Abstract: A board for commutation of a brushless motor having an encoder comprising a plurality of Hall-effect sensors operative for providing commutation information to a motor controller including an output drive section which comprises three high-side power FET's and three low-side power FET's connected to determined stator windings of the brushless motor. A low-side pre-drive circuit is operative to selectively turn on each of the low-side FETs and a high-side pre-drive circuit is operative to selectively turn on each of the high-side FETs. A commutation decode logic circuit is connected to the Hall-effect sensors to receive the commutation position information from the Hall-effect sensors and is connected to the high-side and low-side pre-drive circuits for providing selection signals for selecting the appropriate power FETs for commutating the motor. The board is preferably affixed to the end of the brushless motor.

Abstract: The method for preventing monitoring of postage indicia data which is sent from a postage metering vault to a remotely located digital printer over a communication link between the meter vault and the digital printer. The meter is provided with an encryption engine for encrypting postage indicia data utilizing a encryption key. The digital printer includes a decryption engine for decrypting postage data received from said meter utilizing the same encryption key and then prints a postage indicia pursuant to the decrypted postage indicia data. The postage meter also includes a key manager for generating a new encryption key pursuant to a token which is either randomly generated or generated pursuant to an algorithm by a similar encryption key manager located in the digital printer which token is also used to generate the decryption key for the decryption engine. As a result, the encryption keys are the same.

Abstract: A circuit for controlling a current in a load, the circuit includes: structure for connecting the circuit to a source of power, the power source connecting structure including a power switch having off and on operating modes; structure for connecting the circuit to a supply of a pulse width modulated (PWM) control signal, the PWM supply connecting structure including an AND gate having first and second input structure and an output structure, one of the first and second input structures connected for receiving the PWM control signal, and the AND gate output structure connected to the power switch for operating the switch; structure for monitoring the current in the load, the monitoring structure including a differential amplifier, the differential amplifier having an instantaneous output voltage signal proportional to the load current when the power switch is in the on operating mode, structure for comparing a value derived from the instantaneous signal to a high reference voltage signal and a low reference v

Abstract: An integrated circuit driver for a brushless motor having an encoder which includes a plurality of Hall-effect sensors operative for providing commutation information to a motor controller includes a commutation decoding section for decoding the commutation information from the Hall-effect sensors and an analog current limiter. The current limiter includes a circuit for dynamically switching the current limit values for current in the motor between a high current limit value and a low current limit value based on the average or RMS value of the motor winding current. The current limit values must be provided externally. A Hall-effect sensor quadrature encoder is provided on the integrated circuit and a selection switch allows for the selection of a quadrature output from an external optical encoder or the internal Hall-effect sensor encoder.

Abstract: The processing system controller is utilized in a mail processing system. The processing system controller provides process control over a plurality of processing subsystems which operate on a mailpiece traversing the processing system. The processing subsystems employing a plurality of prime movers controlled by the processing controller. The processing system controller includes a motor controller in bus communication with the prime movers for control of the prime movers. Sensors monitor the operating conditions and parameter of each subsystems and are in bus communication with a sensor controller. A random access memory (RAM) is in bus communication with the motor controller and the sensor controller. The motor controller and the sensor controller are programmed such that the motor controller can read from the RAM and the sensor controller can write to the RAM. The motor controller reads from the RAM at discrete time intervals and the sensor controller writes to the RAM at other discrete time intervals.

Abstract: A programmable logic device for commutating a brushless motor having an encoder with a plurality of Hall-effect sensors operative for providing commutation information to a motor controller for commutation of the motor by sequencing of a plurality of complementary FET's for energizing stator windings of the brushless motor comprises a Hall-effect sensor decode circuit and a deadtime generator. The sensor decode circuit is operative for commutation of motor output control signals in accordance with direction and PWM signals from a system controller and commutation information from the Hall-effect sensors. The deadtime generator provides timed blanking for ensuring that each respective one of said plurality of FET's is turned completely off before its complementary FET is turned on to protect against destructive currents.

Abstract: The motor controller system controls the respective motors of a plurality of cooperative apparatus associated with a article processing system, the article processing system for performing a plurality of functions upon an article traversing the article processing system and comprises a motor driver board having a plurality of input channels and a plurality of respective output channels. The motors are in line communication with a respective one of the output channels of the motor driver board. A programmable microprocessor is in bus communication with the driver board's input channels. A plurality of sensors are respectively mounted to each of the apparatus and in bus communication with the programmable microprocessor, the sensors being strategically located on the apparatus to provide such information to the microprocessor as article size, position and velocity information and to provide apparatus operation information.