CA2557699A1 - A network based method of storing and using wallet or purse contents - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of accessing and selecting wallet or purse contents stored on a Network Based Computer Storage. The method permits the owner to make a selection from the storage and use it for transactions at a brick and mortar merchant store, Automatic Teller Machine, cash dispensing or payment machine, or an online store. The storage contents consist of information relating to credit, debit, identity, discounts, points, library, electronic business cards, memberships, frequent flyer cards, memory and chip cards. The method eliminates the need to carry a wallet full of the contents ordinarily found in a wallet, pocket or purse for daily, occasional or seasonal use. The method includes the steps of operating the storage and an intelligent agent to pre-select cards, steps for transmitting and displaying storage contents, authenticating owner identity, accepting selections, and transmitting the selection to card processing companies, merchant computer systems and banks or financial institutions computers.

Description

A NETWORK BASED METHOD OF STORING AND USING WALLET OR PURSE
CONTENTS

The present invention is a method of storing, accessing, viewing and selecting for use contents stored on a networked computer server. The invention eliminates the need to carry a wallet, pocket or purse full of cards required to make transactions and prove membership to a merchant operated customer royalty or discounts scheme. The invention permits the owner to make a selection from the storage and use it for transactions at a brick and mortar merchant store, Automatic Teller Machine, cash dispensing, payment machine, or an online store BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are various solutions aimed at reducing the number of cards one has to carry in the wallet, pocket or purse. However, the solutions have not been widely adopted for reasons such as cost to the consumer and merchants. The solutions require new hardware and software installations, as well as significant changes to the existing methods of operation.
Following is a description of some of the solutions.

SpeedpassTMJ , available at some gas stations offers a service that links one credit Card to the Aeroplan T""2, and Esso Reward TM3 points cards. This eliminates the need to swipe both credit card and discount card at the pump. The system offers no option for the customer to make a selection of the card to use for payment, for example should the linked card be the over limit or customer wished to use a debit card. It is also technology heavy, meaning new hardware is required at the Point Of Sale. Customer carries a new wireless electronic key holder. A sensor is installed at every Point of Sale (POS) or payment machine.

Pocket Vault T""4, by Chameleon Network Inc. loads all wallet contents onto an electronic device that a customer carries in the pocket or purse. When needed, the touch screen on the Pocket Vault T""4 is used to select the item to be used from those loaded.
Owner identity is verified by pressing a finger to the Pocket Vault T""4's fingerprint reader. Pocket Vault TM4 50 will then release the Chameleon Card, imprinted with the information of the card selected.
This is a technology heavy and expensive option. The information is accessed from an electronic device that user carries around, not from a Network Based Storage, as is in this invention.

There are other card- sized devices containing one or more integrated circuit chips, which perform the functions of a microprocessor, memory and an input/output interface. The cards come in different sizes and functions and may also be referred to as "smart tokens", "tags", "memory cards", etc. The cards have varied and differing functions, including storing personal information and wallet contents. They have been around for sometime but have 6o not been widely applied for various reasons including cost of implementation, and one may end up having to carry multiple cards. In my invention, these type of cards are used for identification purposes only, as do magnetic strip cards, bar-code cards or wireless devices.

Electronic Wallet: Various devices have been tried in the past; for example the following Canadian patents:
CA 2197930 HITACHI, LTD. (Japan) CA 2096730 MOTOROLA, INC. (United States) They involve loading and replenishing information and funds onto an electronic 70 device that the owner carries around. My present invention does not include storing funds or information on an electronic device that customers carry around. Other forms of electronic wallets involve storing or loading funds onto a server based storage, the funds can then accessed, used and replenished from the storage to make purchases or transferred to different accounts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present innovation maximizes returns from shopping discounts, reduces the number of cards carried around in the wallet, purse or pocket, while at the same time using existing 80 and well tested technology. In some cases, firmware upgrade is required at the Point Of Sale (POS) terminal. There are benefits derived from having all cards in the wallet, pocket or purse such as knowing where the cards are at all times, having them in the wallet ensures that they are available when required. While shopping, merchants and store owners give royalty points and discounts, but one must show the relevant membership card e.g. Air Miles T""5, AeroplanTM2, Stapies TM6 dividends, shoppers optimum T""7, etc to qualify. The list is long. Stores also offer interest free credit for purchases made using store issued credit cards for short durations e.g. three to six months. There are multiple issues that are associated with carrying a wallet, purse or pocket full of cards.
These include:
= If the wallet is lost, then it is a tedious task reporting to different issuers, maybe 90 even signing new forms and having to wait for replacements.
= If a credit card is stolen, then it can be used to defraud the card holder.
= It takes time to scan through a wallet full of cards at the check out counter before locating the correct payment card and relevant membership card, then having to scan or swipe both.
= There are rewards to be made by utilizing available discounts, but the management of the resulting multiple membership cards is cumbersome.

This invention also increases revenue for the retail stores. With the new convenient way of managing the wallet, customers are better positioned to take advantage of retail loo store incentives such as short-term interest free credit. This will result in an increase on the use of store issued credit cards, which means a reduction in the interchange fees that stores presently have to pay, as well as increased revenue from interest charged on credit card balances.

Referring to FIG 1 which represents the existing scenario, the owner 100, while paying for goods or services, reaches into the wallet 101, twice to get the paying card 102, and the discount or royalty card 106. The payment card is then swiped or scanned on the paying machine 103, and the information transmitted to the card processors 104. The owner then presents the royalty or discount card 106, which is then scanned or swiped 110 separately; the information is then transmitted to the discounts system 107.
The new invention leverages on the existing infrastructure to provide value solutions to both the card holder and merchants. The concept provides a safe and convenient way of managing the wallet, purse or pocket contents. Referring to FIG 7, in order to subscribe to the service, the owner 100, navigates to the Network Based Storage 300, service provider's website, pays the annual subscription fee, logs onto a secure storage server and enters required card numbers such as credit, debit, discount, air-miles, aero-plan miles or the like.
Referring to FIG 3, with the present invention in place, at a retail store or gas station while paying for the purchases; the owner 100, swipes, scans or provides a designated 120 identification card at a payment system 103. The customer's Network Based Storage 300, is accessed through the communication systems. A list of pre-selected cards is then displayed to the customer on the payment system 103. The customer selects which card to use for payment (debit or credit). The Network Based Storage Manager will then send details on the selected card to relevant card processor 104. Discount, points, or rewards card details if any, are sent to the relevant system 107.

In the drawings, which form a part of this specification;

FIG. 1 is the existing setup, where the payment card and royalty cards are handled 130 separately at the check out counter FIG. 3 is the new setup (the invention), where only one card is swiped or scanned FIG. 5 is the network model FIG. 7 is the setup and maintenance model network; this corresponds to the network represented by lines 504 on FIG. 5 FIG. 9 is a model for the transaction network; this corresponds to the to the network 140 represented by lines 505 on FIG. 5 FIG. 10 shows the model server layout, corresponds to the to the network represented by line 506 on Fig. 5 FIG. 11 is the software flowchart FIG. 13 is the software model, indicating the system actors FIG. 15 is a use case, indicates when customer wants to open an account. It corresponds 150 to 'owner 100' in FIG. 13 FIG. 17 is a use case, indicates customer at the checkout counter, ready to pay for goods.
It corresponds to 'owner' in FIG 13 FIG. 19 is a use case, which indicates the merchant discount or royalty program. It corresponds to 'Royalty System 107' in FIG.13 FIG. 21 is a use case, which corresponds to the messaging devices 501 in FIG.

16o FIG. 23 is a use case, which corresponds to 'POS 103' in FIG. 13. This represents payment machines including Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), cash dispensing machines, and gas station machines.

FIG. 25 is a use case, which corresponds to the 'administrator 503' in FIG.
13. This indicates the functions and tasks carried out by the administrator.

FIG. 29 and 31 are code listings in Visual Basic 2005.
Table 5 lists the server hardware specifications.

List of trade marks and owners Trademark Owner 1 SpeedpassTM ExxonMobil Oil Corporation 5959 Las Colinas Boulevard Irving, Texas UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2 AeroplanTM AIR CANADA, P.O. BOX 7000, POSTAL STATION ST-LAURENT, MONTREAL, QUEBEC
3 Esso RewardsTM IMPERIAL OIL LIMITED, 111 ST. CLAIR AVENUE WEST, TORONTO, ONTARIO
4 Pocket VaultT"" Chameleon Network, Inc.
30 Monument Square, Concord, MASSACHUSETTS, 01742 Air MilesTM Air Miles International Trading B.V.
Papelaan 85-W
2252 EG Voorschoten NETHERLANDS
6 StaplesTM Staples, Inc.
500 Staples Drive Framingham, Massachusetts, 01702 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

7 Shoppers OptimumTM SHOPPERS DRUG MART INC., 243 Consumers Road, Toronto, 8 Microsoft TM, WindowsTM, Windows MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ServerTM, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, Visual BasicTM, Visual StudioTM, REDMOND, WASHINGTON 98052-6399, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The invention consists of two basic steps, the first being setup and maintenance, the second is usage. The basic steps vary between the customer and merchant. The first step is represented by Fig 7, Fig 9's owner 100, Fig 15 and Fig 17. The second step is represented by Fig 9's POS 13, Fig 11, Fig 19, Fig 21, Fig 23, Fig 25, and Fig 27.

The key operational elements shown in FIG. 9 are network access, routers and access Control, storage database and application servers. 'Failover' is implemented for each of the critical elements. Users access the service from the internet using protocols such as the widely used TCP/IP. The merchants access the system by a variety of protocols including Plain old telephone service (POTS) analog modems, ISDN and TCP/IP.
The system interfaces with existing payment processing systems. The network is implemented to meet the following key requirements:
Total availability by enabling services and applications in the server cluster to continue providing service during hardware or software component failure or during 190 planned maintenance High scalability by implementing servers that can be expanded with the addition of multiple processors and additional memory Superior manageability by enabling administrators to manage devices and resources within the entire cluster as if they were managing a single computer Hardware implementation of the Network Based Storage is shown on FIG 10, based on Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Architecture. A Server cluster provides high availability by making application software and data available on several servers lin~ed together in a cluster configuration. If one server stops functioning, failover process automatically shifts the workload of the failed server to another server in the cluster. The 200 failover process is designed to ensure continuous availability of critical applications and data. Table 5 lists the hardware specifications. This list is not exhaustive and may vary depending on available technology and changing system requirements.

Security is of critical importance for this service. The 'Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard' guidelines are followed for setting up the network. Windows Communication Foundation provides the security features that the distributed system needs. These are confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Authorization Manager (commonly known as AzMan) is a role-based security architecture for Microsoft Windows TM8 Role-based authorization is used on the various middle-tier components including 21o ASP.NET Web applications.

The process starts when the customer or cardholder navigating to the NETWORK
BASED
STORAGE provider's website, Fig7. The website has information relating to the service that is of interest to the customer such as how the system works, online security, and sales pitch. The customer then navigates to a shopping cart, selects from a list of features, those that they wish to pay for.
The customer is then directed to a secure website, Fig 15 Banking System 1500, and pays the required service fees by any acceptable form of online payment. The system then creates an account for the customer. The customer is then asked to enter a primary 220 contact email address. This email address is important and can only be changed through a two step processes. An email is then sent to this address, with instructions on how to proceed and an account number. The Customer is requested to check for a link to enable them complete the setting up of the account. On navigating through the link, the customer is connected to a sure server and prompted to create a user name and password.
The password must have at least three different types of characters and be six or more characters in length. The customer will designate an identification card, one that has a photo on it, as the one card they will be using to access the NETWORK BASED
STORAGE at a merchant's store, Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), payment machines or cash dispensers. An account can have more than one designated card. They will then 230 enter details on other cards such as numbers, dates, names, phone numbers etc.
The customer will be able to administer their Network Based Storage by entering user name and password. Each time the account is accessed from the internet, an email will be sent to the primary email address, notifying the account holder of the same.
The customer can add or remove any other information by simply logging into the account except the primary email contact. To change the email contact, the customer will first make a request, and then a link will be sent to the primary email address. By following this link, the customer can then change the primary email address.
Referring to Figure 5, the customer accesses the system over the internet from any internet-enabled device such as PC, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or wireless 240 phone.
Thus far, the technology, software, database design and normalization and the steps described above can be implemented with various changes and modifications without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

The owner, at a brick and mortar or walk in store; will pick up items then proceed to the checkout counter. The items will be scanned, and the total displayed. At this point the customer will indicate that they will be using the Network Based Storage to retrieve payment card. The customer's designated identification card, will then be swiped, scanned or the number keyed-in. referring to FIG3, FIG5, and FIG 9 at the POS
(103). The 250 store system will setup a call or link to the Network Based Storage.
Authentication on the server is carried out by way of any of the well established methods.
Referring to FIG 11, the software flowchart, the Network Based Storage software, step 1100, retrieves the designated identification card number and the store ID number.
With the designated identification card number, the customer's list of paying cards is retrieved, step 1101, and the store ID is used to retrieve the list of cards acceptable to the store, step 1102. The two lists of cards are then compared; step 1103, matching owner list to the store list, and a pre-selected list is made up. This list is then sent to be displayed to the customer, step 1104. During the pre-selection process, the system carries out several pre-defined steps before displaying Storage contents to the owner. Such steps include if no 260 matches are found, then customer will be notified. If the customer selects to use a debit card, or it is the only option in the pre-selected list, the customer will be prompted to enter PIN number. This information is then sent to card processing companies, step 1105.
During the pre-selection process, if the customer has a rewards account that is associated with the merchant, this information is retrieved and sent to the relevant system, step 1106.
If not, and the store operates such a scheme, then the store clerk is alerted by a message so they can introduce the customer to the scheme.
If the customer has subscribed to the notification feature, then a message will be sent to the relevant interface device e.g. email server, fax server, phone system, or Short Message Service (SMS) server.

The software model is shown on FIG 13. The following are the functions of the system.
1. Store owner 100's information and provide it on request, necessitate selection of payment cards and send relevant messages 2. Interact with a POS 103 or payment, banking or cash machines: receive owner card number, send back multiple card numbers 3. Provide store system 107 with royalty membership information 4. Send transaction details to (e.g. card number, date, amount etc) to card processing company 104. Switch (connect) POS 103 to card processing server 104.
280 5. Administrator 503 enters manual data, monitors and maintains system 6. Messaging system 501: notify owner 100 each time service is accessed by email, Short Message Service (SMS) , phone, fax 7. Logic 1300: makes decisions e.g.: customer service entitlements, account status etc Scope of work for each character:
Owner 100: provides and receives data POS 103: provides and receives data Royalty system 107: receives data 290 Card processing company 105: provides and receives data Messaging devices 501: receives data Administrator 503: provides and receives data Logic 1300: provides, receives and processes data Key features of the software:
Security is a key and critical feature; it is incorporated at every stage of the software design and development High transaction speed and performance at the lowest cost Continuous availability and zero latency, keeping pace with industry trends of increasing 300 transaction volumes, demand for higher transaction speed and security Key components:
Infrastructure connectivity services Processing services The software can be implemented using a variety of software tools, databases, operatirlg systems, and connectivity and security tools running on hardware from different venoQrs.
The high performance required for this innovation is achieved on a MicrosoftT""$ software plafform comprising Windows ServerTM$, NET framework, IIS and SQL Server.
The database consists of different tables containing customer contacts and the Storage contents. Tables' tbl walletcontents, tbI_ transactcards and tbl_ merchantcards 310 are accessed during the use stage of THE NETWORK BASED STORAGE MANAGER.
Table tbl walletcontents contains Storage owner cards, table tbl_ transactcards contains list of cards the storage owner uses to make purchases and table tbl_ merchantcards contains list of cards accepted by the merchant.
For faster access and execution, the application is implemented as a service, and the data resides in memory. Figure 9 shows the Transaction network layout while Figure 11 shows the software flowchart.

Creating the service A Windows TM8 service is a special type of application that runs in the background :32o and has no user interface. The service runs with no user logged onto the service, as soon as the operating system is started.

A Windows TM8 Service project in Visual Basic NET is created by selecting File, New Project, and then Windows T""$ Service. The system provides overrides for the OnStart and OnStop methods. The relevant code is added to these methods. Other additional overrides that are necessary such as for the OnContinue and OnPause methods are also implemented. The proper parameters, for instance, CanPauseAndContinue must be set to True for the service to be able to accept those events. The code to initialize and start the NETWORK BASED STORAGE MANAGER is inserted in the OnStart method.
An installer is required to register the service on the system registry. To add an installer, 330 right click on the windows TM8 service design palette. The service run on the LocalSystem account, and set to automatic start-up.
A deployment project is required to deploy the service to the required server.
To create a deployment project, first, a deployment project is added to the solution containing the service project. Then a Custom Action for the primary output of the Windows TM8 Service project is created. To do this: Right-click on the deployment project and select View I
Custom Actions. Then right-clicking on the 'Custom Actions' and selecting 'Add Custom Action'. When the dialog box opens, double-click the Application folder and select the primary output from the Windows TM8 Service project. It will add this custom action to all four installer actions: Install Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall.
340 The invention software is implemented using a wide range of class objects for well known reasons such as: Calculations or operations are encapsulated (wrapped-up) into an easy-to-use interface. It is easy to change the internal workings of a class object to make it perform better as demands and requirements change. Multiple instances of a class object can be active in memory at one time. It is possible to implement inheritance without changing the original classes.
The service initializes a class object clsWalletContents. The class is designed to open the database, read relevant data from table tbl walletcontents and keep it in memory.
Creating a class in Visual BasicTM$.NET
350 Begin by creating a windows application with a form as follows:
1. Opening Visual Studio TM8 NET.
2. Selecting Visual Basic TM8 Project from the tree-view on the left-hand side of the screen.

3. Selecting Windows T""$ Application as the project template.
4. Setting the name of the application Next creating the class object:
1. Open the 'Add New Item' dialog box by clicking 'Project' and then clicking 'Add Class'.
360 5. Set the Name property and click OK.
2. A new file appears in the project and a code window within the Visual Studio TM8 .NET environment. In the Code window, there will be some code that looks like this:
3. Public Class (Name) End Class All of the properties and methods created for this class must be entered between these lines of code.

Creating class object properties:
The keyword 'Property' is used, followed by a name of the property, and then the 370 type of data this property will return or set. To return the data contained in a private variable, code to be executed is placed in a'Get... End' block. The 'Return' statement is used to return data.
The class is compiled as a DLL by right clicking on the project name and selecting 'Build'. The DLL that results from the build command is placed into the \bin directory immediately below the.NET project directory.
The new class object (.dll) is implemented in an application as follows: On the 'Project' menu, 'Add Reference.' is selected. The 'Projects' tab is selected followed by 'Browse tab' to locate the component DLL required. Example of code to initialize class object:
380 Dim listofcards As New clsWalletContents.walletcontents Where cisWalletContents is the class object (.dll) and walletcontents is a method in the class.
The service also initializes and opens standard TCP/IP communications port.
Connections from merchants are directed to this port. Reference FIG 11, 'receive call' and Code Listing 5. The code to handle incoming request is a class object which retrieves information such as storage owner ID and merchant ID from the request. Reference FIG 11, 'get list of customer cards' and code listing 7. These pieces of information are then forwarded to other class objects that carry out varying functions such as authentication and storage contents pre-selection.

Claims (19)

1. A method of operating, providing access and making a selection from the contents of a network computer based storage and permitting the owner to use the selection so made for transactions and payment of goods or services or cash withdrawal;
said method comprising steps of: identifying and authenticating owner, opening, viewing the contents, making a selection to use and closing the Network Based Storage.

2. The method of claim 1 where the said transactions take place at a location comprising: brick and mortar store, online merchant store, Automatic Teller Machine, automatic payment system.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: presenting a display for owner to make a selection from the Network Based Storage contents, and receiving a request from said owner indicating the selection made.

4. The method of claim 1 further accepting owner selection at the Network Based Storage.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of sending information related to the selection made by owner to destinations comprising: card processors, merchant computer, customer discounts or royalty processing computer, bank or financial institution computer.

6. A method of pre-selecting the list of Network Based Storage contents to present to the owner for selection based on an intelligent system agent.

7. The method of claim 6 further displaying the list of Network Based Storage contents so selected on equipment comprising: Point Sale Terminal, Automatic Teller Machine, a computer, automatic payment system or a wireless device.

8. The method of claim 6 where the list of contents comprising of credit card, debit card information.

9. The method of claim 6 where the list of contents comprising of smart card, chip card, memory card information.

10. The method of claim 6 where the list of contents comprising of discount, royalty, or points card information.

11. A method of authenticating owner identity on the Network Based Storage from a location comprising of Point Of Sale Terminal, Automatic Teller Machine, Merchant Store Computer, or Automatic Payment System.

12. The method of claim 11 where the owner presents, swipes or scans a piece of personal identification comprising of magnetic strip cards, bar-coded card.

13. The method of claim 11 where the owner presents, swipes or scans a piece of personal identification comprising of chip card, smart card.

14. The method of claim 11 where the owner presents, swipes or scans a piece of personal identification comprising of a wireless device.

15. A method of compiling a message comprising details on the network based storage access, opening, viewing, usage and selection; and the steps of sending the message to an interface device.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of sending a message where the interface is a fax machine.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of sending a message where the interface is to a telephone system.

18 18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of sending a message where the interface is to an email server.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of sending a message where the interface is to a Short Message Service (SMS) server.