Tokens Usable in Value-Based Transactions

• US 20080243702A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Graham, Jamey, Barrus, John W., Hart, Peter E.
• Application Number:
  US11/694,076
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243702A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/66
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3672 initialising or reloading thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3678 e-cash details, e.g. blinded, divisible or detecting double spending
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3234 involving additional secure or trusted devices, e.g. TPM, smartcard, USB or software token network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using an additional device in a packet data network H04L63/0853

Abstract

Techniques for generating a token that can be used to transfer value. The token may be used to transfer value in a value-based transaction with a vendor in a way that is secure and safe and maintains anonymity of the source of the value and preserves secrecy of information that should preferably not be disclosed to an untrusted third party such as a vendor. The token comprises sufficient information that enables value to be transferred from an account associated with the token to a vendor during a value-based transaction. Such a token may be presented by a user to a vendor in a value-based transaction with the purpose of transferring value involved in the transaction to the vendor in order to complete the transaction.

Claims

1. A method of generating a token, the method comprising:

receiving information identifying an account;

receiving information identifying an entity authorized to transfer value from the account; and

generating a token comprising token information, the token information comprising information identifying the account and information identifying the entity, wherein at least the information identifying the account is encrypted and the token enables value to be transferred from the account.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving information identifying an item or a class of items, and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the item or the class of items and the token enables value to be transferred from the account for a transaction involving the item or an item in the class of items.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors, and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the vendor or the class of vendors and the token enables value to be transferred from the account to the vendor or to a vendor within the class of vendors.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the token is an electronic token.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the token is a physical token.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of the token information is encoded in machine readable information associated with the token.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a value limit and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the value limit and the token enables transfer of value up to the value limit.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the token comprises encrypting the information identifying the account using a public encryption key of the entity authorized to transfer value from the account.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the entity authorized to transfer value from the account is an entity holding the account.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the token enables monetary value to be transferred from a bank account.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the token to a first vendor in order to transfer value to the first vendor in a value-based transaction.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving authorization information; and

encrypting the authorization information;

wherein the token information comprises the encrypted authorization information.

13. A method of performing a transaction, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a vendor system of a vendor, token-related information from a token, the token-related information comprising information identifying an account and information identifying an entity authorized to transfer value from the account, wherein the information identifying the account is encrypted;

communicating the encrypted information identifying the account from the vendor system to the entity authorized to transfer value from the account;

communicating, from the vendor system to the entity, transaction information comprising information related to a transaction, the transaction information identifying a value to be transferred to the vendor; and

receiving, at the vendor system from the entity, a code indicating approval or rejection of transfer of the value to the vendor.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying an item or a class of items, the method further comprising:

communicating the information identifying the item or the class of items from the vendor system to the entity; and

wherein the transaction information communicated to the entity comprises information identifying an item involved in the transaction.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors, the method further comprising:

communicating the information identifying the vendor or the class of vendors from the vendor system to the entity; and

wherein the transaction information communicated to the entity comprises information identifying the vendor.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying a value limit, the method further comprising communicating the value limit from the vendor system to the entity.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein obtaining the token-related information from the token comprises reading a machine readable code printed on the token.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the account is a bank account, the method further comprising transferring the value from the account to the vendor.

19. The method of claim 13:

wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying an item or a class of items and information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors;

wherein the transaction information communicated to the entity comprises information identifying an item involved in the transaction and information identifying the vendor;

the method further comprising;

communicating the information identifying an item or a class of items and the information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors from the token-related information from the vendor system to the entity;

decrypting, at the entity, the encrypted information identifying the account;

determining if the vendor identified in the transaction information is same as the vendor identified in the token-related information or is a vendor that satisfies the class of vendors identified in the token-related information;

determining if the item identified in the transaction information is same as the item identified in the token-related information or is an item that satisfies the class of items identified in the token-related information;

approving transfer of the value identified in the transaction information from the account upon determining that the vendor identified in the transaction information is same as the vendor identified in the token-related information or is a vendor that satisfies the class of vendors identified in the token-related information and the item identified in the transaction information is same as the item identified in the token-related information or is an item that satisfies the class of vendors identified in the token-related information; and

transferring the value identified in the transaction information from the account to the vendor.

20. A system for generating a token, the system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the plurality of instructions, wherein upon execution of the plurality of instructions the processor is configured to;

receive information identifying an account; and

receive information identifying an entity authorized to transfer value from the account; and

cause generation of a token comprising token information, the token information comprising information identifying the account and information identifying the entity, wherein at least the information identifying the account is encrypted and the token enables value to be transferred from the account.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is configured to receive information identifying an item or a class of items, and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the item or the class of items and the token enables value to be transferred from the account for a transaction involving the item or an item in the class of items.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is configured to receive information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors, and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the vendor or the class of vendors and the token enables value to be transferred from the account to the vendor or to a vendor within the class of vendors.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the token is an electronic token.

24. The system of claim 20 further comprising a printer configured to generate a physical token using a physical medium.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is configured to receive a value limit and wherein the token information comprises information identifying the value limit and the token enables transfer of value up to the value limit.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein:

a portion of the token information is encoded in machine readable information associated with the token; and

the processor is configured to encrypt the information identifying the account using a public encryption key of the entity authorized to transfer value from the account.

27. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is configured to:

receive authorization information; and

encrypt the authorization information;

wherein the token information comprises the encrypted authorization information.

28. A system for performing a transaction, the system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the plurality of instructions, wherein upon execution of the plurality of instructions the processor is configured to;

obtain token-related information from a token, the token-related information comprising information identifying an account and information identifying an entity authorized to transfer value from the account, wherein the information identifying the account is encrypted;

communicate the encrypted information identifying the account to the entity authorized to transfer value from the account;

communicate, to the entity, transaction information comprising information related to a transaction, the transaction information identifying a value to be transferred to a vendor; and

receive, from the entity, a code indicating approval or rejection of transfer of the value to the vendor.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying an item or a class of items, and wherein the processor is configured to:

communicate the information identifying the item or the class of items to the entity;

wherein the transaction information communicated to the entity comprises information identifying an item involved in the transaction.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying a vendor or a class of vendors, and wherein the processor is configured to:

communicate the information identifying the vendor or the class of vendors to the entity; and

wherein the transaction information communicated to the entity comprises information identifying the vendor.

31. The system of claim 28 wherein the token-related information comprises information identifying a value limit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate the value limit to the entity.