FINANCIAL CARD WITH A PER-TRANSACTION USER DEFINABLE MAGNETIC STRIP PORTION

• US 20110006122A1
• Filed: 11/06/2009
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Richard H. Chenot
• Original Assignee: Richard H. Chenot
• Inventors: Chenot, Richard H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,439,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/493
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06187 with magnetically detectable marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3572 Multiple accounts on card
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/10 together with a coded signal , e.g. in the form of personal identification information, like personal identification number [PIN] or biometric data

Abstract

A financial card having a body with a front surface and a back surface and a primary account number associated with a primary account of a user of the financial card, the card including a magnetic strip positioned on the back surface configured for magnetic encoding including the primary account number. The magnetic strip includes a user definable portion for providing a selectable discretionary encoding thereto. The card also includes a user interface having at least one user input device positioned on the body of the financial card. The user interface is configured for receiving input from the user at a time of use of the financial card selecting a particular account indicator from among a plurality of account indicators each of which is associated with the primary account. The user interface is coupled to the user input device and to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip for providing the selectable discretionary encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface at the time of use by the user.

Claims

1. A financial card having a body with a front surface and a back surface and a primary account number associated with a primary account of a user of the financial card, the card comprising:

a magnetic strip positioned on the back surface configured for magnetic encoding including the primary account number, the magnetic strip including a user definable portion for providing a selectable discretionary encoding thereto; and

a user interface having at least one user input device positioned on the body of the financial card, the user interface configured for receiving input from the user at a time of use of the financial card selecting a particular account indicator from among a plurality of account indicators each of which is associated with the primary account,

the user interface is coupled to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip for providing the selectable discretionary encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface.

2. The financial card of claim 1 wherein the magnetic strip includes at least one of track 1 and track 2 of encoded data consistent with ISO standards and wherein the user definable portion of the magnetic strip is operable coupled to the user interface for defining the user definable portion to include the particular account indicator in the additional data field of at least one of track 1 and track 2.

3. The financial card of claim 1 wherein the user input device includes one or more blister buttons formed on the front surface of the card.

4. The financial card of claim 1 wherein the selectable discretionary encoding includes one or more definable bits, further comprising one or more selectable magnetic energizing devices positioned proximate to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is configured to providing an encoding of a single one of the definable bits of the selectable discretionary encoding and wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is selectably magnetically energized responsive to the received user input selecting the particular account indicator.

5. The financial card of claim 1 wherein the user input device includes a plurality of buttons, each button being associated with a different one of the plurality of account indicators.

6. The financial card of claim 5 wherein the selectable discretionary encoding includes one or more selectable characters, each of which is encoded with a plurality of definable bits, further comprising one or more selectable magnetic energizing devices positioned proximate to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is configured to providing an encoding of a single one of the definable bits of the selectable discretionary encoding and wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is selectably magnetically energized responsive to the received user input from the buttons selecting the particular account indicator.

7. The financial card of claim 6 wherein each button is associated with a selectable character and is connectively coupled to a plurality of definable bits for encoding the associated selectable character and establishing the polarity of the selectable magnetic energizing devices.

8. The financial card of claim 7 wherein there are ten buttons and ten associated characters therewith and each character is encoded with five definable bits using five selectable magnetic energizing devices.

9. The financial card of claim 8 wherein the user definable portion includes an adaptable longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) encoding having five LRC bits and wherein each of the ten user input devices is coupled to a different five selectable magnetic energizing devices, each of which is associated with a different one of the five LRC bits, and wherein the different five selectable magnetic energizing devices are positioned proximate to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip for providing the adaptable LRC encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface at the time of use by the user and to provide a proper LRC encoding to the magnetic strip of the financial card.

10. The financial card of claim 1 wherein the user definable portion includes an adaptable longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) encoding and wherein the user interface couples the user input device to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip for providing the adaptable LRC encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface at the time of use by the user and to provide a proper LRC encoding to the magnetic strip of the financial card.

11. The financial card of claim 1, further comprising a display window positioned on the front side of the body, the display window being configured for displaying indicia indicating the particular account indicator received from the user by the user interface.

12. The financial card of claim 11 wherein the indicia is selected from the group consisting of single bit numerals and descriptive text labels.

13. The financial card of claim 1, further comprising a selectable magnetic energizing device positioned proximate to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip and configured for providing a selective magnetic encoding of the user definable portion to include the received particular account indicator.

14. The financial card of claim 13 wherein the user definable portion includes one or more bits and wherein the selectable magnetic energizing device is a magnetic coil positioned behind the magnetic strip on the back surface of the body and is configured for providing the magnetic encoding of a single bit of the user definable portion of the magnetic strip as a zero or as a one.

15. The financial card of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of account indicators is associated with a different subaccount of the primary account.

16. A financial card having a body with a front surface and a back surface and a primary account number associated with a primary account of a user of the financial card, the card comprising:

a magnetic strip positioned on the back surface configured for magnetic encoding including the primary account number, the magnetic strip including a user definable portion for providing a selectable discretionary encoding and an adaptable longitudinal redundancy check encoding; and

a user interface having a plurality of blister buttons positioned on the front surface of the financial card each of which is associated with a different account one or a plurality of account indicators of the financial card, the user interface configured for receiving input from the user at a time of use of the financial card selecting a particular account indicator from among the plurality of account indicators,

the user interface is coupled to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip for providing the selectable discretionary encoding and the adaptable longitudinal redundancy check encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip, each being responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface.

17. The financial card of claim 16 wherein the magnetic strip includes at least track 1 and track 2 of encoded data consistent with ISO standards and wherein the user definable portion of the magnetic strip is operably coupled to the user interface for defining the user definable portion to include the particular account indicator in the additional data field and the adaptable longitudinal redundancy check coding of at least one of track 1 and track 2.

18. The financial card of claim 16 wherein the selectable discretionary encoding includes a plurality of selectable characters, each of which is encoded with a plurality of definable bits, further comprising a plurality of selectable magnetic energizing devices positioned proximate to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is configured to providing an encoding of a single one of the definable bits of the selectable character and wherein each selectable magnetic energizing device is selectably magnetically energized responsive to the received user input selecting the particular account indicator.

19. The financial card of claim 16 wherein there are ten user blister buttons each having an associated selectable character with each selectable character being defined by a plurality of definable bits, each blister button being connectively coupled to five selectable magnetic energizing devices, each of which is associated with a different one of the definable bits and each being connectively coupled to five different selectable magnetic energizing devices each of which is associated with a different one of five adaptable longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) encoding bits for providing the adaptable LRC encoding to the user definable portion of the magnetic strip responsive to the selected particular account indicator as received by the user interface at the time of use by the user and to provide a proper LRC encoding to the magnetic strip of the financial card.

20. A financial card having a body with a front surface and a back surface, a magnetic strip, and a primary account number associated with a primary account of a user of the financial card, the card comprising:

means for receiving a particular subaccount indicator from among a plurality of subaccount indicators associated with the primary account at the time of use of the financial card for a financial transaction;

means for determining a value of an adaptable longitudinal redundancy check responsive to the received particular subaccount indicator; and

means for encoding a user definable portion of the magnetic strip to include the received particular subaccount indicator and the value of the adaptable longitudinal redundancy check.