Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-09
2003-05-06
Frech, Karl D. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C235S382000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06557759
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to verification of information media of card-type with which an issuer's obligations are associated, and more particularly to the methods for a cardholder to request fulfillment of an obligation associated with the card and for the issuer to acknowledge this obligation. The invention can be used for selling goods and services, in lotteries, in banking and financing activities, and in other areas.
BACKGROUND ART
The method of selling goods and services with the help of prepaid cards is well known in the business practice. The essence of this method is that the issuer issues special cards, associates with each of them an obligation of his and distributes the cards among cardholders. At some later time a cardholder can request the issuer to fulfill the obligation associated with the card. Utilization of this method can substantially expand the issuer's customer base, since the cards can be distributed in the places that are near to potential cardholders. Furthermore, acquiring the issuer's obligations via acquiring a card can be anonymous.
By a card is meant any suitable material medium with which the issuer's obligation is associated.
By an issuer of a card is meant an entity which issues cards, bears the responsibility for the obligations associated with them, and performs actions related to verification of the cards and acknowledgment of the obligations. In practice, the issuer may delegate part of his functions, for example, related to verification of the cards, to other entities. Moreover, the issuer can carry out some auxiliary actions itself or entrust their execution to other entities. Such auxiliary actions may include, for example, manufacturing the cards, distribution of cards among cardholders, fulfillment of the acknowledged obligations, etc.
A bank issuing one-time cards (bills) is an example of the issuer. Associated with each card is an obligation of the bank to deposit a certain sum of money in the account indicated by the cardholder. A lottery selling game tickets to the players is another example of the issuer. Associated with each ticket is an obligation of the lottery to give the prize won by the ticket in the drawing.
It would be convenient for the cardholder if he could request the issuer to fulfill the obligation associated with the card without producing the card to the issuer or to his representative. In this case the cardholder could interact with the issuer remotely via electronic means of communication. For example, the holder of a one-time bank card could request, without visiting the bank, that the sum indicated on the card be deposited in the account indicated by the cardholder. Similarly, the holder of a winning ticket, who is watching the lottery drawing on TV, could immediately request, without leaving the comforts of his home, that the prize be delivered to the address indicated by him or that the sum of the prize be deposited in his bank account.
It is also convenient for the issuer to have the possibility of a remote interaction with the cardholder, since this reduces overhead expenses needed for maintenance of offices and accompanying infrastructure, and expands the base of potential consumers of the goods and services offered by the issuer. For example, for an officeless Internet bank, the cards distributed through non-bank retail outlets, could serve as a channel of delivering money in the clients' accounts.
Before fulfilling an obligation, the issuer must acknowledge it, i.e., he must make sure that the received request for fulfillment of the obligation is legitimate.
Well-known is a conventional method for a cardholder to request fulfillment of an obligation associated with the card and for the issuer to acknowledge this obligation, which method allows a remote interaction between the cardholder and the issuer. The method consists in performing the following steps:
(1) the cardholder reads the identifier from the card and presents to the issuer a request for fulfillment of the obligation associated with the card, which request includes the identifier of the card and directions specifying fulfillment of the issuer's obligation;
(2) the issuer verifies the validity of the card using the identifier and directions presented by the cardholder, i.e., he checks that a card with such an identifier has actually been issued and that he has acknowledged no obligation associated with the card and specified by directions different from the presented ones;
(3) the issuer acknowledges the obligation corresponding to the obligation associated with the card and the cardholder's directions.
The data uniquely determining a particular card are called the identifier of the card. The representation of identifier on the card must withstand the attempts to modify it: at least, it must be unfeasible to modify (counterfeit) the identifier so that the modified identifier would coincide with the identifier of another issued card. In practical implementations the card identifier is often represented as a pair consisting of the card number and password. In general, it is not necessary to represent the identifier in the form of several parts though this might be convenient in concrete implementations.
The directions specifying fulfillment of the obligation consist of arbitrary data with which one must supplement the original obligation associated with the card to give it that concrete and final form in which it will be fulfilled. The form and interpretation of the directions depend on a specific application, and are immaterial for description of the invention. For example, the role of directions may be played by the number of the cardholder's account in which the prize money should be deposited.
The issuer's acknowledgement of an obligation may consist in performing some actions or may serve as an initiator for their execution. For example, on the ground of his acknowledgment, the issuer can enter the identifier of the card and the corresponding directions specifying fulfillment of the obligation in a list of acknowledged obligations or transmit the obligation to a system fulfilling obligations (into the input of a device executing the obligations). The issuer can also issue to the cardholder a signed receipt stating acknowledgment of the obligation.
To prevent a third party from undetectably reading the identifier from the card while the card is on its way from the issuer to the cardholder, the identifier is usually concealed, at least partly, by a masking device (the concealed part of the identifier can be called the password of the card, and the open part of the identifier can be called the number of the card). The masking device is a means to temporarily conceal certain data connected with the card such as the card identifier. The masking device has two states: open and closed, and it must possess the following properties:
(1) It is practically impossible to read or modify the data concealed by the masking device if the masking device is in the closed state.
(2) It is practically impossible to switch the masking device from the open state to the closed one.
(3) It is easy to determine in which state the masking device is: in the open or closed one.
(4) It is easy to switch the masking device from the closed state to the open one (to open the masking device).
(5) It is easy to read the data concealed by the masking device if the masking device is in the open state.
There are many various types of masking devices which are particularly often used for manufacturing tickets of instant lotteries. Only the functional properties of a masking device listed above are of importance for the description of the present invention, while its concrete realization and constructional features are immaterial.
An application of the conventional method described above to selling the access to Internet is described in [1, 2]. In this application, the cardholder uses the conventional method to activate an account with an Internet provider, who is the issuer of the cards.
The US patent [3&r
Khamitov Ildar Magafurovich
Kuznetsov Ivan Vladimirovich
Moshonkin Andrei Gennadievich
Smirnov Alexandr Leonidovich
Zolotarev Oleg Anatolievich
Feiereisen Henry M.
Frech Karl D.
Labaze Edwyn
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