Methods and apparatus for electronically storing and retrieving value information on a portable card
First Claim
1. An electronic value storage system, comprising:
- a plurality of transportable solid-state media, each solid-state medium being adapted for the secure storage of information in a reference fingerprint representing characteristics of the media created by an instance of writing data to the media, the information representing stored value; and
a plurality of electronic read/write units, each read/write unit being adapted to store and retrieve data from ones of the solid-state media, the read/write units being further adapted to read and write authentication information in the form of an actual and an expected reference fingerprint from and to the solid-state media, the authentication information being resistant to duplication and serving to locally identify a solid-state device containing authentic stored value information without accessing a remote authentication unit.
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Abstract
A value storage system in which information representing value is directly written to an easily portable storage medium as a reference fingerprint. The value storage system includes a plurality of read/write units for storing and retrieving the value information. Each of the read/write units may include a data authenticator for authenticating information previously stored on the storage medium, the authentication information consisting of a numerical representation of a level of trapped charges representing the reference fingerprint. The read/write units may be connected to a central server which retrieves information from each of the read write units, stores information, and provides various accounting and statistical analyses, as well as reconciling transactions between two or more read/write units. The value stored may represent units of value employed in a customer loyalty program which are stored on the portable media during a sales transaction and then later redeemed for purchase of or discounts on merchandise, a gaming player'"'"'s points or winnings, or any of a host of types of value related information which may be carried on a portable card.
127 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An electronic value storage system, comprising:
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a plurality of transportable solid-state media, each solid-state medium being adapted for the secure storage of information in a reference fingerprint representing characteristics of the media created by an instance of writing data to the media, the information representing stored value; and
a plurality of electronic read/write units, each read/write unit being adapted to store and retrieve data from ones of the solid-state media, the read/write units being further adapted to read and write authentication information in the form of an actual and an expected reference fingerprint from and to the solid-state media, the authentication information being resistant to duplication and serving to locally identify a solid-state device containing authentic stored value information without accessing a remote authentication unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An electronic storage system comprising:
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transportable solid-state media storing value information in a plurality of memory cells, said media further storing a reference fingerprint representing characteristics of the media created by an instance of writing data to the media, the reference fingerprint representing measured levels of charges trapped in said memory cells containing said value information; and
a read unit for reading the value information and reading the reference fingerprint to determine if the value information is authentic. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An electronic storage system comprising:
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a transportable device including solid-state media storing value information in a plurality of memory cells, and a second media storing a reference fingerprint representing characteristics of the media created by an instance of writing data to the media, the reference fingerprint representing measured levels of charges trapped in said memory cells containing said value information; and
a read unit for reading the value information and reading the reference fingerprint to determine if the value information is authentic. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A processing method comprising the steps of:
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storing value information in a plurality of memory cells of a transportable solid-state media;
storing a reference fingerprint representing characteristics of the media created by an instance of writing data to the media, the reference fingerprint representing measured levels of charges trapped in said memory cells containing said value information;
reading the value information from the transportable solid state media;
reading the reference fingerprint; and
determining if the value information is authentic using the reference fingerprint. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification