Systems and methods for providing localized functionality in browser based postage transactions

• US 10,089,797 B1
• Filed: 02/25/2010
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Stamps.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Begen, Geoffrey C., Biswas, Michael John
• Primary Examiner(s): Erb, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US12/713,033
• Time in Patent Office: 3,141 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/0008 Communication details outside or between apparatus coin-freed apparatus for franking per se G07F17/26
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00056 Client-server
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00161 from a central, non-user location, e.g. for updating rates or software, or for refilling funds

Abstract

Systems and methods which implement localized functionality in a client server system using a technique of caching one or more functional objects for access in response to an appropriate server call are shown. Embodiments provide a browser based postage indicia generation and printing solution in which a browser upon which a postage client is operable is controlled to cache one or more functional objects in the form of script files. Various functional objects may be optimized for caching by clients such as postal rating scripts, postal insurance rating scripts, address verification scripts, etc. Security and/or accuracy verification may be implemented by a server to independently verify the results of the use of functional objects by a client.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, at a postage generation server computing system, a subset of raw postage rating data, wherein said subset of raw postage rating data is identified as useful to a remote computing system for performing a postage indicium generation function associated with creating at least one postage indicium request;

converting, at said postage generation server computing system, said subset of said raw postage rating data into one or more postage rating script functional objects that are executable by said remote computing system when performing said postage indicium generation function associated with creating said at least one postage indicium request;

sending at least one postage rating script functional object of said one or more postage rating script functional objects to said remote computing system to be cached, wherein said remote computing system is located remote to said postage generation server computing system and communicates with said postage generation server computing system via a network;

receiving, at said postage generation server computing system, a postage indicium request, wherein said postage indicium request was created by the postage indicium generation function of the remote computing system using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object by making a call to said cached at least one postage rating script functional object;

using, by said postage generation server computing system, at least a portion of said postage indicium request to determine that said cached at least one postage rating script functional object produced an erroneous postage indicium request, wherein determining that said cached at least one postage rating script functional object produced the erroneous postage indicium request comprises the postage generation server computing system independently performing a function of the at least one postage rating script functional object to verify results of use of the at least one postage rating script functional object by the postage indicium generation function of the remote computing system; and

based at least on the determination that said at least one postage rating script functional object produced the erroneous postage indicium request, sending an updated at least one postage rating script functional object to said remote computing system to be cached.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a substantially unique resource identifier for each of said one or more postage rating script functional objects, thereby creating one or more substantially unique resource identifiers, wherein when creating said postage indicium request, code is executed by the postage indicium generation function that uses said substantially unique resource identifier to call said cached at least one postage rating script functional object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said one or more substantially unique resource identifiers each comprise a substantially unique uniform resource locator (URL).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said updated at least one postage rating script functional object includes updated raw postage rating data for a particular locale, said updated raw postage rating data still being useful for creating at least one postage indicium request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object in creating the postage indicium request comprises rating a postal item for a postage indicium to be created in association with the postage indicium request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said raw postage rating data comprises postal insurance information and using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object in creating the postage indicium request comprises postal insurance rating for a postal item associated with the postage indicium request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said converting said subset of said raw postage rating data into one or more postage rating script functional objects comprises:

parsing said raw postage rating data to provide said one or more postage rating script functional objects in a size optimized for client-server network communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more postage rating script functional objects comprise platform independent scripts executable within a browser of a client computing system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is operable on a plurality of postage indicia requests for a batch of items, said method further comprising:

receiving a plurality of additional postage indicium requests after said receiving said postage indicium request, wherein said plurality of additional postage indicium requests were created using said cached updated at least one postage rating script functional object, and wherein said plurality of additional postage indicium requests are part of a same batch; and

based at least on a determination that said cached updated at least one postage rating script functional object produced a first postage indicium request of the plurality of additional postage indicium requests with no error, processing remaining postage indicium requests of said plurality of additional postage indicium requests without determining that said remaining postage indicium requests were produced from said cached updated at least one postage rating script functional object with no error.

10. A postage indicia distribution system comprising:

a client computing system having cache memory associated therewith, said client computing system configured under control of browser software executing platform independent postage indicia generation code for performing a postage indicia generation function, wherein said client computing system is located remote to a postage server computing system and communicates with said postage server computing system via a network; and

a first browser executable postage rating script, which was created for said client computing system by said postage server computing system, stored in said cache memory and identified by a first substantially unique uniform resource locator, wherein execution of said platform independent postage indicia generation code invokes said first browser executable postage rating script from said cache memory to create a postage indicium generation request associated with postage indicium generation using said first substantially unique uniform resource locator, wherein said created postage indicium generation request is sent to said postage server computing system and requests authorization of said postage indicium generation;

wherein said client computing system is configured to receive a request response, wherein said request response is received in response to said postage server computing system determining that said invoked first browser executable postage rating script produced an erroneous postage indicium generation request in which a rate calculation of the postage indicium generation request is determined to be incorrect by the postage server computing system independently performing a function of the first browser executable postage rating script, and wherein said request response comprises a second browser executable postage rating script having updated postage data regarding a postage indicia generation function of the first and second browser executable postage rating scripts contained therein, which is stored in said cache memory.

11. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 10 wherein said second browser executable postage rating script is identified by a second substantially unique uniform resource locator, wherein execution of said platform independent postage indicia generation code invokes said second browser executable postage rating script rather than invoking said first browser executable postage rating script, and wherein said first browser executable postage rating script is considered as having inaccurate postage data regarding said postage indicia generation function contained therein upon said client computing system receiving said request response, and wherein said request response denies authorization of said postage indicium generation based on said invoked first browser executable postage rating script being inaccurate.

12. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 11, wherein said client computing system receives updates to said platform independent postage indicia generation code for performing postage indicia generation to include said second uniform resource locator.

13. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 10, wherein said cache memory is internal to said client computing system.

14. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 10, wherein said cache memory is remote from said client computing system and in Internet communication with said client computing system.

15. A method comprising:

receiving one or more postage rating script functional objects from a postage generation server computing system at a client computing system, wherein said one or more postage rating script functional objects were created by said postage generation server computing system using a subset of raw postage rating data that has been identified by said postage generation server computing system as useful for performing a postage indicium generation function associated with creating at least one postage indicium request at said client computing system, and wherein said client computing system is located remote to said postage generation server computing system and communicates with said postage generation server computing system via a network;

caching, in a cache of said client computing system, at least one of said one or more postage rating script functional objects;

generating, by said client computing system, a postage indicium request, wherein said postage indicium request is generated by the postage indicium generation function using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object by making a call to the cached at least one postage rating script functional object;

sending, by said client computing system, said postage indicium request to said postage generation server computing system; and

receiving, by said client computing system, a postage indicium request response comprising an updated at least one postage rating script functional object, wherein said postage indicium request response is received in response to verification that said at least one postage rating script functional object produced an erroneous postage indicium request, wherein the verification that the cached at least one postage rating script functional object produced the erroneous postage indicium request comprises the postage generation server computing system independently performing a function of the at least one postage rating script functional object to verify results of use of the at least one postage rating script functional object by the postage indicium generation function of the client computing system.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

creating a substantially unique resource identifier for each of said one or more postage rating script functional objects, thereby creating one or more substantially unique resource identifiers, wherein when creating said postage indicium request, code is executed by the postage indicium generation function that uses said substantially unique resource identifier to call said cached at least one postage rating script functional object.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said one or more substantially unique resource identifiers each comprise a substantially unique uniform resource locator (URL).

18. The method of claim 15, wherein using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object in creating the postage indicium request comprises rating a postal item for a postage indicium to be created in association with the postage indicium request.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said raw postage rating data comprises postal insurance information and using said cached at least one postage rating script functional object in creating the postage indicium request comprises postal insurance rating for a postal item associated with the postage indicium request.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein said using said subset of raw postage rating data to create said one or more postage rating script functional objects comprises:

parsing said raw postage rating data to provide said one or more postage rating script functional objects in a size optimized for client-server network communication.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein said one or more postage rating script functional objects comprise platform independent scripts executable within a browser of the client computing system.

22. A postage indicia distribution system comprising:

a server computing system comprising;

a processor; and

a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor;

wherein the server computing system is configured to perform steps comprising;

identifying a subset of raw postage rate table data, wherein said subset of raw postage rate table data is identified as relevant to performing a postage indicium generation function associated with creating at least one postage indicium generation request using a cache memory;

converting said subset of raw postage rate table data into one or more postage rating script functional objects, said raw postage rate table data being useful for performing a postage rating function associated with the postage indicium generation request using said cache memory, wherein said cache memory is located remote to said server computing system, and wherein said server computing system sends said one or more postage rating script functional objects to said cache memory for storage via a network;

receiving a postage indicium generation request, wherein said postage indicium generation request was created by the postage indicium generation function using postage rating information provided by said cached one or more postage rating script functional objects by making a call to the cached one or more postage rating script functional objects; and

creating a postage indicium generation request response in response to said received postage indicium generation request, wherein said postage indicium generation request response comprises an updated one or more postage rating script functional objects to store on said cache memory, wherein said postage indicium generation request response is created in response to said server computing system determining that said cached one or more postage rating script functional objects used to create said postage indicium generation request produced an erroneous postage indicium generation request, and wherein determining that the cached one or more postage rating script functional objects produced the erroneous postage indicium generation request comprises the server computing system independently performing a function of the one or more postage rating script functional objects to verify results of use of the one or more postage rating script functional objects by the postage indicium generation function.

23. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 22, wherein said one or more postage rating script functional objects is associated with a respective substantially unique resource identifier, wherein when creating said postage indicium generation request, code is executed that uses said respective substantially unique resource identifier to access said cached one or more postage rating script functional objects.

24. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 22, wherein said server computing system converts at least a portion of updated raw postage rate table data for a particular locale into said updated one or more postage rating script functional objects, said updated raw postage rate table data being useful for performing the postage rating function associated with postage indicia generation.

25. The postage indicia distribution system of claim 22, wherein when said server computing system converts said raw postage rate table data into the one or more postage rating script functional objects, said server computing system parses said raw postage rate table data to provide said one or more postage rating script functional objects in a size optimized for client-server network communication.