JP3315327B2 - Prepaid card management system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called prepaid card in which amount information of an amount paid in advance is recorded on a card, for example, as a remaining number, and billing amount information (frequency) is subtracted each time a service is used. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prepaid card management system that can detect a prepaid card in which a prepaid card has been illegally used, in a public use terminal service system using a prepaid service card (hereinafter, referred to as a prepaid card).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a public telephone service, information on the amount of money paid in advance is recorded on a so-called telephone card as a residual number, and each time a public telephone is used (call), the call destination and the call time are determined. This is a service system in which the charge amount information (frequency) is subtracted. Such a card that records the amount information of the amount paid in advance and updates and records the information while subtracting it with the provision of the service is a so-called prepaid card (or a prepaid service card, hereinafter referred to as a prepaid card).
In recent years, various service systems using prepaid cards have appeared.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional public telephone service using a prepaid card, the public use terminal checks the validity of the prepaid card, and if the prepaid card is determined to be valid, the remaining number of services (e.g. Call). For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to sufficiently manage the use of an unauthorized card created by a method such as reproducing a used card.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a prepaid card management system which can reliably detect unauthorized use of a prepaid card in a public use terminal and perform sufficient management.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention according to the present invention provides a so-called prepaid card having a monetary value by recording information on the amount of money paid in advance, A public use terminal that provides a service corresponding to the amount information of the card, a reference time notification center that periodically notifies the public use terminal of a system reference time, a card management center that manages the usage status of each card, A prepaid card management system, wherein the prepaid card includes means for storing a card ID, which is an identification number of the prepaid card, and amount information, and the public use terminal includes a card stored in the prepaid card. Means for reading the ID and the amount information; and performing subtraction management of the amount information of the prepaid card. Means for providing a service, a means for updating the amount information of the prepaid card in accordance with the subtraction management of the amount information, and a means for generating a time while keeping an error from a reference time of the notified system at a constant value or less. Means for transmitting to the card management center card information including the card ID, the amount information, and the use time based on the generated time when the card ID and the amount information are read and when the amount information is updated. The reference time notification center includes means for periodically notifying a plurality of the public use terminals of the reference time of the system, and the card management center includes a card ID and amount information transmitted from the public use terminal. Means for receiving card information including the time and use time, and the latest use status for each received card ID. Means and, utilizing the time and amount information and the card ID of the card ID thus received to accumulate usage time and amount information to the received Te
Usage time sent as a comparison between the usage time and amount information accumulated as the latest usage status of >
Usage time and amount information sent> Stored
Determines that the unauthorized use if a was the amount information that updates the usage time and amount information of the card ID when there is no unauthorized use <br/>, the without updating if there is misuse It is characterized by comprising: means for detecting a card ID as unauthorized, and means for storing the detected unauthorized card ID.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the public use terminal performs a public telephone service connected to a communication line, and the amount information is a remaining number. Features.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the means for transmitting the card information to the card management center transmits the card information using a public telephone service communication line. There is a feature.

In a fourth aspect according to the present invention, in the second aspect, the card management center comprises an unauthorized card I.
D means for notifying the recorded contents of the means for storing D to a plurality of public use terminals, wherein the public use terminal receives and accumulates unauthorized card ID information notified from the card management center; Means for stopping provision of a service when the card ID of the prepaid card used in the public use terminal is already registered in the means for storing the unauthorized card ID.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first to third aspects, the card management center registers the card ID transmitted from the public use terminal in a means for storing an unauthorized card ID. Means for notifying the public use terminal of the presence or absence of the service. When the public use terminal is notified that the transmitted card ID is registered in the means for storing the unauthorized card ID, the public use terminal has a service. It is characterized by having means for stopping the provision.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention, the means for stopping provision of the service disables the provision of the service and disables use of the used prepaid card. It is characterized by writing information.

[0011]

In the present invention, a card ID is provided for each of the prepaid cards used in the public use terminal system, and information on the amount of the prepaid card, for example, the remaining number is notified to the card management center together with the time of use to perform time management. , By detecting time discrepancies in monetary information,
An unauthorized card ID is detected. Detected fraudulent card ID
Notifies the public use terminal each time or after a certain amount of storage, so that the public use terminal can stop the service or disable the unauthorized prepaid card.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<< Embodiment 1 >> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a prepaid card,
Reference numeral 20 denotes a public use terminal that provides a service according to the remaining number of prepaid cards, 30 denotes a card management center that manages the usage status of each card, and 40 denotes a reference time notification center that notifies each public use terminal of the reference time of the system. , 50 indicate other public use terminals.

The prepaid card 10 includes card information storage means 11 for storing a card ID and a remaining number.
Of course, not only the latest one but also all past usage histories may be stored. The storage method may be magnetic, IC card, or anything.

The public use terminal 20 is a service billing means 2
1, card information reading means 22, card information updating means 23, card data transmitting means 24, time generating means 2,
5 and a time data receiving means 26.

The card management center 30 includes a card data receiving means 31, a data inconsistency detecting means 32, a card managing means 33, and an unauthorized ID storing means 34.

The reference time notification center 40 includes a reference time creation unit 41 and a time data transmission unit 42. As the reference time notification center 40, a radio clock can be used. In this case, the time data receiving means 26 of the public use terminal 20 is a means capable of receiving radio waves transmitted from the radio clock.

The outline of the operation of the public use terminal and the card management center of the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In FIG. 2, mark 1 indicates that the operation continues to mark 1 in FIG.

The user of the public use terminal 20 can use a service corresponding to the remaining number stored in the card information storage means 11 of the payment card 10. Specifically, the card information reading means 22 reads the card information (card ID and remaining number) recorded on the prepaid card 10. The read card information (card ID and remaining number) is transmitted to the card management center 30 by the card data transmitting unit 24 with the time notified from the time generating unit 25, and at the same time, the service charging unit 21 is notified of the remaining number.

The service billing means 21 provides a service according to the user's request, and performs a billing process for subtracting the remaining number in accordance with the service.

When the card information updating means 23 is notified of the remaining number from the service charging means 21, the card information updating means 23 synchronizes with the card ID and the time notified from the time generating means 25 via the card data transmitting means 24 and the card management center 30. To the prepaid card 10 as the update data of the card information.

The time generating means 25 keeps the above time such that an error from the reference time appropriately notified from the reference time notification center 40 is equal to or less than a certain value. An example of an implementation method is described below. The maximum allowable error is ΔTmax [s], and the maximum value of the self-running error of the built-in clock of the time generation unit 25 is d.
[S / day], the following equation (△ Tmax> n · d)
The reference time may be notified once every n days that satisfies the condition, and the time may be corrected. In addition, ΔTmax may be set to be equal to or less than half the time from when the use of the prepaid card 10 is once completed at the public use terminal 20 to when another use of the prepaid card can be started at another public use terminal.

The reference time notification center 40 transmits the reference time created by the reference time creation means 41 to the time data transmission means 4.
In step 2, each public use terminal 20 is notified. What is necessary is just to select a reference time whose accuracy is negligible compared to the above ΔTmax. Existing public use terminals (for example, public telephones)
Since ΔTmax is about several seconds, it is easy to achieve negligible accuracy with current clock technology (eg, an atomic clock). Even if this accuracy cannot be achieved, the accuracy of the clock of the public use terminal 20 during self-running may be increased or the interval for notifying the reference time may be shortened.

The card management center 30 receives card information (eg, IDk, time t, remaining number m) notified from each of the public use terminals 20 and 50 by the card data receiving means 31 and notifies the data inconsistency detecting means 32. I do. The data inconsistency detecting means 32 first inquires of the unauthorized ID storage means 34 whether or not the card ID has already been registered as an unauthorized ID. If registered as an unauthorized ID, no processing is performed. If the card information is not registered as an unauthorized card ID, the received card information is compared with the latest use status (eg, IDk, time T, remaining number M) of the corresponding card ID of the card management means 33. The above card management means 3
3 has a use status storage means 331 for each card ID.

If the data of the corresponding card ID has not been created, or if there is a time inconsistency (eg, t> T and M <
If there is no m), the card information of the latest time of the card ID of the card management means 33 is stored. The memory method is
The past information may be overwritten, or all past histories may be stored if there is sufficient storage capacity.

If there is a temporal contradiction (for example, t> T and M <m), the card management means 33 does not update the use status of the card ID, and replaces the card ID with the unauthorized card ID. Is stored in the unauthorized ID storage means 34.

The unauthorized ID storage means 34 may be realized by writing information indicating that the card has been illegally used beside the card ID of the card management means 33, and may be shared.

Here, a fraud detection sequence in the case where a fraudulent card obtained by actually copying an unused prepaid card (eg, card IDj, residual number p0) as it is, will be described.

In the prepaid card management system of this embodiment, even if only one forged card is used, the card management center 30 has no data and cannot detect fraud. If multiple cards are used, fraud can be detected.

A specific description will be given with reference to the explanatory diagram of the operation of fraud detection shown in FIG.

First, the card is used at time t ₁ (the use start time is t _1s and the use end time is t _1e ) (remaining frequency p ₁ ) and the usage status (eg, card IDj, time t ₁ e). , The remaining number p ₁ (<p ₀ ) is stored as management data in the usage status storage unit 331 of the card management unit 33. Next, when the above card (eg, card IDj, remaining number p ₁ ) is used, card information (eg, card IDj, time t _2s ,
The remaining number p ₁ ) is notified to the card management center. Based on the card information and the usage status, t _2s > t _1e and p ₁ = p ₁ , and there is no inconsistency. Therefore, the usage status is updated with the latest time card information. Since there is no inconsistency after use, the card information (card IDj,
At time t _2e , the residual frequency p ₂ ) is accumulated as the usage status.

Thereafter, when another card having the same ID (card IDj, residual number p ₀ ) is used at time t _3s (> t _2e ), card information (eg, card IDj, time t
_3s , the remaining number p ₀ ) is notified to the card management center. Inconsistency of the remaining number p ₀ > p ₂ occurs in the card information and the usage status, even though t _3s > t _2e , so that the card ID can be detected as invalid.

However, since data transfer between the public use terminal and the card management center is delayed due to various factors, the card information from each public use terminal is notified to the card management center in the order of actual use. Not necessarily,
Even when there is no contradiction between the card usage status and the card information, it is necessary to perform only the latest time as shown in FIG.

According to this method, fraud detection can be performed in exactly the same sequence regardless of whether a forged card or a copy source card is used first.

Further, since the time when using the card is managed by a clock which is kept within a certain error range from the reference time in all terminals, there is a delay in transmitting and receiving data from the public use terminal to the card management center. Does not occur if the card is used properly.

Various methods can be considered for handling the unauthorized card ID registered in the card management center 30 depending on the service operation mode. As an example, a system in which a service cannot be used with a prepaid card having a card ID registered as an unauthorized card will be introduced as a second embodiment.

<< Embodiment 2 >> FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in addition to the configuration shown in the first embodiment, the public use terminal 20 is provided with an unauthorized ID data receiving unit 27, an unauthorized ID data storage unit 28, and a service provision control unit 29, and a card management center 30 is provided. Is provided with an unauthorized ID data transmission means 35.

The outline of the operation of the public use terminal and the card management center according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, as compared with the first embodiment. In FIG. 7, the mark 1 indicates the circle in FIG.
This indicates that the operation continues to mark 1.

The card management center 3 as an unauthorized card ID
The data registered in the 0 unauthorized ID storage means 34 is transmitted to all the public use terminals 20 and 50 using the ID data transmission means 35 as appropriate. Although omitted in FIG. 7, the transmission timing may be each time of detection, or may be after some accumulation.

The public use terminal 20 is connected to the card management center 3
Unauthorized ID data notified from 0 is received using the ID data receiving unit 27 and stored in the unauthorized ID storage unit 28. The service provision control means 29 is a card information reading means 2
It is determined whether the card ID notified from 2 has already been registered in the unauthorized ID storage means 28, and the service is provided only when the card ID has not been registered.

As a result, all prepaid cards having the card ID once registered as the unauthorized ID cannot be used. In actual operation, illegal I
Unauthorized use is temporarily possible between the time the prepaid card having the D is used and the time the card ID is stored in the public use terminal 28 as the unauthorized ID in the unauthorized ID storage means 28. It is desirable that the time be short. Each time the public use terminal 20 transmits card information to the card management center 30, the card management center 30
Informs whether or not the card ID is registered in the unauthorized ID storage means 34,
It is possible to immediately stop providing the service based on the information of the registration.

In the above description, the service provision control means 29 transmits, via the card information update means 23, information for disabling the use of the prepaid card having the card ID registered in the unauthorized ID storage means 28, for example. It is possible to write. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a public telephone service, but can also be applied to various systems that provide services to other public use terminals using a prepaid card.

[0045]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a card ID is provided for each prepaid card used in the public use terminal system, and furthermore, the amount information of the prepaid card, for example, the remaining number is used. The time is notified to the card management center together with the time to manage the time, and time inconsistency in the amount information is detected. Therefore, unauthorized methods created by methods such as copying or playing back a used prepaid card are used. A prepaid card can be detected.

The unauthorized card ID at this time is stored,
When the card management center notifies the public use terminal each time or after a certain amount of storage, the provision of the service is stopped when an unauthorized prepaid card is used on the public use terminal side, An unauthorized prepaid card can be made unusable thereafter.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a public use terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a card management center in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of fraud detection in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of transfer order inversion during normal use in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a public use terminal according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a card management center in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Prepaid card 11 ... Card information storage means 20 ... Public use terminal 21 ... Service billing means 22 ... Card information reading means 23 ... Card information updating means 24 ... Card data transmitting means 25 ... Time generating means 26 ... Time data receiving means 27 ... ID data receiving means 28 ... Unauthorized ID storage means 29 ... Service provision control means 30 ... Card management center 31 ... Card data receiving means 32 ... Data inconsistency detection means 33 ... Card management means 34 ... Unauthorized ID storage means 40 ... Reference time notification Center 41: Reference time creation means 42: Time data transmission means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 7/08

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A so-called prepaid card having a monetary value by recording information on the amount of money paid in advance, a public use terminal providing a service corresponding to the amount information of the prepaid card, and a public use terminal A prepaid card management system comprising: a reference time notification center for periodically notifying a reference time of the system; and a card management center for managing usage status of each card, wherein the prepaid card is an identification number of the prepaid card. Means for storing the card ID and the amount information, which are: The means for reading the card ID and the amount information stored in the prepaid card, and performing the subtraction management of the amount information of the prepaid card. Means for providing a service; and Means for updating the amount information of the repaid card; means for generating a time while keeping the error from the notified reference time of the system always below a certain value; time when the card ID and the amount information are read; and the amount Means for transmitting card information including a card ID at the time of updating the information, amount information and a use time based on the generated time to the card management center, wherein the reference time notification center sets a reference time of the system. A means for periodically notifying the plurality of public use terminals, the card management center receiving card information including a card ID, amount information, and use time transmitted from the public use terminal; Means for accumulating the received use time and amount information as the latest use status for each card ID obtained, Use time>蓄 sent by comparing the usage time and amount information and the use time and the amount information stored as the latest usage of the card ID of the credit the card ID
Information on the time of use and the amount of money sent>
Determines that the unauthorized use if a was the money amount information are stored, and update the usage time and amount information of the card ID when there is no fraud, the card without updating if there is misuse A prepaid card management system, comprising: means for detecting an ID as being illegal; and means for storing the detected illegal card ID. 2. The prepaid card management system according to claim 1, wherein the public use terminal performs a public telephone service connected to a communication line, and the amount information is a remaining number. Wherein means for transmitting the card information to the card management center, prepaid card management according to claim 2, characterized in which to send the card information using a communication line for a public telephone service, that system. 4. The card management center has means for notifying a plurality of public use terminals of the recorded contents of the means for storing an unauthorized card ID, wherein the public use terminal is provided with an unauthorized card notified from the card management center. Means for receiving and storing ID information, and means for stopping provision of a service when the card ID of the prepaid card used in the public use terminal has been registered in the means for storing the unauthorized card ID. The prepaid card management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: 5. A card management center, comprising: means for notifying the public use terminal whether or not the card ID transmitted from the public use terminal is registered in the means for storing an unauthorized card ID; The public use terminal has means for stopping provision of a service when notified that the transmitted card ID is registered in a means for storing an unauthorized card ID, wherein the public use terminal has a means for stopping provision of a service. Item 4. The prepaid card management system according to any one of Items 3 to 3. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the means for stopping the provision of the service is to write, in addition to the stop of the provision of the service, information to disable the use on the used prepaid card. 5. The prepaid card management system according to 5.