Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Finance
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-16
2001-07-24
Voeltz, Emanuel Todd (Department: 2761)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Finance
C705S035000, C705S039000, C705S040000, C705S043000, C235S375000, C235S379000, C235S380000, C150S112000, C150S131000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06266653
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method suitably used for managing and possessing electronic money which is defined as an electronic symbol of currency, and a management and possession medium. The invention also relates to a recording medium for recording electronic money management and possession programs to be read by a computer.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, we have seen the developments of electronic money systems which enable business transactions to be made without using any cash. For an electronic money management and possession medium (electronic money transportable medium), a card unit (card type storage medium), more particularly an IC card incorporating an integrated circuit (IC), is usually used.
This IC card includes a data memory for storing electronic money. In order to classify electronic money according to currency and store the same, the data memory includes a storage area formed to store electronic money for each currency. For example, the data memory has storage areas including an area for Japanese yen, an area for US dollars, an area for German marks, and so on, which are formed to store electronic money according to currency groups.
With an IC card as an electronic money management and possession medium, the use of electronic money instead of cash leaves no unsettled accounts unlike the case of credits. Safety can also be increased if a security function is added. Further, since all the users can carry electronic money just like a purse (cash), different from the case of cash cards (and bankbooks), for example three or more members of a family can share one account.
In the near future, with the widespread use of electronic money, we may even be able to feel as if we are using cash when using electronic money. Accordingly, in our daily lives, we may mostly use an IC card as an electronic money management and possession medium which stores currency of only a single kind (i.e., currency of our own country).
However, there is a problem inherent in such a general IC card used as an electronic money management and possession medium. As described above, the data memory for storing electronic money includes a storage area formed for each currency. Consequently, electronic money is stored in a particular storage area corresponding to its currency without being classified.
For electronic money, one balance collected for each storage area can only be understood by numerical values. Consequently, if currency of only a single kind is used, electronic money cannot be classified and managed for various purposes. In other words, cash can be managed to be classified and used according to various purposes. For example, cash for food expenses is kept in one side of a partitioned purse and spare cash in another side, and the classified cash is used for each particular purpose. Different from cash, however, electronic money cannot be classified or managed according to various purposes because a balance can only be understood by numerical values.
Therefore, if electronic money is used, for example, even if we try to keep 5,000 yen as spare electronic money, we may use this money for food expenses without knowing it. Thus, the difficulty of planned management of electronic money is a problem to be solved for the general IC card.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made in order to solve the problem discussed above. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for managing and possessing electronic money and a management and possession medium, which can increase the degree of convenience of using electronic money by classifying and managing electronic money according to various purposes even if currency of only a single kind is used. It is another object of the invention to provide a recording medium for storing electronic money management and possession programs to be read by a computer. Based on these programs, the computer can execute a procedure for managing electronic money for various purposes.
The electronic money managing and possessing apparatus includes a medium for holding electronic money defined as an electronic symbol of currency in a required storage so as to be rewritten regarding currency of a single kind, electronic money distribution and storage control means for setting a plurality of storage areas defined according to individual purposes in the storage of the medium and distributing and storing electronic money in the plurality of storage areas according to purposes as instructed, and electronic money payment executing means for specifying, regarding electronic money possessed in the medium, a desired storage area and executing payment by using the electronic money stored in the specified storage area.
In the electronic money managing and possessing apparatus, the electronic money distribution and storage control means can include, for reading electronic money from the outside and receiving and storing this electronic money in the medium, specifying means for specifying a desired storage area and storing means for storing the electronic money in the storage area specified by the specifying means.
In the electronic money managing and possessing apparatus, the electronic money distribution and storage control means can include, for moving electronic money possessed in the medium among the plurality of storage areas, specifying means for specifying at least one of a storage area as a transfer origin and a storage area as a transfer destination, and moving means for moving the electronic money from the storage area as a transfer origin to the storage area as a transfer destination specified by the specifying means.
In the electronic money managing and possessing apparatus, the electronic money payment executing means can include, for executing payment by using the electronic money possessed in the medium and if payment cannot be made by using the electronic money stored in the specified storage area because of its shortage, specifying means for specifying another storage area, and moving means for moving electronic money from the storage area specified by this specifying means to the storage area where the shortage has occurred. In this managing and possessing apparatus, the electronic money payment executing means may include, for moving the electronic money from another storage area to the storage area where the shortage has occurred, loan and debt information recording means for recording lending and borrowing information in the medium. This electronic money managing and possessing apparatus may include displaying means for displaying lending and borrowing information.
In the electronic money managing and possessing apparatus, the electronic money payment executing means may include, for executing payment by using the electronic money possessed in the medium and if payment cannot be made by using the electronic money stored in the specified storage area because of its shortage, specifying means for specifying another storage area and moving means for moving electronic money from the storage area specified by this specifying means to the storage area where the shortage has occurred. The electronic money distribution and storage control means may include, for reading electronic money from the outside and receiving and storing this electronic money in the medium, settling means for storing electronic money equivalent to the amount of the shortage in another storage area and settling the shortage.
The electronic money managing and possessing apparatus can include prohibiting means for prohibiting the electronic money distribution and storage control means and the electronic money payment executing means to write and read electronic money from the storage area.
The electronic money managing and possessing method of the present invention enables electronic money to be possessed in a medium by distributing and storing electronic money in a plurality of storage areas according to purposes as instructed, the plurality of stor
Ono Akiko
Shiobara Tomomi
Yamamoto Koken
Alvarez Raquel
Arent Fox Kintner & Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC
Fujitsu Limited
Todd Voeltz Emanuel
LandOfFree
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