SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRONICALLY CIRCULATING A CURRENCY

• US 20100306087A1
• Filed: 05/26/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Payment Network Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CapitalWill LLC
• Inventors: Wilkes, Bradley
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion
• 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 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

One or more currency notes deposited at a currency reserve may be electronically circulated by a transaction provider. The transaction provider may maintain a record of the ownership status of the one or more currency notes in a computer-readable storage medium. The transaction provider may provide for an entity to obtain ownership of a currency notes. The entity may submit a request to the transaction provider to transfer a currency note to another entity. The transaction provider may authorize the request, and may perform the transfer if the request is authorized. The transfer of ownership may take place while maintaining the physical currency note in the currency reserve. A record of the transaction may be stored by the transaction provider and/or transmitted to the parties to the transfer. The transaction provider may allow for the exchange or currency notes into other denomination and/or currency types.

Claims

1. A system for electronically circulating a currency, comprising:

a computing device comprising a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, the computing device comprising a transaction provider resident on the computer-readable storage medium and in communication with a currency reserve comprising a plurality of currency notes, the transaction provider configured to associate in the computer-readable storage medium, a currency note in the currency reserve with a unique currency note identifier (UCNID) and to assign ownership of the currency note to a first entity having a unique entity identifier (UEID),

wherein the transaction provider is configured to provide for transferring ownership of the currency note from the first entity to a second entity while maintaining the currency note in the currency reserve.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction provider is configured to assign ownership of the currency note by associating the UCNID of the currency note with the UEID of the first entity in the computer-readable storage medium while maintaining the currency note in the currency reserve.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein transferring the currency note to the second entity comprises associating the UCNID of the currency note with a UEID of the second entity in the computer-readable storage medium while maintaining the currency note in the currency reserve.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a UEID comprises one of an email address, a uniform resource identifier (URI), a uniform resource locator (URL), a uniform resource name (URN), and a distinguished name (DN), and wherein a UCNID comprises one of a URI, a URL, a URN, and a DN.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction provider is configured to provide a listing of currency notes owned by a particular entity responsive to a request comprising the UEID of the particular entity.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction provider is configured to provide an indication of the owner of the currency note responsive to a query comprising the UCNID of the currency note.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction provider is configured to maintain on the computer-readable storage medium, an ownership history of the currency note, wherein the ownership history comprises UEIDs of entities who have had ownership of the currency note, and wherein the transaction provider is configured to provide the ownership history of the currency note responsive to a query comprising the UCNID of the currency note.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction provider is configured to exchange ownership of a first currency note of a first denomination for one or more currency notes of different denominations responsive to a request by the owner of the first currency note.

4. The system of claim 4, wherein the currency note is transferred from the first entity to the second entity responsive to the transaction provider receiving a transfer request, and wherein the transaction provider is configured to authorize the transfer request and to transfer ownership of the currency note from the first entity to the second entity if the transaction request is authorized.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the transfer request comprises a digital signature, and wherein the transaction provider is configured to authorize the transaction request using the digital signature.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein authorizing the transaction request comprises receiving a credential from a third-party, wherein the credential authenticates the transfer request and/or verifies that the transfer request is authorized by the first entity.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the third-party is one selected from an OpenID provider, a SAML authentication authority, a Liberty Alliance authentication authority, and a certificate authority.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein authorizing the transaction request comprises the transaction provider verifying that the first entity is the owner of the currency note by comparing the UEID associated with the UCNID of the currency note in the computer-readable storage medium to the UEID of the first entity.

14. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause a computing device comprising a processor and memory to perform a method for electronically circulating a currency, the method comprising:

assigning respective unique currency note identifiers (UCNIDs) to each of a plurality of currency notes deposited in a currency reserve;

assigning ownership of one of the plurality of currency notes to a first one of a plurality of entities, wherein each of the entities has a respective unique entity identifier (UEID), and wherein assigning ownership of the currency note to the first entity comprises associating the UCNID of the currency note with the UEID of the first entity in a computer-readable storage medium;

receiving a request to transfer the currency note from the first entity to a second one of the plurality of entities;

authorizing the request; and

transferring ownership of the currency note from the first entity to the second entity if the request is authorized, wherein the ownership of the currency note is transferred to the second entity while maintaining the currency note in the currency reserve.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein transferring ownership of the currency note from the first entity to the second entity comprises associating the UCNID of the currency note with the UEID of the second entity in the computer-readable storage medium.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein authorizing the request comprises one of validating a digital signature associated with the request, validating a credential provided by the first entity, and receiving a credential authenticating the first entity and/or authenticating the request from a third-party.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein authorizing the request comprises verifying that the first entity is the current owner of the currency note, wherein verifying that the first entity is the owner of the currency note comprises comparing the UEID of the first entity to the UEID associated with the currency note.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises transmitting a record of the ownership transfer to one of the first entity, the second entity, and the currency reserve.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises storing a record of the ownership transfer on one of the computer-readable storage medium and a tangible medium.

20. A method performed by a computing device, having a processor and computer-readable storage medium for electronically circulating a currency, the method comprising:

in the computer-readable storage medium, assigning a unique identifier to each of a plurality of currency notes deposited in a currency reserve, wherein the unique identifier of a currency note is derived from an attribute of the currency note;

in the computer-readable storage medium, assigning ownership of a first one of the plurality of currency notes to a first entity, the first entity having a unique entity identifier;

receiving a request to transfer ownership of the currency note from the first entity to a second entity, the second entity having a unique entity identifier;

authorizing the request, wherein authorizing the request comprises verifying that the request was authorized by the first entity, and verifying that the first entity is the owner of the currency note; and

if the request is authorized, assigning ownership of the currency note to the second entity by associating, in the computer-readable storage medium, the unique identifier of the currency note with the unique identifier of the second entity.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the currency notes are United States dollar currency notes, and wherein the first entity is the owner of a currency note of a first denomination, the method further comprising:

providing for the first entity exchanging ownership of the first currency note for ownership of a set of different currency notes, wherein the set of different currency notes comprises currency notes of a different denomination than the first currency note, and wherein exchanging ownership comprises, in the computer-readable storage medium, associating the unique identifier of the first entity with each of the unique identifiers of the currency notes in the set of different currency notes.