ELECTRONIC ACCOUNT REGISTER

Abstract: An electronic account register for updating transactions made on an account and comprising a keypad on which the user can enter transactions made on the account, a memory for storing data entered and a display for informing the user of the balance of the account. The account register is designed with holding members for gripping the rim of a cash and debit card, retaining it releasably.

Description: ELECTRONIC ACCOUNT REGISTER The present invention relates to an electronic account register for updating transactions made on an account, comprising a keypad on which the user can enter transactions made on the account, a memory for storing the data entered and a display for informing the user of the balance of the account. The expression cash & debit card covers an identification card granting the user access to draw money from an account. Cards of this type are usually made of plastic and provided with a magnetic strip with information confirming the validity of the card. Cards of said type are widely used today, as the user then does not need to carry large amounts of cash, since many of the daily payments can be performed with such a card. However, the card has the disadvantage that the user will usually only receive an updated statement of the pertaining account once a week or once a month. This makes it quite easy to lose the overview of the balance on the account. A demand exists for a facility for achieving an overview of the credit balance on the account. For this purpose books of transactions have been made in which the user manually writes the entries with a pen. There also exist electronically based facilities, since pocket computers of the type designated "note books" may be provided with updating facilities for current accounts. In order for these to function satisfactorily, the user would basically have to bring his electronic note book along every time he needs to make a payment by means of his cash & debit card. In future, some of these problems will be solved by so-called intelligent cash & debit cards of the "smart card" type. However, also these cards have their limitations, as they require payment to be made via on-line point-of sale units. There will always be retail outlets that are not equipped with on-line facilities. US 5 272 319 describes an electronic account register, where the cash & debit card is kept in a separate room in the casing of the register. The account register is not protected against external influences and must be stored carefully to avoid unintentional switching on of the calculating unit or damage to the LCD display of the unit. The object of the invention is therefore to provide an electronic account register for helping account holders to update an account to show the current balance. The account register must be easy to use and easy to keep together with the cash & debit card, and at the same time the calculating unit and LCD display must be protected against unintended influences. This is achieved by means of an electronic account register according to the invention, which is distinguished in that the casing of the account register surrounding the user interface is formed with holding members for gripping the rim of a cash & debit card and fixing it releasably. Hereby the cash & debit card protects the user interface of the account register against external influences, and the rather sensitive magnetic strip is protected by facing the account register. Cash & debit card and account register will thus be kept together as an entity. In the following the invention will be explained in connection with its preferred embodiment and with reference to the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of an account register according to the invention; Fig. 2 shows a cross-section of the account register shown in Fig. 1 along the line II-IP, and Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of the electronics of the account register. The embodiment of an account register according to the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is referred to in its entirety with the reference numeral 1. The account register has a casing 5 which is manufactured of plastic by injection moulding. The front of the casing is designed with an opening for an LCD display 2 and for a keypad 3. The display 2 comprises four numeric fields, the top one in the left corner stating the transaction number. In the top right corner of the display 2, the movement on the account is stated as entered by the user. In the bottom left corner is an indication of the date which the central processing unit of the account register retrieves from a built-in clock. In the bottom right corner is the balance of the account, which is calculated by the central processing unit of the account register after entry of the movements made on the account is complete. The keypad has ten numeric keys and a decimal point key. Furthermore, the keypad is designed with an on/off key for switching the account register on or off. A clear key deletes the latest entry, whereas the sub and add keys register whether the amount entered is to be subtracted from or added to the current balance. An enter key terminates the entry of a transaction. Finally the keypad has two scrolling keys (prev/next) for scrolling forwards or backwards among transactions already entered. When a transaction is made which is to be entered into the account register, this is switched on, and regardless of whether scrolling was the latest activity, activation of one of the numeric keys will cause the account register to jump to the transaction number following that of the latest entry. This transaction number, together with the current date and current balance, will be shown in the display 2. hen the amount drawn has been entered, entry is completed by activating the sub key followed by the enter key. Then the display 2 will show the transaction number, the amount drawn and the date, as well as the new balance calculated by the central processing unit of the account register. As appears from Fig. 2, the casing 5 has projecting wall sections 4 along three of its rims on the front of the account register, and these tumed-in wall sections constitute holding members for retaining a cash & debit card. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the cash & debit card is inserted along the front of the account register from the display end. When the cash & debit card has been fully inserted, its full length will cover both the display and the keypad of the account register, and it will protect both the LCD crystals of the display and the keypad so that the account register is not switched on unintentionally. As it will be understood, the reverse of the cash & debit card with its magnetic strip will face the front of the account register, so that also the magnetic strip is protected against mechanical influence. The channel formed by the tumed-in wall section can advantageously be designed with friction-enhancing means, as the cash & debit card will then be retained safely in its place; it would then be possible to release the card with the thumb, the friction between thumb and card being sufficient to release the card, when the thumb moves towards the keypad. Fig. 3 shows the electronic construction of the account register. The user communicates with the account register by means of a keypad 3, where the data entered are transferred to an input/output user interface 6, which will preferably be a standard i/o chip. This input/output interface 6 communicates with a calculating chip 7 designed with a central processing unit (CPU) connected with a register, where the algebraic functions are made, a read only memory (ROM) where the software required is stored, and a balance memory (RAM) for storing data on the transactions made. Apart from the amounts in question the latter data will include a transaction number and date. In addition to this the calculating chip has access to a timer 8 providing the account register with information on date and time, if desired. The input/output interface 6 displays data retrieved from the calculating chip on the display 2. The scrolling keys prev and next make it possible to display previous transactions on the display 2, which is effected by means of the transaction number. The transaction number functions as a sort of counting-up unit, since the counter in case of overflow would start over again. In the preferred embodiment the account register has two separate power supplies, one of which supplying the units above the dash-dot line in Fig. 3 while the other supplies the units below the line. The power supplies could advantageously be lithium batteries, but it would be possible to add solar cells. The use of separate power supplies ensures that the memory units are not supplied with power from the same source as the more power-consuming units such as the LCD display. The account register can moreover be designed with an output plug for connection to an external personal computer. This would render it possible to transfer the contents of the account register to the harddisk of a PC via a suitably designed interface module. However, it is important that the account register can function on its own. The account register can also be designed to include a currency program rendering it possible, by entering exchange rates into the register, to enter amounts in other currencies and update the account in one's own currency. In this case, the amount of the transaction could advantageously be indicated as being an approximate value, as there would be some uncertainty with regard to the actual exchange rate. Although this currency conversion facility would require some keys, it would be obvious for a worker skilled in the art to implement it into an account register according to the invention. Similarly it would be possible to mark each transaction with a different code to make it easier for the user to remember what each amount had been used for. It would be an advantage to modify the electronic account register described above so that it is reconciled each time the user receives a statement of account. Then the user would stack the subsequent transactions as drawings are made from the account. These transaction are numbered consecutively from transaction 001 and upwards. The next time the user receives a statement of account, he will be able to clear the stack of transactions, deleting those appearing from the statement by means of the clear key. The central processing unit of the account register would then restack the remaining transactions which have yet to be drawn from the account. When the user at the same time enters the new balance of the account, the account register would be updated and would then contain information on which of the old transactions are still waiting to be drawn from the balance. At the same time the user would be able to see what the actual credit balance is, since a new balance will have been calculated next to each of the old transactions, and the actual credit balances will appear next to the last transaction of the stack, for which the balance would constitute the current credit balance after removal of all old transactions. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the casing of the account register and the holding members for retaining the cash & debit card are designed as two separate units, cf. Fig. 4. The casing 9 is designed as described above, but without the holding members for the cash & debit card. The holding members are formed by a separate unit 10 made of an injection-moulded plastic material. This unit consists of a shell with tumed-in wall sections on the two long sides of the unit and on one of the short sides. The casing of the account register is inserted through the open, short side of the shell and then retained in the shell. The shell is designed so that it surrounds the casing of the account register and so that the tumed-in wall sections of the shell form the holding member for the cash & debit card. The cash & debit card is retained releasably by the holding members formed by the shell with the reverse of the card with its magnetic strip facing the front of the account register.

Claims: PATENT CLAIMS 1. An electronic account register for updating transactions made on an account, comprising a keypad (3) on which the user can enter transactions made on the account, a memory (7) for storing the data entered and a display (2) for informing the user of the balance of the account, characterized in that the casing of the account register at the user interface is designed with holding members (4) for retaining a cash & debit card releasably so that the cash & debit card, when retained by the holding members, covers the user interface. 2. An account register according to claim 1, characterized in that the holding members of the casing are designed as tumed-in wall sections forming a channel for receiving said card. 3. An account register according to claim 1, characterized in that the memory (7) is a stack where a number of the latest transactions made are stored together with identification data. 4. An account register according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification data comprise indications of time and that these are retrieved fetched from a clock (8) built into the account register. 5. An account register according to claims 1-4, characterized in that the keypad comprises numeric keys, an addition key, an enter key and a display scroll key. 6. An electronic account register for updating transactions made on an account comprising a keypad on which the user can enter transactions made on the account, a memory for storing the data entered and a display for informing the user of the status of the account, characterized in that the holding members of the account register for releasably retaining a cash & debit card so that the card, when retained by the holding members, covers the user interface, are designed like a shell (10) with tumed-in wall sections surrounding the casing (9).

Inventors: BACKER JAN GERTSEN, BACKER, JAN, GERTSEN
Applicants: BACKER JAN GERTSEN, BACKER, JAN, GERTSEN
Application year: 1995
Main classification: G06F15
IPC codes: A45C11, G06F15, G06Q40, G07F7