Electronic settlement system

• US 20060081698A1
• Filed: 10/19/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nihon Unica Corp.
• Original Assignee: Nihon Unica Corp.
• Inventors: Yamagishi, Junichi
• Application Number:
  US11/255,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20060081698A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/14 Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit data transmission in general H04L; telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station H04Q9/00

Abstract

An electronic settlement system includes a plurality of reader-writers, a controller, and a wireless communication circuit to connect the reader-writers to the controller. The controller includes an authentication module to authenticate an IC chip brought into a read area of any one of the reader-writers. The system has no need to providing each of the reader-writers with an IC chip authentication module. Also not needed are wires to connect the reader-writers to the controller. Accordingly, the electronic settlement system is realizable at low cost even if the system involves a plurality of reader-writers.

Claims

1. An electronic settlement system comprising:

a reader-writer provided for each of a plurality of terminal units which monetary data stored in a storage medium is used, the reader-writer being configured to read and rewrite the monetary data stored in the storage medium when the storage medium is brought into a read area of the reader-writer; and

a controller connected to the reader-writers through a wireless communication circuit and configured to control the read and rewrite operations of the reader-writers and authenticate, through the wireless communication circuit, the storage medium when the storage medium is brought into the read area of any one of the reader-writers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the controller has a switch configured to switch one of the reader-writers connected through the wireless communication circuit to the controller to another.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the controller further has a random number generator configured to generate a random number; and

the controller controls the switch according to the random number to switch one of the reader-writers connected through the wireless communication circuit to the controller to another.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the storage medium is an IC chip.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the storage medium is an IC chip.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the storage medium is an IC chip.