CREATING AND USING DIGITAL CURRENCY

• US 20130166455A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bitbills Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bitbills Incorporated
• Inventors: Feigelson, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US13/336,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166455A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/065 using e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Among other things, a physical device carries value and can be physically delivered in a transaction. The physical device includes a representation of the value carried by the physical device. The representation is usable to transfer the value from the physical device to a digital domain. A security feature can change from a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device has not been compromised to a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device may have been compromised. The change in state is detectable, the representation of the value carried by the physical device being inaccessible except in a manner that causes the security feature to change state.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising

a physical device that carries value and can be physically delivered in a transaction, the physical device comprising

a representation of the value carried by the physical device, the representation being usable to transfer the value from the physical device to a digital domain, and

a security feature that can change from a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device has not been compromised to a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device may have been compromised, the change in state being detectable,

the representation of the value carried by the physical device being inaccessible except in a manner that causes the security feature to change state.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the physical device comprises a portable device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of the value is expressed in a human readable form.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which the human readable form comprises printed characters.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of value is expressed in a machine readable form.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 in which the machine readable form comprises a one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar or mark code.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the code comprises a QR code.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of value comprises a secret.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of value comprises a private key of a public key and private key pair.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 in which the public key (a) can be provided by a paid party to a paying party in connection with a transaction and (b) can form the basis of an address a digital currency network to which the paying party can assign units of value for use by the paid party.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of value comprises fifty-one ASCII encoded characters representing a base 58 encoding of a private key part of a key pair associated with a Bitcoin-type network.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 in which the secrecy of the secret is preserved in the transaction.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising an anti-counterfeiting feature.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising an anti-counterfeiting hologram.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a visible and human readable representation of a public key associated with the representation of value.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the representation of value is cryptographically protected.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the digital domain comprises an online digital currency network.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 in which the digital currency network comprises Bitcoin™

.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the security feature comprises a visible element of the physical device.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the security feature comprises an element that visually obscures the representation of value.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the security feature comprises a packaging element of the physical device.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the security feature comprises a holographic foil.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the change of state indicating that the value has been compromised comprises a visible tampering.

24. A method comprising

producing a physical device that carries value and can be physically delivered in a transaction by

imparting to the physical device a representation of value that is usable to transfer the value from the physical device to a digital domain, and

imparting to the physical device a security feature that can change from a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device has not been compromised to a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device may have been compromised, the change in state being detectable,

the representation of the value imparted to the physical device being inaccessible except in a manner that causes the security feature to change state.

25. The method of claim 24 in which the representation of value imparted to the physical device comprises a secret acquired from a source.

26. The method of claim 24 comprising acquiring the representation of value as a secret from a source.

27. The method of claim 24 in which imparting the representation of value comprises encoding a secret and storing it on a physical medium.

28. The method of claim 27 in which imparting the representation of value comprises generating a private key and public key pair and using the private key as the basis for imparting the representation of value.

29. The method of claim 24 in which imparting the representation of value to the physical device comprises embedding an encoded version of the representation of value in the physical device.

30. A method comprising

as consideration in a transaction, delivering a physical device that comprises

a representation of value that can be transferred from the physical device to a digital domain, and

a security feature that can change from a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device has not been compromised to a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device may have been compromised, the change in state being detectable,

the representation of the value carried by the physical device being inaccessible except in a manner that causes the security feature to change state.

31. A method comprising

transferring value from a physical device to a digital domain, the

the physical device comprising

a representation of the value carried by the physical device, the representation being usable to transfer the value from the physical device to a digital domain, and

a security feature that can change from a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device has not been compromised to a state indicating that the value carried by the physical device may have been compromised, the change in state being detectable,

the representation of the value carried by the physical device being inaccessible except in a manner that causes the security feature to change state,

the transferring of value comprising

accessing the representation of value carried by the physical device, including causing the security feature to change state.

32. A method comprising

enabling a party to transfer value that is represented in a physical device that can be physically delivered in a transaction, directly to an online value exchange system on which the value can be represented electronically, without requiring the value to be passed through any intermediary party.

33. The method of claim 32 in which the value is represented in the physical device and on the online value exchange system using a common protocol for representing value.