Abstract:
A system and method are disclosed for creating and verifying e-receipts related to e-commerce transactions. The system and method allow consumers and merchants to perform e-transactions using a secure e-receipt system that includes programmable information tags such as Radio frequency identification (RFID) technolog.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates generally to the field of e-commerce, and more particularly to a system and method for creating and verifying e-receipts. The system and method allow consumers and merchants to perform e-transactions using a secure e-receipt system that includes programmable information tags such as Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is an integrated concept designed to bring together a wide range of business related activities. These activities may include trading support systems for products, services and commodities, ordering and logistic support systems, management and reporting systems, and support systems such as e-mail. E-commerce may generally include any kind of business-related transaction conducted with at least some assistance of electronic tools.  
           [0003]    Smart labeling is the latest Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, combining the advantages of barcode, Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) and traditional RFID solutions. RFID systems allow for non-contact reading in manufacturing and other types of environments where barcode labels may not perform properly or be practical. RFID has applications in a wide range of markets including automated vehicle identification (AVI) systems and livestock identification because of its capability to track moving objects. The technology has become a primary player in identification, automated data collection, and analysis systems worldwide.  
           [0004]    Such systems are designed to serve mass markets with many millions of labels needed per year. For example, Philips Semiconductors&#39; ICODE ICs represent the state-of-the-art in smart label technology, offering a low-cost, re-programmable and disposable solution for source tagging, automatic data capture, theft protection and data storage on a product or its packaging. ICODE smart labels allow almost any item to be tagged for efficient handling. ICODE&#39;s highly automated item scanning process does not require line-of-sight and can scan multiple labels at the same time.  
           [0005]    ICODE smart labels offer considerable benefits in a broad variety of applications. In airline baggage tagging and parcel services, smart labels offer considerable advantages in sorting and item tracking. In supply chain management systems, smart labels overcome the limitations of barcode technology, providing improved product distribution; and in libraries and rental applications, they provide automated check-in, checkout and inventory control.  
           [0006]    As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional RRIF system  10  consists of a tag reader  11 , which is connected to a personal computer  12  (PC) through a serial port  13 . The PC  12  takes action as it reads the trigger of a tag  14 . Information can be exchanged via a communication medium  15  (e.g., Internet or Intranet) with a remote server  16 .  
           [0007]    The tag reader  11  typically consists of three components:  
           [0008]    An antenna or coil;  
           [0009]    A transceiver (with decoder); and  
           [0010]    A transponder (commonly called an RF tag) that is electronically programmed with unique information.  
           [0011]    The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag and read and write data to it. The antenna is the conduit between the tag and the transceiver. It helps control the system&#39;s data acquisition and communication. The electromagnetic fields produced by the antenna can be constantly present or activated as needed when a sensor detects tags.  
           [0012]    The data within the RF tag may provide identification for goods in manufacture, in transit or a location. Additional data may be provided for supporting applications through item specific information or instructions immediately available on reading the tag, for example, the color of paint for a car entering a paint sprayer on the production line, or the set-up instructions for a configurable manufacturing apparatus or a shipment manifest.  
           [0013]    As discussed above, these conventional systems have many applications, they have typically been used for larger scale applications such as airline baggage reconciliation, postal tracking, road toll management and electronic article surveillance. Such conventional RFID systems are geared to large-scale inventory control or industrial and manufacturing applications. These conventional systems generally lack the flexibility to perform in environments that require with many different inputs (i.e., compatibility) and variations (i.e., flexibility) that are required for general e-commerce applications.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0014]    One embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus including a programmable information tag, a communication unit capable of communicating information to one or more information interfaces, and a controller. The controller receives information from the information interfaces through the communication unit, and programs the programmable information tag with at least part of the information from the information interface. The programmed information relates to a good or service to be provided by a merchant or service provider.  
           [0015]    In another embodiment, a system for performing e-commerce transactions is provided. The system includes means for receiving a request to complete a commercial transaction for a good or service over the Internet by a consumer, means for completing the commercial transaction with the consumer and means for providing an e-receipt to the consumer. The e-receipt contains information that may be used by the consumer to program an RFID tag. The system also includes means for recording information related to the commercial transaction and the e-receipt.  
           [0016]    Another aspect of the invention relates to an e-commerce method. The method including the steps of receiving a request to complete a commercial transaction for a good or service over the Internet by a consumer, completing the commercial transaction with the consumer and providing an e-receipt to the consumer. The e-receipt contains information that may be used by the consumer to program an RFID tag. The method also includes the step of recording information related to the commercial transaction and the e-receipt.  
           [0017]    These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 shows a conventional RFID system.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of an e-receipt system in accordance with a one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary e-receipt device in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which one or more information interfaces  100  interact with onr or more e-receipt devices  200 . The information interfaces  100  may be, for example, a web server of a merchant/service provider or an e-commerce processing center for the merchant/service provider. The e-receipt devices  200  may represent a PDA, a laptop computer, a cell phone or similar electronic device. The e-receipt devices  200  also include a programmable RFID tag  210 . The RFID tag  210  may be integrated with the e-receipt device  200  or removable.  
         [0022]    The e-receipt device  200  can communicate to one or more of the more information interfaces  100  over a network  300 . For example, the Internet may be accessed by the e-receipt device  200  through wired connections, wireless connections or combinations thereof, using well-known conventional communication protocols such as the Internet Protocol (IP).  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3 shows an example of a hardware design of the e-receipt device  200  in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In this example, the e-receipt device  200  includes a processor  220  and a memory  222 . The processor  220  may represent, e.g., a microprocessor, a central processing unit, a computer, a circuit card, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASICs), as well as portions or combinations of these and other types of processing device which already part of the e-receipt device  200  (e.g., CPU for a television set). The memory  222  may represent, e.g., disk-based optical or magnetic storage units, electronic memories, as well as portions or combinations of these and other memory devices.  
         [0024]    As shown, the e-receipt device  200  also includes a communication unit  221  (e.g. Ethernet, Bluetooth, cellular or packet data interface) and the programmable RFIF tag  210 . Preferably the tag is an RFID-type tag, but other types of programmable tags may be used, e.g., a barcode reader.  
         [0025]    In operation, the e-receipt device  200  allows the consumer to make e-commerce transactions and be provided with a secure e-receipt  400 . The consumer may initiate the e-transaction in a conventional manner. For example, the consumer may communicate with an online Internet product suppler or service provider, e.g., Amazon.com. The consumer may then complete the online consumer transaction according to the general procedures established by the online vender.  
         [0026]    There are numerous e-commerce or e-transactions however that require the consumer to perform some type of personal follow-up. This may be, for example, merchandise pick-up, renting a car, booking a hotel room, attending an entertainment event, etc. The present invention allows the consumer to receive the secure e-receipt  400  that can be verified by the merchant before completion of the transaction. This provides added security to both the consumer and the merchant.  
         [0027]    In this regard, after the initial online procedures are completed between the consumer and the online vender, the e-receipt device  200  receives the e-receipt  400  that can be used to verify that the e-transaction is valid and that the holder of the e-receipt  400  should receive the goods/service related to the e-receipt  400 . The e-receipt  400  may be formed in part by unique coded information  401 . The unique coded information  401  may a randomly generated or predefined number. This information is then programmed into the RFID tag  210  associated with the e-receipt device  200 .  
         [0028]    At the information interface  100 , a database  110  may be maintained that records what goods or service are associated with the e-receipt  400 . Additional information may also be recorded such as the consumer identify and e-receipt device  200  identification codes.  
         [0029]    In order to collect the goods or obtain the service associated with the e-receipt  400 , the consumer merely has to present the e-receipt to the merchant or service provider. The merchant or service provider than automatically reads the RDID tag  210  using an reader  410  and can instantly verify that the holder of the e-receipt  400  should receive the product or service. It should be noted that the RFID tag  210  may be active or passive.  
         [0030]    Preferably the reader  410  is also associated with a communication device  420  similar to the e-receipt device  200  and can communicate with the information interfaces  100 . A determination is made as to which of the information interfaces  100  is to be contacted. This determination is based upon information received/read from the RFID tag  210 . The merchant or service provider then can verify what good or service is to be provided to the holder of the e-receipt  400 . For example, the communication device  420  and the information interface  100  exchange information to confirm the e-receipt is valid, the e-receipt device  200  is authorized and what goods and/or services are to be provided.  
         [0031]    Alternatively, the merchant or service provider may be periodically notified one or more e-receipts  400  have been issued for goods or service associated with that merchant or service provider. This will enable the merchant or service provider to be ready to provide the good or service without having to contact the information interfaces  100  each time an e-receipt  400  is presented. A database  430  of such downloaded e-receipts  400  may be created by the merchant or service provider.  
         [0032]    Preferably, all the e-receipt devices  200  are identified with a unique identification code that is stored in a central database  500 . Before the e-receipt  400  information is downloaded into the e-receipt device  200 , the identification code is read and checked to make sure that the e-receipt device  200  is authorized and valid. A check may also be performed to determine whether the user is authorized. This may be done, for example, based upon a name associated with a credit card being used or other similar entered information.  
         [0033]    In another embodiment, the e-receipts  400  may also be used to automate the processing of the transaction at the merchant or service provider location. For example, the e-receipt  400  may include all information for a hotel guest to check in (i.e., name, address, credit card number, length of stay, etc.). Other similar type applications of the e-receipts  400  include automating a car rental transaction (i.e., the e-receipt  400  information may include the customer&#39;s name, credit card number and driver&#39;s license number).  
         [0034]    In another embodiment, public key cryptography may also to provide added security with the e-receipts  400 . In this embodiment, the consumer and the merchant can create a public and private key before the e-transaction. The unique coded information of the e-receipt  400  is coded according to the pubic key cryptography. This public key procedure is well known in the art and will not be discussed in detail herein.  
         [0035]    As discussed above, the e-receipt device  200  are preferable used as a security mechanism for e-commerce transactions. Extensible mark-up language (XML) is fast becoming the dominant language for describing content delivered over the Internet. The XML standard describes a class of data objects called XML documents and the behavior of computer programs which process such documents. XML documents are made up of storage units called entities, which contain either parsed or unparsed data. Parsed data is made up of characters, some of which form character data, and some of which form markup. Markup for a given XML document encodes a description of the storage layout and logical structure of that document. XML provides a mechanism to impose constraints on the storage layout and logical structure. Additional details regarding conventional XML may be found in XML 1.0 (Second Edition), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation, October 2000, www. w3.org/TR/REC-xml, which is incorporated by reference herein.  
         [0036]    SOAP is a protocol for exchanging information in a distributed, decentralized environment. SOAP is an XML based protocol consisting of: an envelope which defines a means for describing what a message contains and how it is to be processed, encoding rules for expressing application-defined data types, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses. SOAP messages are typically one-way transmissions from a sender to a receiver, but they can be combined to implement patterns such as request/response.  
         [0037]    HTTP is a protocol with the lightness and speed necessary for a distributed collaborative hypermedia information system. It is a generic stateless object-oriented protocol, which may be used for many similar tasks such as name servers, and distributed object-oriented systems, by extending the commands, or “methods”, used. A feature if HTTP is the negotiation of data representation, allowing systems to be built independently of the development of new advanced representations.  
         [0038]    Sending data over the Internet is typically performed using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which is composed of layers:  
                                                   IP - is responsible for moving packet of data from node to           node. IP forwards each packet based on a four-byte destination           address (the IP number) The Internet authorities assign ranges           of numbers to different organizations. The organizations assign           groups of their numbers to departments. IP operates on gateway           machines that move data from department to organization to           region and then around the world.           TCP - is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data           from client to server. Data can be lost in the intermediate           network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data and to           trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and           completely received.           Socket - is a name given to the package of subroutines that           provide access to TCP/IP on most systems.                      
 
         [0039]    The e-receipt device  200  also includes a physical layer. A physical layer is concerned with the electrical, mechanical and timing aspects of signal transmission over a communication medium. Any one or more of a variety of well-known layers such as modems, Ethernet, cellular and Bluetooth may be used.  
         [0040]    An advantage of the present invention is that a wide variety of system architectures can be used to implement the system of FIG. 2. Server-side and client-side architectures can be used. As briefly mention above, the information interface  100  may be a web server coupled to the device  200  over the Internet or other communication network.  
         [0041]    Preferably an XML/SOAP message is sent and received by the device  200  and the information interface  100 . This is advantageous because messages can be exchanged efficiently in a distributed, decentralized environment. The XML/SOAP message can be adapted to many different applications. See SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol Version 1.1 (www.w3.org/TR/SOAP/), which is incorporated by reference herein. Another requirement for module is to create SOAP messages that can be understood by the APACHE-SOAP implementation. This is a very versatile tool for writing XML documents. It is able to make a direct mapping between various data-types and their equivalent representation in SOAP.  
         [0042]    The functional operations associated with the device  200 , as described above, may be implemented in whole or in part in one or more software programs stored in the memory  222  and executed by the processor  220 . The network  300  may represent a global computer communications network such as the Internet, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a cable network, a satellite network or a telephone network, as well as portions or combinations of these and other types of networks. The information interfaces  100  and the device  200  may themselves be respective server and client machines coupled to the network  300 .  
         [0043]    While the present invention has been described above in terms of specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not intended to be confined or limited to the embodiments disclosed herein. On the contrary, the present invention is intended to cover various structures and modifications thereof included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.