machine with this machine number. However, data for the first and last validity are stored in the card and if several chip cards are necessary for the input of a print image, each chip card is assigned a corresponding number for this purpose. By means of a print image data card, a plurality of picture elements can be stored with a corresponding MAC (Message Authentication Code) and read into a postage meter machine. The print image data is stored together with security level data on the card. Furthermore, stored on the chip card, whether the print image segments to be deleted after a successful loading of the smart card. This allows certain print image segments to be loaded only once in the machine.

The user card is usually of the type AT 24C256 (manufacturer: ATMEL) and also has an EEPROM with a capacity of 32 kbytes. This card has no processor, in the manufacturer's side, a specific code number stored as well as the chip card type or chip type category. In addition, the machine number of the franking machine to be operated is stored in the user card and also a corresponding user identification (user number) is stored. The card also has data for the first and last registration and the card also has its own self-identifying card number. With the user card it is also possible to store a certain number (e.g., at most three) of pixels with a corresponding MAC and load them into the postage meter.

The Master Card is of type SLE 4442 (manufacturer Siemens) and has an EEPROM with a capacity of 256 bytes. In this case, a specific area (for example, 32 bytes) is protected and the master card has a PIN of, for example, 3 bytes. The card is also not equipped with a processor. The specific manufacturer code number, the chip card type as well as the chip card category are stored in a protected area of the chip card. The same applies to the machine number of the franking machine to be operated as well as the user number. The data for the first and last registration of the card as well as for the identification of the card a corresponding card number are also stored.

The dealer card or the manufacturer card are of a similar structure to the master card, but differ in that they are not stored in the machine number of the franking machine to be programmed. The dealer card and manufacturer card (FP card) are therefore machine-independent.

The manufacturer card and the dealer card can be generated by the manufacturer himself. The Master Card can be made using the Dealer Card and the User Card using the Master Card. It can be seen here that for the generation of an authorization card always the card with the (next) higher authorization can be used or is necessary.

The print image data can be stored on the memory card in a compressed or non-compressed data format. Be the print image data compressed memory, the memory space on the printed image data card or user card can be better used. However, with a small amount of data of a picture element, it is also advantageous to store the data not compressed on the chip card and read it directly from there into the memory of the franking machine, which has the advantage that the programming both the chip card and the reading of the Memory is possible very quickly.

FIG. 4 shows the flowchart for generating smart cards with complete print image data. FIG. 5 shows a flow chart for loading the entire print image data. FIG. 6 shows the flow chart for the reloading of printed image parts (pixels) or the exchange of printed image segments.

FIG. 7 shows the flow chart for changing print image data in the postage meter. Here, in addition to the query of the respective segment numbers and the security level is checked and it is also checked whether the authorization by the respective card (User Card, Master Card, Dealer Card, etc.) is large enough. If this is the case, the print image data can be stored in the franking machine.

Claims (15)

1. A printed image, consisting of a plurality of elements,
   characterised in that associated with each element in its data structure there is a respective security level, wherein an element can only be manipulated with authorization that corresponds at least to the associated security level.
2. A printed image according to claim 1,
   in which the image data of an element represent alphanumeric or abstract characters, or an image element consists of a pixel matrix indicated in rows and columns.
3. A franking device for printing an image, consisting of a plurality of image elements with which different security levels are associated,
   wherein the device is provided with a memory device in which the image-element data and/or information data about the position of an element within the image and also the security-level data associated with an image element are stored,
   characterised in that associated with each element in its data structure there is a respective security level, wherein an image element can only be manipulated with authorization that corresponds at least to the associated security level.
4. A franking device according to claim 3,
   wherein the security levels that are associated with the image elements are set up hierarchically, and an amendment and/or deletion of image data of an element is possible when an authorization-input that corresponds at least to the security level associated with the image element concerned is fed to the franking device.
5. A franking device according to one of claims 3 or 4, wherein the authorization-input is effected by connecting to the franking device a first memory medium, in which a security-level datum is stored, and the image-element data are stored in the memory medium together with the data of the associated security level, which the image-element data are stored in the second memory medium.
6. A franking device according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterised in that the franking device is provided with an image-data memory which can be coupled to the first and/or second memory medium for the input, amendment and/or deletion of image data, and in that image-element data are stored in the memory device of the franking device together with a datum of the associated security level.
7. A franking device according to one of claims 3 to 6, having a device for authorization of that person who would like to input, amend and/or delete image data by means of a memory card that has the first memory medium, wherein a hierarchical structure of a plurality of security levels is provided so that input, amendment and/or deletion of image data is possible for all those image elements whose security level is the same as or lower than the security level input by the authorization.
8. A memory medium for a franking device according to one of claims 3 to 7,
   wherein image data of an image element are stored in the memory medium together with the data of the associated security level, wherein the same or different security levels are associated with a plurality of image elements that are stored in the memory medium,
   characterised in that associated with each element in its data structure there is a respective security level, wherein an image element can only be manipulated with authorization that corresponds at least to the associated security level.
9. A memory medium according to claim 8,
   which a franking device is provided for the input, amendment and deletion of image data, wherein the data identifying the franking device and/or user-recognition are stored in the memory medium, if applicable.
10. A memory medium according to one of claims 8 or 9,
    characterised in that a datum for the first validity of the memory medium and/or a datum for the validity sequence of the memory medium and/or card-identification information are/is stored in the memory medium.
11. A memory medium according to one of claims 8 to 10,
    characterised in that the memory medium is protected, if applicable, by a PIN (personal identification number).
12. A memory medium according to one of claims 8 to 11,
    characterised in that the memory with the lowest security level is provided with a data-memory region which is significantly larger than the memory with the highest security level.
13. A memory medium according to one of claims 8 to 12,
    characterised in that stored in the memory medium there is a marker which ensures that the marked image element in the memory medium is deleted after the loading process.
14. An image-data record for a printed image, consisting of a plurality of elements,
    characterised in that within the data record a security level is associated with each image element in its data structure, and different security levels are associated with different image elements according to priority, if applicable, and wherein an image element can only be manipulated with authorization that corresponds at least to the associated security level.
15. An image-data record according to claim 14,
    in which the data of a text element represent a text, a graphic and/or a graphic together with text.

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