FR2729523A1 - Public telephone that can read user card and record memory card - Google Patents

Abstract

The public telephone is put in place by an service provider who pays the location holder in proportion to usage of the telephone. The telephone unit can read a telephone card (CU) carried by the user, and also a write to a memory card (CP) for the service provider. The insertion of the user card initiates recording of details of the telephone call made by the user in the provider card. An identification process is used at the start of the transaction to validate the user card: the provider card sends a random value to the user card, the user card calculates an authentication value from the random value, this is transferred to the provider card, which accepts the authentication value or not.

Description

Communication device capable of reading at least two types of memory cards
The present invention relates to a communication device capable of communicating through a communication network set up by an operator of the public or private organization type, this device being, firstly installed in a space controlled by a service provider, a second part intended to be used by at least one user provided with at least one user communication card CU, and a third part equipped with an LCM memory card reader capable of reading in particular the CU card.

 Similar devices are known which equip telephones accessible to the public in restaurants, bars, drugstores, service stations, waiting rooms, etc.

 These premises are managed by service providers, such as companies or craftsmen, who are paid by the telephone operator, in return for the service of providing telephone reception points.

 Today, the service provider's remuneration is paid in cash, by an employee of the telephone operator, who visits each reception point, notes on the spot the number or amount of users' communications, establishes a slip used for payment. of the provider and makes the payment.

 It is an expensive management method because it requires the regular movement of an agent, even if the telephone set is little or not used.

 In addition, handling money is dangerous for the public, the service provider and the operator.

 Finally, the survey of devices limits their duration of use, and results in numerous maintenance operations.

 The problem is therefore to lighten the management of telephone reception points, which currently has multiple drawbacks.

To overcome these drawbacks, the communication device according to the invention is further provided with means for calculating DiC communication data, representative of the communications of the user established following the insertion of a card.
CU in the reader LCM, and means for transferring to at least one provider memory card CP made available to the provider management data DG obtained from the DC data.

 Thus, the service provider will be able to obtain the data necessary for establishing his remuneration directly from a memory card; it is no longer necessary to move an operator agent.

 In fact, the service provider who has stored DG data on his CP card can contact the telephone operator or a bank authorized by the latter, to be credited with the sums corresponding to the remuneration for public communications.

 According to one embodiment of the invention, the LCM reader is capable of ensuring the transfer to the provider memory card CP of the management data DG in the absence of a user card CU in the memory card reader LCM.

 Thus, when no user is using the telephone, the service provider can swipe his CP card in the LCM reader to save the DG data.

 According to another embodiment of the invention, the communication device also comprises at least one LCP memory card reader capable of receiving the provider memory card CP and of carrying out the management data DG therefrom .

 In this case, the phone has at least two card readers, and is therefore always available to users.

 According to a variant, the transfer of the management data DG to the service provider memory card CP takes place as communications are made by a user.

 Thus, when the service provider has introduced his card into the LCP reader, it receives the previously stored DG data, as well as the data corresponding to subsequent communications, without human intervention.

 According to another variant, a service provider memory card CP remains in place in the service provider memory card reader LCP.

 In this case, the service provider who has at least two cards, replaces one with the other if necessary, or at determined intervals.

According to an improvement of the invention, an authentication process PA of the user memory card CU by the service card CP is implemented before the transfer to the service card CP of the management data DG, and advantageously said process comprises the following steps - sending by the CP card of an ALEA random value to the CU card, - calculation by the CU card of a VA authentication value, from the
ALEA value, - transfer to the CP card of the VA value, - verification by the CP card of the VA value, - acceptance of the DG data if the VA value is correct and refusal of the DG data
otherwise.

 Thus, the security of data transfers is increased.

 In particular, the simulation of communication data is more difficult.

 According to another improvement of the invention, the provider memory card CP is further provided with means capable of carrying out a calculation and a transfer of payment data DP, obtained from management data DG, to at least one organization, such as a bank, and preferably, an authentication process PB of the service provider memory card CP is implemented before the transfer of the payment data to said organization.

 These improvements allow the service provider to be paid more quickly and more reliably.

Advantageously, the authentication process PB comprises the following steps - calculation by the card CP of an authentication value VB1, - transfer to the organization of the value VB1, - verification by the organization of the value VB1, - if VB1 is correct, transfer to the CP card of an account request to be credited,
and stop if VB1 is incorrect, - transfer by the CP card to the organization of the account number to be credited, - request by the organization for the transfer of the DP payment data, - transfer by the CP card of the DP payment data, - calculation by the CP card of a random value VAL, - transfer to the body of the value VAL, - calculation by the body of an authentication value VB2, - transfer to the card CP of the value VB2 and transfer to the CP card of an order of
reset of DG and DP data, - verification of the VB2 value by the CP card, - if VB2 is correct, reset of DC and DG data and transfer of
acknowledgment of the reset order to the body, stopping operations if
VB2 is incorrect, - credit to the operator's account of an amount obtained from the data of
DP payment, - power off the CP card.

 The present invention can be advantageously applied to telephone sets equipped with the devices and implementing the authentication processes described above.

 An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of nonlimiting example with reference to FIG. 1 in the appendix.

 A telephone set is made available to the public, in a brasserie room, by the manager of the latter.

 The telephone was installed by a telephone operator, of the type private or public body, such as one meets in Europe or elsewhere in the world; the telephone operator also supplied the manager with several service provider CP memory cards.

 The CP cards were prepared by the telephone operator, in conjunction with a bank B specially authorized by the operator to remunerate the service provider according to the volume of users' communications.

 The service provider also holds a bank account domiciled at the bank.

 The telephone is connected to the telephone network T and includes the usual communication equipment; it is also equipped with two memory card readers, a first LCM reader and a second LCP reader.

 The first LCM reader is placed on the front of the telephone, directly accessible to the public, and is suitable for receiving a telephone card or a CU payment card charged with monetary or telephone units.

 The second LCP reader is capable of receiving one of the memory cards CP made available to the manager by the telephone operator. It is placed in a place not accessible to the public or is provided with means (not shown) making the CP card inaccessible to users.

 The telephone includes calculation means, such as a first calculation module M1, for example in the form of wired logic and electronic circuits, for knowing, calculating or storing DC communication data, initially set to zero, themselves function of consumers' telephone communications, for example duration of call, distance between caller and called, number of pulses per unit of time, tariff or cost per unit of time of calls or pulses, etc.

The telephone also includes calculation means, such as a second module
M2 of calculation, for example in the form of wired logic and electronic circuits, for knowing, calculating or memorizing management data DG initially set to zero, obtained from DC data.

The telephone also includes calculation means, such as a third calculation module M3, for example in the form of wired logic and electronic circuits, for transferring to a memory card CP placed in the reader.
LCP said DG data, as well as calculation means such as a fourth module
Computing MA, for example in the form of wired logic and electronic circuits, to compare and validate an authentication process PA of the user card CU.

The CP card includes means for calculating payment data
DP, obtained from management data, initially set to zero, to store this information and to transfer payment data to the bank authorized by the telephone operator.

The telephone according to the invention operates in the following manner
The manager who has placed one of his CP cards in the LCP reader makes the telephone available to consumers.

 When a consumer wishes to make a call, he introduces a CU card or payment card into the LCM reader.

 The telephone, in connection with the telephone network, establishes the communication, if the CU card is sufficiently charged with credit or telephone units, in a known manner.

When the communication is established, the phone calculates the DC communication data and the DG management data, which are transmitted to the card.
CP according to the following process - sending by the CP card of an ALEA random value to the CU card, - calculation by the CU card of a VA authentication value, from the
ALEA value, - transfer to the CP card of the VA value, - verification by the CP card of the VA value, - acceptance of the DG data if the VA value is correct and refusal of the DG data
otherwise.

 From time to time, the service provider replaces the CP card present in the telephone with another CP 'card, which in turn is capable of storing and calculating management and payment data.

 The card replacement is carried out for example at regular intervals, either week or month.

 When the CP card loaded with management and payment data has been removed from the device, the service provider presents it to the bank so that the bank credits his account.

 The presentation to the bank is made by means of a card reader specially provided and programmed for this purpose within the bank.

 As a variant, according to another improvement of the invention, the presentation of the CP card to the bank can be carried out by communication channels such as the telephone network or any other specialized network, directly from the provider's telephone set or from another telephone set with a card reader.

 According to this variant, the telephone set is used to call the bank directly, the following steps taking place in the same way in the various cases envisaged.

When the communication has been established locally or remotely with the bank, an authentication process is implemented, according to the following steps - calculation by the card CP of an authentication value VB1, - transfer to the bank of the VB1 value, - verification by the bank of the VB1 value, - if VB1 is correct, transfer to the CP card of an account request to be credited,
and stop if VB1 is incorrect, - transfer by the CP card to the bank of the account number to be credited, - request by the bank to transfer the DP payment data, - transfer by the CP card to the DP payment data, - calculation by the CP card of a random value VAL, - transfer to the bank of the value VAL, - calculation by the bank of an authentication value VB2, - transfer to the card CP of the value VB2 and transfer to the card CP of an order of
reset of DG and DP data, - verification of the VB2 value by the CP card, - if VB2 is correct, reset of DC and DG data and transfer of
acknowledgment of the reset order to the bank, stop operations if VB2
is incorrect, - credit to the operator's account of an amount obtained from the data of
DP payment, - power off the CP card.

 The present invention therefore makes it possible to make the management of telephone reception points reliable, by reducing the current costs and the risks inherent in the handling in public of sums of money often considerable.

 The applications of the present invention are not limited to the example described, nor to their use with the single telephone network, or with a single bank.

Claims (10)

 1. Communication device capable of communicating through a communication network set up by an operator of the public or private organization type, this device being, firstly installed in a space controlled by a service provider, secondly intended to be used by at least one user provided with at least one user communication card CU, on the third hand equipped with an LCM memory card reader capable of reading in particular the CU card, and being characterized in that '' it is provided with means for calculating DC communication data, representative of the user's communications established following the insertion of a CU card in the reader LCM, and means for transferring to at least one provider memory card CP made available to the provider management data DG obtained from the DC data.  2. Communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the LCM reader is capable of ensuring the transfer to the service provider memory card CP of the management data DG in the absence of user card CU in the memory card reader LCM.  3. Communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises at least one LCP memory card reader capable of receiving the service provider memory card CP and of carrying out the transfer of management data to it. DG.  4. Communication device according to claim 3, characterized in that the transfer of the management data DG to the provider memory card CP takes place as and when the communication is carried out by a user.  5. Communication device according to any one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that a service provider memory card CP remains in place in the service provider card reader LCP.  6. Communication device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an authentication process PA of the user memory card CU by the provider card CP is implemented before the transfer to the provider card CP of DG management data.  7. Communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the authentication process PA comprises the following steps - sending by the card CP of a random value ALEA to the card CU, - calculation by the card CIU of VA authentication value, from the  ALEA value, - transfer to the CP card of the VA value, - verification by the CP card of the VA value, - acceptance of the DG data if the VA value is correct and refusal of the DG data  otherwise.  8. Communication device according to claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the service provider memory card CP is further provided with means capable of carrying out a calculation and transfer of payment data DP, obtained from management data DG , to at least one organization such as a bank.  9. Communication device according to claim 8, characterized in that an authentication process PB of the provider memory card CP is implemented before the transfer of payment data to the organization, such as a bank.  10. Communication device according to claim 9, characterized in that the authentication process PB comprises the following steps - calculation by the card CP of an authentication value VB1, - transfer to the organization of the value VB1, - verification by the organization of the value VB1, - if VB1 is correct, transfer to the CP card of an account request to be credited,  and stop if VB1 is incorrect, - transfer by the CP card to the organization of the account number to be credited, - request by the organization for the transfer of the DP payment data, - transfer by the CP card of the DP payment data, - calculation by the CP card of a random value VAL, - transfer to the body of the value VAL, - calculation by the body of an authentication value VB2, - transfer to the card CP of the value VB2 and transfer to the CP card of an order of  reset of DG and DP data, - verification of the VB2 value by the CP card, - if VB2 is correct, reset of DC and DG data and transfer of  acknowledgment of the reset order to the body, stopping operations if  VB2 is incorrect, - credit to the operator's account of an amount obtained from the data of  DP payment, - power off the CP card.  he. Telephone set comprising at least one communication device according to any one of the preceding claims.