Real-time card balance on card plastic

• US 8,517,279 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2012
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Granucci, Nicole Janine, Vriheas, Carrie Elaine, Hammad, Ayman A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELLIS, SUEZU Y
• Application Number:
  US13/493,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20130024305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 442 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/379, 235/380, 235/487, 705/16, 705/17, 705/39, 705/41, 705/44, 340/5.8, 340/5.81, 340/5.85, 340/5.4, 340/5.41, 340/5.42, 340/5.51, 340/5.54, 340/5.6, 340/5.61, 340/5.62, 340/5.64, 340/5.65, 340/5.66, 455/556.1, 455/558
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• 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: G07F 7/0833 Card having specific functional components
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/125 Offline card verification

Abstract

A system, method and prepaid payment card configured to display a current card balance on the prepaid payment card. The prepaid payment card receives a balance request from a button on the card. After retrieving the current card balance encoded on the prepaid payment card, the card displays the current card balance. Remote terminals may be configured to support the real-time display of a balance on a prepaid payment card by writing the current balance to the card after a payment transaction has occurred.

Claims

1. A payment card comprising:

a plastic body,

a non-volatile programmable memory configured to store an account identifier associated with an account of the payment card and a current card balance after a transaction, wherein the current card balance is encoded on the non-volatile programmable memory after receiving current balance information from a point-of-sale (POS) device;

an input-output module configured to provide the account identifier to the POS during a first presentation of the payment card to the POS, wherein the POS requests current balance information from an issuer of the payment card responsive to the first presentation using the account identifier, and the input-output module is further configured to receive the current balance from the POS during a second presentation of the payment card to the POS, wherein the first and second presentations occur sequentially during the transaction;

a button configured to receive a request for the current card balance; and

a display configured to show the current card balance responsive to the button receiving the request for the current card balance.

2. The payment card of claim 1 further comprising:

a contactless element configured to transmit an account identifier to the POS device and configured to receive current balance information from the POS device.

3. The payment card of claim 2, wherein the current balance information includes the current card balance.

4. The payment card of claim 2, wherein the current balance information includes information from which the current card balance can be calculated.

5. The payment card of claim 1, wherein the current card balance is a previous card balance less a transaction amount associated with the transaction.

6. The payment card of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile programmable memory is a magnetic stripe on the prepaid payment card and the current card balance is encoded on the magnetic stripe.

7. The payment card of claim 6, wherein the current card balance is encoded on track 3 of the magnetic stripe on the prepaid payment card.

8. The payment card of claim 1, wherein the display is further configured to prompt the user for input of a personal identification number (PIN), wherein the PIN is stored in the non-volatile programmable memory on the payment card.

9. The payment card of claim 8 further comprising:

a processor configured to determine whether the PIN is valid, wherein the current card balance is displayed only if the PIN is determined to be valid.

10. The payment card of claim 1, wherein the transaction is a funds load transaction.

11. A point of sale device comprising:

a processor;

an input/output (I/O) element coupled to the processor, the I/O element configured to read payment card data from a payment card during a first presentation of the payment card and configured to transmit data to the payment card during a second presentation of the payment card, wherein the first and second presentation occur sequentially during a transaction;

a computer-readable medium comprising code that, when executed by the processor, cause the point of sale device (POS) to;

read payment card data with the I/O element, wherein the POS requests current balance information from the payment network,

transmit transaction data associated with a transaction, including a portion of the payment card data, to a payment network,

receive a response from the payment network indicating whether the transaction is approved or denied,

receive current balance information from the payment network, and

transmit a current balance to the payment card with the I/O element during the second presentation of the payment card.

12. The point of sale device of claim 11, wherein the payment network comprises at least one of an issuer, an acquirer, or a payment processor.

13. The point of sale device of claim 11, wherein the I/O element comprises a radio frequency (RF) transceiver.

14. The point of sale device of claim 11, wherein the I/O element comprises a contact-making element.

15. The point of sale device of claim 11, wherein the I/O element comprises a magnetic stripe reader/writer.

16. A system comprising:

a payment network configured to receive transaction data associated with a transaction; and

a point of sale (POS) device, wherein the POS is configured to;

read payment card data from a payment card during a first presentation of the payment card to the POS;

transmit transaction data associated with a transaction, including a portion of the payment card data, to the payment network;

receive a response from the payment network indicating whether the transaction is approved or denied,

receive current balance information from the payment network, wherein the current balance can be determined from the current balance information, and

transmit the current balance information or current balance to the payment card during a second presentation of the payment card to the POS, wherein the first and second presentation occur sequentially during the transaction.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the payment network comprises at least one of an issuer, an acquirer, or a payment processor.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the payment card comprises:

a plastic body,

a non-volatile programmable memory configured to store the current card balance after the transaction, wherein the current card balance is encoded on the non-volatile programmable memory after the current balance information or the current balance is received from the POS device,

a button configured to receive a request for the current card balance, and

a display configured to show the current card balance responsive to the button receiving the request for the current card balance.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the POS is further configured to determine whether a successful transmission of the current balance information or current balance to the payment card occurred.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the payment card is a prepaid payment card and the transaction is a reload transaction that adds funds to the prepaid payment card.