Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2001-08-14
Frech, Karl D. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C235S375000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273334
ABSTRACT:
PRIOR ART
The present invention relates to an electronic-money collecting system which is used for electronically collecting a lost IC card containing electronic money.
BACKGROUND ART
As a system which allows an IC card for recording money data issued by a banking organ to be used as an electronic purse, so far, there has been provided a ‘Value Transfer System’ disclosed by International Publication No. WO91/16691 (or Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5-504643). Electronic purses each implemented by an IC card compose the ‘electronic-purse’ system in conjunction with an account settling means for loading money into an electronic purse and controlling exact calculation. The ‘electronic-purse’ system electronically loads money data from a bank account into a memory in an IC card, treating the IC card like an ‘electronic purse’. In this case, since money (or strictly speaking, money data) stored in the IC card is in actuality neither a bill nor a coin, the term ‘electronic money’ is used in order to distinguish the money stored in an IC card from a bill or a coin. Money can be transferred from an IC card to another IC card through an account settling means. In a transfer of money, it is not necessary for the user to confirm the transferred money with a banking organ. As a result, the processing to transfer money can be carried out in the same way as transferring cash to another person. In addition, at a banking organ, electronic money can be transferred and drawn as is the case with a cash transaction.
At any rate, in many cases, transaction processing using an ‘electronic purse’ implemented by an IC card is carried out without the need for confirmation with a banking organ. As a result, when an IC card is lost, the money stored in the IC card is also lost and it is impossible to recover the money stored in the lost IC card unless the IC card itself is found. In addition, even if the lost IC card is found by a third person, the amount of money stored therein is not visible, giving rise to a problem that the probability that the lost IC card is returned to the owner or reported to an institution issuing the IC card or a police station is very low. There has been thus a problem that money stored in an electronic purse is wasted in comparison with cash.
In addition, even if the lost IC card is reported to the institution issuing the IC card, the institution needs to follow a procedure for finding the legitimate owner of the reported IC card and returning the IC card to the owner or re-issuing a new IC card in answer to a request made by the owner of the IC card, giving rise to a problem that loads to be borne by the institution and the owner losing the IC card itself are heavy.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an electronic-money collecting system capable of returning a lost IC card serving as an ‘electronic purse’ to the owner or an institution issuing the lost IC card with a high degree of efficiency without giving a troublesome load to the lost-IC-card finder of the IC issuing institution.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic-money collecting system capable of enhancing the rate of collection of money stored in a lost IC card by giving a finder of the lost IC card a predetermined amount of reward money.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an electronic-money collecting system capable of preventing a bad faith finder of a lost IC card from being given a reward money.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the objects described above, the present invention provides an electronic-money collecting system wherein, as a found IC card having money data or the like recorded is entered to a terminal unit installed at an institution such as a banking organ or a public facility, money stored in the IC card is electronically collected; information read out from the IC card is transmitted to a center apparatus by way of a transmission line; information on the legitimate owner of the IC card such as the address of the owner is used by the center apparatus for automatically searching for the owner; and the owner is notified by a communication means of the processing to collect the IC card. Accompanying the electronic collection of the money, the IC card itself may or may not be physically collected.
As described above, in order to increase the rate of collection, a predetermined amount of reward money is given to a finder of a lost IC card. The reward money is given to a finder of a lost IC card by adding money data corresponding to the reward money to money data stored the IC card of the lost-IC-card finder. For example, when an IC card with an unknown owner is found, the lost-IC-card finder can go to an institution such as a banking organ or a public facility at which a terminal unit is installed, entering the found IC card to the terminal unit. Then, information is read out from the IC card automatically and collection processing is carried out. At the same time, reward money is given to the lost-IC-card finder. When the collection processing has been completed, the owner of the IC card is notified by the communication means of the completion of the collection processing by using a telephone, a letter or an electronic mail. After the notification, the owner of the IC card follows a procedure to get back the amount of money stored in the found IC card. In this case, the reward money given to the finder of the IC card is subtracted from the original amount.
In this way, the electronic-money collecting system is capable of returning or collecting a lost IC card to the owner or an institution issuing the lost IC card with a high degree of efficiency without giving a troublesome load to the finder of the IC card or the institution. Further, since the predetermined amount of reward money is added to money data stored in the IC card of the lost-IC-card finder, the rate of collection or the returning rate can be increased.
It should be noted that, when reward money is to be paid to a finder of a lost IC card, a bad faith person such as a person who stole an IC card of another person may make an attempt to get some reward money by pretending to be a finder of a lost IC card. In order to avoid such a bad faith, the number of times an incorrect password is entered, the ID of equipment used by the bad faith person or other information are recorded. When the incorrect password has been entered a number of times exceeding a predetermined maximum number, the collection processing is terminated and the IC card of the bad faith person is revoked.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4271352 (1981-06-01), Thomas
patent: 4630201 (1986-12-01), White
patent: 4780601 (1988-10-01), Vermesse
patent: 4839504 (1989-06-01), Nakano
patent: 4882473 (1989-11-01), Bergeron et al.
patent: 4904851 (1990-02-01), Yukino
patent: 4968873 (1990-11-01), Dethloff et al.
patent: 5120939 (1992-06-01), Clause et al.
patent: 5204663 (1993-04-01), Lee
patent: 5221383 (1993-06-01), Gutman et al.
patent: 5239166 (1993-08-01), Graves
patent: 5434395 (1995-07-01), Storck et al.
patent: 5459304 (1995-10-01), Eisenmann
patent: 5508501 (1996-04-01), Fujimoto et al.
patent: 5594233 (1997-01-01), Kenneth et al.
patent: 5696366 (1997-12-01), Ziarno
patent: 5761309 (1998-06-01), Ohahsi et al.
patent: 5932859 (1997-05-01), Ijichi et al.
Asao Hiroshi
Hiroya Masaaki
Ijichi Makoto
Itoh Shigeyuki
Sato Naomi
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Frech Karl D.
Hitachi , Ltd.
LandOfFree
Electronic-money rewarding system for lost and found IC card does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Electronic-money rewarding system for lost and found IC card, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electronic-money rewarding system for lost and found IC card will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2462655