Secure credit card adapter

• US 7,837,121 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2006
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ruffing, Kim H., Kelley, Edward E., Motika, Franco
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Thien M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mai; Thien T
• Application Number:
  US11/427,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20060237529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 364/408, 235/380, 235/492, 235/382, 235/382.5, 235/486, 705/51, 705/64
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

A secure card adapter provides for writing of highly secure, single transaction information on a machine-readable medium of a card structure in accordance with a format that may be downloaded from an external data source. The card structure may be, for example, an existing access authorization card or an existing credit card containing account-specific information which can be read and stored in memory of the secure card adapter. Once such account-specific information is read from an existing access authorization or credit card, secure transaction information can be written, together with the account specific information in accordance with the downloaded format information on another card structure to provide a universal access authorization and/or credit card. Thus the secure card adapter provides an enhanced degree of security through an existing or transitional communication infrastructure.

Claims

1. A method of writing secure information to a machine-readable medium of a card prior to performing a secure transaction, said method comprising steps of

authenticating a user to a secure card adapter,

reading account-specific information from memory of said secure card adapter or from a machine readable medium on a card inserted into said secure card adapter,

generating, from a secure card processor or a transaction processor, authenticating information including information other than account-specific information and personal identification information, said authenticating information further including at least one of an additional unique data sequence, protocol data and formatting or confirmation information or code, said generating step being performed responsive to said authenticating and reading steps for performing a single secure transaction,

transferring said authenticating information from said secure card processor to said transaction processor located where said single secure transaction is performed and to said secure card adapter, and

writing at least said authenticating information for performing said single secure transaction on a machine readable medium of a card using said secure card adapter.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, including the further step of

searching a database for data corresponding to said account-specific information.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, including a further step of

downloading format data for said information for performing a secure transaction from a source of external data to said secure card adapter for use in said writing step.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said writing step is responsive to data derived by processing outputs of two synchronized pseudo-random number generators.