Patent ID: 7635083

Claim:
A method for providing a requester with information on a balance of funds remaining for a stored-value card, the method comprising the steps of: at a card reader: (a) reading card information from the stored-value card, (b) adding a security code to the card information, (c) encrypting the security code and the card information to form encrypted information, wherein the encrypting is performed using an encryption method that enables only a mobile communication device of the requester to decrypt the encrypted information, and (d) wirelessly transmitting the encrypted information to the mobile communication device of the requester, such that the card reader can communicate securely and directly with a plurality of mobile communication devices, irrespective of form factors of the plurality of mobile communication devices; at the mobile communication device of the requester: (e) decrypting the information encrypted and transmitted by the card reader to obtain the security code and the card information, (f) using a secure communication protocol to wirelessly transmit a request for balance information to a server system via a communication network, the request including the security code and the card information, (g) using the secure communication protocol to wirelessly receive the balance information from the server system, and (h) transmitting the balance information to the card reader; and at the card reader: (i) providing the balance information to the requester.