Anonymous peer-to-peer receipt transmission and storage system possible without a network connection and without an intermediary server or cloud

Abstract

The present invention relates to a peer-to-peer anonymous system for transmitting and storing receipts without a network connection and without an intermediary server or cloud. It enables direct transmission between a sending device, such as a cash register or associated accessory, and a receiving device, such as a smartphone, tablet, computer, or dedicated electronic wallet. Transmission occurs locally via proximity communication, for example, wireless, near-field communication, RFID, optical character recognition, or audio transmission. The receipt is accompanied by a cryptographic signature of its content, generated from a private key held by the merchant or the device they use, guaranteeing the authenticity and integrity of the data.The ticket is then stored locally on the receiving device, without prior identification, and can be retransmitted to other users while retaining the cryptographic validity of the ticket.

Description

Title of the invention: Peer-to-peer anonymous transmission and storage system for cash register receipts, possible without a network connection and without an intermediate server or cloud. Technical field of the invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a new system enabling peer-to-peer transmission of a receipt originally issued by a merchant, between two natural or legal persons and its storage by the receiver. Thus, transmission can, for example, be between a merchant and his customer, or between two individuals who pass a receipt back and forth. Technological background of the invention

[0002] A cash register receipt is the receipt for a commercial transaction issued by a merchant to their customer. The cash register receipt is traditionally generated by a cash register and printed on paper.

[0003] Legally, and in most countries, a receipt must be given to a buyer by a retailer after a purchase to serve as proof of the sale. This applies to both the buyer and the seller, i.e., the retailer. The receipt may contain a number of mandatory or optional details depending on the sector, but it will generally contain all the essential information about a commercial sales transaction: date, amount, information and company name of the retailer, details of the items purchased with their price and quantity, as well as any applicable or applied taxes, legal notices, refund and return conditions, sales identification, etc.

[0004] Formerly, the printing of this till receipt and its delivery to the customer was mandatory in France, which is no longer the case today, and is not the case in a number of other countries.

[0005] Even if printing on paper is not mandatory, the buyer may still wish to obtain a receipt to prove their purchase and substantiate any potential claims (for example, for an expense report, for legal documentation, for a refund request from the merchant, etc.). For both environmental and practical reasons, the buyer may prefer that the receipt not be printed but still be available electronically and / or in digital format. Thus, he can retain all the benefits that the physical till receipt or receipt provided him, i.e. printed, without needing to print that receipt.

[0006] To meet this demand, a number of solutions have emerged allowing a buyer to have their receipt in electronic form.

[0007] However, in the state of the art, the proposed solutions have the major drawback that they are not "anonymous" or at least require the intervention of third parties and intermediaries, and sometimes the sharing of private information from the buyer in order to function.

[0008] Thus, it is possible to provide one's telephone number and email address to the merchant so that the latter can electronically transmit the receipt using the telephone network or email. In such a case, nothing prevents the merchant from reusing this information for statistics, marketing, espionage, or other purposes. Furthermore, the receipt information will circulate on a public network and will have to be stored, even temporarily, by a cloud service or server before being made available to the customer.

[0009] Another alternative is to record a transaction identifier in a public or semi-public network, which is then provided to the customer physically or virtually. The customer can then use this identifier to retrieve their receipt information from that public or semi-public network. Again, this method forces the transaction information to circulate through intermediaries.

[0010] A final existing alternative is the use of a personal device belonging to the buyer, such as a phone, RFID card, or other equipment, to transmit the ticket to a server or the cloud, or to identify the customer, allowing them to then retrieve their ticket information from that server or cloud service. This method has the same drawbacks as the previous methods. General description of the invention

[0011] The present invention is specifically aimed at avoiding these drawbacks of prior methods.

[0012] This is a system that can use one or more technical and logical elements to enable a live peer-to-peer exchange (or transmission) of a transaction receipt between the merchant (more precisely, the merchant's point-of-sale device) and the buyer (more precisely, the buyer's personal device). The system then allows the buyer to permanently store the receipt so that they can use it to assert their rights later if necessary. The system also allows for the same process to be used to re-exchange a previously generated receipt between several individuals.

[0013] For each of these transmissions, the recipient of the till receipt can be anonymous during the transmission operation.

[0014] The system of this invention consists of having a cash register which transmits with an encoded near field communication (wireless, RFID, optical reading of a screen, or other method of live proximity transfer) to a device of the buyer, the content of the information of the cash register receipt which was generated by the transaction of the buyer.

[0015] In addition to the information on the receipt, the merchant's device cryptographically signs the receipt's contents, including transaction details and the transaction date, using a private cryptographic signing key held solely by the merchant or the device they use. This signature is also transmitted to the buyer during the same transmission as the transaction details.

[0016] Within the system described by this invention, the device that performs the transmission can be either the cash register itself, or a complementary device operating as an accessory (contact or contactless) to the merchant's cash register. For example, but not limited to this list, it could be the physical receipt printer, a dedicated remote transmission unit, or a tax control unit.

[0017] On the side of the buyer or receipt recipient, the device can be a dedicated hardware device, which is also the subject of this invention, dedicated to receiving and storing receipts. This device is called a "dedicated electronic receipt wallet." This device does not need to be connected to the Internet, a network, or a cloud service, but this can nevertheless be the case optionally.

[0018] Alternatively, from the buyer's perspective, the invention also allows the receiver's receipt receiving and storage device to be one of their personal electronic devices, such as, but not limited to, a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer. The method described in this invention enables the use of such devices for receiving, storing, and transmitting receipts.

[0019] The electronic signature of the receipt information received via live proximity teletransmission allows for subsequent verification of the authenticity and integrity of the receipt received and stored by the receiving device. This then allows a buyer, their agent, or a subsequent recipient of the receipt to assert their rights by attesting to the authenticity and integrity of the receipt information they possess, and therefore to the transaction details of purchases made during a past sale. This is achieved without the need for identification during the purchase transaction, nor without the receipt being stored by the merchant's device or an intermediary such as a telecommunications network, the Internet, or the cloud.

[0020] A receipt can be retransmitted by "a dedicated electronic receipt wallet", or a mobile device (for example smartphone), to another receiver which can also be "a dedicated electronic receipt wallet" or a mobile device (for example smartphone), also transmitting with a direct wireless proximity communication method (wireless, RFID, audio transmission, optical reading, ...) the full content of the elements which were previously received by the sending device, including the electronic signature with all its essential elements.

[0021] The information from a cash register receipt stored on one of these devices can of course be exported in displayable, printable and common formats, such as text or PDF documents, but it can also be retransmitted by traditional methods not covered by this invention, by the owner of the cash register receipt.

Claims

Demands

1. Receipt transmission and storage system, characterized in that it enables peer-to-peer transmission of the contents of a receipt between a merchant's sales device and a buyer's personal device, said transmission taking place directly between the two devices, without network connection, without intermediate server, and without prior identification of the buyer, said receipt including a cryptographic signature of the receipt's contents including elements of the transaction and the date of the transaction.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the sales device is either the merchant's cash register, or a complementary device operating as an accessory (with or without contact) to the cash register, such as a physical receipt printer, a dedicated teletransmission box, or a tax control box.

3. System according to claim 1, wherein the receiving device is a dedicated electronic receipt wallet, not requiring connection to the Internet, a network or a "cloud" service.

4. System according to claim 1, wherein the receiving device is a personal electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

5. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transmission is carried out with near-field coded communication, wireless, RFID, optical screen reading, or other method of live proximity transfer.

6. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic signature of the receipt information received by live proximity transmission allows subsequent verification of the authenticity and integrity of the receipt received and stored on the receiving device, without the receipt needing to be stored by the merchant's device or by an intermediary such as a telecommunications network, the Internet or a "cloud" service.

7. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a receipt can be retransmitted by a wallet dedicated electronic receipt, or a mobile device such as a smartphone, to another receiver which can also be a dedicated electronic receipt wallet or a mobile device, by transmitting with a direct proximity wireless communication method the full content of the elements which were previously received by the sending device, including the electronic signature with all its essential elements.

8. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the information from a cash register receipt stored on the receiving device can be exported in displayable or printable formats, such as text or PDF documents.