It is increasingly frequent for public transport systems to use electronic means of payment instead of the traditional payment in cash. This is because it is more comfortable and safe, both for the provider of the services as well as the user, to have a means of payment that dispenses as much as possible with the use of cash for access to transportation services. Thus, the user acquires a discretionary amount, a certain number of trips or a period of time of travel without having to disburse cash in each trip in order to undertake it. A medium, however, is required that will record the available quotas for travel, and that can be used safely and expeditiously, according to the user's particular needs.
In recent years, different technologies have been developed to fulfill the above objective. In Chile, for example, a ticket with a magnetic strip in the Edmonson format has been used by the Santiago subway, each ticket representing one unit of travel, and was initially offered for sale at a reduced price in packages of 10. Tickets were later implemented using the same format and technology to store balances equivalent to money (Value ticket) or equivalent to units of travel (Multitravel ticket). The tickets were retained by the turnstiles at the time the last trip was made or the balance of money used up, obligating the user to acquire a new ticket.
The magnetic strip technology using cardboard tickets, either in the Edmonson or Industry Standard Organization (ISO) format (similar to bank cards), however, has certain limitations in terms of security and information storage capacity that impose restrictions on implementing certain systems of access to transportation, especially when prepayment is sought.
Lately, a technology has been sought to allow the user to have a means of prepaid access to transport systems, taking advantage of the familiarity that this type of product has, thanks to other massively-used services that have implemented it, and in order to create the habit of using electronic means of payment to avoid the use of cash per event.
This type of means of electronic payment has the advantage that the user can opt to buy a specific amount of a certain service, with the possibility of recharging the means of payment again without forfeiture, and consequently having to again acquire, the means.
In order to make this a reality, the market has developed cards with storage capacity and the appropriate levels of security that also have a communication system for the wireless exchange of information and a record and control system (the no-contact system) that makes them very simple and fast to use, benefiting both operators as well as users. 
For example, U.S. Patent Publication US 2005/005495, dated Mar. 18, 2004, generally describes an electronic system of payment for public transport that includes an electronic no-contact card that is connected by an antenna to a reading and writing module circumscribed to a processor that is capable of transmitting information to an operations center by radiofrequency. This publication describes the utilization, albeit very generally, of a proximity card that can store the information on the amount available and be recharged for utilization in public transport systems.
There is a similar approach used in PCT Patent Publication No. WO 03105040, dated Dec. 18, 2003, which generally shows an electronic securities transfer device equipped with a proximity card and an associated interface. In this case, the device itself is a computer or mobile terminal where the transaction is actually performed.
In most of the applications implemented using this technology, a point of sale, validator (capturer) or standard PC processing capacity is used, and the storage capacity of these machines is sufficient to directly program the rules of business of a given application directly in them, as well as to keep the associated codes, dissemination tables (values of parameters for decisions in the rules of business) and transactions in the system therein.
Both such publications, as well as so many others in the prior art, show systems that are configured like the one shown in FIG. 1, and generally designated therein by the reference numeral 100. This configuration includes an antenna 110 that is compatible with a point of sale (POS) processor, Validator or PC, generally designated by the reference numeral 120, having the requisite equipment and information programmed therein for working the system 100, and which includes accessing codes 130, rules of business 140 and configuration tables 150 of the system 100, as well as a transmission means.
However, an inconvenience of this design is that whoever programs the POS or Validator (120) must thoroughly understand the particular application that has been implemented with respect to the proximity cards employed, designated by the reference numeral 160, including associated elements critical to security, such as access codes and data mapping, designated by the reference numerals 170 and 180, respectively.
If the desire is to have an application developed that is to be used in closed, protected, and controlled systems, and ideally with one single supplier of equipment, the system 100 design resolves relatively well the security of the system, but does not suffice for activation in unsafe locations. Therefore, if what is required is an application that operates in non-safe or hostile environments, where the desire is for there to be several technology suppliers in order not to run the risk of depending exclusively on one, with the consequent associated costs, using the aforementioned conventional technology generates the risk of losing control of the critical information, and with it, of obtaining lower levels of security.
Thus, the need arises to have a system, method and device that, on the one hand, will provide optimum levels of security, and on the other, be able to work with multiple suppliers without affecting the level of security attained. In other words, a device is required that will, regardless of the supplier of the information systems used, maintain its autonomy and characteristics of inviolability of its information parameters, which is associated with all transactions that can be performed using it.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds