CA1111567A

CA1111567A - Personal portable terminal for financial transactions

Info

Publication number: CA1111567A
Application number: CA309,371A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Paul E. Stuckert
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1977-12-30
Filing date: 1978-08-15
Publication date: 1981-10-27
Also published as: FR2413721B1; FR2413721A1; NL7812390A; JPS5494855A; DE2852941C2; SE7812924L; DE2852941A1; IT7830732A0; JPS5853784B2; IT1160331B; GB2011671A; GB2011671B

Abstract

PERSONAL PORTABLE TERMINAL
FOR FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS

Abstract of the Invention A Personal Portable Terminal for Financial Transactions adapted for use with one or more data storage and transfer cards (DSTCs) and other external devices, such as point of sale terminals, is disclosed.
The transaction device includes keyboard means for entering transaction data and control information, means for temporarily storing transaction data, and logic means for performing arithmetic, logical, and control operations. Said logic means further includes means for storing pre-determined programs which are activated by instructions entered via said keyboard. Also included are display means for selectively displaying transaction data and means for transferring selected data from the transaction device into suitable storage means located in said other external device and into at least one DSTC. Further means are disclosed whereby account balance data in one DSTC may be credited while account balance data in another DSTC is debited as a result of the transaction.

Description

18 Background of the Invention 19 ~odern business practices have to a large ex.ent msde the handling of actual cash with the inherent dangers of theft and loss 21 unnecessary in many sectors of our economy. These include banking~
22 large retail stores, and a large variety of other businesses where 23 articles are charged to an account, the individual bllled, a~d the bill 24 subsequently paid by check. In such businesses the ac,ual amoun~s of money owed and to be credited are kep~ track of largely through the use 26 of computers which record detailed t-ansaction data, including amounts 27 and the identity of the sellers and purchasers. Banks, credit granting '~0977-039 -1-~ ' ~, ~

1 organizations, and large retail stores frequently us~ computers for the

2 purpose of maintaining customer accounts, debiting and crediting such

3 ~ccounts as the need arises.

4 However, the individual s.ill must have fairly substantial amounts of cash for making purchases from other individuals, food stores, 6 gasoline stations, and the like. It is believed that there is a long 7 felt need in this area to make the advantages of a "cashless society"
8 available to individuals for small transactions. Such a system, ~o be 9 practical, would of necessity have to be able to take care of both purchases and sales. Further, in order for such a system-to be practical 11 and allow people to have faith in the system, it would be helpful to 12 provide means in such a system to maintain sufficient records of identi-13 ties of both purchasers and buyers which information would be available 14 in written or in printed form on a regualar statement period basis. A
further valuable adjunct to such a system would be to allow the use of 16 devices with which everyone is familiar such as, for example, a credit 17 card or credit card-like device for storing the record of the actual 18 transfer of merchandise and credit. Such cards having built-in storage 19 registers and certain rudimentary logic capabilities have been used in the past but are believed to have been largely limited to use with a 21 standard terminal such as a point of sale terminal in a department 22 store, cash issuing terminals, and the like.
23 In addition to the need for "cashless" transactions it would 24 also be advantageous if such a system could be extended to perform the function of checks and a checking account. In other words, when th~
26 credit card-like device was presented to a person in payment for mer-27 chandise or services the recording of the transaction by both the seller 28 and purchaser would automatically result in a debit notice or memorandum `7 1 being placed in the purchasers card and a notice of receipt of the 2 'promise to pay' placed in the seller's account. At some point in the 3 future when the seller presents the electronically recorded account 4 invoices to a central payee, or bank, it is at this time that the purchaser's account would actually be debited. As will be evident, 6 such a transaction would differ from the above mentioned cash transfer 7 operation in that the actual time of debiting of the purchaser's 8 account would occur at some point in the future.
9 A further feature which could be incorporated in such a system utilizing a credit card-like device would be a normal credit card 11 function which could be utilized at a wide variety of different stores 12 with all charges going into a central clearing house for charging to 13 a particular account. A number of systems of this nature are currently 14 in wide usage throughout the country.
In addition, the normal large store type of credit account 16 wherein the store has its own credit plan, could also be accommodated 17 within the single credit card-like device.
18 All of the above desired features of such a system could 19 optimally be contained on a single credit card-like device wherein the customer would indicate the type of account and procedure which 21 he desires to utilize as well as giving his appropriate account numbers22 or other identifying information.
23 At this point, in order for such a system to be practical, it 24 should be noted that it would be very desirable to provide a device which would, in effect, interface between the individual's credit card-26 like device and the various terminal devices which would be present in 1 stores and the like such as, point of sale terminals, cash issuing 2 terminals and the like which would give the individual control over the 3 type of transaction that is ul.imate~y entered into his card. Present 4 business practices, including the use of credit cards in stores, take the credit card out of the individual's possession for a short time, and 6 unauthorized access to certain of the individual's financial data could 7 readily be obtained by such stores during this short time. By suitably 8 designing an interface device it is possible to limit access to the 9 credit card-like device to only a particular account or data designated by the individual. Optimally, the design would also limit access to 11 only certain specified information regarding an account. Thus, such an 12 interface device, if suitably designed could provide the individual with 13 control over his card and the data therein, giving a much higher degree 14 of financial protection to the individual both from inadvertent mistakes and deliberate misuse.

17 SummarY of the Invention 18 It has been found that a substantial need in the business and 19 banking community would be satisfied by the provision of individual personal portable terminals which would serve to greatly enhance the 21 concept of a "cashless and checkless society". Individuals would be 22 allowed to perform most banking, financial, and assorted retail trans-23 actions by the use of a personal data storage and transfer card (DSTC) 24 which, with the aid of the personal portable terminal, called a "trans-actor" and abbreviated "XATR", could be used to continually monitor and 26 record an individual's financial records both of a debit and credit 27 nature. Use of the device would allow individuals each having a sep&rate 28 DSTC to consummate a wide variety of transactions. Provision of suitable lill567 1 key input and display capabilities in the device allow transactions to 2 be verified by both parties before the transaction is entered on the 3 DSTCs of the seller and purchaser and similarly, not only the trans-4 action, but also the account n~mbers of both seller and purchaser may be recorded in each of the DSTCs for later reading out, for example, by a 6 bank data entry terminal at the end of a specified period for audit, 7 fund transfer, and statement printing purposes.

8 Obiects of the Invention g It is a primary object of the present invention to produce a lO personal portable terminal device for use with individual data storage ll and transfer cards (DSTC) which substantially eliminates the need for 12 cash, checks, or credit cards for most financial transactions.
13 It is a further object of the invention to provide such a 14 device which is portable, relatively inexpensive, and easy to use.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a 16 device which is capable of receiving both the purchaser's and seller's 17 DSTCs and for recording a credit in one DSTC and a debit in the other 18 together with appropriate account identification data.
19 It is yet another object to provide such a device having a 20 ~eyboard for entering data into the device which is to be recorded in 21 the individual DSTCs and a display for specifying the transaction data 22 to allow verification of entered data by the parties to the transaction 23 prior to actual entry on the DSTCs.
24 It is a still further object to provide such a personal 25 portable terminal device wherein the device is self contained, is 26 provided with a resident power source, and would be capablc of providing 27 both the data signals and the required power to enter said data into the 28 individual DSTCs via, for example, air coupling.

l.tl~5~

1 It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a 2 personal portable terminal device adapted to itself be connected to 3 other devices to facilitate coupling data into and out of individual 4 DSTCs.
It is a still further object to provide a personal portable 6 terminal device wherein any transaction to be entered into an individual's 7 DSTC will be placed upon the display prior to entry and the approval of 8 the owner of the DSTC obtained.
9 It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a personal portable terminal device, for use with other external 11 devices such as point of sale terminals and cash issuing terminals, 12 which affords the owner of the DSTC and the device a high degree of 13 protection, control, and privacy.
14 Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention as sim- -16 plified in the following description and drawings.

17 Description of Drawin~s 18 FIG. 1 comprises a functional block diagram of the circuitry 19 contained in a preferred embodiment of a XATR constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
21 FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D comprise top, side, bottom, and front 22 views respectively of such a XATR.
23 FIG. 3 comprises a front view of such a XATR showing the 24 location of certain circuit elements mounted in the front surface thereof.
26 FIG. 4 comprises a bottom view, partly in cross section, 27 illustrating the placement of certain information transfer and power 28 transfer components within the ~ottom surface of a XATR.

lillS67 1 FIG. 5 shows details of a typical DSTC suitable for use with 2 the XATR of the present invention.
3 FIG. 6 is a bottom view, partly in cross section, of a XAT~
4 showing two DSTCs in place therein and in data transfer relationship therewith.
FIG. 7 is a bottom view, partly in cross section, of a XATR
7 showing a single DSTC in place therein and in data transfer relationship 8 therewith.
9 FIG. 8 is a bottom view, partly in cross section, of a per-sonal portable terminal showing an individual DSTC in a second position 11 such that different operations are possible than when the DSTC is 12 located as illustrated in FIG. 7.

13 Description of the Preferred Embodiment 14 The objects of the present invention are accomplished, in general, by a personal portable terminal device operative in conjunction 16 with other devices. The device includes keyboard means for entering 17 transaction data, and memory means for temporarily storing transaction 18 data, and other selected financial data pertaining to said transaction.
19 Logic means are also contained in said device for perfor~ing arithmetic operations on data stored in said memory means and data entered via said 21 keyboard means. Display means are provided for selectively displaying 22 data including but not limited to said transaction. ~leans are also 23 provided for receiving one or more DSTCs in the device and for entering 24 transaction data from said device into said DSTCs. Further means are included within said device for selectively crediting the account balance 26 stored in one DSTC and for debiting the account balance stored in the i67 1 other DSTC.
2 In addition to being adapted to receive one or more DSTCs the 3 device is further adapted to be connected to other external devices of 4 the same type and also larger more sophisticated devices such as a point of sale terminal in a retail establishment or a data entry terminal 6 whereby material stored on a DSTC may be entered into a central com-7 puting system via the XATR.
8 Before proceeding with the detailed description of the dis-9 closed preferred embodiment some general description of the overall use and function of the device will follow together with a general des-11 cription of ~ther possible features which could be included in s~ch a 12 device but which are not specifically disclosed or claimed herein.
13 The present personal portable termir.al device or XATR would 14 normally, although not neccessarily, be owned by the owner or holder of an individual DSTC. In the following description it will be assumed 16 that when the same person owns a XATR and a DSTC that this DSTC is 17 referred as the "native" DSTC when placed in the XATR. A ~STC which is 18 the property of another person and which may be temporarily housed in 19 someone else's XATR for purposes of data transfer is hereafter referred 20 to as "visiting" DSTC.
21 In addition to coupling with one or more DSTCs the XATR is 22 configured to be plugged into or otherwise placed in a cooperative data 23 exchange relationship with a number of other devicei. Among these 24 possibliities are the ability to be ccnnected with another similar XATR
and its associated native DSTC. It could, additionally, provide an 26 interface between its own native DSTC and a point of sale terminal, a 27 point of collection terminal, a data entry terminal, or var-ous types of 2~ identity authentication devices.

Ilii~7 1 The XATR, its native DS~C, and all other devices disclosed or 2 suggested herein are intended primarily to facilitate the execution of 3 financial transactions in the absence of currency or checks. Secondarily, 4 the XATR and its native DSTC may provide other data entry, storage retrieval, and computational or display functions which are useful to 6 the owner.
7 In general, operation of a XATR involves a transfer of infor-8 mation such as digital data bytes and/or control bytes between the XATR
9 and one or more devices in communication therewith in both directions.
All such information transfers are communicated through the same medium 11 (air in the disclosed embodiment) over distances which may range from a 12 maximum of say 0.25 inches to a minimum of several thousands o~ an inch.
13 As is well known in the communications art, such communication may 14 either be full duplex or half duplex. Either mode could be employed in the information transfers between a XATR and another devices. For 16 purposes of the present description full duplex operation is assumed.
17 It will, of course, also be apparent that the particular mode 18 of communication between a XATR and other devices co~ld take on a number 19 of other forms, the most obvious of which would be direct electrical contacts. However, it is to be noted that a system utilizing such 21 contacts would be subject to wear and a number of other obvious dis-22 advantages. It is accordingly assumed that capacitative air coupling 23 would be utilized in such a system.
24 In full duplex transmission through a common medium, separa-25 tion of the two signals which are propagating in opposite directlons may 26 be accomplished by spatial division, fre~uency division, or with hybrid 27 circuits (i.e. directional couplers). Any of these modes could be Y0977-C39 ~9~

1 employed ln the information transfer between a XATR and another device.
2 For purposes of the present description spatial division will be assumed.
3 In full duplex spatially divided transmission through a common 4 medium, coupling may be inductive, capacitive, modulated radio fre-quency, or some combination thereof. Any of these coupling means could 6 be employed in the information transfers between a XATR and another 7 device. For the purposes of the present description, capacitive coupling 8 of modulated radio frequency signals will be assumed.
9 Further, for purposes of description, information transfers are assumed to be serial by byte and serial by bit.
11 In general, operation of a XATR involves a transfer of power 12 from the XATR to one or two DSTCs. This power is necessary to allow the 13 transfer of data eo and from the storage circuitry resident within such 14 a DSTC. In addition, operation of a XATR in conjunction with other devices could possibly involve the transfer of power from such other 16 devices to the XATR.
17 For all such power transfer operations, in~uctive coupling of 18 an a.c. signal is assumed. Referring now specifically to FIG. 1, there 19 is shown a functional block diagram of the electrical and electronic circuitry of a preferred embodiment of a XATR constructed in accordance 21 with the teachings of the present invention. In the figure, the bracket 22 210 implies the interface to the owner or operator of the XATR. The 23 bracket 22~ indicates the interface between an individual XATR and some 24 other device such as, for example, another XATR, a point of sale terminal,point of coIlection terminal, data entry terminal, or simply a charging 26 station. Bracket 230 indicates an interface between the XATR and one or 27 more DSTCs.

~;`llS~;7 1 The input and output means of the XATR available to the 2 operator or owner are the keyboard 211, the display 213 and the on/off 3 switch 212. The display 213 would conventionally be alphanumeric in 4 character and would be capable of indicating such items as the type of transaction, the amount of the transaction, and other inormation 6 pertinent to the transaction.
7 The following elements are located along the XATR to XATR (or 8 other device) interface 220. A transformer winding 221 is shown for 9 supplying charging power to the local battery when such charging is required. A magnetic field sensor 222 is shown which detects the field 11 of a magnet located in another associated devLce. l`ilis sensor is 12 preferably a magneto resistive device, a permanent magnet actuated reed 13 relay, or some other device for indicating to the XATR that the XATR is 14 in a data and/or power transfer relationship with another external device and that certain predetermined operational sequences are now 16 possible. 223D and 224D are capacitor plates for transmitting data from 17 and to the XATR respectively, and would operate in combination with 18 similarly disposed plates on the matching devices to which the XATR is 19 adapted for coupling. As stated previously, it is assumed that the actual data and control signals are transmitted via modulated radio 21 frequen~y signals between the devices.
22 As will be described subsequently, the native DSTC associa~ed 23 with a particular XATR typically ir.terfaces to the XATR when it is in a 24 first position, hereinafter referred to as position "~". In addition, when a visting DST~ is associated with a particular YATR, the native Y0977-~39 -11-11115~7 1 DSTC is moved to a second position referred to herein as position "A".2 The visiting DSTC occupies a position referred to herein as position 3 "V". Thus-, three interface positions are indicated alor.g interface 4 bracket 230, as positions "A", "B" and "V". It will be noted that eachposition comprises two communication paths (capacitor plates) and a 6 power link (transformer winding).
7 233A, 233B, and 233V, are capacitor plates which in combin-8 ation with similar capacitor plates located in the individual DSTCs, 9 provide information transmission paths for modulated radio frequency signals from the XATR to the DSTCs.
11 234A, 234B and 234V, are capac$tor plates which in combination 12 with similar capacitor plates located in the individual DSTCs, provide13 information transmission paths for modulated radio frequency signals 14 from the DSTCs to the XATR.
The transformer primary windings 235A, 235B, and 235V, cooper-16 ate with similar secondary windings in the DSTCs to provide power 17 transmission paths from the XATR to the DSTCs to perform the necessary18 operations referred to previously.
19 The device 231 is a magnetic field sensor like the device 222 described previously which indicates to the XATR that its natlve DSTC is 21 located in position A.
22 D.C. power for the operation of the XATR is provlded by those 23 devices located within the dotted block 240. The power devices include24 a rectifier 241 whose input is the secondary winding 221 and whose output is connected to a rechargeable battery 242. Rectifier 241 could 26 ~lso contain circuitry to prevent overcharging of the battery 242 and 27 protective circuitry to prevent damage to the elements within bloc~ 240 28 in the event of the application of an improper excitation to the winding 29 221. The battery 242 is shown as having one output 243 whlch is connected 1 to all circuits in the XATR which must be continuously energized.
2 Block 244 contains various power control switches, which 3 selectively and in response to signals from the power control logic 253 4 apply power to various circuits. Typically 244 has more than one output, as shown, wherein output 245 energizes the display 213 and 6 output 246 energizes all other circutry within the XATR. Outputs 243, 7 245 and 246 are labeled in the disclosed circuitry as appropriate.
8 The digital circuits of the XATR lie within the dotted block 9 250. In this block the digital processor 251 is shown whose major functions are control, message formatting, message routing,-checking, 11 addition, subtraction, and input/output operations. Other than the read 12 only storage required for its own control routines and the routines 13 which it executes in the various modes of operation and the temporary 14 data storage required for ~he execution of such routines, the processor contains no storage. Thus, in the presently disclosed embodlment, the 16 processor contains no storage for financial transaction data.
17 A digital real time clock 252 is provided which keeps time in 18 seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and the last two digits of the 19 year. It also contains counters for the implementation of the timing functions of the XATR.
21 Power control logic block 253 operates in response to signals 22 from the on/off switch 212 and the magnetic sensors 222 and 231, to 23 energize or deenergize the appropriate circuits. It also deenergizes 24 appropriate circuits in response to time out signals ~rom the digital clock 252. Line 254 is a signal path which indicates processor activity 26 and resets the time out counters in the digital clock. Line 255 is the 27 signal path for setting the digital clock. Line 256 denotes the signal IlllS~7 1 paths ov~r which clock signals and real time information are delivered 2 to the processor and line 257 comprises the signal path over which time 3 out signals are delivered to power control logic 253.
4 The analog and hybrid circuits of the XATR lie within the dotted block 260. Within this block 261 is a rudimentary receiver which converts received modulated radio frequency input to digital output. Element 262 7 is a rudimentary transmitter which converts a digital input to modulated 8 radio frequency output. Element 263 is an analog switch which routes g radio frequency signals fro~ a selected input to the receiver. Element 264 is an analog switch which routes radio frequency signals from the 11 transmitter to a selected output. Element 265 is an oscillator connected 12 to the a.c. power switch 266 which in turn routes a.c. power for delivery 13 to the DSTCs via selected transformer primaries 235A, 235B, or 235V.
14 It should be noted that the analog switches 263, 264, and 266 are controlled by a common input 267. 233i, 234i, and 235i or 223i and 224i are all 16 activated simultaneously, where i equals A, B, V, or D. It will be 17 remembered from the above description that 'A', 'B', and 'V' correspond 18 to various positions of one or two DSTCs located within the receiving 19 slot of a ~TR and that position 'D' corresponds to a XATR connected to another external device other than a DSTC as described above.
21 Referring now to FIG. 2, the overall geometry of a typical 22 XATR is shown. FIGS. 2A, B, C and D are top, side, bottom and front 23 views respectively of the XATR specifically shown and described in block 24 form in FIG. 1. It should be noted that the same reference numerals are utilized throughout the present description and drawings to identify .he 26 same elements. Referring to FIG. 2A the top surface of the ~TR essentially 27 corresponds to the operator interface bracket 210 as shown in FIG. 1.
28 On the top surface are located the keyboard 211, ON/OFF switch 212, and 29 the alphanumeric display 213.

;7 l Ihe front surface of the XATR is depicted in FIG. 2D and , 2 corresponds to the bracket 220 in FIG. 1. The electrical components3 mounted along this surface are shown in FIG. l and their function will 4 be described later. However, in addition to these components, a male aligning and fastening pin 225 is shown, which, with modest force is 6 designed to snap into or out of a complementary female aligning and 7 fastening hole or plug similar to 226 in another XATR, point of sale 8 terminal, data entry terminal, or the like. Conversely, plug or hole 9 226 is a spring loaded female aligning and fastening structure which with modest force snaps or unsnaps around a complementary male aligning 11 and fastening structure in another XATR, point of sale terminal, data i2 entry terminal, or the like. Thus, elements 225 and 226 are exemplary 13 of any one of many possible complementary mechanical mating structures.
14 Their functions is to Dhysically align and attach devices and, as disclosed, do not form any part of the control or data transfer function.
16 The side view of the ~ATR shown in FIG. 2B shows the configuration of 17 the male member 225 and also of a simple retention bail 229 (also shown 18 in FIGS. 2A and 2C) which may be provided to allow for the physical 19 attachment of the XATR into a wallet or some other form of relatively high security holding device. Also shown in FIG. 2B at the bottom are 21 two dotted lines which define a slot formed by the overlying tabs 228 22 for receiving the DSTCs.
23 The bottom surface of the XATR shown in FIG. 2C corresponds to 24 the DSTC interface bracket 230 of FIG. 1. The actual operation of the components mounted along this surface will be described in further 26 detail later. A slot 227 is defined in the bottom o~ the XATR whose 27 width is shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 2C and its thickness is 28 defined by the dotted lines in FIG. 2B. The slot for retaining a DSTCs IlllS67 is formed perferably by two overhanging tabs 22~ which may preferably 2 be made of metal or some other suitable material which contains a 3 continuous conducting screen or sheet. The purpose for such a shield 4 would be to prPvent unauthorized eavesdropping on transactions as will be understood. Also, as will be described in detail later, the DSTC may 6 be moved to the various positions A, B, and V within the slot 227 by 7 means of thumb or finger pressure applied through the open space between8 the tabs 228. In FIG. 2C a DSTC is illustrated in position B.
9 - Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a front view of a XATR
showing previously identified components 225 and 226 and components ll described in connection with above description of FIG. 1. These com-12 ponents may be mounted flush with the surface, but, for protection and 13 for appearance are preferably mounted a short distance below the surface 14 under an appropriate covering material which will not interfere with data transfer or power between devices. These surface components are a 16 multi turn transformer secondary winding 221 which may be fitted with a17 partial ferromagnetic core, a magnetic sensor element 222, the input and 18 output capacitor plates 224 and 223 and a permanent magnet 222M which 19 activates a magnetic sensor, such as 222 described above, for use when the XATR is mated with another XATR or other external device having a 21 sensing element similar to element 222.
22 FIG. 4 - s a bottom view of a XATR along section line 4-4' of 23 FIG. 2B showing components described in connection with the DSTC inter-24 face 230 of FIG. 1. These components may be mounted flush with the surface, but, for protection and for appearance are preferably mounted a 26 short distance below the surface under a suitable protective material.
27 These components are the ~agnetic field sensor 231, the oueput capacitor 2~ plates 233A, 233B, and 233`~, the input capacitor plates 234A, 234B, and 29 234V, and the transformer primary windings 235A, 235~, and 235V which may also be fitted with partial ferromagnf~tic cores.

.f yog77 039 -16-i ` 1~11~i6'7 .

1 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention there is 2 a continuous electrically conductive surface 236 which covers the entire 3 bottom surface of the XATR with the exception of regions or windows W
4 around the components 233i, 234i and 235i. The surface or film 236 is a ground reference plane and also functions as a radio frequency shield 6 for security purposes. Further, as mentioned previously, the shield 7 located within the tabs 228 may be connected to the shield 236 to 8 extend both ground plane and the radio frequency shielding effect.
9 Members 237A, 237B and 237V are flat spring members havlng semicircular locators which extend into the DSTC slot 237 in the bottom of the XATR.
11 These semicircular postioning members engage corresponding notches in 12 the sides of the individual DSTCs to retain and properly position the 13 DSTCs in the slot in one of the three positions, A, B, or V.
14 Before describing the cooperative operation of a XATR and a DSTC it is necessary to briefly set forth the components and operations 16 of a typical DSTC having a structure complementary to that of the herein17 disclosed XATR. It is however, not intended that the DSTC be patentable 18 per se and the following brief description of FIG. 5 is intended merel~
19 to set forth a suitable arrangement of components for coupling with the herein disclosed and claimed XATR.
21 FIG. S is a center sectional view of a typical DSTC showing 22 the components associated with the operation of the DSTC in the course 23 of a typical financial transaction or other data retrieval/storage oper-24 ation. Shown in the figure is the permanent magnet insert 131 which cooperates with the sensor 231 in the XATR to indicate that there is a 6 DSTC present in the slot 237. Element 132 depicts the electronic circuitry 27 of the DSTC which may include a rectifier connected to secondary winding28 135, a receiver connected to element 133, a transmitter connected to element ~iliS~.7 134, various digital control circuits and digital storage elements. In 2 response to commands from a XATR the DSTC either stores data received 3 from the XATR or transmits data stored within the DSTC to the XATR.
4 Element 133 is a capacitor plate which, in combination w th similar plates (i.e. 233i) in a XATR, comprises an information receiving path 6 for modulated radio frequency signals from the XATR. Element 134 is a 7 capacitor plate which, in combination with similar capacitor plates 8 (i.e. 234i) in the XATR, comprises an information transmitting path for 9 modulated radio frequency signals from the DSTC. Element 135 is a transformer secondary winding which, in combination with similar primary 11 windings ~i.e. 235i) in a XATR, provides a power transmission path from 12 the X~TR to the DSTC. Elements 137 and 138 are conductors which are 13 connected to the ground of the DSTC circuitry and which are associated 14 with elements 133 and 134 respectively.
Notches 147A, 147B and 147V are also shown in FIG. 5 and are 16 for the purposes of positioning a DSTCs in one of the three positions A,17 B, or V. It will be noted that both the sides of the notches 147A and 18 147V are rounded while only the right side of notch 147B is rounded.
19 The function of the notch contours will be described later.
It should be noted at this point that conventionally on such a 21 DSTC various types of identity or aut'nentication information could be 22 provided so that the authenticity of the holder of a particular DSTC
23 might be verified in some manner, such as by comparing a stored number 24 with a key entered number with or without cryptographic complexity addedto a translation and comparison routine. Alternatively some relatively 26 simple physical descriptive material could be stored in the DSTC which 27 would be susceptible of display on a XATR. However, the details of the 28 circuitry for performing such identifying operations are not considered 29 a part of this invention and accordingly are not specifically disclosed herein.

Y0977-039 -1~-liii~i7 1 There will now follow a description of various cooperative 2 operations between a YATR and one or more DSTCs. ~s stated above, 3 identity verification or user authorization routines are not considered 4 part of this invention and accordingly only financial transaction operation will be described.
6 As set forth previously, the postioning of the DSTC in various 7 locations, i.e., positions A, B, or V, have been generally referred to 8 especially with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 6 shows a composite g view of the XATR with both a native and visiting DSTC in positions A and V, respectively. It will be noted that the figure shows the two DSTCs 11 as abutting at one end, however, this would not be necessary. Referring 12 to FIG. 6, it will be noted that the visiting DSTC is mechanically 13 located and held in position by springs 237V and 237B and that its 14 input/output interface elements 133, 134 and 135 are mechanically aligned with elements 233V, 234V, and 235V, respectively, in the XATR.
16 It will further be noted that the native DSTC is mechanically located 17 and held in position by spring 237A and that its input/output interface 18 elements 133, 134 and 135 are mechanically aligned with elements 33A, 19 234A, and 235A, respectively, in the XATR. It will be further noted that the ~agnetic insert 131 on the native DSTC is mechanically aligned 21 with the magnetic sensing element 231 of the XATR.
22 FIG. 7 shows a native DSTC in position B. It will be noted 23 that the DSTC is mechanically located and held in position by springs 24 237B and 237V, And that its input/output interface elements 133, 134 and 135 are mechanically aligned with the elements 233B, 234B and 235B, 26 respectively, in the XATR and that the DSTC is eotally housed within the 27 XATR slot 237.

111~56'7 1 FIG. 8 shows the DSTC in position C. It will be noted at this 2 time the DSTC is mechanically located and held in position by the spring 3 237B and that its input/output interface elements 133, 134 and 135 are 4 outside the transactor. In moving the DSTC from position B to position C there is a danger that the DSTC might be pushed completely out of the 6 XATR, dropped, and possibly lost. This danger is eliminated by the 7 cooperative action of spring 237B and the special contour of notch 147B.
8 From a very brief description of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 it is obvious that a 9 native DSTC can be inserted in the ~TR slot from either end but that it can be removed from the XATR only by moving it to the left.
11 Having described the physical location of both the native and 12 visiting DSTCs in the various positions A, B, V, and C there will now 13 follow a description of typical financial transfers between two DSTCs.
14 Both DSTCs may function as debit cards or the operation may be the equivalent of writing a check. In the course of executing financial 16 transactions, one XATR, in response to keyboard entries, always forms a 17 transaction message. This message preferably contains the following 18 items:

1. The unique identifying number of the native DSTC.
21 2. The unique identifying nu~ber of the visiting DSTC.
22 3. The date (month, day, and at least two digits o~ the year) 23 and the time (hour, minute, and second).
24 4. The direction of the transfer, i.e., whether the native DSTC is to receive a debit or a credit.
26 5. The amount of transaction in a specified cu.rency.

yog77_039 -20-1 6. An indication of whether the details of the transaction 2 are to be "journaled" or not, i.e., whether a central 3 reconciling and recording system shall prepare a hard 4 copy record of the transaction for subsequent delivery to both parties to the transaction. Such an operation per se 6 is obvious to those skilled in the 2rt and does not form a 7 part of the present invention. The only reference to this 8 operation is a bit or bits which indicate that "journaling"
9 is required.
The physical description of positions A and V have been 11 previously described. This position is used in the eY~ecution of finan-12 cial transactions between the owner of the XATR and its native DSTC and 13 the owner of a visiting DSTC who does not own or have an operating XATR.
14 In this mode of operation the DSTC's are positioned in the XATR as shown in FIG. 6 to align the cooperative po~er and information transfer 16 elements. One of the parties to the transaction, performs the following 17 operations on the keyboard of the XATR. First the ON/OFF switch is 18 turned to the ON position. This causes the XATR circuitry to be turned 19 on and the appropriate switching to be performed to establish the appropriate power and communication paths between itself and both DSTCs.
21 Both DSTCs are now powered. Referring to the keyboard configuration of Z2 FIG. 2A the PAY (or RECEIVE) key is depressed. The alphanumeric display 23 would then read "PAY" (or "RECEIVE"). It will be noted that in the 24 presently disclosed system the operations PAY, CHARGE, and RECEIVE are relative to the native DSTC. Next appropriate keys 1, O, 2, and 4 are 26 depressed in sequence to indicate that $10.24 is to be credited to the 27 visiting DSTC and debited from the native DSTC. The display 213 should 28 now read "PAY 10.24". At this point the JO~RNAL key could be depressed, 29 and cause a "J" to appear on the display. ~ow both parties to the transaction lnspect the display to confirm that the transaction indicated , YOg77-039 -21-1~11567 1 is correct in all respects. Agreement having been reached, the operator 2 depresses the EXECUTE key and the XATR performs the following operations.
3 1. Read the date and time from its clock.
4 2. Read the identifying number of its native DSTC.
3. Read the identifying number of the visiting DSTC.
6 4. Read the balance in its native DSTC.
7 5. Read the balance in the visiting DSTC.
8 6. If a PAY operation is indicated, determine that the balance 9 in the native DSTC is greater than the amount indicated. If a RECEIVE operation is indicated, determine if the balance in 11 the visiting DSTC is greater than the amount indica~ed.
12 7. Form the transaction message.
13 8. Compute the new balances for both DSTC's.
14 9. Store in the visiting DSTC the transaction message and the new balance.
16 10. Store in the native DSTC the transaction message and the 17 new balance.
18 The transaction is now complete, the visiting DSTC is removed 19 from the XATR, the native DSTC is returned to position B and the XATR is turned off.
21 There will now be described the operations which would occur22 when the native DSTC is in position B. The physical configuration of 23 position B has been described and illustrated previously with respect to 24 FIG. 7. This position is used in the execution of transactions betweentwo owners of A~ATR's each with its own native DSTC or between an owner 26 of a XATR with its native DSTC and another device such as a point of ~l~iS67 1 sale terminal, bank terminal, or the like. It should be noted that 2 ftmctionally such other devices are identical in operation to a XATR
3 with its native DSTC. For simplicity of description, operation in-4 volving two XATRs is described below. In this mode of operation the two XATRs are coupled together, front-to-front, as described previously with 6 respect to FIG. 2D with the mating members 225 and 226 interconnected.7 Such coupling action causes the magnetic sensor 222 in each XATR to be8 activated by the corresponding magnetic insert 222M in the other XATR
9 and thus causes both XATRs to be turned on and the necessary communication link between the XATRs to be established. Either person may initiate 11 operation by depressing either the PAY or RECEIVE key on his own trans-12 actor and the person initiating the action, for the time being, seizes13 control of both XATRs and the communication link between them. The 14 control XATR display now reads, "PAY" (or "RECEIVE") and the slave XATR
display reads its complement.
16 The person with the control XATR continues with the following 17 operations. (It is assumed that the ON/OFF switch for both YATR's was 18 placed in the ON position prior to their interconnectioni. The appro-19 priate numeric keys are depressed in sequence to indicate that $ 10.24is to be transferred in the appropriate direction. The control XATR
21 display now reads "PAY (or RECEIVE) 10.24" and the slave XATR now reads 22 "RECEIVE (or PAY) 10.24". The control XATR now relinquishes control.
23 Typically at this point both parties to the transaction inspect their 24 displays to confirm that the acticn indicated is correct and acceptable.
Optionally, either party may depress his JOURNAL key. If either JOU~A~
26 key is depressed J appears in both displays after the transaction 27 designation. No further action occurs until both parties to the trans-28 action depress the EXECUTE keys on thelr respective XATRs. When the lillS~7 1 second EXECUTE key has been depressed, the XATR containing same seizes 2 control and the ten operations enumerated above with respect to posi-3 tions A and V occur. As will be appreciated, these operations result in4 the complete transaction data being recorded on both DSTCs. The trans-action is now complete and the XATRs are disconnected and turned off.
6 The operation of the XATR with its native DSTC in position C
7 will now be briefly described. Position C was physically described with8 respect to FIG. 8. The position is used when the owner of the XATR and 9 its native DSTC may: 1) because of the small amount of money involved, 2) a desire to save time, 3) has sufficient faith in the other party to 11 the transaction, or any combination thereof, desires to have a PAY
12 operation executed by the receiving party's equipment without exercising 13 any control over or participating in the transaction. In this mode of 14 operation, the extended DSTC is placed in (or passed through) a slot orplaced in an appropriate position on a surface which is fitted elements 16 which are the same as Z33V, 234V and 235V in FIG. 4. The receiving 17 party's equipment performs operations which are functionally identical 18 to those described for position V, above, for a visitng DSTC. In fact, 19 in position C a DSTC while still partially in its XATR may be a visiting DSTC in another XATR. RECEIVE operations may also be executed with the 21 DSTC in position C.
22 The above description of the operation of the presently 23 disclosed preferred embodiment of a XAT~ with various combinations of 24 DSTCs, other XATRs, and other devices completes the description of the essential features of the herein disclosed transactor which are considered 26 to fall within the general spirit and scope of the present invention.

Y097'-039 -24-1 However, for the sake of completeness and for the further reason of 2 setting forth the wide variety of possible uses which could readily be 3 found for the XATR/DSTC combinations, the following brief description of 4 a number of other possible uses is included herein.
S A XATR with its native DSTC in either position B or position C
6 or a DSTC in the absence of a XATR may, in certain combinations, interact 7 with any of a number of other devices as referred to briefly previously.
8 As indicated previously, a XATR with its native DSTC in postion B may 9 readily interact with a point of sale terminal in a manner essentially ident~ical to the operation between two XATRs each with its native DSTC
11 in position B, insofar as the information recorded in DSTC and the 12 operation of XATR is concerned. The following differences would of 13 course be present.
14 A point of sale terminal would, typically, be physically 15 larger than a XATR and it would be powered by the local line voltage, 16 rather than by a battery. It would also, typically, be fitted with an 17 a.c. transformer primary winding, similar to the secondary winding 221, 18 as shown in FIG. 3 to deliver battery recharging power to the XATR in 19 the course of the transaction.
A XATR with its native DSTC in position C could also interact 21 conveniently with certain point of collection terminals. The operation 22 would be the same as that described above for the operation in position 23 C. This mode of operation or use would be where the financial amounts 24 were quite small to the point where specific journaling and record keeping would hardly be justified in addition to the fact th~t people 26 with whom one would be dealing would be hardly likely to be dishonest.
27 The situations anticipated for this type of operation might be in ,7 1 connection with the payment of highway and bridge tolls, subway fares, 2 street car and bus fares and possibly the payment of telephone charges, 3 etc.
4 One final interaction between a XATR and its native DSTC which should be touched on is the interaction with a data entry terminal.
6 Since the storage space in a DSTC will be limited and all transactions 7 must, eventually, be reconciled by some central system, means for 8 transferring the information in a DSTC to the central system is needed.
9 Some form of data entry terminal would obviously provide this function.
Although no specific data entry terminal is anticipated, it is 11 possible that it would be some form of a communication device, typically 12 a telephone, which is fitted with elements which are complementary to 13 the XATR elements shown in FIG. 3. When the XATR with its native DSTC
14 is connected to the data entry terminal, the data entry terminal reads the transaction messages and transfers them to the central system, 16 assuming of course that a prior communication channel has been set up 17 and a "ready to receive" signal of some sort has been received, at which 18 point a "begin data entry" button or some similar button is pressed 19 which causes the complete contents of the storage area of the DSTC to be read into said central system. The storage area of the DSTC is then 21 erased and/or appropriately updated to ready it for future use. During 22 this operation the data entry terminal could also be equipped to provide 23 battery recharging power to the XATR as described above.
24 An alternate form of data entry terminal could obviously have a slot for a DSTC alone so that the operation described above may be 26 performed in the absence of a .~ATR. However, such a configl~ration would 27 have the advantage of protection, control, and privacy of the DSTC

yog77 039 -26-lillS~;`7 1 afforded by the transaction as described previously.
2 As briefly alluded to ?reviously, the DSTC device might 3 readily be provided with some sort of identity verifying codes, numbers,4 etc., which could be utilized in a number of different ways for verifying the identity of the card holder. However, it is not believed that such 6 identity verification forms a part of this invention and accordingly 7 such details are not included.

9 ~rom the above description of the presently disclosed and described Personal Portable Terminal or Transactor, it may readily be 11 appreciated that a wide variety of functions may be built into such an 12 overall system depending upon just how much circuitry and program 13 storage is provided in the XATR and, similarly, how much storage capacity, 14 etc., is included in the DSTC. Thus, as stated previously, a single DSTC could be provided with cash accounts, the equivalent of checking 16 accounts, a wide application charge account, and a nu~ber of individual 17 large store accounts. All of these would be identified by special 18 account numbers and would automatically give access to certain data in 19 the DSTC relating to these accounts. Bv utilizing the terminal device as an interface between the individual's DSTC and the point of sale 21 terminal etc., the individual will know at all eimes the details of 22 every operation going on within his DSTC including the particular account 23 number being accessed, as well as the transaction amount and the nature 24 of the transaction. Further, by the provision of an appropriate entry key, entry of an incorrect transaction may be prevented as well as 2~ access to unauthori~ed accounts. Thus, the individual has a high degree 27 of control over just what goes on relative to his accounts. Such 28 control is not generally available in most present systems. This 1~ 7 1 control obviously provides the individual with protection against both 2 accidental and intentional transaction errors being recorded in a 3 particular account and also prevents unauthorized access by, for ex-4 ample, another person, a store, or a bank, into account data which the lndividual may not wish to be revealed. As will further be apparent, 6 other more sophisticated control functions could be built into the XATR
7 and the DSTC utilizing the basic concepts disclosed and described 8 herein.
g It will be apparent that the herein disclosed embodiment of a XATR is capable of many modifications and changes by those skilled in 11 art. However, it is believed that the concept of such a personal 12 terminal device which can perform certain transactions utilizing a 13 native and a visiting DSTC either with or without a second transactor or 14 other device is broadly novel. Thus while the invention has been specifically shown and described with reference to the herein disclosed 16 embodiment, it will be appreciated many changes could be made by persons 17 skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the 18 invention as set forth in the specification and claims.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A substantially wallet-sized personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) including keyboard means for entering transaction data, memory means for at least temporarily storing transaction data and other selected data, logic means for performing arithmetic operations on data stored in said memory means and data entered via said keyboard means, display means for selectively displaying data to the operator of said terminal device (XATR), control means for causing predetermined operations to be performed by said terminal device (XATR), means for receiving at least one data storage and transfer card (DSTC) in said terminal device (XATR), receiving and transmitting means located in said terminal device (XATR) for coupling with complementary data rec-eiving and transmitting means in said data storage and tranfer card (DSTC) for transferring data between said terminal device (XATR) and said data storage and transfer card (DSTC), means in said terminal device (XATR) for preventing the transfer of data to or from a said contained data storage and transfer card (DSTC) until actuated by the operator of said terminal device (XATR), fixed means for directly connecting said terminal device (XATR) to external devices, said external devices including receiving and transmitting means for transferring data between said external devices and said data storage and card transfer (DSTC) contained in said terminal device (XATR), whereby said XATR effectively functions as a controllable interface device between said at least one contained data storage and transfer card (DSTC) and said external devices, and means responsive to the recognition of said external device as being a second substantially wallet-sized personal portable hand-held terminal device (XATR), for concurrently entering data in said data storage and transfer card (DSTC) located in said first terminal device (XATR) and a data storage and transfer card (DSTC) located in said second connected terminal device (XATR), said last named means being responsive to the approval by both operators of the said terminal devices (XATRs) for entering data in said both data storage and transfer card (DSTCs) after the data is first displayed on said display means which approval is signified by said operators deactiv-ating said means for preventing in said both terminal devices (XATRs).

2. A personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) as set forth in claim 1 wherein the respective data receiving and transmitting means located in said terminal device (XATR) comprises radio frequency capacitor plates located in the surface of said terminal device (XATR) adjacent to the positions where said data storage and transfer card (DSTC) and said external device is to be located for air coupling, each said receiving means including means for demodulating a received modulated radio frequency signal and each said transmitting means including means for modulating data information which is to be trans-mitted upon a radio frequency carrier.

3. A personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) as set forth in claim 2 including means for air coupling alternating current power between said device and said external device, and between said device and said contained data storage and transfer card (DSTC).

4. A personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) as set forth in claim 3 wherein said control means therein controls all operations performed in said contained data storage and transfer card (DSTC), whereby said external device concurrently connected to said device may not, for any purpose, directly access said data storage and transfer card while located in said device.

5. A personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) as set forth in claim 4 including radio frequency shielding means in said terminal device (XATR) substantially surrounding said storage and transfer card(DSTC) when located therein to prevent the radiation of said modulated radio frequency signals into the air.

6. A personal portable hand held terminal device (XATR) as set forth in claim 5 including battery means located therein for providing power to operate the circuitry therein and means for converting alter-nating current which is air coupled into said device for periodically charging said battery.