Electronic wallet system

• US 20010021927A1
• Filed: 03/02/2001
• Published: 09/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Laurent, Christophe, Tang-Talpin, Yan-Mei, Lelievre, Sylvain
• Granted Patent: US 7,206,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3672 initialising or reloading thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence

Abstract

The electronic wallet system comprises a plurality of devices interconnected through a local network and capable of conducting electronic business transaction on an open network (40). Each device contains a smart card reader. A plurality of smart cards (31-3p) represent the electronic purses of the system. One of the devices comprises an entity called the server which contains a list of purses liable to receive tokens from others purses of the system. The tokens transferred between purses are stored temporally by said server.

Application to a family wallet system allowing children to participate to electronic commerce.

The system makes it possible to transfer tokens from one first purse to a second purse without having in hands the smart card corresponding to the second purse.

Claims

1. Electronic wallet system comprising:

n devices (10-13) capable of conducting electronic business transaction on an open network (40, 140) and containing a smart card reader (130-133), wherein n is superior or equal to 1, said devices being interconnected through a local network (250);

a plurality of smart cards (31-3p) representing electronic purses able to contain tokens;

wherein one of said devices comprises an entity (1, 101), called the server, which contains a list of data entries, each entry corresponding to a purse liable to receive tokens from others purses of said system.

2. System according to

claim 1

, wherein tokens transferred between purses are stored temporally by said server.

3. System according to

claim 2

, wherein tokens are transferred from one first purse to a second purse in two stages:

tokens assigned to said second purse being deposited with said server from said first purse during the first stage, and

tokens being credited to said second purse from said server during the second stage.

4. System according to

claim 3

, wherein operations executed during said first stage and operations executed during said second stage are performed in two different times.

5. System according to

claim 3

, wherein each of said device further comprises an entity (21, 22, 2k;

121-124), called the client and wherein operations executed during each of said first stage or second stage may be performed from anyone of said clients.

6. Process for registering a purse in the server of a system according to

claim 1

, said process comprising the steps consisting for a device in:

receiving a specific smart card, called the root card;

receiving a personal identification number (PIN) entered by a user on said device;

verifying that said entered personal identification number matches a personal identification number stored in said root card; and

, should verification be positive;

receiving a smart card corresponding to the purse to be registered, said smart card containing a purse identifier (Purse_id); and

storing said purse identifier in the list of data entries contained in said server.

7. Process according to

claim 6

wherein said device contains the server.

8. Process according to

claim 6

or

7

wherein:

a smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P) is stored in said smart card corresponding to the registered purse and is initialized to zero and

a server purse transaction identifier (Transld_S^P) is stored in the data entry corresponding to said registered purse in the server and is initialized to zero.

9. Process for depositing tokens from a first purse for a second purse in an electronic wallet system according to

claim 5

comprising the steps consisting, for a device containing a client entity, in:

a) receiving a first smart card corresponding to said first purse;

b) sending (50, 150) a first message to the server to request a token deposit;

c) receiving (51, 151) from said server a list of purses liable to receive tokens; and

d) sending (52, 152) a second message containing an amount of tokens and a purse identifier corresponding to said second purse to deposit said amount of tokens with said server for said second purse.

10. Process according to

claim 9

, wherein a first challenge (C₁) is generated by said client before step b), said first challenge (C₁) being concatenated to said first message sent to the server and

wherein a second challenge (C₂) is received at step c) from said server with the list of purses liable to receive tokens, in a message containing said first challenge (C₁);

said process further comprising a step consisting in checking that the first challenge received at step c) equals said first challenge generated before step b);

said first (C₁) and second (C₂) challenge being concatenated to the second message send at step d).

11. Process according to

claim 9

, in a system in which each device further contains a secret key (DFW_SK), wherein said second message is sent (152) encrypted using said secret key.

12. Process according to

claim 10

, wherein the amount of tokens is debited from said first purse before step d) and wherein said process further comprises the steps consisting in:

e) receiving (153) a third message from said server, said third message containing a completion code of the deposit operation with the server;

f) checking said completion code and

storing an operation receipt in said smart card if said completion code indicates no error;

or

crediting again said first purse with said amount of tokens if said completion code indicates one error.

13. Process according to

claim 12

, wherein the first (C₁) and the second (C₂) challenges are concatenated to said third message received at step e) and wherein step f) further consists in checking that:

said first challenge (C₁) received in said third message equals the first challenge generated before step b) and

said second challenge (C₂) received in said third message equals the second challenge received at step c).

14. Process according to

claim 13

, wherein said third message is encrypted using said secret key (DFW_SK).

15. Process for depositing tokens from a first purse for a second purse in an electronic wallet system according to

claim 5

comprising the steps consisting, for a device containing the server, in:

i) receiving (50, 150) from a client a first message requesting a token deposit;

j) sending (51, 151) to said client a list of purses liable to receive tokens;

k) receiving (52, 152) from said client a second message containing an amount of tokens and a purse identifier corresponding to said second purse; and

l) storing said amount of tokens in the data entry corresponding to said second purse.

16. Process according to

claim 15

, wherein a first challenge (C₁), concatenated with said first message, is received at step i) and

wherein a second challenge (C₂) is generated by said server before step j), said second challenge (C₂) being concatenated to the list of purses sent at step j) in a message containing said first challenge (C₁);

said first (C₁) and second (C₂) challenge being concatenated to said second message received at step k)

said process further comprising a step consisting in checking that the second challenge received at step k) equals said second challenge generated before step j).

17. Process according to

claim 15

or

16

, in a system in which each device further contains a secret key (DFW_SK), wherein said second message is (152) encrypted using said secret key.

18. Process for receiving tokens in a second purse in an electronic wallet system according to

claim 5

comprising the steps consisting, for a device containing a client entity, in:

m) receiving a smart card corresponding to said second purse;

n) sending (60, 160) a fourth message to the server to request the receipt of tokens deposited with the server for said second purse;

o) receiving (61, 161) a fifth message containing a number N of actions stored by the server in the data entry corresponding to said second purse, each action containing an amount of tokens received from one purse of said electronic wallet system; and

p) for each action i between 1 to N;

p1) sending (62, 62′

, 162) a sixth message to the server to request the next action i;

p2) receiving (63, 63′

, 163) a seventh message from the server containing said action i; and

p3) storing in said smart card corresponding to the second purse the amount of tokens contained in said action i.

19. Process according to

claim 18

, in a system in which purses are registered in the server according to

claim 8

, further comprising the steps consisting:

for the device containing a client, in concatenating the smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P) corresponding to the second purse to said sixth message sent at step p1 );

for the device containing the server;

in verifying that said smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P) equals the server purse transaction identifier (Transld_S^P) stored in the server in said second purse data entry and, should verification be positive;

in incrementing said server purse transaction identifier (Transld_S^P) stored in the server, and

in concatenating said incremented server purse transaction identifier (Transld_S^P) to said seventh message; and

for the device containing a client, in verifying that said server purse transaction identifier (Transld_S^P) received at step p2) in said seventh message equals said smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P) minus one, and should verification be positive, in performing step p3).

20. Process according to

claim 19

, further comprising the step consisting, for the device containing a client, in:

incrementing said smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P), and

sending a completion code message to the server, said completion code message containing a code indicating the status of the operation executed at step p3) and said incremented smart card purse transaction identifier (Transld_C^P).