Three Party Account Authority Digital Signature (AADS) System

• US 20020112160A2
• Filed: 05/17/2001
• Published: 08/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wheeler, Lynn Henry, Wheeler, Anne McAfee
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3825 Use of electronic signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Abstract of Disclosure

A system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant, wherein an electronic message represents an instruction for payment from an account with a financial institution, includes a method of: associating a public key with identity information regarding the account; receiving by the merchant both encoding information for the electronic message and the identity information; forwarding by the merchant the electronic message, encoding information, and identity information; upon receipt of the electronic message, the encoding information, and identity information, retrieving the public key associated with the identity information; and determining a validation result as a function of the electronic message, the encoding information, and the retrieved public key. Upon successful validation, an account authorization is performed or payment from the account is made.

Claims

1. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing an instruction for payment from an account with a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)associating a public key with identity information regarding the account;

(b)receiving by the merchant both,

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the validation entity comprises the financial institution.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic message, encoding information, and identity information are communicated over a network by the merchant to the validation entity.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the network is closed and secure.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the network is open and insecure.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

8. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein both (i) the encoding information for the electronic message, and (ii) the identity information are received from the customer by the merchant through a merchant point-of-sale terminal.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising receiving the electronic message from the customer through the merchant point-of-sale terminal.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the encoding information and the identity information are communicated from a smart card of the customer.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising first communicating by the merchant data representing the electronic message to the customer for generation of the encoding information by the customer.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the data representing the electronic message is received within a smart card of the customer.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising encrypting the received data within the smart card of the customer, the encoding information comprising the encrypted data.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising calculating a hash value for the received data within the smart card and encrypting the calculated hash value, the encoding information comprising the encrypted hash value.

15. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein the account is maintained for the benefit of the customer.

16. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein the electronic message is received by the merchant from the customer.

17. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein the encoding information and identity information are received over a network by the merchant from the customer.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the network is closed and secure.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the network is open and insecure.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

21. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein said step of associating a public key with identity information regarding the account comprises recording the public key in a database such that the public key is retrievable from the database based on the identity information.

22. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein the encoding information comprises a digital signature.

23. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein the identity information comprises account information.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the account information comprises an account number.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the account information comprises an identifier of the financial institution.

26. The system of claims 1 or 7, wherein said step of determining a validation result comprises,

(a)applying the retrieved public key to the encoding information to produce unencoded information,

(b)calculating a hash value for the electronic message, and

(c)comparing the unencoded information with the hash value.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said step of determining a validation result further comprises confirming the availability of sufficient funds in the account to satisfy the payment from the account represented by the electronic message.

7. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing an instruction for payment from an account with a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)associating a public key with identity information regarding the account;

(b)receiving by the merchant both,

28. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, the system including a method comprising the steps of:

(a)receiving from the merchant,

(i)the electronic message,

30. The system of claims 28 or 29, further comprising recording the public key in a database such that the public key is retrievable from the database based on the identity information, whereby the public key is associated with the account information.

31. The method of claims 28 or 29, wherein said step of determining a validation result comprises,

(a)applying the associated public key to the encoding information to produce unencoded information,

(b)calculating a hash value for the electronic message, and

(c)comparing the unencoded information with the hash value.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said step of determining a validation result further comprises confirming the availability of sufficient funds in the account to satisfy the payment from the account represented by the electronic message.

42. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35 or 36 wherein both (i) the encoding information for the electronic message, and (ii) the account information are received from the customer through a merchant point-of-sale terminal.

43. The system of claim 42 further comprising receiving the electronic message from the customer through the merchant point-of-sale terminal.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein the encoding information and the account information are communicated from a smart card of the customer.

45. The system of claim 42 further comprising first communicating by the merchant data representing the electronic message to the customer.

46. 47. The system of claim 45 wherein the data is received within a smart card of the customer.

47. The system of claim 46 further comprising encrypting the received data within the smart card of the customer, the encoding information comprising the encrypted data.

48. The system of claim 46 further comprising calculating a hash value for the received data within the smart card and encrypting the calculated hash value, the encoding information comprising the encrypted hash value.

49. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35or 36 wherein the account is maintained for the benefit of the customer.

50. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35or 36 wherein the electronic message is received by the merchant from the customer.

51. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, or 36 wherein the encoding information and account information is received over a network by the merchant from the customer.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the network is closed and secure.

53. he system of claim 51 wherein the network is open and insecure.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein the network comprises the Internet.

55. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, or 36 wherein the encoding information comprises a digital signature.

56. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, or 36, wherein the account information comprises an account number.

57. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, or 36, herein the account information comprises an identifier of the financial institution.

58. The system of claims 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, or 36 wherein the account information comprises the public key.

29. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)receiving from the merchant,

33. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)receiving from the customer,

38. The system of claims 33, 34, 35, or 36, wherein the encoding information for the electronic message is received from the customer through a merchant POS terminal.

39. The system of claims 33, 34, 35, or 36, wherein the public key is associated with the account information by recording the public key in a database such that the public key is retrievable from the database based on the identity information.

40. The system of claims 33, 34, 35 or 36, wherein the successful validation from,

a)applying the associated public key to the encoding information to produce unencoded information,

(b)calculating a hash value for the electronic message, and

(c)matching the unencoded information with the hash value.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the successful validation further results from the availability of sufficient funds in the account to satisfy the payment from the account represented by the electronic message.

34. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)receiving from the customer,

35. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, a method comprising the step of providing to the merchant (i) encoding information for the electronic message and (ii) the account information for forwarding thereof with the electronic message by the merchant to a validation entity for receiving from the validation entity authorization for payment from the account following a successful validation by the validation entity that is a function of the electronic message, the encoding information, and the public key associated with the account information.

37. The system of claims 35 or 36, wherein the encoding information for the electronic message is communicated to a merchant POS terminal.

36. In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant including an electronic message representing payment from an account with a financial institution and that includes account information associated with a public key, a method comprising the step of providing to the merchant (i) encoding information for the electronic message and (ii) the account information for forwarding thereof with the electronic message by the merchant to the financial institution for payment from the account following a successful validation by the financial institution that is a function of the electronic message, the encoding information, and the public key associated with the account information.

59. In a system for validating the identity of a sender of an electronic communication received regarding an action on an account with a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

(a)the sender deriving, in connection with a specific transaction with a merchant, a digital signature for an electronic message regarding the action on the account;

(b)providing the digital signature to the merchant; and

(c)the merchant forwarding the digital signature to the financial institution without modification of the digital signature.

60. 60.

61. 61.

62. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic message is implied from the receipt of the electronic communication.

63. The system of claim 59, wherein the digital signature is derived within a smart card of the sender.

64. The system of claim 59, wherein the digital signature is received from the sender within a terminal of the merchant.

65. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic communication is encrypted when forwarded.

66. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic communication is unencrypted when forwarded.

67. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic communication includes the public key.

68. The system of claim 59, wherein the public key is associated with the account when the account is first established.

69. The system of claim 59, wherein the merchant forwards the digital signature to the financial institution in conjunction with other information.

70. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic communication is forwarded over a secure network.

71. The system of claim 59, wherein the electronic communication is forwarded over an insecure network.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein the network comprises the Internet.