Patent ID: 6959873

Claim:
An electronic purse payment system in the form of a smart card in which the payment of a purchase in a shop, called a transaction, is carried out by a payment terminal, by deducting the amount of his/her purchase made by the holder of the electronic purse from the amount remaining in the memory of said electronic purse, said payment terminal being connected to a bank system comprising an authorization center, an acquisition system for collecting all the transactions made using said payment terminal and a centralized compensation system; wherein said electronic purse payment system further includes an electronic till device located where said transaction takes place including at least a reading/writing device to read/write into the memory of said electronic purse, a microprocessor, a memory and a security application module for giving to said microprocessor the authorization to perform said transaction, the contents of the memory of said electronic till being increased by an amount equal to the amount of the purchase when the memory of said electronic purse is read by said reading/writing device so that the management of a transaction made at the shop is achieved at the location of the transaction, wherein said security application module ensures storage of data corresponding to an electronic value, encryption keys for transfer of secure data, and authorization to perform the transaction, wherein said payment terminal is adapted to receive a shopkeeper's card, and wherein said shopkeeper's card is capable of authorizing a transfer of electronic value accumulated in said electronic till device to the shopkeeper's bank account.