Countable electronic monetary system and method

• US 6,119,946 A
• Filed: 03/03/1998
• Issued: 09/19/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cardis Enterprise International NV
• Original Assignee: Cardis Enterprise International NV
• Inventors: Teicher, Mordechai
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Felten, Daniel S
• Application Number:
  US09/050,388
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/375, 235/487, 902/22, 902/26, 902/29, 902/41
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/065 using e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/29 characterised by micropayments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks

Abstract

A smart card payment system using stored value in the form of serialized electronic coins and electronic bills, which provides efficient security monitoring without the need for full centralized accounting of each transaction. Central monitoring of the system-level security includes statistical sampling techniques coupled with efficient tracing of the transaction path of an electronic coin back to its source. Only small amounts of data storage and transmission are utilized, eliminating the need for large centralized databases of transaction records. Consumer privacy as well as flexibility in making card-to-card monetary transfers are thereby enhanced, while allowing verification of system-wide security as well as rapid detection and tracing of security breaches. Multiple editions of electronic coins permit transparent and periodic renewal of the system and re-establishment of a security baseline, and also provide for the regular reclamation of stored value lost or abandoned by consumers.

Claims

1. A countable electronic monetary system for the transfer of electronic money in amounts which are an integer multiple of an elementary monetary unit, the transfer of electronic money made between two selected ones from a plurality of payment cards, a plurality of points of sale and a number of financial institutions, the countable electronic monetary system comprising:

a) at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin type of said at least one electronic coin type having a denomination of an integer number of said elementary monetary unit;

b) a plurality of electronic coins each belonging to one of said at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin of said plurality of electronic coins having a serial number;

c) a plurality of stored-value devices, each for storing electronic coins from said plurality of electronic coins, comprising;

i. a plurality of electronic coin purses, each included in a payment card of the plurality of payment cards;

ii. a plurality of electronic coin drawers, each included in a point of sale of the plurality of points of sale; and

iii. a number of electronic coin pools, each included in a financial institution of the number of financial institutions; and

d) transaction means for the transfer of a selectable number of electronic coins belonging to a selectable electronic coin type, from a source stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices to a another, target stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices, said transaction means being operative to recording the serial number of each one of said selectable number of electronic coins in said target stored-value device and to erase said serial number from said source stored-value device, said transaction means being further operative, when transferring electronic coins from a stored-value device, to pick the transferred electronic coins according to preselected picking criteria.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one of said at least one electronic coin type is an elementary electronic coin type having a denomination of one said elementarw monetary unit.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said transaction means comprise:

a. payment transaction means in which said source stored-value device is an electronic coin purse and said target stored-value device is an electronic coin drawer; and

b. change transaction means in which said source stored-value device is an electronic coin drawer and said target stored-value device is an electronic coin purse.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one electronic coin type is a plurality of electronic coin types of different denominations.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said transaction means comprise transaction selection means operative, upon receiving an amount to be paid, and upon a selected point of sale interfacing with a selected payment card, and according to the amount of electronic coins belonging to each of said plurality of electronic coin types stored in the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card, to automatically select, for each electronic coin type of said plurality of electronic coin types:

a. a first group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to be transferred from the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card to the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale; and

b. a second group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to be transferred from the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale to the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a. at least one charge card included in one of the plurality of payment cards;

b. at least one charge drafter included in one of the plurality of points of sale; and

c. at least one account corresponding to said at least one charge card and included in one of the number of financial institutions;

d. and wherein said transaction means comprises;

i. payment transaction means operative to transfer electronic coins from an electronic coin purse to an electronic coin drawer;

ii. change transaction means operative to transfer electronic coins from an electronic coin drawer to an electronic coin purse;

iii. charge transaction means operative to pay from an account via the corresponding charge card; and

iv. transaction selection means operative, upon receiving an amount to be paid, and upon a selected point of sale interfacing with a selected payment card including a charge card and an electronic coin purse, and according to the electronic coins stored in said electronic coin purse, to automatically select;

a) a non-negative amount to be paid through the charge card;

b) a first group of a non-negative number of electronic coins to be transferred from the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card to the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale; and

c) a second group of a non-negative number of electronic coins to be transferred from the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale to the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card.

7. The system of claim 1, further having at least two editions, and wherein:

each of said plurality of electronic coins is assigned an edition selected from said at least two editions;

each of said plurality of stored-value devices is operative to separating electronic coins according to their assigned edition; and

said transaction means is operative to establishing a priority for the transfer of electronic coins of a first selectable edition with respect to the transfer of electronic coins of a second selectable edition.

8. The system of claim 1, further having, for each of said at least one electronic coin type:

a. a predefined number of allowed repetitions for any serial number of electronic coins belonging to said at least one electronic coin type; and

b. at least one of said number of electronic coin pools having security means to count the number of repetitions of each of said serial number of electronic coins belonging to said electronic coin type and stored in said electronic coin pool, and identify and report serial numbers whose repetition exceeds said predefined number of allowed repetitions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said number of electronic coin pools is at least two electronic coin pools, and wherein, for a selected electronic coin type from said at least one electronic coin type each of said at least two electronic coin pools is assigned a distinctive group of serial numbers of electronic coins belonging to said selected electronic coin type.

10. The system as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of points of sale comprises:

a. means for creating and storing a received electronic cash file, said received electronic cash file containing records including an electronic cash identification field for each instance of electronic cash received from a payment card and a transferring device identification field for said payment card; and

b. means for retrieving and delivering data from said received electronic cash file.

11. The system as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the number of financial institutions comprises:

a. means for creating and storing a received electronic cash file, said received electronic cash file containing records including an electronic cash identification field for each instance of electronic cash received from a transferring device, and a transferring device identification field for said transferring device; and

b. means for retrieving and delivering data from said received electronic cash file.

12. The system as in claim 11, wherein at least one of the number of financial institutions further comprises means for requesting, storing, and delivering data from a received electronic cash file from a transferring device.

13. The system as in claim 1, further comprising at least one intermediate device, said at least one intermediate device operative to receiving, storing, and transferring electronic cash.

14. The system as in claim 13, wherein said at least one intermediate device comprises:

a. means for creating and storing a received electronic cash file, said received electronic cash file containing records including an electronic cash identification field for each instance of electronic cash received from a transferring device, and a transferring device identification field for said transferring device; and

b. means for retrieving and delivering data from said received electronic cash file.

15. The system as in claim 14, wherein said at least one intermediate device further comprises means for requesting, storing, and delivering data from a received electronic cash file from a transferring device.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising electronic pennies having no serial numbers.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein said preselected picking criteria are selected from the group consisting of random electronic coin picking and first-in-first-out electronic coin picking.

17. A method for the establishment, storage and transfer of electronic monetary values in amounts which are an integer multiple of an elementary monetary unit, within a monetary system having a plurality of stored-value devices to electronically store monetary values therein, said plurality of stored-value devices including a plurality of payment cards with electronic coin purses, a plurality of points of sale with electronic coin drawers, and at least one electronic coin pool of a financial institution, said method comprising the steps of:

determining at least one electronic coin type, each having a denomination of an integer number of the elementary monetary unit;

generating, for each of said at least one electronic coin type, a selectable plurality of electronic coins each having the denomination of said electronic coin type and a serial number;

depositing, in each of said plurality of stored-value devices, a group of a non-negative number of electronic coins, the serial number of each electronic coin deposited in a storage device written onto this storage device; and

performing transactions by transferring selectable electronic coins of selectable electronic coin types from a selected source stored-value device to a selected target stored-value device, both selected from said plurality of stored-value devices, by writing the serial number of each of said selectable electronic coins onto said target stored-value device and erasing said serial number from said source stored-value device, wherein said performing transactions further includes picking the transferred electronic coins according to preselected picking criteria.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein one of said at least one electronic coin type is an elementary electronic coin type having denomination of one elementary monetary unit.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said stored-value devices include purses and drawers, and wherein said performing transactions comprises:

performing a payment transaction, wherein said source stored-value device is a purse and said target stored-value device is a drawer; and

performing a change transaction, wherein said source stored-value device is a drawer and said target stored-value device is a purse.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said at least one electronic coin type is a plurality of electronic coin types of different denominations.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, upon receiving an amount to be paid, upon a selected drawer interfacing with a selected purse, and according to the amount of electronic coins belonging to each of said plurality of electronic coin types stored in said purse, said performing transactions further comprises the step of automatically calculating and selecting, for each electronic coin type of said plurality of electronic coin types;

a first group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to he transferred from the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card to the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale; and

a second group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to be transferred from the electronic coin drawer of said selected point of sale to the electronic coin purse of said selected payment card.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the monetary system further includes at least one payment card with a charge card and at least one point of sale with a charge drawer, the method further comprising the steps of:

automatically selecting a non-negative amount to be paid via a payment card charge card, said non-negative amount selected according to the electronic coins in the payment card electronic coin purse;

automatically selecting a first group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to be transferred from the payment card electronic coin purse to the point of sale electronic coin drawer said first group of a non-negative number of electronic coins selected for each electronic coin type and according to the electronic coins in the electronic coin purse; and

automatically selecting a second group of a non-negative number of electronic coins from said electronic coin type to be transferred from the point of sale electronic coin drawer to the payment card electronic coin purse, said second group of a non-negative number of electronic coins selected for each electronic coin type and according to the electronic coins in the electronic coin purse.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

defining at least two editions;

assigning an edition selected from said at least two editions to each electronic coin; and

establishing the priority of the transfer of electronic coins of a first selectable edition with respect to the transfer of electronic coins of a second selectable edition.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

defining, for each of said at least one electronic coin type, a predefined number of allotted repetitions for any serial number of electronic coins belonging to this electronic coin type; and

counting for each electronic coin type, in a pool of said at least one pool, the number of repetitions of each serial number of electronic coins belonging to said electronic coin type and stored in said pool, and identifying and reporting serial numbers whose repetition exceeds said predefined number of allowed repetitions.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein said at least one pool is at least two pools, further comprising, for a selected electronic coin type from said at least one electronic coin type, the steps of:

assigning to each of said at least two pools a distinctive group of serial numbers of electronic coins belonging to said selected electronic coin type; and

selecting, when said performing transactions is performed to transfer electronic coins belonging to said selected electronic coin type to a pool, the pool for each of the transferred electronic coins in accordance to the assignment of said distinctive group to which the serial number of the transferred electronic coin belongs.

27. The method of claim 17, said preselected picking criteria are selected from the group consisiting of random electronic coin picking and first-in first-out electronic coin picking.

28. A countable electronic monetary system for the transfer of electronic money in amounts which are an integer multiple of an elementary monetary unit, the transfer of electronic money made between two selected ones from a plurality of payment cards, a plurality of points of sale and a number of financial institutions, the countable electronic monetary system comprising:

a) at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin type of said at least one electronic coin type having a denomination of an integer number of said elementary monetary unit;

b) a plurality of electronic coins each belonging to one of said at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin of said plurality of electronic coins having a serial number;

c) a plurality of stored-value devices, each for storing electronic coins from said plurality of electronic coins, comprising;

i. a plurality of electronic coin purses, each included in a payment card of the plurality of payment cards;

ii. a plurality of electronic coin drawers, each included in a point of sale of the plurality of points of sale; and

iii. a number of electronic coin pools, each included in a financial institution of the number of financial institutions;

d) electronic pennies having no serial numbers; and

e) transaction means for the transfer of a selectable number of electronic coins belonging to a selectable electronic coin type, from a source stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices to a another, target stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices, said transaction means being operative to recording the serial number of each of one of said selectable number of electronic coins in said targer stored-value device and to erase said serial number from said source stored-value device.