WO2003107240A1 - Prepaid card distribution system wherein pin numbers are generated entirely at point-of-sale - Google Patents

Prepaid card distribution system wherein pin numbers are generated entirely at point-of-sale Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003107240A1
WO2003107240A1 PCT/US2000/000817 US0000817W WO03107240A1 WO 2003107240 A1 WO2003107240 A1 WO 2003107240A1 US 0000817 W US0000817 W US 0000817W WO 03107240 A1 WO03107240 A1 WO 03107240A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
card
data
product
product card
point
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/000817
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
James L. White, Iii.
Original Assignee
Ldc Direct Ltd, Co.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Ldc Direct Ltd, Co. filed Critical Ldc Direct Ltd, Co.
Priority to AU2000227255A priority Critical patent/AU2000227255A1/en
Publication of WO2003107240A1 publication Critical patent/WO2003107240A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F7/00—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus
    • G07F7/08—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means
    • G07F7/10—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means together with a coded signal, e.g. in the form of personal identification information, like personal identification number [PIN] or biometric data
    • G07F7/1008—Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/34—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
    • G06Q20/341—Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/34—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
    • G06Q20/355—Personalisation of cards for use

Definitions

  • This invention relates to point of sale card dispensing terminals and, more specifically, to a point of sale terminal system that generates personal identification numbers.
  • pre-paid long distance telephone cards have become increasingly popular as a convenient way to pay for long distance telephone calls.
  • Pre-paid phone cards look similar to credit cards, but they work like gift certificates for long distance service — they may be purchased in selected denominations, thus allowing the holder of the card to make long distance telephone calls for a preselected number of minutes, etc.
  • the front of a pre-paid phone card typically contains some type of graphic image, while either the front or the back of the card includes a telephone number (such as a toll-free 800 number) as well as a personal identification number (PIN) that may be used to make the long distance telephone call.
  • a telephone number such as a toll-free 800 number
  • PIN personal identification number
  • the holder of the pre-paid phone card dials the telephone number printed on the back of the card, and when prompted, dials the PIN number and the telephone number to be called. The call thereafter is connected, and the caller may receive audible warnings indicating how much long distance time is left on the card.
  • Pre-paid phone cards have traditionally been available to consumers at retail establishments, such as in grocery stores, drug stores, gift shops, and the like.
  • pre-activated pre-paid phone cards would be shipped to the retailer, and the retailer would then sell the cards to interested consumers.
  • the phone cards would already be activated when they were shipped to the retailer, if such cards were stolen they could essentially be used like cash by the thief to make long distance telephone calls, or could be re-sold on the black market.
  • such systems do not lend themselves to allowing the retail establishment owner to track the sales in detail. For example, it may be difficult for the retail owner to determine which of his sales clerks were making the most sales of pre-paid phone cards, and at what time of day such sales were being made.
  • the present invention in one aspect is a point of sale terminal that includes a product card printer, an unissued card storage bin, a user interface and a computational circuit that includes a computer- readable memory.
  • the computational circuit is operationally coupled to both the product card printer and the user interface and is in communication with a host.
  • the computational circuit is programmed to execute the following operational steps: receive encryption data from the host; receive data from the user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; generate a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; instruct the product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card from the unissued card storage bin to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; issue the product card to a user; and increment the card sequence number and store the card sequence number in the memory.
  • the invention is a method of issuing product cards.
  • Encryption data is received from a host computer.
  • Data is received from a user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued.
  • a unique PIN number is generated as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number.
  • a product card printer is instructed to print a product card back design on an unissued card to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card.
  • the product card is issued to a user. Then, the card sequence number is incremented and stored.
  • the invention is a product card service provider system that includes a service activation circuit, in communication with a customer interface and a service, and a computer.
  • the computer is programmed to perform the following operational steps: receive a PIN number from the customer interface via the service activation circuit; decode the PIN number so as to generate a plurality of data values, each value assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field; compare each of the plurality of data values to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field; and if each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then generate a command that causes the service activation circuit to activate the service.
  • the invention is a method of administering a product card service.
  • a PIN number is received from a customer interface via a service activation circuit.
  • the PLN number is decoded so as to generate a plurality of data values, where each value is assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field.
  • Each of the plurality of data values is compared to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field. If each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then a command is generated that causes a service activation circuit to activate the service
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a point of sale terminal, a host and a service provider in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 2A is a data flow diagram that demonstrates one embodiment of an encryption algorithm in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 2B is a data flow diagram that demonstrates one embodiment of a decryption algorithm in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
  • one illustrative embodiment of the invention 100 includes a point of sale terminal 110 that is in electronic communication with a service provider 102 via a host 104.
  • the point of sale terminal 110 is used for selling and distributing product cards, such as prepaid long distance cards, prepaid cellular cards, gift cards, even theater tickets, etc.
  • the terminal 110 includes a product card printer 140 (such as a thermal card printer of the type generally used by conventional point of sale terminals), an unissued card storage bin 142 for housing unprinted product cards, a user interface (such as a credit card reader 120 or a key pad 122, or both) and a computational circuit 130, such as a microprocessor, that includes a computer-readable memory 132.
  • the computational circuit 130 is operationally coupled to both the product card printer and the user interface and in communication with a host 104.
  • the computational circuit 130 is programmed to generate PIN numbers locally by executing the following operational steps: receive encryption data from the host; receive data from the user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; generate a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; instruct the product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card from the unissued card storage bin to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; issue the product card to a user; and increment the card sequence number and store the card sequence number in the memory. As shown in FIG. 2A, the computational circuit 130 generates the PIN numbers by first assembling raw data 210.
  • the computational circuit 130 is programmed to generate PIN numbers locally by executing a PIN encoding procedure 200 wherein the raw data 210 includes a date field 212 (the date shown, 1032, is the Julian date corresponding to February 1, 2001), a location field 214 that uniquely identifies each terminal in the system, a sequence number field 216 that indicates how many cards have been issued by a given terminals so far that day, and a check sum 218, which is used in data error detection (in the example shown, the check sum is the least significant digit of the sum of all of the other digits in the raw data 210).
  • a date field 212 the date shown, 1032, is the Julian date corresponding to February 1, 2001
  • a location field 214 that uniquely identifies each terminal in the system
  • a sequence number field 216 that indicates how many cards have been issued by a given terminals so far that day
  • a check sum 218, which is used in data error detection in the example shown, the check sum is the least significant digit of the sum of all of the
  • An encryption key 220 (a new one of which could be downloaded daily from the host) is combined with the raw data 210 to form encrypted data 230.
  • the encryption key 220 is simply added to the raw data 210 using modulo addition.
  • the encrypted data 230 is then scrambled 234 by rearranging the digit positions 232 of the encrypted data 230 according to a predetermined scrambling key 236 to form scrambled data 234, which is then printed on the product card as the PIN 240.
  • the computational circuit 130 will upload to the host 104 an accounting of all PIN numbers generated during a predetermined period.
  • a terminal 110 When a terminal 110 is used for the first time, it will receive updated encryption algorithm program code from the host 104, store it in memory and execute it every time it issues a PIN number. The host 104 may then, from time to time, revise the algorithm and download the revised algorithm program code to the terminal 110.
  • the service provider when a card is used by the customer, the service provider
  • a computer executes on a computer (such as a switch adapter) a PIN decoding algorithm 250 to restore to underlying data to formed the PIN 252.
  • the PIN data 252 is considered to be scrambled data 254 and a descrambling position key 256 is used to descramble 258 the data so that each digit has its unscrambled position 260, thereby generating a set of encrypted data 262.
  • the encryption key 264 is removed from the encrypted data 262 thereby generating the original raw data 266.
  • the computer compares the values of the raw data 266 to expected ranges of values for the data, thereby verifying the PIN.
  • the computer first adds all the digits in the raw data 266 and compares the check sum to the least significant digit of the raw data 260 and rejects the PIN if they are different. Then the computer considers the other data fields. For example, if a given terminal (e.g., terminal number 10535 in the example of FIG. 2B) typically expects to issue a maximum of 20 product cards in a given day, the computer can reject any attempts to use a product card having a sequence number greater than 50. Similarly, any product cards having a date field with a future date (or an expired issue date) can be rejected as invalid.
  • the service provider also has the option of flagging suspicious cards, so as to require manual verification by a support person.
  • the invention also allows for the encryption of a card value.
  • the system can follow an algorithm similar to the one described above to assign specific values to product cards. For example, if a customer desires a gift card for $8.37 (as opposed to the standard $20, $50, $100, etc.), the system can generate a code that shows the card's value to be $8.37. This code may also be printed on the card and the service provider would decode the value code to determine the initial value of the card.

Abstract

A point of sale terminal (110) includes a product card printer (140), an unissued card storage bin (142), a user interface (120 or 122) and a computational circuit (130) that includes computer readable memory (132). The computational circuit (130) is operationally coupled to both the product card printer (140) and the user interface (120 or 122) and is in communication with the host (104). The computational circuit (130) is programmed to execute the following operational steps: receive encryption data from the host; generate a PIN number as a function of the encryption data, and instruct the product card printer (140) to print a product card back design on an unissued card to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card.

Description

PRE-PAID CARD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM WHEREIN PIN NUMBERS ARE GENERATED ENTIRELY AT POINT-OF-SALE
CROSS-REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION This application for letters patent claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) on a provisional patent application, Serial No. 60/ 115,661, filed on January 13, 1999.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Serial No. 08/890,245, filed on July 9, 1997, the disclosure for which is incorporated herein by reference, cross ref.
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to point of sale card dispensing terminals and, more specifically, to a point of sale terminal system that generates personal identification numbers.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Over the past few years, pre-paid long distance telephone cards (pre-paid phone cards) have become increasingly popular as a convenient way to pay for long distance telephone calls. Pre-paid phone cards look similar to credit cards, but they work like gift certificates for long distance service — they may be purchased in selected denominations, thus allowing the holder of the card to make long distance telephone calls for a preselected number of minutes, etc.
The front of a pre-paid phone card typically contains some type of graphic image, while either the front or the back of the card includes a telephone number (such as a toll-free 800 number) as well as a personal identification number (PIN) that may be used to make the long distance telephone call. In operation, the holder of the pre-paid phone card dials the telephone number printed on the back of the card, and when prompted, dials the PIN number and the telephone number to be called. The call thereafter is connected, and the caller may receive audible warnings indicating how much long distance time is left on the card. Pre-paid phone cards have traditionally been available to consumers at retail establishments, such as in grocery stores, drug stores, gift shops, and the like. In the past, pre-activated pre-paid phone cards would be shipped to the retailer, and the retailer would then sell the cards to interested consumers. Of course, because the phone cards would already be activated when they were shipped to the retailer, if such cards were stolen they could essentially be used like cash by the thief to make long distance telephone calls, or could be re-sold on the black market. Also, such systems do not lend themselves to allowing the retail establishment owner to track the sales in detail. For example, it may be difficult for the retail owner to determine which of his sales clerks were making the most sales of pre-paid phone cards, and at what time of day such sales were being made.
Some of the deficiencies of prior art systems have been addressed to a small extent by systems whereby PIN numbers pre-printed on phone cards are only activated by the retailer after the sale of the card is made to the consumer. In these systems, the retailer or the retailer's computer terminal dials into a central host computer system each time a card sale is made, and the host computer system is instructed to activate the PIN number on the sold card. Unfortunately, while this is an improvement over prior systems, there are still significant problems with these newer systems. Since the pre- printed PIN numbers have to be activated after each sale, much time is wasted by the sales clerk during the activation process. Moreover, because a long distance call is often required to contact the host computer system, significant long distance charges are (ironically) incurred just to activate each card. Additionally, if for some reason the activation phone number is busy, or the host computer system is otherwise unavailable, the sale simply can't be made.
There is therefore a need for a system in which a point of sale terminal generates a PIN number locally and in which a service provider is able to verify a PIN number without having to access a host computer. SUMMARY
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, which in one aspect is a point of sale terminal that includes a product card printer, an unissued card storage bin, a user interface and a computational circuit that includes a computer- readable memory. The computational circuit is operationally coupled to both the product card printer and the user interface and is in communication with a host. The computational circuit is programmed to execute the following operational steps: receive encryption data from the host; receive data from the user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; generate a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; instruct the product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card from the unissued card storage bin to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; issue the product card to a user; and increment the card sequence number and store the card sequence number in the memory.
In another aspect, the invention is a method of issuing product cards. Encryption data is received from a host computer. Data is received from a user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued. A unique PIN number is generated as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number. A product card printer is instructed to print a product card back design on an unissued card to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card. The product card is issued to a user. Then, the card sequence number is incremented and stored.
In another aspect, the invention is a product card service provider system that includes a service activation circuit, in communication with a customer interface and a service, and a computer. The computer is programmed to perform the following operational steps: receive a PIN number from the customer interface via the service activation circuit; decode the PIN number so as to generate a plurality of data values, each value assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field; compare each of the plurality of data values to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field; and if each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then generate a command that causes the service activation circuit to activate the service.
In yet another aspect, the invention is a method of administering a product card service. A PIN number is received from a customer interface via a service activation circuit. The PLN number is decoded so as to generate a plurality of data values, where each value is assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field. Each of the plurality of data values is compared to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field. If each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then a command is generated that causes a service activation circuit to activate the service
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following drawings. As would be obvious to one skilled in the art, many variations and modifications of the invention may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a point of sale terminal, a host and a service provider in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2A is a data flow diagram that demonstrates one embodiment of an encryption algorithm in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2B is a data flow diagram that demonstrates one embodiment of a decryption algorithm in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A preferred embodiment of the invention is now described in detail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like parts throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise: the meaning of "a," "an," and "the" includes plural reference, the meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on."
As shown in FIG. 1, one illustrative embodiment of the invention 100 includes a point of sale terminal 110 that is in electronic communication with a service provider 102 via a host 104. The point of sale terminal 110 is used for selling and distributing product cards, such as prepaid long distance cards, prepaid cellular cards, gift cards, even theater tickets, etc. The terminal 110 includes a product card printer 140 (such as a thermal card printer of the type generally used by conventional point of sale terminals), an unissued card storage bin 142 for housing unprinted product cards, a user interface (such as a credit card reader 120 or a key pad 122, or both) and a computational circuit 130, such as a microprocessor, that includes a computer-readable memory 132. The computational circuit 130 is operationally coupled to both the product card printer and the user interface and in communication with a host 104.
The computational circuit 130 is programmed to generate PIN numbers locally by executing the following operational steps: receive encryption data from the host; receive data from the user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; generate a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; instruct the product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card from the unissued card storage bin to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; issue the product card to a user; and increment the card sequence number and store the card sequence number in the memory. As shown in FIG. 2A, the computational circuit 130 generates the PIN numbers by first assembling raw data 210. The computational circuit 130 is programmed to generate PIN numbers locally by executing a PIN encoding procedure 200 wherein the raw data 210 includes a date field 212 (the date shown, 1032, is the Julian date corresponding to February 1, 2001), a location field 214 that uniquely identifies each terminal in the system, a sequence number field 216 that indicates how many cards have been issued by a given terminals so far that day, and a check sum 218, which is used in data error detection (in the example shown, the check sum is the least significant digit of the sum of all of the other digits in the raw data 210).
An encryption key 220 (a new one of which could be downloaded daily from the host) is combined with the raw data 210 to form encrypted data 230. In the example shown, the encryption key 220 is simply added to the raw data 210 using modulo addition. The encrypted data 230 is then scrambled 234 by rearranging the digit positions 232 of the encrypted data 230 according to a predetermined scrambling key 236 to form scrambled data 234, which is then printed on the product card as the PIN 240. Periodically, the computational circuit 130 will upload to the host 104 an accounting of all PIN numbers generated during a predetermined period.
When a terminal 110 is used for the first time, it will receive updated encryption algorithm program code from the host 104, store it in memory and execute it every time it issues a PIN number. The host 104 may then, from time to time, revise the algorithm and download the revised algorithm program code to the terminal 110.
As shown in FIG. 2B, when a card is used by the customer, the service provider
(e.g., the long distance service) executes on a computer (such as a switch adapter) a PIN decoding algorithm 250 to restore to underlying data to formed the PIN 252. The PIN data 252 is considered to be scrambled data 254 and a descrambling position key 256 is used to descramble 258 the data so that each digit has its unscrambled position 260, thereby generating a set of encrypted data 262. The encryption key 264 is removed from the encrypted data 262 thereby generating the original raw data 266. The computer then compares the values of the raw data 266 to expected ranges of values for the data, thereby verifying the PIN. The computer first adds all the digits in the raw data 266 and compares the check sum to the least significant digit of the raw data 260 and rejects the PIN if they are different. Then the computer considers the other data fields. For example, if a given terminal (e.g., terminal number 10535 in the example of FIG. 2B) typically expects to issue a maximum of 20 product cards in a given day, the computer can reject any attempts to use a product card having a sequence number greater than 50. Similarly, any product cards having a date field with a future date (or an expired issue date) can be rejected as invalid. The service provider also has the option of flagging suspicious cards, so as to require manual verification by a support person.
The invention also allows for the encryption of a card value. Thus, the system can follow an algorithm similar to the one described above to assign specific values to product cards. For example, if a customer desires a gift card for $8.37 (as opposed to the standard $20, $50, $100, etc.), the system can generate a code that shows the card's value to be $8.37. This code may also be printed on the card and the service provider would decode the value code to determine the initial value of the card.
The above described embodiments are given as illustrative examples only. It will be readily appreciated that many deviations may be made from the specific embodiments disclosed in this specification without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the claims below rather than being limited to the specifically described embodiments above.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:
1. A point of sale terminal, comprising: a. a product card printer; b. an unissued card storage bin; c. a user interface; and d. a computational circuit including a computer-readable memory, operationally coupled to both the product card printer and the user interface and in communication with a host, programmed to execute the following operational steps: i. receive encryption data from the host; ii. receive data from the user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; iii. generate a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; iv. instruct the product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card from the unissued card storage bin to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; v. issue the product card to a user; and vi. increment the card sequence number and store the card sequence number in the memory.
2. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1 , wherein the computational circuit is further programmed to execute the operational steps of: a. receive code comprising an encryption algorithm from the host; b. store the code in the memory; and c. execute the code.
3. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1, wherein the computational circuit is further programmed to execute the operational step of uploading to the host an accounting of all PIN numbers generated during a predetermined period.
4. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1 , wherein the point of sale terminal is capable of issuing a plurality of product cards on a predetermined date and wherein the sequence number comprises a sequential count of cards issued on the predetermined date.
5. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1, wherein the computational circuit is further programmed to generate the PIN number by executing the following operational steps: a. generate a check sum digit based on the date of issue, the unique identification of the terminal and the card sequence number; b encrypt the date of issue, the unique identification of the terminal, the card sequence number and the check sum digit, thereby generating an encrypted numeric sequence; and b. scramble the numeric sequence, thereby generating the PIN number.
6. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1 , wherein the computational circuit is further programmed to execute the operational steps of: a. receive value data from the user interface indicative of a value to be assigned to the product card; b. generate a secure value code based on the value data; and c. instruct the product card printer to print the secure value code on the product card.
7. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1 , wherein the product card comprises a telephone calling card.
8. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1, wherein the product card comprises a prepaid cellular card.
9. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1, wherein the product card comprises a theater ticket.
10. The point of sale terminal of Claim 1, wherein the product card comprises a gift card.
11. A method of issuing product cards, comprising the steps of: a. receiving encryption data from a host computer; b. receiving data from a user interface indicating that a product card is to be issued; c. generating a unique PIN number as a function of the encryption data, date of issue, a unique identification of the terminal and a card sequence number; d. instructing a product card printer to print a product card back design on an unissued card to include the PIN number printed thereon, thereby generating a issuable product card; e. issuing the product card to a user; and f. incrementing and storing the card sequence number.
12. The method of Claim 11 , further comprising the steps of: a. receiving code comprising an encryption algorithm from the host; b. storing the code in a computer memory; and c. executing the code on a computational circuit.
13. The method of Claim 11, further comprising the step of uploading to the host an accounting of all PIN numbers generated during a predetermined period.
14. The method of Claim 11 , wherein the PIN number generating step comprises the following steps: a. generating a check sum digit based on the date of issue, the unique identification of the terminal and the card sequence number; b encrypting the date of issue, the unique identification of the terminal, the card sequence number and the check sum digit, thereby generating an encrypted numeric sequence; and b. scrambling the numeric sequence, thereby generating the PIN number.
15. The method of Claim 11 , wherein the computational circuit is further programmed to execute the operational steps of: a. receiving value data from the user interface indicative of a value to be assigned to the product card; b. generating a secure value code based on the value data; and c. instructing the product card printer to print the secure value code on the product card.
16. A product card service provider system, comprising: a. a service activation circuit, in communication with a customer interface and a service; and b. a computer, programmed to perform the following operational steps: i. receive a PIN number from the customer interface via the service activation circuit; ii. decode the PIN number so as to generate a plurality of data values, each value assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field; iii. compare each of the plurality of data values to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field; and iv. if each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then generate a command that causes the service activation circuit to activate the service.
17. A method of administering a product card service, comprising the steps of: a. receiving a PIN number from a customer interface via a service activation circuit; b. decoding the PIN number so as to generate a plurality of data values, each value assigned to a different data field, including a date data field, a terminal identification data field and a sequence number data field; c. comparing each of the plurality of data values to an acceptable range of data values for the assigned data field; and d. if each of the data values is within the acceptable range of data values, then generating a command that causes a service activation circuit to activate the service.
PCT/US2000/000817 1999-01-13 2000-01-13 Prepaid card distribution system wherein pin numbers are generated entirely at point-of-sale WO2003107240A1 (en)

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US11566199P 1999-01-13 1999-01-13
US60/115,661 1999-01-13

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Citations (5)

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