US 12,062,011 B1
Token allocation for distributed shipping document processing
Yang Lu, Los Angeles, CA (US); and Jonathan Michael Bourgoine, Encino, CA (US)
Assigned to AUCTANE, INC., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by Stamps.com Inc., El Segundo, CA (US)
Filed on May 23, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/751,611.
Application 17/751,611 is a division of application No. 16/550,670, filed on Aug. 26, 2019, granted, now 11,361,275.
Int. Cl. G06Q 10/08 (2024.01); G06Q 10/083 (2023.01)
CPC G06Q 10/0838 (2013.01) 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for token dissemination by a processor-based shipping document processing system of a plurality of processor-based shipping document processing systems, the method comprising:
receiving by the processor-based shipping document processing system, from a processor-based token coordinator system a token allocation including allocated token blocks along with a token allocation period during which the processor-based shipping document processing system is configured to independently use tokens of the allocated token blocks of the token allocation, wherein each of the allocated token blocks includes a plurality of tokens;
storing, by the processor-based shipping document processing system, a token database including the token allocation of the allocated token blocks allocated to the processor-based shipping document processing system from a token pool provided for use in shipping document processing by the plurality of processor-based shipping document processing systems, wherein the token database further includes use information stored in association with each of the allocated token blocks of the token pool, wherein the use information includes use time information and token use status information, wherein the use time information includes begin use time information and end use time information for each of the allocated token blocks, and the token use status information includes any one of: a used state, an in use state, or an available state for each of the allocated token blocks;
disseminating, by the processor-based shipping document processing system, the tokens of the allocated token blocks of the token allocation to at least one shipper during the token allocation period, the disseminating including:
determining that a token is needed for shipping document processing by the processor-based shipping document processing system;
obtaining an available token from the allocated token blocks of the token allocation based on the available token having an oldest use time from the use time information for the available token for dissemination by the processor-based shipping document processing system;
updating at least a portion of the use information in the token database; and
providing the available token for the shipping document processing to a shipper of the at least one shipper; and
receiving by the processor-based shipping document processing system, from the processor-based token coordinator system a next token allocation including reallocated token blocks for a next token allocation period.