Local Payment Terminal Using Segmented Customer Accounts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic payment systems are complex and inflexible, requiring centralized cryptographic devices and bank accounts, which can lead to fraud and inconvenience due to the need for physical mediums like cards, and are not user-friendly.
Innovation Solution
A local credit terminal at a merchant's location with a data entry device, processor, and memory that allows for the creation and management of a customer account, enabling local transactions without a centralized bank account, using a physical medium like a card for identification and payment processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If centralized cryptographic devices and bank accounts are used, then payment security is improved, but device complexity and user inconvenience increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized banking system into distributed local accounts stored in the terminal's memory. Each customer account is stored as a separate data structure containing identifier, balance, and cryptographic credentials, allowing security functions to be distributed rather than centralized, thus reducing system complexity while maintaining security
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces local account data structures stored in terminal memory as intermediaries between customers and the banking system. These local accounts contain encrypted balance information and cryptographic credentials, serving as mediators that enable secure payments without requiring direct connection to centralized bank systems, thereby reducing device complexity
2Reliability
If physical mediums like cards are required, then identification reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to potential loss, theft, or forgetting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital copies of customer identification and account information stored in the terminal's memory. The local account data structures contain customer identifiers and cryptographic credentials that replicate the authentication function of physical cards without requiring the physical medium itself, thus improving ease of operation while maintaining identification reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential identification and authentication functions from the physical card medium and stores them as data structures in the terminal's memory. By separating the cryptographic credentials and account information from the physical card, the system maintains secure identification while eliminating the inconveniences associated with physical medium management
3Reliability
If complex cryptographic devices are used for fraud prevention, then payment security is improved, but ease of manufacture and system flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary cryptographic setup by storing encrypted local account data structures in the terminal's memory before transactions occur. The cryptographic credentials, public keys, and encrypted balance information are pre-configured in the data structures, allowing secure transactions to proceed without requiring complex real-time cryptographic processing during manufacturing or operation, thus improving ease of manufacture while maintaining fraud prevention capability
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic payment terminal includes a data entry device, a processor and a memory. The memory contains a structure arranged to list at least one customer identifier, a personal identification number and an amount, all associated. The memory also contains a program having comprising instructions for storing, in an example of the structure after entry, the customer identifier and the personal identification number. The same example of the structure is then updated locally by payments out and in made on the terminal on behalf of the customer identified.