GB2291731A - Electronic travel pass - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic travel pass has a keyboard 2 and a display 3. <IMAGE>

Description

AN ELECTRONIC TRAVEL PASS Having in patent applications parallel to the present one described the "travel pass1, in some detail with respect to its inventive techniques for, communicating with a read-write device, as well as some of its inventive features in its data processing sequences, the further description of the travel pass will now disclose innovative structures (mechanical and electrical) of the pass; the description will be in conjunction with Figures 1 to 8.

Within the present scheme, the electronic travel pass is manufactured in three different manifestations: as a card with standard credit card dimensions; as a card with similar or slightly thicker dimensions but including an LCD display window wherein the latest balance becomes visible after each transaction; and a platelike component with the same width as a credit card and possibly somewhat increased height, having a more elaborate display window and a numerical and alphabetical keyboard. These three versions can be used in conjunction with any of the afore-mentioned outlets of the accounting system with which it interfaces.

The outlets or 'Read/Write' devices described in parallel applications will accept any of the three types. A user may therefore begin with a plain (but blind) card, and after having become familiar with the system, acquires the above referred to two types which are capable of providing better service value.

If the user decides in favour of the third type of card, then the following note will be relevant, see Figure 1.

Wherever financial cards are used, some kind of authorisation document is often requested.

In many cases where time is important the card owner is requested to enter his 'secret' personal identification number on a keyboard. This applies to vending machines, P O S locations such as shops and markets, and ATMs. Usually these locations are not private at all, there are often queues and all sorts of folk are standing around them. From the security point of view it is an advantage to have a keyboard on the card itself. The card does not surrender its private (PIN) number to a system where it might be electrically copied. Only the card owner knows it, and he/she can validate the card by entering the PIN on the card itself.

And, if the user feels that on a specific occasion his PIN entry was observed, he or she can change it by following a simple procedure (Figure ). Figure 1 shows a so-called smart purse or smart travel pass with the card owner entering the PIN number. There is the card holding hand H.H. gripping the card 10 on a part of the card surface which is free from data entry areas ('f.h.s.' = free holding surface). There is a group of three data entry spots marked E, C and D which, on actuation, produce the three commands 'enter', 'cancel' and 'display'. On the right, the numerals 1 to 0 are arranged, in two rows only, which permits the hand to find the numbers instinctively better than in the traditional three- or four-column distribution.Finally, there is the display window subdivided into two major sections, the left one for example only for displaying a PIN in the beginning when a PIN entry is done the first time on any day. The right half of the display window is for any other data or commands using the keyboard numerals (wl and w2 respectively). The narrow stripes sl, s2 and s3 can be given various symbolic roles; normally, they may be a bright surface; but iff.e. sl turns dark this may imply 'faulty PIN, try again'. If s2 goes dark, this may mean 'purchase refused because prepaid credit overdrawn and automatic refreshment rejected (blacklisted serial number)'.As to s3, if it goes black, it may signify: 'Remote Update successfully carried out'. (In a parallel patent application the use of the telephone as an instrument for updating a smart purse device is described in detail).

It is clear that the 'travel pass device' of Figure 1 would have its numbered keyboard on the left if a user feels more comfortable using his/her left hand for the data entry, or the right hand for holding the device. An ergonomically designed card would take such wishes into account.

The utility of the buttons D and E is not confined to the preparation of the travel pass device prior to a transaction. For example, immediately after paying a fare on a transport system, the fare may appear displayed on the right hand section of the pass; if the traveller is curious to know how much purchasing power is left in the pass, he would push data entry 'D' and the information will appear in the left-hand section. After a few minutes, these displays will fade away automatically. To recall it thereafter, PIN entry is required. To obtain the expenditure that occurred on the directly preceding occasion, button D must be pressed twice; and to obtain a recall of the expenditures before that, the traveller needs to press button D only once for each item of expenditure.Going backwards in time, this may be repeated to whatever the limit of memory is in a given pass device, normally 32 transactions.

Further features will be explained in connection with the more elaborate device of Figure 5.

Figure 2 illustrates the basic electrical building blocks of a travel pass (at times also called "smart purse"). There is a micro computer 1, a push button aggregate 2 and a display window 3, with its drive circuit 4, a battery 9 and a voltage stabilizer circuit 5 to produce the operating voltage for the microcomputer within the required tolerances, and an antenna 7 co-operating with an interface circuit 6. The latter may also comprise a scrambling/ descrambling and security circuit 6a as for example described in full detail in GB patent 2,130,412. In place of AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RADIATION ELEMENT 7 also optical devices may be used for producing the field disturbances interpretable as data.Equally, plain capacitive coupling elements such as described in the UK patent application serial number 9115403.9 and application number 9122242 may be used.

Figure 3 shows the top part of the data carrier 10 with numerical data entry buttons 2a and functional command buttons 2b, and a special sideways mounted button 2c (for use by the thumb of the right hand holding the device in front of the reader surface). A Display Window using liquid crystal techniques 3 provides feedback to the user. Two holes 11 permit the device to be suspended in a vehicle permitting data to be read while the vehicle is in motion.

Figure 4 shows a possibility of rear illuminating the LCD display during or after a transaction. See also Figure 4a, illustrating Reader/Card position during a transaction. The LCD glass plates are sandwiched between two parts, 10a and 10b, of the purse device. part of the rear surface 10d may be used for electricity generating photo-sensitive layers. A capacitive antenna plate 10p may be embedded in the plate 10a to function as a data transducer (see above cited patent application 9122242).

The data component 10 illustrated in Figure 5 employs electronics as shown in Figure 2, but offers more diversified facilities than the component of Figure 1.

A larger readout window 3 permits alpha-numeric information in both small and large lettering. Apart from the numbered manual data entry buttons (0-9) there are elongated data entry buttons such as button 15 (marked En), a double arrow button for moving a cursor on the display screen to a desired position. Another square button 2d (marked U) is provided by which the numbers 0 - 9 are lifted into an upper case, as it were, thereby acquiring a different meaning (see Table I, Figure 6). By pushing button 2d once, the number "1" acquires the meaning of a purchase code for purchasing stationaries. The user is aware that he has pressed button U because of the visual indication provided by the three pin-size LED lamps 19.The lowest one stands for the Lower Case, the middle one for the Upper Case, and the third one for the "Double Upper Case" level.

The third level is obtained when the button "U" is pressed twice. The three levels rotate with recurring push on button "U". Also display window indicators may be used to the same end.

The horizontally arranged buttons I, II, III and IV cannot be accessed without prior entry of a personal identifying number to give access to the respective memory sections containing credited sums of purchasing power. If the user wishes to get a visual display of the residual credit present in one of the credit accounts I to IV, he may have to precede this by number, for example the number "9".If, then, immediately after entering the PIN the number 9 + III is entered (which appears on the display window to assure correct entry) and thereafter the button En is pressed, the residual credit amount will become visible, based of course on the appropriate programming of the micro computer chip 1 (Figure 3)./ There are, furthermore, buttons marked alpha, beta and gamma which, combined with number "9" produce a readout of the summed discounts resulting from purchases with Discount Stores alpha, or respectively beta, or gamma. These aggregate discount sums may normally not be useable for general payments but only for purchases in the same stores who have offered the discounts.However, some stores may in fact offer discounts which do not need entry of a special code by the Discount Store's own terminal but may be used for executing a payment with the Store's Bank, and would be handled like credits from Banks I, II, III, etc. In other words, the user may drawn from an Alpha Store by transferring an amount to the so-called "money store" (see patent US 4,859,837). According to the cited system, payments can be made from the money store without requiring prior entry of the PIN number (the owner's personal secret number).

The keyboard shown in Figure 25 offers many more ways for personal financial management. The following examples can be considered directives for programming the "travel pass" and are part of this invention.

(a) The combination of a double upper case level, 2 x(U), with another of the ALPHA, BETA or GAMMA buttons, produces on the screen window the last expenditure made. Upon pressing the button (say, ALPHA) again, the last-but-one expenditure is displayed; after pressing ALPHA again, the expenditure of the preceding purchase appears. The user may continue along this line and review the successive expenditures stored in the processor stack, and may write them down in his or her notebook. He may get the same result when selecting BETA, but with the difference that any expenditure item displayed is deleted at the moment the next-earlier expenditure is selected. This way the stack is cleared in preparation for the next day's (or week's) expenditures.

Each stack row would display the following data: Date of purchase, amount, classification code and the account used for the purchase (i.e. I, II, III or IV).

(b) Another way of clearing the stack when the display indicates that it is full is to enter a sorting command. The card processor will then be directed to sum expenditures having the same classification code, and add the sum to the amount (if any) present at the same storage address containing already an amount constituting earlier summed expenditures of the same classification code (see TABLE I, Figure 7). This procedure is repeated for all the ten classification codes. After that is done by the control circuit of the purse, the stack is cleared of all its data.

The above mentioned "sorting command" might be entered by means of selecting a number other than 9 plus the upper case button (t t). If such a command is not issued when the stack is full, the earliest purchase record at the bottom of the stack would be lost at the next purchase transaction which would be entered at the top of the stack.

(c) Still another method for dealing with the stack data is to make its memory large enough for say 63, or even 127 purchases, but permit no further purchase transaction if the stack is full. The user must then preset his/her purse for UPDATING. That means, the purchase must be connected with a Bank computer of the owner's choice (if he has more than one credit account).

On this occasion, a printout is produced for all purchases contained in the enlarged stack by the bank equipment, and delivered by the Bank to the user. After that, the entire stack is cleared by code signal from the bank; however, the first line of the stack is then used to received from the Bank computer the date of the update, its bank code and location code from where the update operation was done.

(d) One important automatic summation store, also managed by the "TRAVEL PASS" processor, is a fee payable with each update operation. The fee here referred to is not a bank charge (which may also be levied) but will be a hire-purchase fee which is programmed to stop once the total amount has been paid.

Say the "Travel Pass" costs fifty pounds Sterling. Most people will prefer to buy it through fifty instalment payments of One Pound each payable every time an update operation is executed. When the summation store reaches fifty, further debits will cease. The banks receiving these amounts together with an appropriate coding flag, will pass on these sums to the manufacturer or to the agents licensed to sell the "Travel Pass" devices.

A similar principle may be applied to insurance contributions which may be payable to guard against the contingency of inadvertently losing the "Travel Pass". The insurance premium payable with each update may be 10 pence, or may be a small percentage of the value turnover. The percentage, however, may increase with each incidence of loss affecting the same individual.

P.S. Electronic purses have no cash value to a finder except what he finds in the so called "money store", the capacity of which would be kept small; even this quasi-cash value may not be available to a finder of the purse or pass because of the "automatic return-to-credit" function that a cautious user would always activate to become operative after a pre-selected time lapse (see further below). Most finders of a forgotten purse will therefore hand in the device to the nearest bank knowing that a reward will be payable to the finder after contact has been made with the owner to ascertain the circumstances.

(e) When a transfer is made from a selected credit account (I, II, III, IV) of a portion of the residual credit to the so-called "money compartment", this invention provides for a time lapse command which the user may enter, ordering the purse processor after the expiry of the pre-set time lapse to return the residual amount in the "money compartment" of the memory to the credit account section of the travel pass, from which section it had been derived. This command does not require a special command code if the entry of the time lapse is made immediately after the transfer of a sum from a credit account to the "money store". See Flow Diagram Figure 8 (lower part).

From the example given in the Flow Diagram, the user wants the next payment to be made from credit transferred from his Account IV. The PIN had already been used for obtaining the display of the contents of the money store. It has therefore not to be repeated for obtaining the display of the contents of credit store IV,namely 238.20 (in whatever currency).

The user enters 125.00 units for transfer to the "money store". After that, considering that the shopping trip will be finished in half an hour, the user enters 40 (minutes), then presses En for enactment. This will ensure that the money account will become empty after 40 minutes whether anything was purchased or not.

(f) In order to prepare a purse or pass for an UPDATE, a PIN must be entered correctly.

This invention provides in its programming the possibility for two different PINs being used, namely one for all purchase and access transactions, and another for use only for update operations. Such a practice would still further increase the overall security for the account holders. After the PIN entry, if successfully carried out, the user will select which of the accounts he wishes to update (I, II, III, IV). The display window will reflect the choice. This preparation also acts as an address selection for the purse sending out a dial signal over the telephone system to reach the respective Bank Computer Center. This signal can only be sent out via field disturbances representing data if the "purse" or "pass" is presented to an appropriate Reader Unit.

There would be, according to this invention, two foremost locations where UPDATE TERMINALS are installed. Firstly, in the banks which participate in the "Travel Pass" scheme. Secondly, for remote fund transfer, there would be terminal units connected to the telephone network. Such units can be connected via the standard telephone switching system to the Bank Computer as "dialled" by the "Travel Pass".

Long-distance and international codes, however, must be dialled by the user himself before inserting the Pass or Purse into the proximity-coupled data transfer transducer of the phone network terminal. Once the Pass establishes data contact with the Bank Computer concerned, a data dialogue is initiated strictly controlled by protocol, during which various security check data are called up by the Pass (including date and time of the last update which remain stored in the Pass) and if these data are in agreement with bank record, the depleted credit level in the Travel Pass is brought up to the level as arranged with the branch manager. The end of the transaction is indicated by a buzzing tone or the like, the user removes the Pass from the terminal.

(g) The Travel pass may also be used for storing different telephone numbers. Access to the selected telephone number is by viewing it on the display window of the Travel Pass after entering a first or second shift level (using button 'U') combined with an easily remembered double digit number (for each frequently telephoned addressee).

Telephones equipped with travel pass readers may be built (both home phones and pay phones). When the travel pass is placed on the reader surface of such a telephone, the Travel Pass will pass on its instructions and the full dial number held in memory, responsive to the selected two digit number.

(h) One of the advantages of a financial data carrier equipped with data entry buttons is that the PIN, the secret personal identifying number, can be changed by its owner without reference to a central computer, and that such a change can be enacted virtually as soon as there is any suspicion that someone may have acquired knowledge of the code (see Flow Chart, Figure 8, upper part, upper portion).

As a part of this invention, it is also proposed that a programming option is foreseen which would permit the owner of a purse to allow a friend or relative to know one or two PIN number, but not the other. The owner, however, would use the other PIN. The owner can also use the second PIN for changing the first PIN, whereas the first PIN cannot be used for changing any of the PINs. This provision can be achieved by appropriate hardware and software design.

Another feature according to the invention is the provision that the user may, if under duress to disclose any of the secret access numbers, use them or have them used by a third party but request an additional digit entry as part of the code which, if operated in a credit transfer with a bank, would cause an alarm to sound and also give the location of the pay phone terminal from which the UPDATE or Transfer attempt is made. This is intended to enable law enforcement officers to appear on the scene quickly.

There is a further noteworthy application for a keyboard on a personal data carrier: to adapt the card to special circumstances or applications. There exist application conditions for which the internal structure of the card interface would have to be changed. Financial transactions at a point of sale are usually carried out at close range within an inch of a Reader device.

Payment of parking fees could most conveniently be done if the card were suitable for ranges between 3 to 10 feet (1 metre to 3 metres). A card which is normally responsive only to close range Readers should be virtually inert to the radiation from a long distance Reader.

The question arises, would it be possible to re-arrange something in the structure of the card so as to 'switch' into a desired state? The answer is, this can be done in various ways. Two examples will be given.

In Figure 7, the electromagnetic flux radiating from the READER unit for the upper coil is indicated by a source circle (23), and for the lower coil (22) is indicated by a sink circle (24). Yet the induced voltages in these two coils do not cancel each other but rather are added up across the terminals P1 and P2, due to the way the two spiral coils are connected assuming exposure to a close proximity Reader device. Any noise signal impinging on the coils from a relatively more distant source would produce voltages of opposite sign and therefore remain harmless.

The same would apply with respect to the coil layout of Figure 8. When, however, the coils are switched into a mode for receipt of a distant signal (flux directions 25 are now in phase, Figure 7), interference from a second signal source is possible. To reduce the likelihood, the following measure may be taken. When a card, responsive to a specific digital start signal, sends out a "recognized" signal to the Reader, the micro-processors 30 in both the Reader electronics and the card electronics produce a control voltage for the switch logic 31 (Figure 8) on the wafer 22 which causes the oscillator frequency of the coil system to be altered. All further communication is henceforth continued on the new frequency which would be entirely outside the range of frequency response of any other card in the vicinity. After completion of the well-defined transaction sequence, the mciroprocessors of both Reader and Card would remove the control signal (l,r) from the switch logic (31), thereby causing the resonance frequency to return to the original level.

Claims (14)

1. Pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass device, and a plurality of operator and Accountancy systems adaptable as a means for making valid payment of fares or purchase of services and goods from one or another of said systems, wherein said pass holds data in the form of electronic binary states and wherein the terminals of said accountancy systems govern the movements of data between registers, signal converters, and other retrieval circuits, the improvement comprising a full-scale manual data entry keyboard on the surface of the pocket-size pass device, and an LCD display window.

2. A commuter pass device and operator or accountancy system as in Claim 1 wherein besides said keyboard also dedicated data entry elements are provided which give direct access to certain individual sectors of data held in the form of binary states within the said pass.

3. A commuter pass device and operator or accountancy systems, as in Claim 2 wherein a part of the data entry elements are dedicated memory access buttons (I, II, III, IV) which address data groups representing credited spending allowances, the said data carrying pass also comprising means for visually displaying these data.

4. A commuter pass device and operator or accountancy systems as in Claim 2 wherein part of the data entry elements are dedicated to address data held in the pass device which accumulate the monetary values of discounts granted by an operator system on purchase prices paid by means of the said pass device, in order to display that discount values or to use them for another.

5. A pocket-size electro nic travel and commuter pass and accountancy systems as in Claim 2, wherein at least one of the dedicated data entry elements consists of a command button (U) which selects one of several 'upper case' levels for the aforementioned data entry elements in order to multiply the number of address codes or command codes available to the user.

6. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass, and accounting system as in Claims 1 to 5 wherein the said data retention elements comprise an addressable buffer register, and the said processing controller can command entry from the said keyboard, deduct a specific amount from the balance of one of the groups representing credit spending allowances, and transfer said specified amount together with attributive data into the said addressable buffer register which, unless otherwise directed, is in permanent connection with the said transducers for transferring its data to an external terminal as part of a purchase transaction.

7. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass, and accounting systems as in Claims 1 to 6, wherein the said processing controller, the various memory and register elements and their addressing circuits, signal converters, scrambling and descrambling circuits and output circuits are combined in a single large-scale integrated circuit chip mounted in the interior of said data carrying pass.

8. A pocket-size electro nic travel and commuter pass and accountancy systems as in Claim 7, wherein an outlet point of said accountancy system (Reader unit) contains an LSI chip (CH-t) similar to that placed into a pass device but augmented by a circuit element (25) which generates a random number and further circuits which cause that number to recirculate from the Reader to the pass device and back to the Reader in order to test thereby the good functioning order of all the hardware involved before permitting an exchange of data with the pass device.

9. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass, and operator and accountancy systems as in Claims 1 to 8, wherein a similar test is executed at the end of the transaction cycles in order to establish whether all the data transferred had been done so correctly, and to repeat the transaction as many times as necessary to obtain a certification signal.

10. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass, and operator and accounting systems, as in Claim 1, wherein the signal conversion and data transfer to and from a terminal is carried out in the form of an F/2F transfer technique.

11. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass device and operator and accounting systems, wherein the non-contact transfer of serial data is carried out in the form of a pulse interval modulation or a Manchester Code signal alteration.

12. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass device and operator and accounting systems, wherein the display window in the pass is sub-divided into dedicated display sections.

13. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass device and operator and accounting systems, as in Claim 12, where at least one of the four sides of a sub-divided display area has border line stripes which change their reflectivity or translucency to indicate to the user that the intended action relating to the specificity of the sub-divided display window concerned has been rejected or, in some cases, are meant to mean, accepted (Figure 1).

14. A pocket-size electronic travel and commuter pass device and operator and accounting systems as in Claim One and dependent claims, wherein the keyboard and dedicated switch elements provided on the pass device are adapted to pre-set the range, or the sensitivity, or the response characteristics of a non-contact card and its communication means, so as to adapt to local conditions or rules of use for the terminal to be used.