Universal funds transfer and identification card
Contents
1. 235 493 X FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 851357 9 1970 Canada OTHER PUBLICATIONS An Introduction to Microcomputers Adam Osborne amp Assoc SYBEX 1975 pp 3 1 3 2 The TTL Data Book For Design Engineers First Ed Texas Instruments 1973 pp 30 190 191 220 221 351 354 356 357 463 464 466 467 470 Designing With Intel PROMS amp ROMS Green amp House Intel Corp 1975 p 1 Motorola Semiconductors Motorola Inc 1975 pp 1 3 1 5 8080 Microcomputor Systems User s Manual Intel Corp Sep 1975 Table of Contents Structure et fonctionnement des ordinateurs Meina dier Sciences Humaines et Sociales Series Infor matique Librairie Larousse 1971 pp 106 113 Primary Examiner David L 57 ABSTRACT A universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals such card including a random access memory for storing up to date account information sufficient to allow the completion of at least certain transactions without the intervention of a re mote computer The card includes a plurality of storage fields selectively addressable for storing changeable information including account balance total amount of transactions since last update of balance and date of last update The information necessary for authorizing and completing a transaction is addressed by a universal terminal for transfer to the terminal from the card The2. United States Patent uu 4 001 550 Schatz 45 Jan 4 1977 54 UNIVERSAL FUNDS TRANSFER AND Primary Examiner Daryl W Cook 76 Inventor Vernon L Schatz 250 Sunset Ridge Road Northfield 60093 22 Filed Dec 4 1975 21 Appl No 637 712 52 U S CL 235 61 7 B 235 61 12 N 340 174 M 51 Int 1 2 G06K 5 00 GO6K 19 06 11 02 58 Field of Search 235 61 7 R 61 7 B 235 61 12 N 61 12 C 340 149 R 149 A 152 R 174 M 56 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 142 823 7 1964 Lewin et al 235 61 12 3 559 175 1 1971 Pomeroy 340 152 R 3 637 994 1 1972 Ellingboe 235 61 12 3 868 057 2 1975 Chavez 235 61 7 B 3 876 865 4 1975 Bliss 235 61 12 C 3 934 122 1 1976 Riccitelli 235 61 12 IDENTIFICATION CARD SAITERY T BE Attorney Agent or Firm Leydig Voit Osann Mayer amp Holt 57 ABSTRACT A universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals such card including a random access memory for storing up to date account information sufficient to allow the completion of at least certain transactions without the intervention of a remote computer The card includes a plurality of stor age fields selectively addressable for storing change able information including account balance total amount of transactions since last
3. last update 17 Date of last update 18 Temporary identification e g hotel room 19 Scrambled PIN number and scramble code The foregoing data may be stored in its entirety in the RAM or if a ROM is provided at least the fixed stor age information may be stored therein Additionally some of the semi fixed storage may be converted to fixed storage so that it may permanently be written into the ROM Digitized signature identification may be stored in an additional field for signature verification purposes It will be appreciated that considerable detailed ac count data is readily obtainable from the card the terminal being adapted to produce signals for accessing any portion of the data required to perform and verify a given transaction As a result the card is truly univer sal in that it may give only minimal data when needed for a simple transaction or detailed account data when needed for a more complex transaction Among the types of transactions contemplated for such a card are in addition to the normal credit purchase bank trans actions such as deposits withdrawals etc utility bill payments check cashing etc In addition to this versa tility the card is reasonably secure from tampering the internal memory being accessible only via the address lines and the memory addresses of the various fields being known only to the compatible terminals As a further aid in understanding the invention the following are offered as
4. said connecting means being located along one edge of said card generally perpendicular to said first axis with the wires of said first axis connected directly to said con necting means the wires of the second axis of said matrix being folded parallel to said first axis so that said wires in said second axis are connected to said connect ing means said sense line means being connected to said connecting means whereby the connecting means are localized along a single edge of said card 3 The improvement as set forth in claim 1 wherein said random access memory means is a semiconductor random access memory said card further including battery means coupled to said semiconductor memory 4 001 550 9 for preserving the information stored in said random access memory means 4 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform transactions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement compris ing random access memory means in said card having a plurality of fields for storing changeable information connector means adapted to mate said terminal for coupling signals between said card and terminal ad dress lines on the card coupled between said connect ing means and said random access memory means for coupling signals from said terminal for selectively ad dressing the fields of said memory means for access by said terminal data lines on th
5. 0 for reading the data addressed therein and may further enable the RAM via enable contact 30 to write data thereinto In accordance with a further feature of the invention means may be provided for displaying to the holder of the card the current account status as such status is stored within the RAM 24 To that end a readout switch 60 is provided coupled to a display 61 and a shift register 62 as shown The shift register has three binary outputs coupled to address lines 1 2 and 4 of the RAM for addressing certain of the fields within the RAM Actuation of the readout switch 60 causes the shift register to clock through its binary states thereby ad dressing successive words stored within the RAM 24 The words are read out via the lines 24 which in turn are coupled to the display 61 such display also includ ing a display driver As the display is actuated via de 0 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 pression of the readout switch 60 the words succes sively read out of the RAM 24 are caused to light asso ciated lights on the display thereby to show the num bers stored within the addressed words in the RAM The shift register is arranged so that the words in the RAM addressed by actuation of the readout switch 60 are those storing the current account balance In addi tion it may be desirable to read out the date of last update As a result the holder of the card may at any time d
6. ON CERTIFICATE 964th United States Patent Schatz 54 UNIVERSAL FUNDS TRANSFER AND IDENTIFICATION CARD Vernon L Schatz 250 Sunset Ridge Rd Northfield Ill 60093 76 Inventor Reexamination Request No 90 001 257 Jun 15 1987 Reexamination Certificate for Patent No 4 001 550 Issued Jan 4 1977 Appl No 637 712 Filed Dec 4 1975 51 Int Cht GO6F 15 30 GO6K 19 00 GO6K 19 06 17 02 52 U S Leo 235 379 235 487 235 492 365 98 902 4 902 26 58 Field of Search 235 492 493 489 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 3 142 823 7 1964 Lewin et al 235 489 X 3 544 769 12 1970 Hedin 3 559 175 1 1971 Pomeroy 3 604 900 9 1971 Kalt 3 637 994 1 1972 Ellingboe 3 641 498 2 1972 Hedin 3 702 464 11 1972 Castrucci 3 806 874 4 1974 Ehrat 3 806 882 4 1974 Clarke 3 848 229 11 1974 Perron etal 3 852 800 12 1974 Ohwada et al 3 859 634 1 1975 Perron et al 3 868 057 2 1975 Chavez 235 492 X 3 876 865 4 1975 Bliss 235 492 X 3 906 460 9 1975 Halpern 3 934 122 1 1976 Riccitelli 235 492 X 3 940 747 2 1976 Kuoetal 3 971 916 7 1976 Moreno 3 982 103 9 1976 Goldman 4 007 355 2 1977 Moreno tit B1 4 001 550 45 Certificate Issued 13 1988 4 019 174 4 1977 Vanderpool et al 4 055 746 10 1977 Peterson
7. ambled configuration in working storage such as in field 19 In the latter case the digits of the PIN number are scrambled in an order determined by the terminal and a scramble code inserted so that a subsequent terminal may unscramble the PIN number according to the code for comparison with the punched in personal identification number A typical transaction is initiated by inserting the card in the ter minal the terminal engaging the capture holes for the balance of the transaction The terminal then reads fields 2 6a 11 15 16 17 and 19 and lights a light instructing the user to punch in his personal identifica tion number The terminal accepts the personal identi fication number as punched in by the user and com pares it to the number derived from field 19 unscram bled according to the scramble code If the numbers do not match the terminal may allow the user another chance to enter the PIN number If the user is unsuc cessful an invalid card indicator will be lit and the card may be either returned to the user or captured If the PIN number is verified the card is current field 17 and the type of transaction is authorized field 11 the user is allowed to select the desired items the terminal causing the delivery thereof after assuring that the amount of the total transaction is less than the account balance The terminal as in a simple transac tion causes the recording of the necessary data for later transmission to
8. claim as my invention 1 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform transactions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement compris ing random access memory means in said card for storing information including the following changeable information account balance total amount of transactions since last update of card and date of last update connecting means along a single edge of said card adapted to mate said termi nal for coupling signals between said card and said terminal and means coupling said connecting means to said random access memory means for selectively addressing fields within said memory means and transferring data between addressed fields and said terminal whereby said card serves as an up to date record of said account 2 The improvement as set forth in claim 1 wherein said memory means is a single plane core memory having a plurality of magnetic cores arranged in a rect angular matrix first line means forming a first axis of said matrix and comprising a plurality of wires defining the respective lines of said first axis and passing through the cores in said lines second line means form ing a second axis of said matrix and comprising a plu rality of wires defining the respective lines of said sec ond axis and passing through the cores in said lines and sense line means passing through all of said cores
9. ct is to provide a card of the foregoing type which is convenient to carry and to use by localizing the connecting points for mating the terminal along a single edge of the card Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which FIG 1 is a schematic diagram showing a universal funds transfer and identification card exemplifying the present invention and FIG 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an alterna tive form of universal funds transfer and identification card While the invention will be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments it will be under stood that there is no intent to limit it to those embodi ments On the contrary the intent is to cover all alter natives modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims Turning now to the drawings FIG 1 shows the de tails of a card exemplifying the present invention The card generally indicated at 20 may be configured to physically resemble a common credit card having the same length and width but being slightly thicker Alter natively the card may be made to other convenient Sizes such as the size of an ordinary check register The electronic components to be described below are encapsulated within or laminated between the struc tural elements of the card For mating the card with a ter
10. ctor 29 is energized in the read mode and write data into the addressed field of the RAM via the data lines 27 if the contro connector 29 is in the write mode Because all or substantially all of the contents of the RAM are available to the terminal sufficient up to 4 001 550 3 date data may be maintained on the card 21 so that the card is itself an up to date record of the type and status of the account to which it relates Because the RAM 24 is a volatile semiconductor memory means are provided on the card for preserving the data contained within the memory between termi nal uses shown herein as battery 31 for supplying board power to the card electronics In normal opera tion when the card 21 is inserted in a terminal with the contacts 22 mating the terminal the terminal supplies power to the card via power contact 32 and ground contact 33 Such power is supplied through an isolating diode 34 and across a filter capacitor 35 to a voltage regulator 36 The voltage regulator 36 serves to pro duce at its output 37 a voltage of the proper magnitude for powering the remaining electronics The battery 31 provided for maintaining the contents of the memory during non terminal use has a negative contact 39 coupled to circuit common and a positive contact 40 coupled through isolating diode 41 to the input of the voltage regulator 36 Alternatively the battery may bypass the voltage regulator and be coupled through its i
11. e card coupled between the connecting means and the memory means for trans ferring data between addressed fields and said terminal and control line means on the card coupled between said connecting means and said memory means for carrying signals from said terminal for activating said memory means for reading from the addressed field of the memory means to said terminal or writing from said terminal to the addressed field of said memory means whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored infor mation to said terminal for performing a transaction and receive from said terminal updated information following said transaction 5 The improvement as set forth in claim 4 wherein said random access memory means is a semiconductor random access memory said card further including battery means coupled to said semiconductor memory for preserving the information stored in said random access memory means 6 The improvement as set forth in claim 5 wherein the card further includes read only memory means for storing permanent data 7 The improvement as set forth in claim 6 wherein the read only memory means is coupled to said address lines and data lines and including enable line means coupling said connecting means with said random ac cess memory means and said read only memory means for selectively actuating said memories for transfer of information with said terminal 8 The improvement as set forth in claim 4 wherein said connecting means
12. e card into a terminal It will be appreciated from the foregoing that each core in the matrix has three wires passing therethrough a horizontal line a vertical line and the sense line After 4 001 550 5 the cores and the matrix wires are arranged as shown the assembly may be encapsulated thereby to provide a sturdy easily storable and readily usable card The card is preferably formed with capture holes 83 84 engaged by the terminal into which the card is inserted so that the terminal may prevent withdrawal of the card cap turing it from the user in the event the terminal deter mines from the data stored on the card that the use thereof is unauthorized It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the card when inserted into the terminal provides the terminal with selective access to the various fields of data stored therein With the single plane core mem ory however the terminal must access each of the cores individually so that data to be read from or writ ten into a selected field is transferred one bit at a time Using the coincident current selection technique well known to those familiar with magnetic memory planes data is written into a selected core by simultaneously coupling current pulses to the vertical and horizontal intersecting the selected core The summed currents cause the core at the intersection of the pulsed vertical and horizontal to be magnetized in a direction deter mined by the direction
13. en performing a transaction in order to assure that the transaction should be performed For example it may be necessary to assure that the credit card presented for the transac tion is valid that the card is current that it has not been stolen that the account balance is sufficient to cover the transaction and that the type of transaction is al lowed For these and other reasons the credit systems which have developed generally depend upon access ing a computer data base in real time during the actual transaction or capturing data under specific proce dural rules for subsequent transmission to update a central data base As result the communications costs of the typical credit system are quite high It has also been suggested to record a limited amount of changeable information on a credit card and to up date that information via a transaction terminal so that the card bears an up to date account balance U S Pat No 3 559 175 to Pomeroy discloses a credit card sys tem using a card having a line of magnetic cores which mate projecting pins in a dedicated terminal so that the terminal may read an account balance from the cores perform the transaction and write the new account balance into the cores That system suffers from the shortcoming of limited flexibility the account balance only one of the elements of account status being the only up to date changeable information on the card In short the card is not truly univer
14. etermine the current account balance simply by operation of the switch 60 and viewing of the display 61 Turning now to FIG 2 there is shown an alternative embodiment of a universal funds transfer and identifi cation card exemplifying the present invention Such card just as the card of FIG 1 includes random access memory means selectively addressable for reading out and writing in account data so that the card is itself an up to date record of the type and status of the account The card 70 illustrated in FIG 2 implements the random access memory via a matrix of magnetic cores 71 of the type typically used in computers arranged as a single plane core memory Such cores may be selec tively magnetized in a first or a second direction thereby to store a data 1 or a data 0 depending upon the direction of magnetization A first axis of the ma trix the vertical axis includes a plurality of individual vertical lines 72a 72b etc coupled between a common vertical bus 73 and respective vertical connectors 74a 74b etc and passing through the centers of the cores in the respective columns The bus 73 is connected to a bus contact 75 positioned on the same edge of the card as the vertical contacts 74 The horizontal axis of the matrix also includes a plu rality of matrix lines 75a 75b etc emanating from a horizontal matrix bus 76 and passing through the cen ters of the cores in the respective rows According to one aspect of this embodi
15. further includes a charging line for supplying charging current to said battery means from said terminal for recharging the battery during a transaction 9 The improvement as set forth in claim 4 wherein said card further includes display means coupled to 5 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 said random access memory and means for activating the display to show the stored account balance on com mand 10 The improvement as set forth in claim 4 wherein the terminal is of the type including keys operated by a user for keying in a personal identification number said changeable information stored on said card includ ing a personal identification number for comparison by the terminal with said keyed number 11 The improvement as set forth in claim 10 wherein the personal identification number is stored in said memory means in conjunction with a scramble code said terminal being adapted to unscramble the personal identification number in accordance with the scramble code for comparison with the keyed number 12 The improvement as set forth in claim 4 wherein the connecting means further includes power line means for supplying power to said card from said termi nal during a transaction 13 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to per form transactions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement com prising ra
16. ication card The field numbers assigned to the various types of account data may not in all cases bear a one to one correspondence to individually ad dressable fields within the memory That is certain of the account data fields may require a plurality of mem ory fields for storage of the necessary data while others may be stored in less than a complete memory field However the logic within the terminal will at all times know the address or addresses of the memory fields where the data for the desired account field is stored In the example the card may be programmed a Account Data Field Number Account Data Fixed Storage to be initiated and altered only by the 20 25 35 40 45 50 60 65 6 continued fe Sg ee Account Data Field Number Account Data issuer of the card 1 User name 2 User account number 3 Personal identification number PIN 4 Issue date Semi Fixed Storage to be initiated and altered only by authorized terminals and operators 5 User address 6a c Bank identification numbers up to three Ta c Bank account types up to three 8 Bank telephone number 9 Encryption code 10 Number of cards authorized for this user Authorization types Limits on purchase As of card account balance As overdraft amount dollars only Number of PIN attempts before 12 13 14 cancelling Working Storage 15 _ Account balance 16 Total amount of transactions since
17. id terminal for performing a transaction and 5 20 30 65 2 receive from said terminal updated information follow ing said transaction and selecting means on said card for selectively addressing fields within said memory means said selecting means being coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means 14 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform trans actions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions said terminals including keys operated by a user for keying in a personal identification number the improvement comprising random access memory means in said card having a plurality of fields for storing changeable information including said personal identifica tion number in conjunction with a scramble code connec tor means adapted to mate said terminal for coupling signals between said card and said terminal address lines on the card coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means for coupling signals from said terminal for selectively addressing the fields of Said memory means for access by said terminal data lines on the card coupled between the connecting means and the memory means for transferring data between addressed fields and said terminal and control line means on the card coupled between said connecting means and said memory means for carrying signals from said terminal fo
18. means for transferring data between addressed fields and said termi nal and control line means on the card coupled between said connecting means and said memory means for carry ing signals from said terminal for activating said memory means for reading from the addressed field of the memory 5 10 15 20 25 35 45 55 65 4 means to said terminal or writing from said terminal to the addressed field of said memory means whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored information to said terminal for performing a transaction and receive from said termi nal updated information following said transaction wherein the terminal is of the type including keys operated by a user for keying in a personal identification number said changeable information stored on said card including a personal identification number for comparison by the terminal with said keyed number said personal identifica tion number being stored in said memory means in con junction with a scramble code said terminal being adapted to unscramble the personal identification number in accor dance with the scramble code for comparison with the keyed number s
19. ment of the invention the horizontal axis of the matrix is folded so that all of the connectors associated with the horizontal axis are lo cated along the same edge of the card as the connectors for the vertical axis localizing the entire connector means along a single edge 85 of the card 70 Accord ingly the line 75a for example after passing through all of the cores 71 in its associated row is doubled back along its horizontal path and then folded between the vertical lines 72y and 72z so as to terminate at a con nector 77a positioned between the connectors 74y and 74z Similarly the line 75b is doubled back to the point between lines 72x and 72y and terminated in connector 77b positioned between connectors 74x and 74y Alter natively it is contemplated that the connectors coupled to the folded horizontal lines rather than being inter spersed between the connectors associated with the verticals might be grouped in a separate area along the connector card edge 85 The horizontal axis bus 76 is also connected to a connector 78 on the connector edge 85 of the card A sense line 79 is provided passing through all of the cores and coupled between connec tors 80 and 81 also positioned on the connector edge 85 of the card As a result of the folded core memory arrangement all of the connectors are brought to a single connector edge of the card thereby to facilitate storage of the card in a person s wallet or purse and insertion of th
20. minal in which it is to be used connector means 22 are provided arranged along a single edge of the card so as to increase the attractiveness of the card and facili tate storage and handling thereof Capture holes 21 are also provided for allowing the terminal to capture un authorized cards as is more fully described in connec tion with FIG 2 In accordance with the invention random access memory means are provided having a plurality of data fields selectively addressable for carrying up to date account information providing such information to a terminal for performing a transaction and receiving updated information from the terminal to complete the transaction In the FIG 1 embodiment such memory means is implemented by random access memory RAM 24 having data lines generally indicated at 25 address lines generally indicated at 26 and a read write control line 27 As shown in the drawing all of such lines are coupled to the connector means 22 providing in the illustrated embodiment four binary data connec tors 27 eight binary address connectors 28 a read write control connector 29 and an enable connector 30 As a result the entire contents of the RAM 24 are readily accessible by a terminal the terminal being adapted to actuate the RAM for operation via the en able connector 30 select any of the fields of data within the RAM via the address connectors 28 read data from the RAM via the data lines 27 if the control conne
21. n may involve updating the card by virtue of a payment made The bank central data base is dialed by the ter 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 minal and the amount of payment previously made to the bank is transmitted to the terminal such data being used to update the account balance as well as the date of latest update information stored on the card It should be noted that the word transaction is used herein in its broad sense to include any interaction between a card and terminal and is not limited to the financial transactions described in connection with the preferred embodiment For example the word transac tion may include use of the card in terminals arranged to control security systems or reservations systems It will therefore be apparent that what has been pro vided is a universal funds transfer and identification card which is itself an up to date record of the type and status of the account with which it is associated Because of the amount of up to date information stored on the card itself for example the account balance transaction amount since last update and date of last update the amount of communication necessary with a central data base when performing a typical transaction is greatly reduced Further the number of types of transactions performable by a remote terminal are greatly increased with resulting convenience to both the user and the central banking systems I
22. ndom access memory means in said card having a plurality of fields for storing changeable infor mation said memory means comprising a single plane core memory having a plurality of magnetic cores ar ranged in a rectangular matrix first line means forming a first axis of said matrix and comprising a plurality of wires defining the respective lines of said first axis and passing through the cores in said lines second line means forming a second axis of said matrix and com prising a plurality of wires defining the respective lines of said second axis and passing through the cores in said lines and sense line means passing through all of said cores connecting means located along a single edge of said card generally perpendicular to said first axis with the wires of said first axis connected directly to said connecting means the wires of the second axis of said matrix being folded parallel to said first axis so that said wires in said second axis are connected to said connecting means said sense line means being con nected to said connecting means said first line means second line means and sense line means serving to transfer information between said terminal and fields in said memory means addressed by said terminal whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored infor mation to said terminal for performing a transaction and receive from said terminal updated information for storage k k k SR 4 001 550 REEXAMINATI
23. of current flow In the write in mode the verticals and horizontals serve as both ad dress and data lines Readout of a selected core is simi larly accomplished by simultaneously coupling current pulses to the vertical and horizontal intersecting the selected core while monitoring the sense line 79 to detect a signal indicating whether a zero or one had been stored in that core Thus in the readout mode the vertical and horizontal serve as address lines while the sense line serves as a data line As is well known fol lowing this destructive readout the readout circuitry is adapted to rewrite the data into the core if such data is to be retained In summary writing of data into a field in the core memory plane is accomplished by sequentially cou pling current pulses through selected cores in sequence via the vertical and horizontal conductors intersecting such cores Similarly readout is accomplished by pul sing selected cores while monitoring the sense line to detect the data stored in the pulsed core It is apparent that the terminal accomplishes addressing by selecting the appropriate vertical and horizontal intersecting at selected core and must provide storage for holding the data while it is sequentially read into or out of the memory one bit at a time The following is offered as a specific example of the manner in which a card according to the invention is programmed to function as a universal funds transfer and identif
24. r activating said memory means for reading from the ad dressed field of the memory means to said terminal or writing from said terminal to the addressed field of said memory means whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored information including said personal identification number and scramble code to said terminal for perform ing a transaction including a comparison of said personal identification number with a number keyed into the termi nal by the user and whereby said card is further adapted to receive from said terminal updated information follow ing said transaction 15 The improvement as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selective addressing means comprises a shift register that can be manually activated 16 In a universal funds transfer and identification card with electronic terminals adapted to perform trans actions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement comprising random access memory means said card having a plurality of fields for storing changeable information connector means adapted to mate said terminal for coupling signals between said card and terminal address lines on the card coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means for coupling signals from said terminal for selectively addressing the fields of said memory means for access by said terminal data lines on the card coupled between the connecting means and the memor
25. sal in character Fur ther because the single elements of changeable data are directly accessible from without the card as op posed to storing data in a memory within the card in fields selectively addressable from without that card suffers from a potential security problem With the foregoing in mind it is a general aim of the present invention to provide a universal funds transfer and identification card for storing a plurality of ele ments of changeable data so that the card is itself an up to date record of the type and status of the account which it represents In accomplishing that aim it is an object of the pre sent invention to provide a universal funds transfer and identification card having a plurality of fields of changeable information selectively addressable so that the information in selected fields may be read by a terminal for obtaining from the card information neces sary for completing a transaction and may be written into by the terminal for updating the account status An even more detailed object is to provide such a card having a random access memory the memory being 0 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 001 550 2 divided into fields with the fields selectively address able for reading or writing by a terminal A related object is to provide such a card having a high degree of security from unauthorized tampering According to another aspect of the invention an obje
26. solating diode to the output 37 of the voltage regula tor For recharging the battery 31 during terminal opera tion a contact 43 is provided coupled through an iso lating diode 44 to the positive contact 40 of the battery 31 A battery test contact 45 is also provided so that the voltage of the battery may be measured by the terminal to ascertain whether charging current should be pro vided througli the charge contact 43 According to a further feature of the invention per manent memory means may be provided for storing non changeable data shown herein as read only mem ory ROM 50 It is seen that ROM 50 has data outputs generally indicated at 51 coupled in parallel with the data outputs 24 of the RAM Similarly the ROM has address inputs 52 also coupled in parallel with the address inputs 26 of the RAM The ROM has an enable input 54 connected to enable contact 55 of the connecting means functioning much as the enable contact 30 of the RAM for causing the memory to respond to the address lines As a result when the terminal requires data stored within permanent storage in the ROM the terminal serves to activate the enable input 54 of the ROM 50 via the ROM enable contact 55 and to address via contacts 28 the proper location within the ROM thereby to read the addressed data via the contacts 27 It is therefore apparent that the ter minal may enable either the ROM 50 via enable contact 55 or the RAM 24 via enable contact 3
27. terminal is adapted to determine the credit status of the account from the information contained on the card perform the transaction if allowed and update the infor mation on the card so that the card is itself a record of the type and status of the account d Ld sr B1 4 001 550 1 REEXAMINATION CERTIFICATE ISSUED UNDER 35 U S C 307 THE PATENT IS HEREBY AMENDED AS INDICATED BELOW Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appeared in the patent but has been deleted and is no longer a part of the patent matter printed in italics indicates additions made to the patent AS A RESULT OF REEXAMINATION IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THAT Claims 1 and 4 are determined to be patentable as amended Claims 2 3 and 5 12 dependent on an amended claim are determined to be patentable New claims 14 17 are added and determined to be patentable 1 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform transactions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement compris ing random access memory means in said card for stor ing information including the following changeable information account balance total amount of transactions since last update of card and date of last update connecting means along a single edge of said card adapted to mate said termi nal for coupling signals between said card and said terminal and selecting means co
28. the bank of field 6a Similarly the ter minal updates the account balance and total transac tion amounts as derived from fields 15 and 16 respec tively and writes the new totals back into those fields After the transaction is thus completed the card is returned to the user In certain cases it may be desirable to communicate with a central data base before completing a transac tion For example in cases where the user desires to perform a transaction for an amount greater than the account balance it may be necessary to access a bank to determine if the transaction is allowable Initially the terminal will use the information stored in fields 12 13 and 14 to determine from the information carried on the card itself whether the overdraft amount is authorized If it is the transaction may be completed without accessing the central data base If the overdraft amount exceeds the authorized limits at the appropri ate point in the program the terminal will read from the card the bank telephone number stored in field 8 and seize a telephone line for dialing that number to access the bank The terminal may then interact with the central data base at the bank to determine if the transaction should be allowed For example payments or other funds transfers not yet recorded on the card may be used to update the card balance and date of last update and thereby authorize the transaction As a final example a simple but common transactio
29. typical transactions which may be initiated and completed using a card according to the invention The first illustrative transaction is the simple transac tion typically for low value items and requiring no verification The user initiates the transaction by insert ing the card in the terminal the terminal being caused to read fields 2 3 6a 11 15 and 16 The user then selects the items desired while the terminal notes the amount of purchase The terminal records the data from fields 2 3 6a and amount of purchase for trans fer to the bank identified in field The terminal then updates the numbers derived from fields 15 and 16 by the amount of purchase and writes the new totals onto the card in fields 15 and 16 After the product is deliv ered the user is allowed to remove the card thereby terminating the transaction 4 001 550 7 For transactions involving more than certain mini mum dollar amounts the terminal is programmed to require user verification Such terminais are of the type including keyboards typically comprised of ten keys numbered 0 through 9 wherein the user is caused to punch a personal identification number using the key board the punched in number being compared to the PIN number stored in the card memory for verification The PIN number is typically stored on the card in field 3 in fixed storage However in certain cases even greater security may be achieved by storing the PIN number in scr
30. update of balance and date of last update The information necessary for authorizing and completing a transaction is addressed by a universal terminal for transfer to the terminal from the card The terminal is adapted to determine the credit status of the account from the information con tained on the card perform the transaction if allowed and update the information on the card so that the card is itself a record of the type and status of the account 13 Claims 1 Drawing Figure U S Patent Jan 4 1977 4 001 550 as i po i SES HEHE EH ES 1 UNIVERSAL FUNDS TRANSFER AND IDENTIFICATION CARD This invention relates to machine readable informa tion bearing cards and more particularly to such cards having the capability of storing changeable informa tion Such cards find particular application in Electronic Funds Transfer Systems for example as a consumer held key for entry into the burgeoning credit network as well as in security and reservations systems It is desirable in a credit system to allow transactions at numerous dispersed locations with the results of the transaction being fed to a central location for account ing billing and the like Typically up to date account information is available only at the central location Except in cases where the size of the transaction is small enough to justify the risk communication with the central station is necessary wh
31. upling said con necting means to said random access memory means for selectively addressing fields within said memory means said selecting means being coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means and means for transferring data between addressed fields and said terminal whereby said card serves as an up to date record of said account 4 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform n E MEANS UN pepe men HCM CEN ci plurality of fields for storing changeable information connector mesns adapted to mate said terminal for cou pling signals between said card and terminal address lines on the card coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means for cou pling signals from said terminal for selectively address ing the fields of said memory means for access by said terminal data lines on the card coupled between the connecting means and the memory means for transfer ring data between addressed fields and said terminal and control line means on the card coupled between said connecting means and said memory means for car rying signals from said terminal for activating said memory means for reading from the addressed field of the memory means to said terminal or writing from said terminal to the addressed field of said memory means whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored informa tion to sa
32. y means for transferring data between addressed fields and said termi nal and control line means on the card coupled between said connecting means and said memory means for carry ing signals from said terminal for activating said memory means for reading from the addressed field of the memory means to said terminal or writing from said terminal to the addressed field of said memory means whereby said card is adapted to transfer stored information to said terminal Sor performing a transaction and receive from said termi nal updated information following said transaction dis play means coupled to said random access memory and means for activating the display to show the stored account balance on command 17 In a universal funds transfer and identification card for use with electronic terminals adapted to perform trans B1 4 001 550 3 actions and produce signals for carrying out and recording said transactions the improvement comprising random access memory means in said card having a plurality of fields for storing changeable information connector means adapted to mate said terminal for coupling signals between said card and terminal address lines on the card coupled between said connecting means and said random access memory means for coupling signals from said terminal for selectively addressing the fields of said memory means for access by said terminal data lines on the card coupled between the connecting means and the memory
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