Abstract:
More secure credit card transactions may involve receiving both the information conventionally encoded in a credit card and information provided separately by the credit card owner. The separate information may be in the form of a personal identification number which is separately provided by the credit card owner. If the encoded credit card information matches the prearranged personal identification number, the transaction is accepted and, otherwise, the transaction may be declined.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    This invention relates generally to the processing of credit card purchase transactions.  
           [0002]    The widespread misuse of credit card information by thieves greatly increases the cost of credit card transactions (and perhaps purchases in general) for all consumers. One common source of credit card abuse is in connection with businesses, such as restaurants and nightclubs, wherein the credit card transaction is executed outside of the credit card owner&#39;s view. Thus, it is possible for a dishonest person to run the credit card one or more times without the user knowing. If desired, the credit card thief may forge the user&#39;s signature on duplicate charge slips using the actual transaction charge slip as a guide.  
           [0003]    In a variety of other circumstances, thieves may gain access to either a credit card owner&#39;s credit card number, or the actual credit card itself. The only protection that the credit card issuer or the credit card owner may have, in some circumstances, is the signature requirement. Commonly the signature is on the back of the credit card and is therefore easily forged. If the signature is not on the back of the credit card, then any signature will suffice because the credit card processor has no way to verify the signature. In many transactions, no signature is even required.  
           [0004]    While elaborate systems have been contemplated to combat credit card theft, most of these systems greatly increase the cost of credit card processing. As a result, these approaches have not been widely accepted.  
           [0005]    Thus, there is a need for techniques which economically combat credit card misuse. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a hand module in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a home base unit in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a home base unit in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is a schematic depiction of a network in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention for processing credit card transactions;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 5 is a schematic depiction of a hand module in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 6 is a schematic depiction of a base unit in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 7 is a flow chart for software used with the module shown in FIG. 5 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 8 is a flow chart for software utilized on the base unit of FIG. 6 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 9 is a flow chart for software that may be utilized by the credit processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 10 is an end view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 11 is an enlarged top plan view of a receptacle shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]    Referring to FIG. 1, the hand module  10  may be a portable, hand holdable, battery powered device in one embodiment. The hand module  10  may include a slot  14  to receive a credit card. When the credit card is swiped through the slot  14 , information on the card&#39;s magnetic strip may be read by a reader within the hand module  10 . The hand module  10  may also include a display screen  20 , a plurality of numerical keys making up a keypad  18  and a start or “on” button  16 , all contained on a housing  12  shaped to fit conveniently in the user&#39;s hand.  
         [0018]    A multiple port home base unit  30 , shown in FIG. 2, may include a plurality of receptacles  32  to plugingly receive the hand modules  10 , in one embodiment. The housing  34  may also include a numeric keypad  38  in one embodiment and a screen  36 , all defined in a housing  34 . Also defined on the housing  34  are an input/output connector  40  to communicate with a network and a menu  42  providing information about available keypad codes. A printer  44  may be provided on the unit  30  in some embodiments.  
         [0019]    In an example where the module  10  and base unit  30  are utilized in a restaurant environment, the hand module  10  may be provided to the restaurant patron for purposes of paying the restaurant bill. The restaurant patron may swipe his or her credit card through the slot  14 . Thereafter the restaurant patron may enter a confidential personal identification number (PIN) using the keypad  18 . As used herein a personal identification number is a numeric or non-numeric code assigned to an authorized credit card user. The confidential personal identification number may appear on the screen  20  or, for security purposes, may be blocked out on the screen  20  using asterisks.  
         [0020]    Once the information has been entered, the module  10  may be returned to the waiter. The waiter may then take the module  10  and plug it into one of the receptacles  32  in the base unit  30 .  
         [0021]    When the module  10  is plugged into a receptacle  32 , the contacts  15  on the bottom surface of the module  10  mate with the contacts  19  in the receptacle  32  allowing data to be exchanged as indicated in FIGS. 10 and 11. Similarly, power may be provided from the base unit  30  via the contacts  21  in the base unit  30  and the contacts  17  in the module  10 . As a result, the module  10  may be recharged from a power source in the base unit  30  in some embodiments.  
         [0022]    The base unit  30  then extracts the PIN information and the credit card information. The extracted information is provided over the input/output connector  40  to an appropriate credit card processing entity together with the amount of the transaction.  
         [0023]    The credit card processing entity then compares the personal identification number and the credit card number. If the personal identification number is associated with the credit card number in the credit processor&#39;s records, the transaction may be approved subject to other considerations. For example, as is conventional, the credit card processor may decline the transaction if the credit card owner has exceeded his or her credit limits.  
         [0024]    Turning next to FIG. 3, the base unit  30   a  may be adapted for a different application than the base unit  30 . For example, the base unit  30   a  may be utilized in a situation where the credit card owner approaches the cashier to initiate the transaction. In such case, it may not be necessary to utilize a hand module  10  and instead, the cashier may swipe the credit card and then provide the unit  30   a  to the purchaser to confidentially enter his or her PIN number using the keypad  36 . Again, a start button  46 , a printer  44  and an input/output connector  40  may be provided in the unit  30   a . In some embodiments, a slot  40  for swiping credit cards and reading credit cards may be provided directly on the unit  30   a.    
         [0025]    As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of base units  30   b - 30   n  may be coupled through a network  104  with one or more credit processors  102   a  and  102   b . In some embodiments, the network  104  may be implemented by a conventional telephone network. In other embodiments, the network  104  may be provided through a computer network such as the Internet.  
         [0026]    In some embodiments, the base unit  30   a  may be coupled to the network  104  through wired or wireless network connections  106   a - 106   n . Each credit card processor  102   a  or  102   b  may be coupled to a database  108  and a storage  110 . Software  112  may be stored on the storage  110 .  
         [0027]    Referring now to FIG. 5, a hand module  10 , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, may include a controller  50  which may be a microcontroller or a microprocessor in some embodiments. Coupled to the controller  50  may be a display  20  and a keypad  18  as described previously. A card reader  14   a  may also be coupled to the controller  50  for reading the magnetic stripes on credit cards swiped through the slot  14 . A storage  54  may be a flash memory, in one embodiment, that stores a software program  56 . An input/output interface  52  may receive signals from the start button  16 . Finally, a base unit interface  58  may interface through the receptacle  32  with the base unit  30 .  
         [0028]    Referring to FIG. 6, the base unit  30  includes a hand module interface  62  for interfacing with the hand module  10  plugged into a receptacle  32 . A controller  60  may also be a microcontroller or a microprocessor. The controller  60  is coupled to a keypad  38 , display  36  and a printer  44  in some embodiments. A modem  64  or other interface may be provided for interfacing the base unit  30  with the network  104  over the link  106 . The storage  66 , which may be a semiconductor memory or a hard disk drive as two examples, may store software  68 .  
         [0029]    The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented by components shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 which may be combined into one unit, eliminating the duplicate interfaces  58  and  62 , duplicate controllers  50  and  60 , the duplicate storage units  54  and  66 , duplicate displays  20  and  36  and duplicate keypads  18  and  38 .  
         [0030]    Moving to FIG. 7, the software  56  on the module  10  may initially prompt the user to swipe a credit card as indicated in block  70 . The module  10  may prompt the user by providing a display on the screen  20  in one embodiment. When swiped, the magnetic stripe on the credit card is read, as indicated in block  72 . The module  10  may then prompt the user to enter his or her personal identification number, as indicated in block  74 . Again, the prompt may be implemented using the display screen  20  in one embodiment. Once the user enters the PIN, the card information contained on the magnetic stripe may be stored together with the PIN information, as indicated in block  76 , for example on the storage  54 , in one embodiment.  
         [0031]    When the module  10  is docked in a receptacle  32  on the base unit  30 , a check at diamond  78  so indicates. The detection of docking may occur because a switch in the receptacle  32  may be closed in one embodiment. This provides a signal to the module  10  to transfer the card and personal identification information to the base unit  30  as indicated in block  80  in accordance with one embodiment. Thereafter, in some embodiments, the information on the module  10  may be automatically deleted as indicated in block  31  to prevent misuse of this information.  
         [0032]    Turning next to FIG. 8, the base unit software  68  then takes over the processing of the credit card transaction. The base unit  68  detects the docking, as indicated in diamond  82 , and reads the card and personal identification information from the module  10  as indicated in block  84 . That information is then automatically transferred to a credit processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention as indicated in block  86 . This transfer may be initiated by automatically dialing a telephone number to transfer the information or by providing the information over the Internet in a secure fashion, to mention two examples. Eventually, the base unit  30  receives a response from the credit processor if the transaction is approved or authenticated as determined in diamond  88 , the transaction is processed conventionally as indicated in block  90 . Otherwise, an error message may be displayed on the screen  36 . In any case, the credit card information and the personal identification number is automatically deleted from the base unit  30 , as indicated in block  92 .  
         [0033]    Finally, as shown in FIG. 9, the credit card processing software  112  associated with the credit processor  102  receives the transaction information from the base unit  30  over the network  104 , as indicated in block  114 . The credit processor  102  consults a database  108  to determine whether or not the personal information number matches the credit card number as indicated in diamond  116 . If so, the transaction may be approved, as indicated in block  118 . In some embodiments, other credit worthiness information may also be checked in order to determine whether to approve the transaction. However, if the personal information number does not match the credit card, the transaction may be declined as indicated in block  120 .  
         [0034]    Referring back to FIG. 6, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the modem  64  may receive inputs from a telephone line in addition to providing outputs to a remote service provider such as a credit processor. In an alternative embodiment, the modem  64  may be connected to a telephone line “L”. The base unit  30  may include a telephone handset  65  so that the retailer can monitor a phone conversation with a customer. The customer may be asked to provide his or her credit card number by the seller. The customer may respond by pressing the telephone handset buttons to enter a credit card number.  
         [0035]    When the modem  64  receives an input that corresponds to a plurality of tones, the detector  67  may detect those tones and may convert them into credit card number information. The retailer or seller may be unable to detect the credit card information unless it is actually displayed on the display  36 .  
         [0036]    Next the purchaser may be asked to provide a PIN by pressing the buttons on the customer&#39;s telephone handset. The modem  64  may receive that input and a controller  60  may convert that input into a digital form of the user&#39;s personal information number. The PIN information may not be displayed on the screen  36  (or may be simply displayed as asterisks to allow the seller to know that the PIN has been received). Once the information has been received, the credit card number and PIN can be processed by transmitting them to a credit card processor as described previously.  
         [0037]    Thus, in accordance with the alternate embodiment, the customer is able to provide a input through the modem  64  in the form of a plurality of telephone pushbutton actuations. The pushbutton actuations generate tones that may be detected through the controller  60  that converts those tones into credit card information including a personal information number. As a result, telephone sales transactions may be made more secure.  
         [0038]    While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.