US 11,861,945 B2
System and method for facilitating transaction data retrieval
Harry T. Whitehouse, Portola Valley, CA (US)
Assigned to PSI SYSTEMS, INC., Palo Alto, CA (US); and STAMPS.COM INC., El Segundo, CA (US)
Filed by PSI Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/929,031.
Application 16/929,031 is a division of application No. 12/842,695, filed on Jul. 23, 2010, abandoned.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/229,181, filed on Jul. 28, 2009.
Prior Publication US 2020/0410776 A1, Dec. 31, 2020
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G07B 17/00 (2006.01); G06Q 20/10 (2012.01)
CPC G07B 17/00435 (2013.01) [G06Q 20/10 (2013.01); G07B 2017/00427 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for facilitating transaction data retrieval from a postage vendor system database via label generation with multiple representations of a postage tracking identifier portion, the system comprising:
a vendor computer system configured to:
obtain a carrier-specific tracking identifier unique within a carrier computer system with respect to accounts recognized by the carrier computer system;
generate, based on the carrier-specific tracking identifier, a postage tracking identifier having a length longer than the carrier-specific tracking identifier such that (i) the postage tracking identifier comprises the carrier-specific tracking identifier and (ii) the postage tracking identifier is allocated to a postage transaction and enables a mail piece associated with the postage transaction to be tracked within the carrier computer system;
allocate a trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier to the postage transaction in one or more databases of the vendor computer system;
generate a postage value indicium identifier such that the postage value indicium identifier comprises (i) the trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier and (ii) data representing a price associated with the postage transaction, thereby enabling the vendor computer system to identify the postage transaction using (i) the postage value indicium identifier without the postage tracking identifier or (ii) the postage tracking identifier without the postage value indicium identifier;
cause an end-user computer to print the postage value indicium identifier as a first bar code on a first mail piece and the postage tracking identifier as a second bar code on a different portion of the first mail piece than the first bar code such that the trackable portion of the postage tracking identifier is represented at least twice on separated portions of the first mail piece, wherein the vendor computer system is associated with at least two vendor accounts, a first of the at least two vendor accounts being a funded account, and a second of the at least two vendor accounts being a fictitiously fundable account; and
the carrier computer system configured to:
execute a fictitious transaction in the fictitiously fundable account in response to the vendor computer system printing the postage value indicium; and
execute a real transaction in the funded account in response to the first mail piece being identified as present in the mail stream by the carrier computer system.