Conditional access method and device

• US 6,070,796 A
• Filed: 02/20/1998
• Issued: 06/06/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cornel Sirbu
• Original Assignee: Cornel Sirbu
• Inventors: Sirbu, Cornel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald
• Assistant Examiner(s): ST CYR, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US09/011,476
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 235/382, 235/382.5, 235/380, 235/492, 235/493, 235/379, 902/2, 902/3, 902/5, 902/20
• US Class Current: 235/382
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/83 input devices, e.g. keyboards, mice or controllers thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0333 Ergonomic shaped mouse for one hand
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0336 Mouse integrated fingerprint sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/007 Encryption, En-/decode, En-/decipher, En-/decypher, Scramble, (De-)compress
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1041 PIN input keyboard gets new key allocation at each use

Abstract

A conditional access device for use in connection with a host electronic equipment. The device includes a pointer peripheral containing one or more integrated circuit card coupler units. In addition, it also includes a device for acquiring personal information about a user. The personal information is locally compared with information stored in the integrated circuit card without passing through the host equipment.

Claims

1. A conditional access device, intended to be used in liaison with host electronic equipment, made up of a peripheral pointing device incorporating at least one coupler for a microcircuit card characterized in that there are personal information acquisition means particular to each user, in that personal information is locally compared with information stored in the microcircuit card without this personal information being transmitted to the host electronic equipment, and in that the personal information acquisition means are constituted by a device for showing a display on a virtual screen of the host electronic equipment and also by a virtual keyboard having graphical representations with a layout that varies in a random way with each activation, so that personal information acquisition is carried out by graphical representation pointing with validation when a position of the peripheral pointing device is on the graphical representation and processing of pointing information with validation on the virtual screen is implemented exclusively in the conditional access device.

2. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that the personal information acquisition means particular to each user are constituted by the virtual keyboard to key-in an alphanumerical identification code on a tablet with a sensitive zone for capture of written personal information.

3. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that the personal information acquisition means are constituted by a sensor for capture of a biometrical identification signal.

4. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that the personal information acquisition means include the virtual keyboard to key-in personal information and the device for showing the display on the virtual screen to show the transaction.

5. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that the personal information acquisition means are constituted by an acquisition module and digitization of each user'"'"'s voice.

6. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are vocal synthesis means and sound reproduction for control of a transaction.

7. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that the personal information acquisition means are constituted by a tactile pointing zone having a representation of the virtual keyboard superposed onto a tactile surface.

8. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are a permanently working clock and a means for transmitting information to peripheral equipment, said information being dated numerical data with a data sequence relative to an authorization calculated from stored data in the microcircuit card, said data big keyed in by each user and said sequence being given by the clock.

9. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are means for allowing execution in cooperation with the host electronic equipment on on-line networks, all or a part of the following secured transactions involving one of an electronic wallet card and a credit card:

a) payment, b) refunding, c) cancelling an operation, d) currency selection and/or all or a part of the following secured transactions involving an inserted electronic wallet card, e) loading the electronic wallet card from a bank account, f) transfer of a value from the electronic wallet card to the bank account, and g) transfer of a value from the electronic wallet card to another electronic wallet card and crediting the credit card.

10. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are means for allowing execution independently and/or in co-operation with the host electronic equipment, all or a part of the following operations involving an inserted electronic wallet card:

a) a verification of a present value or a balance of an account, b) a reading of a list of recent transactions or a collector journal, c) locking an electronic wallet card, and d) a change of an identification code.

11. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are means for carrying out transactions between resident financial applications on the microcircuit card.

12. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are means including an electronic wallet application and means for allowing each user to carry out all or part of the following operations between two cards successively inserted into a connector;

a) transfer of a value from an electronic wallet card to another electronic wallet card, b) transfer of a value from the electronic wallet card to the conditional access device itself, c) debit or credit a value on the electronic wallet card and credit or debit the same value on a credit card, and d) cancel an operation.

13. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that an electronic wallet application is incorporated in the microcircuit card.

14. The conditional access device according to claim 1, characterized in that there are an active digitization surface with a stylus, a tactile device, and a readout, said active digitization surface and said readout being superposed.

15. A securization process for access to host equipment by setting into operation a conditional access device, characterized in that certain functions at least of the host equipment are only accessible after capture, by a user, of personal information which conforms to information recorded on a microcircuit card and verification of conformity between the personal information and the information recorded on the microcircuit card is realized by a peripheral device linked to the host equipment, without the personal information being transmitted to the host equipment, and further characterized in that all information and commands are transmitted in a framework of a communication protocol in wave form constituting a whole, made up of fields each formed by a coded sequence having a predetermined number of bits, each frame incorporating an identification field (FID) and at least one of the following fields:

a pointing information field; and

a field of information relative to a secured device for storage, management and execution of a security application.

16. A process of secured data transactions comprising the steps of comparing a user'"'"'s personal information and data contained in a microcircuit card, and setting in operation a conditional access device, characterized in that a control step is carried out by the conditional access device which forms a protective barrier against computer fraud, and further characterized in that all information and commands are transmitted in a framework of a communication protocol in wave form constituting a whole, made up of fields each formed by a coded sequence having a predetermined number of bits, each frame incorporating an identification field (FID) and at least one of the following fields:

a pointing information field; and

a field of information relative to a secured device for storage, management and execution of a security application.

17. Process for management and execution of security applications within host interactive electronic equipment equipped with peripheral equipment, said electronic equipment comprising a screen and means for allowing local and remote execution of applicative software and having a graphical user interface with visual objects which a user can act upon manually by activating the peripheral equipment, characterized in that said process includes a communication protocol between a part at least of the applicative software and a secured device for storage, management and execution of a security application, cooperating with at least one coupler for receiving a microcircuit card incorporating a distribution application of the security applications, said communication protocol being an extension of a communication protocol specific to a pointing means for the peripheral equipment, and in that all information and commands are transmitted in a framework of the communication protocol in waveform comprising a whole, made up of fields each constituted by a coded sequence having a predetermined number of bits, each frame incorporating an identification field (FID) and at least one of the following fields:

A pointing information field; and

A field of information relative to the secured device.

18. A process according to claim 17, characterized in that the field of information relative to the secured device comprises all or a part of the following fields in quotation order:

a control field (OPC),

a field giving a length of a security application message (DLEN),

a field which includes all or a part of the security application message proper (CLG) or (RPL), and

a control field fix integrity of the security application message, (CRC).

19. A process according to claim 18, characterized in that the control field (OPC) includes at least the following information:

an operation code (OPC. C) concerning one or several security applications;

an address of the security application message concerned by frame (OPC. A); and

a number (OPC. S) of bytes of the field relative to the security application message transmitted by an extended frame, said number (OPC. S) being at least equal to a length of the control field (OPC).

20. A process according to claim 19, characterized in that the distribution application of the security applications includes a license counter (LCNT) for control of multiple transfers of the same security application to a limit of a predefined number of licenses.

21. A process according to claim 20, characterized in that a transfer operation between local and remote secured devices includes all or a part of the following steps:

identification of an initiator of the transfer;

reciprocal authentification of secured means of participants;

secured copying of an application code on a destination means;

validation of the copying; and

invalidation of a security application in a source means.

22. A process according to claim 21, characterized in that the identification step of the initiator consists in the security application having been installed in the secured device for storage, management and execution of a the security applications, or only the distribution application of the security applications identifying the initiator by a personal code captured exclusively using the peripheral equipment and without the personal code being transmitted through the interactive electronic equipment.

23. A process according to claim 22, characterized in that the invalidation step of the security application in the source means consists in erasing the personal code and maintaining the distribution application of the security applications of which only the license counter (LCNT) is decremented by a unit.

24. A process according to claim 23, characterized in that the peripheral equipment supplies pointing information to active applicative software and at the same time ensures transmission of messages towards the same or another simultaneously active applicative software.

25. A process according to claim 24, characterized in that the host interactive electronic equipment transmits to the conditional access device information relative a current transaction, in that this information is translated by vocal synthesis, and in that validation of the current transaction is implemented by oral pronunciation of a word or a predetermined phrase by the user of microcircuit card inserted in the peripheral equipment.