System for secure online selling, buying and bill pay in an electronic commerce setting

• US 20070174206A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian Colella
• Original Assignee: Brian Colella
• Inventors: Colella, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A method and system for biometric-secure online selling, buying and bill paying in electronic commerce and retail point-of-sale settings that also simplifies the checkout process and eliminates fraudulent transactions. The system relies on an exchange service provider (ESP) that hosts multiple servers: one implementing a web portal for secure online banking, auctions and other exchange opportunities, another being a biometric fingerprint device authenticating database, and yet another being a transaction traffic manager. Participating banks and supporting institutions distribute and activate Secure Individual Identity Devices (SIIDs) to registered users, each SIID being a portable biometric activated identification device that locally stores a fraction of the enrolled users fingerprint (minutia) along with an encrypted code that is used to verify and authenticate the user, eliminating the use of personal or financial information for this purpose. The SiiD becomes the user'"'"'s own personal key for completing secure online transactions. The user simply plugs their SiiD into any USB-equipped device and scans their own fingerprint for each transaction. The encrypted codes are authenticated in the ESP database and the transaction is processed to the appropriate financial institutions.

Claims

1. A system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions, comprising:

a plurality of Secure Individual Identity Devices (SIIDs) each having an integrated fingerprint scanner, local memory and a USB port, each of said SIIDs being registered to a particular user and activated by an initial fingerprint scan of said user in which a portion of the user'"'"'s digitized fingerprint is stored on said SIID local memory together with an alphanumeric code derived from said portion of the digitized fingerprint scan;

a plurality of computer servers maintained by an exchange service provider (ESP), said servers including a first web-enabled server hosting a plurality of web portals for secure online authentication and exchange opportunities, a second web-enabled server hosting a resident routing database including data correlating registered users and transaction routing data to corresponding financial institutions and accounts; and

a third web-enabled server hosting a database storing a encrypted biometric and alphanumeric code for comparison to those stored locally in the memory of said SIID.

2. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of web portals comprise any two or more from among a group including online auctions, services, banking, a virtual shopping mall, and an online bill payment function.

3. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 1, wherein after said initial activation each of said plurality of SIIDs may be inserted into a USB port or supported card reader and used to authenticate the corresponding registered user.

4. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of SIIDs authenticates the corresponding registered user upon insertion into a USB port or supported card reader by prompting for placement of a finger on the fingerprint scanner.

5. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 4, wherein when said user places a finger on the fingerprint scanner, it scans and verifies the same portion of the user'"'"'s fingerprint as during said enrollment activation scan.

6. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 5, wherein after scanning and digitizing the same portion of the user'"'"'s fingerprint as during said activation scan, said SIID generates an encrypted alphanumeric code derived from said portion of the digitized fingerprint scan and compares said alphanumeric code to that stored on said third web-enabled server for authentication.

7. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 6, wherein upon authentication the second web-enabled server will authorize and complete a transaction using transaction routing data for a pre-designated financial institution and account specified by said user.

8. A system for biometric-secure online selling, buying, and bill paying in electronic commerce and retail point-of-sale setting to simplify checkout and to eliminate fraudulent transactions, comprising:

a plurality of a plurality of Secure Individual Identity Devices (SIIDs) each comprising an integrated fingerprint scanner, local memory and a USB port, each of said SIIDs being registered to a particular user and each being initially activated by an enrollment activation fingerprint scan and encoded with a unique passcode derived from said activation scan for instant comparison, and further encoded with designated financial account information for debiting an account of said registered user;

a first exchange service provider (ESP) server hosting a web portal for secure online banking and other exchange opportunities;

a second exchange service provider (ESP) server hosting a traffic manager for communication with appropriate supporting institutions to initiate debiting based on said financial account information;

a biometric web-enabled database storing a subpart of each unique passcode derived from the enrollment activation fingerprint scan of all users;

whereby each of said user SIIDs becomes a personal key for authenticating that individuals online transactions, said users simply plugging their SIID into any USB port or supported card reader and scanning their own fingerprint for authentication and approval to proceed with a financial transaction, the encrypted passcode being transmitted to said biometric web-enabled database for authentication and verification, and the transaction data being transmitted to the traffic manager for communication to the designated financial institution for debiting payment.

9. The system for biometric-secure online buying, selling and bill paying according to claim 8, wherein said first exchange service provider (ESP) server hosts any two or more web portals from among a group including online banking, auctions, services, online retailers, a virtual shopping mall, and an online bill payment function.

10. The system for biometric-secure online selling buying, and bill paying according to claim 9, wherein after said initial activation scan each of said plurality of SIIDs may be inserted into a USB port or supported card reader and used to authenticate the corresponding registered user.

11. The system for biometric-secure online selling, buying and bill paying according to claim 10, wherein after said initial activation scan each of said plurality of SIIDs authenticates the corresponding registered user upon insertion into a USB port or supported card reader by prompting for placement of a finger on the fingerprint scanner.

12. The system for biometric-secure online selling, buying, and bill paying according to claim 11, wherein when an activated SIID is inserted into a USB port or supported card reader said registered user is prompted to place their finger on the integrated fingerprint scanner.

13. The system for biometric-secure online selling, buying and bill paying according to claim 12, wherein said registered user places their finger on the integrated fingerprint scanner of said SIID which automatically scans and reads the same portion of the user'"'"'s fingerprint as during said activation scan.

14. The system for biometric-secure online selling, buying and bill paying according to claim 13, wherein after scanning and verifying the same portion of the user'"'"'s fingerprint as during said activation scan, said SIID generates an encrypted alphanumeric code derived from said portion of the digitized fingerprint scan and transmits said encrypted alphanumeric code to said biometric web-enabled database for comparison to the code previously stored on said third web-enabled server for authentication.

15. The system for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions according to claim 14, wherein upon authentication at said biometric web-enabled database the second exchange service provider (ESP) server hosting said traffic manager will authorize and complete a transaction using transaction routing data stored at enrollment activation on said SIID.

16. A method for authentication and enhanced security during online credit or debit transactions, comprising the steps of:

distributing a Secure Individual Identity Device to each of a plurality of users at banks and financial institutions, each said Secure Individual Identity Device comprising of a portable biometric (fingerprint) scanner having but not limited to internal memory and a USB port;

registering each of said plurality of users by the following substeps;

acquiring bibliographic information and designated financial account information from each user to be used for user transactions, including routing data,

activating each Secure Individual Identity Device by initially scanning the fingerprints of the assigned user, digitizing said fingerprint minutia scan, and storing (minutia data), a portion of the digitized fingerprint scan locally in the memory of said Secure Individual Identity Device for later comparison,

encrypting the same portion of the digitized fingerprint minutia scan into an encrypted alphanumeric passcode, and storing said passcode locally in the memory of said Secure Individual Identity Device along with a time stamp and said fingerprint minutia,

transmitting a encrypted passkey code to a remote SIID biometric registrar database, said passkey comprising of a encrypted alphanumeric passcode,

transmitting said passkey code to a remote traffic controller database cross-referencing each user passkey to their designated account routing data for each designated account; and

, after said registering step;

one of said registered users consummating an electronic transaction by the following substeps,

plugging their SIID into any USB port or supported card reader,

automatically initiating a scan of the registered user'"'"'s fingerprint,

digitizing a portion of the scanned fingerprint minutia and translating said image into a time-stamped encrypted passcode for authentication and verification of said registered user when compared to the enrollment activation passcode.