WO2002058017A1

WO2002058017A1 - Global payment method, and payment system and payment card used therewith

Info

Publication number: WO2002058017A1
Application number: PCT/NL2001/000040
Authority: WO
Inventors: Haissam Malas
Original assignee: Haissam Malas
Priority date: 2001-01-19
Filing date: 2001-01-19
Publication date: 2002-07-25
Also published as: WO2002058018B1; WO2002058018A3; WO2002058018A2; AU2002230263A1

Abstract

Global payment (GP) method for transferring money from - and to - a GP system related bank account, wherein a client or similar party purchases a global payment system (GPS) card at a bank for a certain amount of credit money in any currency, wherein an activation number and a card number are assigned by the GP system to the GPS card, and wherein, before activation of the card by the bank, said amount of credit money is transferred into a GPS account at the bank, and wherein the GPS card is used by the client through an Internet terminal or a GPS terminal, in connection with the global payment system, to perform a secure money transfer transaction. In addition to activation and card numbers a secure pin code number is assigned to the GPS card. Global payment system (GPS) for transferring money from and to a GPS related bank account assigned to a GPS card of a client, comprising a central transaction server for distributing money transfer transactions, which server is connected to a GPS card authorize transaction means for activating and deactivating, through a GPS terminal, of GPS cards purchased at related banks, and an E-pay server for handling money transactions for the client through a GPS terminal or Internet terminal. GPS card to be used with above method and system.

Description

Global payment method, and payment system and payment card used therewith.

The invention relates to a global payment (GP) method for transferring money from - and to - a GP system related bank account. The invention also relates to a global payment system and to a card to be used in above-mentioned method.

The above method, system and card are known in the art. Such a method makes use for example of credit cards like VISA or American Express. The problem with such a method and system is that an existing personal bank account is required for a client or similar party who wants to use a credit card. Furthermore once a client acquires such a card, said card is specifically related to the identity of the client holding the existing bank account.

Yet another problem in the known credit card method and system is that the majority of consumers around the world are not credit card holders who on the whole are selected people. Banks and/or credit card companies in fact use a process of selection before a person is admitted as a credit card holder.

The invention aims to obviate above problems and to provide a method and a system of the above-mentioned type, in which for a client utilizing above method and system there is no requirement both to have an existing personal bank account and to present his or her personal identity during the acquisition of the related card and during further money transactions with said card, and which thereby will offer equal opportunity to all people to be able to use credit cards for secure payment transactions around the world.

This objective according to one aspect is obtained in accordance with the invention with a method of the above-mentioned type, wherein a client or similar party purchases a global payment system (GPS) card at a bank or similar selling point for a certain amount of credit money in any currency, wherein an activation number and a card number are assigned by the GP system to the GPS card, and wherein, before activation of the card by the bank, said amount of credit money is transferred into a GPS account at the bank, and wherein the GPS card is used by the client through an internet terminal or a GPS terminal, in connection with the global payment system, to perform a secure money transfer transaction.

The above objective according to another aspect is obtained in accordance with the invention with a system of the above-mentioned type, which comprises a central transaction server for distributing money transfer transactions, which server is connected to a GPS card authorize transaction means for activating and deactivating, through a GPS terminal, of GPS cards purchased at related banks or similar selling points, and an E-pay server for handling money transactions for the client through a GPS terminal or internet terminal.

As indicated above, the present invention makes it possible for a client or similar party to use his or her GPS credit card through Internet e.g. without being required to possess an existing personal bank account or to reveal his or her identity or give personal data when buying or using said card. There is no chance in this system of getting overcharged as the card will allow the client to perform money transactions only to the maximum of the cash money the card is bought for. A further advantage is that at the end of the month or year there are no monthly or annual bank fees to be paid, as is the case with the known credit card system.

In the present GP system, cards are requested generally in a batch by an affiliated bank or similar selling point. Such a batch will be generated by the system together with the associated variables for each card like card activation number, bank code- or identity number, card pin code number, amount of credit money presented by the card, and its currency, and such-like. The card related variables or parameters, which are in an inactive state in the database of the system, are supplied or transferred to the affiliated bank in a secure environment. After supplying said data of the corresponding batch of cards to the bank, said data will become the responsibility of the bank.

The bank or similar selling point per se is responsible for the physical representation of the card. Once a customer or client has bought or purchased a GPS card for a certain amount of credit money in a certain currency, the bank will have to activate said card within the payment system. In general the bank is supplied with a GPS bank account in its system. In order to activate a card, a bank representative will have to login into the GP system. The system will perform a security check towards the bank and, if this check is successful, the login screen will appear. A menu is displayed with an option for activating cards and only activation card numbers that were supplied with a batch to the bank can be activated. An activation card number is then offered to the internal GP system process, which encrypts said activation card number with the same routine that is used for generating the activation card numbers. The database is accessed with the encrypted activation card number. If the numbers match and the bank code or identity is valid and the card was not activated yet, a "true" signal will be given to the program, which then activates the card. In this procedure of activation, also a signal will be passed from the bank to the GP system that the credit money for this card is transferred into the related GPS account at the bank. From this moment on, the card is activated and can be used by the client.

In order to perform money transactions with such a card, a validation of the card is required. For this validation, a check is performed whether the card number is a valid number and a check is performed whether the card number and pin code number are a valid combination. The card number is provided in readable form on the card on the outside. Said card number can be a composite number, which may consist of the following: bank or identity code, currency code, money value of the card, and actual serial number.

In addition to said number, a pin code number is supplied by the bank to the client. Said pin code number can be supplied in a readable form on the card or can be told to the client which has to memorize it for further use.

In the following, a number of electronic transactions in the GP system will be explained with reference to the drawing, which shows an exemplary functional diagram of the system. All transactions are in context with a GPS card and all transactions, incoming and outgoing, are provided with a transaction number. An important component is the central transaction server 1, which acts as a distribution center. Each type of transaction is determined and passed through to the appropriate process for handling said type of transaction.

A further important component is the Electronic-pay server 2, which accepts and handles requests for payments through the system. The server program runs in a secure environment and can only be accessed from other secure environments. It is capable to handle multiple requests concurrently. Every request through this server will be logged and validated.

The E-pay server 2 for example can handle a payment from a client to another party like a merchant, or a payment from a merchant to a client. All requests are inputted through the E-pay server via a GPS terminal or via a normal Internet terminal. The transactions associated with these requests are first validated by the E-pay server and subsequently passed through the central transaction server. A further component connected to the central transaction server 1 is the internal transfer means 3. This means is used for transferring credit money or funds from one card to another. This transaction can be performed via a GPS terminal of via the GPS Internet website, both in a secure environment. Only cards having the same currency can be used here.

The card number and the pin code number both of the forwarding or source card and of the destination card, have to be entered into the system. Said numbers will be validated by the system for each card per se. After the validation, the amount of money presently left on the source card is displayed. The client can then enter the amount of money to be transferred from the source card to the destination card. Affirming the entered value results in transfer of the money.

A further component connected to the server 1 is the transaction logging means 4. This logging means 4 is apart from the central tracking and tracing device 7. The transaction logging means is used to store information supplied for E-pay transactions. This means also enables clients to check E-pay transactions and card-to-card transactions. All transactions will have a "unique" transaction number which is directly related to the internal card number and which is stored. Thereby, any transaction associated with a certain card can be accessed. For example, all E-pay transactions, money transfers and cashing withdrawal transactions are stored. Existing guidelines are used to determine the period of time the information is archived and kept in a database. On demand a client or customer is able to check his previous transactions in tl e system. Via an Internet terminal, a secure HTML page for example is presented in which the card number and pin code has to be filled in. When the card data matches, the client will be able to check previous transactions by browsing through the history. It is obvious that also the present card balance can be presented and displayed after a validation check.

A further component, which is connected to the central transaction server 1, is the card authorize transaction means 5. This means is responsible for the activation and deactivation of cards by affiliated banks and similar selling points. Such a bank or selling point is supplied with an account in the global payment system. As explained before, a card can be activated through bank representatives who will login into the system. A security check is performed by the GP system towards the bank and, when this check is successful, the login screen will appear. Subsequently the activation by the representative as already described will be performed. All stages of this card activation are logged.

From the same position in the bank, it is possible to render the card inactive or to revoke it. In case of loss of transferred data, such as activation card numbers, card numbers, pin code numbers or theft of cards, the bank or selling point representative is able to revoke the cards or render them inactive. All stages of card revoking are logged in the tracking and tracing device 7.

Still a further component, which is connected to the central transaction server 1, is the money transfer means 6. Up to now, money transfer transactions by a client or similar party to another party like a merchant or from cardholder to cardholder have been described. There are also, however, transactions from bank to bank accounts per se. That means transactions for the transfer of money between accounts of two or more banks introduced into the global payment system.

A further important component in the global payment system, which is connected also to the central transaction server, is the tracking and tracing (logging) device 7. In the above is already described the transaction logging means specifically related to transaction loggings related to a card. Besides this transaction logging, there is a requirement within the system to trace any basic action. This tracking and tracing device is for internal use by the GP system only. All loggings are card related and provide a chronological view of any action at what time and from which process. The types of loggings are pre-defined and are used by all components within the system. Said log records are produced via special log application program interface (log- API). This log- API can be called up from any component within the system.

Parameters for the log- API may consist for example of card number, logging type, logging description, date/time of creation, status, amount of money involved, related transaction number (if available), affiliated bank or selling point, bank representative, and merchant. The log application program interface will provide a unique log number for every record that is produced in the log database 7.1. Passing these parameters to the log- API will provide enough information in order to give a complete chronological view of actions and transactions on a card.

For example within the tracking and tracing device the following parameters can be introduced for viewing and reporting purposes: card number, transaction number, date/time, and logging type. By entering one of these parameters, logging records can be viewed on a screen chronologically and can be zoomed in on transaction level.

A further component, which is connected to the central transaction server 1, is the encryption device 8. This device will ensure that data, related to a card and of a private nature, is stored in the GPS data base in a secure way such that misuse thereof is virtually impossible. All sensitive data, which is also directly readable to the outside world, is encrypted before it is entered into the database.

The encryption device provides an application program interface for encryption and decryption of specified data. Depending on the type of data offered to this device, a different key is used to perform the encryption and decryption. Also such a key can be date related. The encryption and decryption algorithm cannot be used directly but can only be accessed from components within the system. This is to prevent the use of this device for generating encrypted numbers in a manual way or any other way.

The encryption device uses various parameters in dependence on the data to be encrypted or decrypted. Said parameters are for instance: type of encryption/decryption transaction like card generation, pin code generation, transaction information, logging information, and password generation; time and date; the data that is to be encrypted/decrypted; and the action to be performed (encrypt/decrypt).

A further component of the payment system of the invention is the relation management sub system 9 responsible for the storage and handling of name and address information in general. Such a relation can be a company, like a bank or similar selling point possibly together with its representative, and a merchant or similar party in connection with a related bank.

Part of the relation management sub system is the bank management means in which the bank related information used for transaction and authorization purposes is stored.

For transaction purposes directly related to the bank, the present global payment system has a GPS bank account number at the affiliated bank. This bank account number is used to transfer money from GPS cards to the same bank or to a merchant having an account number in this bank. The GPS bank account number at said bank will be used for depositing the funds received by clients buying cards. It is also possible that depending on the type of transaction, different accounts are used by the GPS and the affiliated bank. In order to know which bank transactions are performed in the global payment system, the system has to know the internal account number for the bank. This account number or identity is used for validation both by the transaction management and by the card requesting procedure. With this internal account number or identity numbers the global payment system can determine which bank it really is.

It is clear that in dependence on the type of transaction performed by the system, different GPS bank account numbers are used. The system will register those bank account numbers that are related to a certain type of transaction.

A further part of the relation management sub system is the merchant management means, in which the merchant related information used for transaction and authorization purposes is stored.

An important advantage of the system is the use of the GPS card as a credit card by a client who stays anonymous and can perform secure payment transactions through Internet e.g. around the world. In order to perform a transfer of money from the GPS card account at the affiliated bank to a merchant or similar party for services rendered, it is necessary that said merchant has a bank account number in an affiliated bank. Therefore, the global payment system has to know in which affiliated bank a merchant has his bank account number in order to make a transaction. The global payment system will then take care that the money destined for the merchant is transferred from the GPS bank account into the merchant bank account number. For a return transaction, the same routine is used. In this case money is transferred from the merchant bank account into the GPS bank account at the affiliated bank.

It is also possible that, depending on the type of GPS transaction, two different merchant bank account numbers are used. Namely, a merchant account number to which money is transferred from the GPS related card account, and a merchant account from which money is transferred back to the global payment system and subsequently to the GPS card account at the affiliated bank.

Claims

1. Global payment (GP) method for transferring money from - and to - a GP system related bank account, wherein a client or similar party purchases a global payment system (GPS) card at a bank or similar selling point for a certain amount of credit money in any currency, wherein an activation number and a card number are assigned by the GP system to the GPS card, and wherein, before activation of the card by the bank, said amount of credit money is transferred into a GPS account at the bank, and wherein the GPS card is used by the client through an Internet terminal or a GPS terminal, in connection with the global payment system, to perform a secure money transfer transaction.

2. Global payment method in accordance with claim 1, wherein within the GP system upon request of a bank a batch of GPS cards is assigned to the bank, and wherein activation numbers and card numbers per card are assigned to the batch and calculated with separate encryption algorithms.

3. Global payment method in accordance with claim 2, wherein in addition to activation and card numbers a secure pin code number is assigned to the GPS card.

4. Global payment method in accordance with anyone of the preceding claims, wherein money is transferred from a client or similar party having a GPS card to another party having a bank account, and wherein the GPS card is used by the client, such as a payment for services rendered, through an internet terminal or GPS terminal to have money transferred from the card related GPS account at a bank to a receiving bank account of the other party providing said services.

5. Global payment method in accordance with anyone of the claims 1 to 4, wherein money is transferred from one GPS card to another GPS card, and wherein the one GPS card is used by a client or similar party through an Internet terminal or GPS terminal to have money transferred from the one GPS card related account at a bank to the receiving GPS card related account of the other party at a bank.

6. Global payment system (GPS) for transferring money from and to a GPS related bank account assigned to a GPS card of a client or similar party, in accordance with the global payment method of anyone of the preceding claims 1 to 5, comprising a central transaction server (1) for distributing money transfer transactions, which server is connected to? a GPS card authorize transaction means (5) for activating and deactivating, through a GPS terminal, of GPS cards purchased at related banks or similar selling points, and an E-pay server (2) for handling money transactions for the client through a GPS terminal or Internet terminal.

7. Global payment system in accordance with claim 6, wherein the central transaction server (1) is connected to an internal transfer means (3) for transferring money, through a GPS terminal or Internet terminal, from a GPS card account to another GPS card account.

8. Global payment system in accordance with claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the central transaction server (1) is connected to a transaction logging means (4) for storing and retrieving, via an Internet terminal, of GPS card balance data.

9. Global payment system in accordance with anyone of the claims 6 to 8, wherein the central transaction server (1) is connected to a bank money transfer server (6) for transferring money, through a GPS terminal, from one bank or similar selling point GPS account to another bank or similar selling point GPS account.

10. Global payment system in accordance with anyone of the claims 6 to 9, furthermore provided with a tracking and tracing device (7) for logging GPS card related transaction(s), which device (7) comprises a logging database (7.1), and is connected to the central transaction server (1).

11. Global payment system in accordance with anyone of the claims 6 to 10, furthermore provided with an encryption device (8) for encrypting and decrypting of GPS card related data, which encryption device (8) comprises a database and is connected to the central transaction server (1).

12. Global payment system (GPS) card to be used with the method of claims 1 to

5 and in the global payment system of claims 6 to 11, which GPS card is provided on its outside with a card activation number and a card number, both numbers mutually unrelated.

13. Global payment system card in accordance with claim 12, to which additionally a pin code number is assigned.