[attachment=11583]
MONEY PAD,THE FUTURE VALLET
ABSTRACT:
"Money in the 21st century will surely prove to be as different from the money of the current century as our money is from that of the previous century. Just as fiat money replaced specie-backed paper currencies, electronically initiated debits and credits will become the dominant payment modes, creating the potential for private money to compete with government-issued currencies." Just as every thing is getting under the shadow of "e" today we have paper currency being replaced by electronic money or e-cash.
Hardly a day goes by without some mention in the financial press of new developments in "electronic money". In the emerging field of electronic commerce, novel buzzwords like smartcards, online banking, digital cash, and electronic checks are being used to discuss money. But how are these brand-new forms of payment secure? And most importantly, which of these emerging secure electronic money technologies will survive into the next century?
These are some of the tough questions to answer but here's a solution, which provides a form of security to these modes of currency exchange using the "Biometrics Technology". The Money Pad introduced here uses the biometrics technology for Finger Print recognition. Money Pad is a form of credit card or smartcard, which we name so.
Every time the user wants to access the Money Pad he has to make an impression of his fingers which will be scanned and matched with the one in the hard disk of data base server. If the finger print matches with the user's he will be allowed to access and use the Pad other wise the Money Pad is not accessible. Thus providing a form of security to the ever-lasting transaction currency of the future "e-cash".
Money Pad - A form of credit card or smart card similar to floppy disk, which is introduced to provide, secure e-cash transactions.
An electronic wallet management system which manages an electronic wallet devices holding monetary data, comprising: backup condition testing means for testing predefined backup conditions to determine whether to make a backup, when the electronic wallet device communicates with any other device to transfer monetary data; backup data sending means for sending out a predetermined set of backup data collected from the electronic wallet device, when said backup condition testing means has determined to make a backup; backup data management means for receiving the backup data from said backup data sending means and saving the received backup data into a backup database; receiving means for receiving an accident report concerning an electronic wallet device; and temporary electronic wallet issuing means, responsive to the accident report received by said receiving means, for calculating elapsed time between the last backup operation and the reception of the accident report, and issuing a temporary electronic wallet device with a limited valid period and a credit limit that is determined according to the elapsed time.
Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic wallet management system which controls electronic wallet devices for monetary data transfer, an electronic wallet device itself, an electronic wallet management unit, a terminal station therefor, as well as to a storage medium containing an electronic wallet managing program. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic wallet management system which deals with the loss or failure of electronic wallet devices, as well as to an electronic wallet device, an electronic wallet management unit, and a terminal station designed therefor. The present invention also relates to a storage medium containing an electronic wallet managing program for realizing the system.
2) Description of the Related Art
Electronic wallet devices carry electronic money. People use them to make payment electronically, without using real money. Electronic wallet provides various advantages over cash, one of which is that payment can be made more promptly because there is no need to give or receive the change.
People may, however, lose their electronic wallet devices at times. The loss of electronic wallet devices may be handled variously, depending on their device type. For example, in the case of prepaid type devices, which can be used without user authentication, there is no way for the loser to have his/her electronic wallet reissued. This means that the loser would not be able to recover the electronic money at all, unless he/she discovers the very device that is missing. In contrast to this, such electronic wallet devices that require user authentication can be reissued at their respective issuing financial institutions when they are lost. In this case, the monetary data remaining in the lost electronic wallet will eventually be carried over to the reissued device, thus allowing the owner to use it without problems.
Reissuing of such an electronic wallet, however, consumes a long time. Specifically, those that require later settlement, like securities, may take a few months to be reissued. Another such example is banking cards, which manage monetary data not directly, but only through the customers' bank accounts. It takes a couple of weeks for the loser to get such a banking card reissued. What is worse is that the customer cannot spend his/her own money during the time he/she waits for the delivery of a reissued electronic wallet. Those problems in connection with the loss of electronic wallets are also true in another situation where the customer's electronic wallet device is broken down.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention to provide an electronic wallet management system which eliminates the inconvenience that one may encounter when his/her electronic wallet is lost or broken down.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic wallet device which minimizes the inconvenience that one may encounter when it is lost or broken down.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electronic wallet management unit which minimizes the inconvenience that one may encounter when his/her electronic wallet device is lost or broken down.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a terminal station which minimizes the inconvenience that one may encounter when it is lost or broken down.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a storage medium containing an electronic wallet management program which minimizes the inconvenience that one may encounter when his/her electronic wallet device is lost or broken down.
To accomplish the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided an electronic wallet management system which manages an electronic wallet devices holding monetary data. This system comprises the following elements: backup condition testing means for testing predefined backup conditions to determine whether to make a backup, when the electronic wallet device communicates with any other device to transfer monetary data; backup data sending means for sending out a predetermined set of backup data collected from the electronic wallet device, when the backup condition testing means has determined to make a backup; and backup data management means for receiving the backup data from the backup data sending means and saving the received backup data into a backup database.
The proposed electronic wallet management system operates as follows. Each time an electronic wallet device is used, the backup condition testing means tests whether any of the predefined backup conditions is met. If any condition is met, the backup data sending means sends a predetermined set of backup data. By the backup data management means, this backup data is saved into a backup database. In this way, the proposed system automatically saves backup information when a relevant backup condition is met, thus making it possible to promptly reissue an alternative electronic wallet device when the customer lost his/her own device.