Secure on-line ticketing

• US 10,580,222 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2007
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Stamps.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Goodwin, Jonathan David
• Primary Examiner(s): Coppola, Jacob C.
• Application Number:
  US11/762,695
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299684A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,647 Days
• Field of Search: 705 50- 79
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00024 Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/0008 Communication details outside or between apparatus coin-freed apparatus for franking per se G07F17/26
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00435 Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00145 via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00161 from a central, non-user location, e.g. for updating rates or software, or for refilling funds
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00201 Open franking system, i.e. the printer is not dedicated to franking only, e.g. PC (Personal Computer)
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00443 Verification of mailpieces, e.g. by checking databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00588 Barcode
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00709 Scanning mailpieces
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00766 Digital signature, e.g. DSA, DSS, ECDSA, ESIGN
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00782 Hash function, e.g. MD5, MD2, SHA
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00967 PSD [Postal Security Device] as defined by the USPS [US Postal Service]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating a Value Bearing Indicium (VBI) for on-line ticketing applications. A VBI may be generated by hashing user information to create a message digest that is used to create a digital signature. The digital signature is combined with the user information to create a VBI that can be validated by a variety of stand-alone or on-line methods. An on-line ticketing application using the VBI is described.

Claims

1. A method of securely providing a value bearing indicium to an end-user via a network, the method comprising:

providing an indicium server system, wherein the indicium server system is communicatively coupled to a database and configured to;

     1) generate value bearing indicium data comprising information configured to facilitate printing of a value bearing indicium by a printer communicatively coupled to a requesting end-user machine; and

     2) validate value bearing indicia printed based on the generated value bearing indicium data;

providing, by a distributor server, a web interface to an end-user machine via the Internet, wherein the web interface is configured to receive validation information from the end-user machine in connection with a value bearing indicium request;

receiving, by the indicium server system, the validation information from the end-user machine via the Internet in connection with the value bearing indicium request;

generating, by the indicium server system, a digital signature, using the validation information;

generating, by the indicium server system, value bearing indicium data using the digital signature;

storing, by the indicium server system, the digital signature in the database;

transmitting, by the indicium server system, the value bearing indicium data to the end-user machine via the Internet, wherein the value bearing indicium data is configured to facilitate printing of a value bearing indicium;

receiving, by the indicium server system, information extracted from the value bearing indicium printed based on the value bearing indicium data, wherein the extracted information comprises information corresponding to the digital signature, wherein the extracted information is received by the indicium server system via the Internet from a remote terminal that comprises a scanning machine used to scan the printed value bearing indicium;

determining, by the indicium server system, a validity status for the value bearing indicium data based on the information corresponding to the digital signature in the extracted information and the stored digital signature in the database; and

transmitting, by the indicium server system, the validity status to the remote terminal via the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the validity status to a value bearing indicium distributor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the validity status of the value bearing indicium data as invalid when the value bearing indicium data is not found in the database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the validity status of the value bearing indicium as redeemed when the value bearing indicium data and a redemption status thereof are found in the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the value bearing indicium is an airline ticket.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the value bearing indicium is postage for a mail piece.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the value bearing indicium is a coupon.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the value bearing indicium data using the validation information comprises:

generating a message digest by hashing a first subset of the validation information;

generating a digital signature from the message digest; and

generating a bar code from a second subset of the validation information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising combining the generated digital signature and the validation information into a 2-D bar code.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising initializing, by the indicium server system, a postal security device (PSD) module in response to receiving the validation information, wherein the digital signature is generated by the PSD module using the validation information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the PSD module comprises a private key that is used to generate the digital signature.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the private key is known only to the PSD module.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the PSD module is initialized at a cryptographic card of the indicium server system.

14. A system configured to generate and validating value bearing indicia (VBIs), the system comprising:

a database configured to store a plurality of accounts, each account of the plurality of accounts corresponding to a user of a plurality of users and including information associated with an amount of value available to the corresponding user for printing VBI;

a validation device;

a scanner communicatively coupled to the validation device;

a distributor server configured to;

provide a web interface to a plurality of end-user machines via the Internet; and

receive, via the web interface, VBI requests from the plurality of end-user machines, wherein each received VBI request includes a request to generate a VBI, information for generating the requested VBI, and information indicating a value of the requested VBI; and

an indicium server communicatively coupled to the database, the distributor server, and the validation device, wherein the indicium server is configured to;

execute a VBI generation process to produce VBI data that comprises information for printing a VBI, wherein, for a particular VBI request received from a particular end-user machine via the Internet, the VBI generation processes is configured to;

     1) access the database to determine whether an account of a particular user associated with the particular received VBI request holds value sufficient to cover a value of a particular VBI requested by the particular VBI request;

     2) in response to a determination that the account holds value sufficient to cover the value of the particular VBI;

apply a one-way hashing algorithm to at least a subset of information included in the particular VBI request to produce a message digest, digitally sign the message digest based on a private key to produce a digital signature;

     4) encode at least the subset of information to produce encoded data;

     3) generate particular VBI data for the particular VBI based on the encoded data and the digital signature, wherein the particular VBI data is provided to an end-user machine associated with the user for printing the particular VBI; and

     5) transmit the particular VBI data to the particular end-user machine via the Internet, wherein the particular VBI data is configured to facilitate printing of the particular VBI via a printer communicatively coupled to the particular end-user machine;

store at least the subset of information included in the particular VBI request in the database; and

execute a validation process to validate VBI printed based on VBI data generated by the VBI generation process, wherein the validation process is configured to;

     1) receive validation information from the validation device via the Internet, wherein the validation information is extracted from a printed VBI by the scanner communicatively coupled to the validation device, and wherein the information extracted from the printed VBI comprises a digital signature of the printed VBI;

     2) determine a validity status of the printed VBI based on the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI and information stored at the database and that corresponds to the printed VBI; and

     3) transmit the validity status of the printed VBI to the validation device via the Internet.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the information extracted from the printed VBI comprises encoded data corresponding to the printed VBI, and wherein determining, via execution of the validation process, the validity status of the printed VBI based on the digital signature included in the extracted information and information stored at the database and that corresponds to the printed VBI comprises:

applying the one-way hashing algorithm to at least a portion of the encoded data corresponding to the printed VBI to produce a message digest associated with the printed VBI; and

applying a public key to the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI, wherein the validity status is determined based on the message digest associated with the printed VBI and a result of applying the public key to the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI.

16. A system for distributing secure value bearing indicia (VBI) to a user via the Internet that improves upon traditional systems configured to provide VBI via physical devices, such as mechanical metering devices and computers physically coupled to postal security devices, distributed to users by a VBI issuing authority that is responsible for servicing the physical devices, the improvement comprising:

a database configured to store a plurality of accounts, each account of the plurality of accounts corresponding to a user of a plurality of users and including information associated with an amount of value available to the corresponding user for printing VBI;

a distributor server configured to;

provide a web interface to a plurality of end-user machines via the Internet;

receive, via the web interface, VBI requests from the plurality of end-user machines, wherein each received VBI request includes a request to generate a VBI, information for generating the requested VBI, and information indicating a value of the requested VBI; and

an indicium server communicatively coupled to the database and the distributor server, wherein the indicium server is configured to;

execute a VBI generation process to produce VBI data that comprises information for printing a value bearing indicium, wherein, for a particular VBI request received from a particular end-user machine via the Internet, the VBI generation processes is configured to;

     1) access the database to determine whether an account of a particular user associated with the particular received VBI request holds value sufficient to cover a value of a particular VBI requested by the particular VBI request;

     2) in response to a determination that the account holds value sufficient to cover the value of the particular VBI;

apply a one-way hashing algorithm to at least a subset of information included in the particular VBI request to produce a message digest, digitally sign the message digest based on a private key to produce a digital signature;

     4) encode at least the subset of information to produce encoded data;

     3) generate particular VBI data for the particular VBI based on the encoded data and the digital signature, wherein the particular VBI data is provided to an end-user machine associated with the user for printing the particular VBI; and

     5) transmit the particular VBI data to the particular end-user machine via the Internet, wherein the particular VBI data is configured to facilitate printing of the particular VBI via a printer communicatively coupled to the particular end-user machine;

store at least the subset of information included in the particular VBI request in the database;

execute a validation process to validate VBI printed based on VBI data generated by the VBI generation process, wherein the validation process is configured to;

     1) receive validation information from a remote validation device via the Internet, wherein the validation information is extracted from a printed VBI by a scanner communicatively coupled to the remote validation device, and wherein the information extracted from the printed VBI comprises a digital signature of the printed VBI;

     2) determine a validity status of the printed VBI based on the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI and information stored at the database and that corresponds to the printed VBI; and

     3) transmit the validity status of the printed VBI to the remote validation device via the Internet.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the information extracted from the printed VBI comprises encoded data corresponding to the printed VBI, and wherein determining, via execution of the validation process, the validity status of the printed VBI based on the digital signature included in the extracted information and information stored at the database and that corresponds to the printed VBI comprises:

applying the one-way hashing algorithm to at least a portion of the encoded data corresponding to the printed VBI to produce a message digest associated with the printed VBI; and

applying a public key to the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI, wherein the validity status is determined based on the message digest associated with the printed VBI and a result of applying the public key to the digital signature included in the information extracted from the printed VBI.