WO2001056027A2

WO2001056027A2 - Data carrier that can also be used as a means of payment

Info

Publication number: WO2001056027A2
Application number: PCT/HU2001/000007
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tamás LAJTNER
Original assignee: Lajtner Tamas
Priority date: 2000-01-27
Filing date: 2001-01-19
Publication date: 2001-08-02
Also published as: AU2001230414A1; HU221217B1; HUP0000324A2; HU0000324D0; WO2001056027A3

Abstract

The subject of the invention relates to a data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment, especially for use in computing and/or entertainment electronics, which is randomly accessible, writable and readable. During the production of the data carrier (A) it is provided with a marking (S) designating a determined amount, suitable for carrying out financial transactions and/or has a marking (SR) that may be filled up and/or refilled. Favourably the data carrier (A) also has a unique identifier (M) that clear differentiates it from the others.

Description

DATA CARRIER THAT CAN ALSO BE USED AS A MEANS OF

PAYMENT

The subject of the invention relates to a data carrier that may be also used as a means of payment, especially for use in computing and/or entertainment electronics

In the case of an individual type of the data carriers that can be and are used in computing and entertainment electronics - for example hard disk, CD, DND, etc - the individual members of this type are not different from one another, in other words one is the same as any other The sameness of these, of their external and internal structure, in specialist terms their compatibility are also dealt with by appropriate standards - e g ISO standards - and so this is natural

At the same time in the case of very specialised uses - such, for example, are the endeavours made for magnetic cards, especially credit cards, bank ATM cards in order for the uniformly manufactured data carriers to be subsequently differentiated from each other In these specialised areas what typically takes place is that the known data carriers are subsequently provided with differentiating feature(s) during use, for example, the magnetic card is coded A typical widespread practice is that in parallel with the subsequent filling up of the card, the person using the card receives a private personal code - this is the so called PIN code - in the interest of preventing use by unauthorised persons American patent description registration No 5 206 494 illustrates an invention where these known cards consist of two main parts a primary, magnetically coded part, and in this part a further, subsequent, also magnetically coded, part that can be placed in this first part physically In order to prevent unauthorised use, or identify the rightful owner there are different, other known solutions, such, for example, is the American patent description registered under No 3 258 277, which uses the photograph of the rightful owner during identification

The common disadvantage of the known solutions is that if unauthorised access is successful, then there is the possibility for the unauthorised person to abuse this situation In the case of bank access the whole amount on the bank account may be withdrawn without authorisation, and even further debts may be created Many clients do not use such payment services where these types of abuse may happen

The aim of the invention is to do away with the disadvantageous features and create a solution with which the sketched out problem may be remedied

I recognised that the data carriers used especially in the fields of computing and entertainment electronics, whilst retaining their existing, known functions, may be used for the realisation of further useful purposes For years a useful solution for public telephones in order to prevent their unnecessary damage have been money-replacing telephone cards I realised that the data carriers mass produced in the consumer society, with the appropriate supplementation, may also be may suitable - whilst retaining their original, known function - for carrying out financial transactions Naturally it is practical to restrict this new type of function of the data carriers to be realised by me in accordance with a determined amount This different, but restricted use of the data carriers is advantageous also because unauthorised use make only take place up to the degree of the restriction, in other words only up to a maximum of the determined amount On the basis of the above the data carrier according to the invention needs to be writable and readable, and be randomly accessible

The subject of the invention then relates to a data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment, especially for use in computing and/or entertainment electronics, which is randomly accessible, writable and readable The essence of the data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment is that during the production of the data carrier it is provided with a marking designating a determined amount suitable for carrying out financial transactions

In order to prevent abuse favourably the marking should be placed on the data carrier in a way so that it may not be changed The marking may be, for example, digitally recorded on the data carrier during production so that it may not be overwritten Henceforward I will interpret the terms of manufacturer, producer and client jointly, and in general

I also recognised that the data carrier suitable for financial transactions supplied with a marking designating a determined amount may only be used as a means of payment in the system which is the company manufacturing the data carrier The explanation for this is if a single seller (who receives the money) only uses this new system, then it is clear that the incoming money amount belongs to this person, as this person is both the manufacturer and the seller

The solution according to the invention makes sense also in this case, but it becomes really useful when the system may be spread widely and the system becomes open to an unrestricted number of sellers I realised that for the realisation of this it is necessary for the data carrier to be differentiable from the other data carriers and have a unique identifier This possible solution of the data carrier used as a means of payment is satisfactory for any seller (who receives the money) and any buyer (who gives the money)

The unique identifier depending on the degree of development" of the new system may be formed as a group identifier - where the identifier contains at least a marking referring to the manufacturing company and/or the date of manufacture in a way so that the marking may not be changed (in other words the idea is for a data carrier produced by a given manufacturer to be identifiable with the manufacturer, or rather differ from those of other manufacturers) -, but it may also be formed in such a way so that every single data carrier may be differentiated from all the others

It is favourable to record the unique identifier on the data carrier during manufacture in a way so that it may not be changed, for example, so that it may not be overwritten and favourably digitally

In the case of a further advantageous solution of the data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment the marking and/or the unique identifier is recorded in the spare space(s) according to the „control zone" allocation of ISO standards relating to data carriers or there is a reference here regarding where it may be found on the data carrier

It is practical for the data carrier to have both one time writable and several times writable surfaces A possible example of the data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment according to the invention is shown in detail on the basis of the appended drawings - without restricting my application to this example solution -

where

figure 1 shows an advantageous sketched structure of the data carrier,

figure 2 shows a possible realisation of the marking and/or the unique identifier.

The data carrier A supplied that may also be used as a means of payment according to the invention shown on figure 1, especially for use in computing and/or entertainment electronics, in the depicted case - for purposes of simplicity - is shown as a CD. In the present invention description the data carrier A is to be understood as all equipment on which analogue and/or digital data may be recorded (written) and from which this data may be regained in a known manner (readable). It is favourable for the data carrier A to be randomly accessible (that is not sequentially accessible, or not sequentially set out), only readable or writable-readable. According to my solution during the production of the data carrier A it is provided with a marking S equivalent to a determined amount of money suitable for carrying out financial transactions and/or a marking SR showing whether the data carrier can be financially filled up and/or refilled.

On figure 1 both the marking S and the marking SR are on the data carrier. The S and/or SR marking are not only placed on the data carrier A in a way so that they may not be changed, but favourably they are also shown on the data carrier A in a way that they may be seen from the outside. It is practical for the marking S and/or SR to be recorded digitally on the data carrier A in a way so that it may not be overwritten.

In the case of an advantageous solution of the data carrier A that can also be used as a means of payment according to the invention the data carrier A is also supplied with a unique identifier M that clearly differentiates it from all the others. The unique identifier M is placed on the data carrier A during manufacture also in a way so that it may not be changed, which contains at least a reference to the producing company and/or the date of production It is practical for the unique identifier M to be recorded digitally on the data carrier A in a way so that it may not be overwritten

It is possible for the data carrier to be only readable, but it is practical for the data carrier A to have both one time writable and several times writable surfaces

A very advantageous solution for the data carrier according to the invention is when the markings S and/or SR and/or the unique identifier M and/or the marking referring to these are recorded in the spare space(s) HI, H2, , Hn according to the „control zone" allocation of ISO standards relating to data carriers Figure 2 depicts the realisation of the positioning of the markings S and/or SR and/or the unique identifier M on the data carrier A Here a marking referring to the producing company and/or production date and/or other special code may be placed With the use of this (these) spare place(s) HI, H2, , Hn, if necessary with the reorganisation of the zone(s), its (their) possible extension, or in another way it may be attained that the data carriers A on the one part may be clearly differentiated from each other if necessary, and, on the second part, from the point of view of the traditional uses up till now they remain the same

The solution according to the invention operates according to the following detailed description In the present presentation I assume an adequate computer configuration existing in known computer networks The marking S equivalent to the determined money amount is interpreted as a means of payment by a service provider as seller through an appropriate Internet connection, who after agreement with the buyer takes off the amount due

The buyer buys the data carrier A that has been filled up financially in any shop in the usual way Theoretically a data carrier that was purchased in a non-filled up state but that may be filled up financially or a data carrier that had been filled up and from which the money has run out could be filled up (again) by bank transfer or in another way (The SR marking could serve for permitting this filling procedure Naturally it is not necessary to separate this from the S and/or the M markings, it may be built into them ) With this the manufacturer has been paid for the filled up data carrier A (Henceforward the terms manufacturer, producer and client will be interpreted jointly, in general as system administrator) In the case of a business transaction the seller (who e g on the Internet in return for providing a service receives money from the customer) gets his her money by placing the unique identifier M of the data carrier A and the amount of money called down into his/her own records Following this the seller gets into contact - if this has not yet been done - with the service provider according to the manufacturer of the data carrier A and informs them regarding how much money it has called down from a data carrier A with a specific identifier M The manufacturer of the data carrier A checks whether the data carrier A contains the required amount of payment means, and if so the amount of money on the data carrier A with the given identifier M is reduced by the required amount, in other words it amends its own database records Following this the manufacturer of the data carrier A actually pays (transfers) the given amount to the seller

This operation description is purely of an illustrative nature and naturally it may be supplemented, changed within the bounds of reason

The advantages of the solution according to the invention may be summarised in short in the following

It creates the financial security and discipline of Internet payment relationships As at the end of the transaction the client does not have to give his/her account number or bank card number, the possibilities for abuse are reduced

It partly replaces bankcard payments taking place on the Internet

The client is ensured complete anonymity

It may increase the pleasure for a person browsing on the Internet due to the financial security it offers

Its use is universal, it may be used in practically every field

There is a marking S and or unique identifier M recorded on it during manufacture equivalent to a determined set amount suitable for carrying out financial transactions Its forgery is difficult, this would require special manufacturing technology

The data carrier A that may be also used as a means of payment may be used with usual writing/reading equipment, but a new type of equipment may also be created for its use

The client's security is increased, after he/she has decided how much money he/she wants to spend on using Internet services, he/she buys a data carrier A with the amount of money recorded on it that he/she requires (HUF 1,000, HUF 10,000, etc )

The data carrier A that may be also used as a means of payment is purchased by the client in safe circumstances, according to the usual conditions A further advantage of the data carrier A is that if it is not in the computer then it can not be read.

The seller gets his/her money from the client through the company that manufactures the data carrier A in the same amount of time it would have taken to get the money directly from the client (the seconds involved in the Internet connection are almost insignificant).

The use of the data carrier A that may be also used as a means of payment is also in the interest of the manufacturer There may be a long period of time between the actual purchase of the data carrier A and the payment made with it, so the manufacturer only has to pay out the amount that has actually been paid in in instalments, over a period of time Depending on the turnover this would provide a large amount of liquid assets on the manufacturers account

The data carrier A may also be advantageous for the owner that has purchased the data carrier A, if the data carrier A has a surface that may only be written on once (or also has a surface that may only be written on once). Data may not be deleted from the surface that that may only be written on once, so the purchase records written on this area are real documentation for the owner of the data carrier A about his/her purchases and the remaining amount. It is easy to discover possible persons carrying out unauthorised financial transactions, who can then be excluded from further co-operation.

An advantageous solution is if the data carrier A has a surface that may only be written on once, then it may take over all the services provided by bankcards. It may be supplemented with that the surface of the data carrier that may only be written on once ,-keeps" accounts of every transaction, in other words the more important parameters of the transactions can be recorded here. In this case the data carrier A is favourably supplemented with an embossed surface which can be used for the external identification of the data carrier.

Claims

Claims:

1 A data carrier that may also be used as a means of payment, especially for use in computing and/or entertainment electronics, which is randomly accessible, only readable or writable and readable characterised by that during the production of the data carrier (A) it is provided with a marking (S) designating a determined amount suitable for carrying out financial transactions and/or has a financial content marking (SR) that may be filled up and/or refilled or has a compounded marking that (also) contains at least one of these markings

2 The data carrier according to claim 1 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the marking (S) and/or (SR) is placed on the data carrier (A) in a way so that it may not be changed

3 The data carrier according to claim 2 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the marking (S) and or (SR) is digitally recorded on the data carrier (A) so that it may not be overwritten

4 The data carrier according to any of the claims 1 -3 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the data carrier (A) also has a unique identifier (M) that clearly differentiates it from all the others

5 The data carrier according to claim 4 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the unique identifier (M) is placed on the data carrier (A) in a way so that it may not be changed, which at least contains a marking referring to the producing/ordering company or other group identifier and/or the date of manufacture

6 The data carrier according to claim 4 and 5 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the unique identifier (M) is recorded on the data earner (A) digitally, in a way so that it may not be overwritten The data carrier according to claims 1 -6 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the marking (S) and/or (SR) and/or the unique identifier (M) is recorded in the spare space(s) (HI, H2, . , Hn) according to the „control zone" allocation of ISO standards relating to data carriers (A) or the place where they may be found on the data carrier is marked here

The data carrier according to any of the claims 1-7 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the data carrier (A) has no further readable surface apart from the (S) and/or (SR) and/or (M) identifiers or has only a readable surface

The data carrier according to any of the claims 1-8 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the data carrier (A) has both a surface that may be written on once and/or a surface that may be written on several times.

10. The data carrier according to any of the claims 1-9 that may also be used as a means of payment characterised by that the data carrier (A) has a surface that may be written on once that is suitable for external identification, favourably an embossed surface or may be given such a surface.