Patent ID: 7765162

Claim:
A method for conducting a financial transaction using an integrated circuit device compliant with at least one of the EMV '96 integrated circuit card and the EMV 2000 integrated circuit card specifications, said device issued by a device issuer, associated with a funding account having an account identifier, and capable of conducting off-line and on-line transactions with a payment card network, comprising: (a) storing a pre-authorized balance on said integrated circuit device, said integrated circuit device configured with an upper cumulative offline transaction amount data element, of the MasterCard Chip card specification said upper cumulative offline transaction amount is used to store said pre-authorized balance, and said balance representing the value of transactions conducted with said device without on-line communication with said payment network for authorization of said transaction; (b) providing said integrated circuit device with a pre-authorized limit; (c) distributing said device to at least one person associated with said account for conducting said transaction; (d) determining by said integrated circuit device to permit said financial transaction without first requesting on-line communication with said payment network for authorization of said transaction, when the transaction amount of said transaction is less than said pre-authorized limit less said pre-authorized balance, and adding said transaction amount of said transaction to said pre-authorized balance; and (e) configuring said integrated circuit device to perform said transaction in an existing point of sale integrated circuit card reader compliant with at least one of the EMV '96 integrated circuit card and the EMV 2000 integrated circuit card specifications.