Personal identification system
First Claim
1. For use in a system for providing transaction security to a cardholder'"'"'s account in a commercial institution, wherein the cardholder has a secret identification number, and the institution has a secret number, the combination comprising:
- means having a data input, a data output and a key input, for enciphering clear data applied at said data input under control of a key comprised of key bits applied at said key input, in accordance with an enciphering process;
means for applying a customer account number to the data input of said enciphering means; and
,means for applying at the key input the combination of said customer'"'"'s secret number and said institution'"'"'s secret number,whereby a first cipher is generated at the output of said enciphering means.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for verifying that the bearer of a card (e.g., credit card, bank card, etc.) is authorized to use the card. The card bears machine-readable indicia of an account number (PAN) and the bearer of the card has memorized a personal identification number (PIN). There is associated with the PAN a check number (PCN) which is derived by (1) generating a first cipher Y1 by encrypting the PAN using the PIN in combination with a secret security number as a key, the bits of which address a data encryption process; (2) generating a second cipher by decrypting the first cipher using the secret security number as a key so that the decryption process is the reverse of the encryption process; and (3) storing the second cipher as the check number PCN in a machine-accessible location, which may be in a separate memory or recorded on the card itself.
Verification is accomplished by (a) sensing the PAN from the machine-readable indicia on the card; (b) enciphering the PAN with respect to the data encryption process under control of a key which is a combination (such as by addition) of the PIN and the secret security number to thereby produce a third cipher; (c) sensing the PCN from the machine-accessible location; (d) enciphering the PCN with respect to the data encryption process under control of a key which is the secret security number to thereby produce a fourth cipher; and (e) accepting the card as valid provided the third and fourth ciphers bear a predetermined relationship to each other, such as equality.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. For use in a system for providing transaction security to a cardholder'"'"'s account in a commercial institution, wherein the cardholder has a secret identification number, and the institution has a secret number, the combination comprising:
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means having a data input, a data output and a key input, for enciphering clear data applied at said data input under control of a key comprised of key bits applied at said key input, in accordance with an enciphering process; means for applying a customer account number to the data input of said enciphering means; and
,means for applying at the key input the combination of said customer'"'"'s secret number and said institution'"'"'s secret number, whereby a first cipher is generated at the output of said enciphering means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. Apparatus for verifying the authenticity of a customer possessed of a secret identification number, machine-readable indicia of an account number and a customer check number bearing an encrypted relationship to said identification number, said encrypted relationship being further the function of a secret bank number, comprising:
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means having a data input, a data output, and a key input, for enciphering clear data applied at said data input, under control of a key applied at said key input, in accordance with an enciphering process; means for applying said customer'"'"'s account number to said data input; means for applying at said key input the combination of the secret identification number and said secret bank number, whereby a first cipher Y1 is obtained at said data output; means for applying said customer check number to said data input; means for applying at said key input said secret bank number, whereby a second cipher Y2 is obtained at said data output; and
,means for comparing said first and second ciphers, whereby verification depends upon said ciphers bearing said predetermined relationship to each other.
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5. For use with a card bearing machine-readable indicia of an account number (PAN) and wherein an authorized user of said card has memorized a personal identification number (PIN), and wherein there is associated with said PAN a check number (PCN) which is derived by (1) generating a first cipher Y1 by encrypting said PAN using said PIN in combination with a first secret security number as a key, the bits of which address a data encryption process;
- and (2) generating a check number (PCN) by decrypting said first cipher using a second secret security number as a key so that the decryption process is the reverse of said data encryption process; and
(3) storing said check number (PCN) in a machine-accessible location, the method of verifying that the bearer of said card is authorized to use said card comprising the steps of;(a) Sensing said PAN from said machine-readable indicia on said card; (b) Enciphering said PAN with respect to said data encryption process under control of the key which is a combination of said PIN and said first secret security number to thereby produce a third cipher; (c) Sensing said PCN from said machine-accessible location; (d) Enciphering said PCN with respect to said data encryption process under control of said key which is said second secret security number to thereby produce a fourth cipher; (e) Comparing said third and fourth ciphers; and
,(f) Accepting said card as valid providing said third and fourth ciphers compare favorably with each other. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- and (2) generating a check number (PCN) by decrypting said first cipher using a second secret security number as a key so that the decryption process is the reverse of said data encryption process; and
Specification