Patent Application
20110137803
The present invention relates generally to receipts associated with various sales and transactions, and more particularly to secure electronic receipt systems and methods through a secure certificate.
In various transactions for goods and services, receipts are a written acknowledgement that a specified article or sum of money has been received as an exchange for the goods or services. The receipt can act as the title to the property obtained in the exchange. Conventional systems and methods almost exclusively rely on paper receipts. Paper receipts are not environmentally friendly, are often lost or thrown out, and can logistically difficult to manage. Electronic receipts via email are becoming more commonplace but adoption is often limited by the inability of individuals to verify in real-time that a receipt was delivered and that the receipt contains valid information.
In an exemplary embodiment, an electronic receipt method includes processing a transaction responsive to input from a buyer; providing data associated with the transaction and the input to a server; receiving a signed electronic receipt from the server; and providing the signed electronic receipt to the buyer, wherein the signed electronic receipt includes real-time, non-reputable transaction related information. The electronic receipt method further includes, by the server, verifying a seller associated with the data prior to the server providing the signed electronic receipt, wherein the seller is verified through a certificate associated with the seller. The signed electronic receipt includes the data associated with the transaction including description of goods or services, seller information, and amount tendered, and wherein the signed electronic receipt further includes a certificate. The electronic receipt method further includes, by the buyer, validating the transaction through an operation over a secure link with the server utilizing the certificate. The buyer has a verified certificate or a public key of the server, and wherein the operation includes a public key operation verifying the server has validated the transaction. Providing the signed electronic receipt includes transmitting the signed electronic receipt to a smart card of the buyer. The smart card communicates to a terminal for receiving the signed electronic receipt through one of a high-frequency contactless link or a Bluetooth link. The smart card includes circuitry configured to store the signed electronic receipt and a display configured to visually display data associated with the signed electronic receipt, and wherein the smart card further includes a tamper responsive grid preventing unauthorized access to cryptographic keys stored in the circuitry. Optionally, providing the signed electronic receipt includes transmitting the signed electronic receipt to a mobile device of the buyer. The electronic receipt method further includes, by the buyer, validating the transaction through an operation by the mobile device with the server utilizing a certificate associated with the signed electronic receipt. The buyer has a verified certificate or a public key of the server, and wherein the operation includes a public key operation verifying the server has validated the transaction.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method of providing secure electronic receipts includes receiving digitally signed data with a private key, wherein the data includes transaction data between a buyer and a seller; verifying the digitally signed data originated from a trusted seller; signing the digitally signed data with a trusted private key; and sending the digitally signed data with the trusted private key to one of the seller or the buyer. The method further includes providing a public key to the buyer; and verifying the digitally signed data with the trusted private key through an operation with the public key. The method further includes registering the buyer with associated data including the buyer's email address; and sending the digitally signed data with the trusted private key as an electronic receipt to the buyer's email address.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, a system providing secure electronic receipts includes a network interface; a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface; wherein the processor is configured to: receive transaction data associated with a sale between a seller and a buyer; verify the seller associated with the sale; digitally sign an electronic receipt based on the transaction data; and verify the electronic receipt. The system further includes a point-of-sale terminal associated with the seller connected to the network interface through a network. The system further includes a smart card associated with the buyer, wherein the smart card is configured to communicate with the point-of sale terminal. The smart card is configured to provide data about the buyer to the point-of sale terminal, and wherein the point-of sale terminal is configured to send the data about the buyer and the transaction data to the network interface. The point-of sale terminal is configured to receive the electronic receipt from the network interface and to transmit the electronic receipt to the smart card.
The present invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to the various drawings, in which like reference numbers denote like method steps and/or system components, respectively, and in which:
In various exemplary embodiments, the present invention relates to secure electronic receipt systems and methods. The present invention removes the need for paper-based receipts while preserving security through use of a digital signature on each electronic receipt verifying the transaction and other data related to the transaction. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention includes a trusted email server, an authentication server, a point-of-sale (POS) terminal or the like, and a smart card or the like. A buyer can utilize the smart card to instruct the terminal to provide an electronic receipt. The terminal can utilize the trusted email server and the authentication server to digitally sign the electronic receipt with credentials trusted by the buyer, and these credentials can later be utilized to verify the electronic receipt.
Referring to
The system 10 further includes the email server 16 and the authentication server 18 each shown connected to the terminal 14 through the Internet 20. Each of these servers 16, 18 is configured to interact with the receipt device 12 and the terminal 14 to provide a secure and verifiable electronic receipt of a transaction. Specifically, the email server 16 is configured to receive transaction-related information from the terminal 14 such as at the prompting of the receipt device 12 and to provide an email to a user based on the transaction-related information. The transaction-related information can include amount tendered by the buyer/seller, seller information, and descriptive information about the articles, goods, services received by the buyer. Also, the transaction-related information can include information identifying the buyer and/or user account information on the server 16. Also, the terminal 14 (i.e., from a merchant, seller, service provider, etc.) provides the server 16 information that is digitally signed using the merchant's private key and verifiable via a trusted certificate authority (CA). The server 16 can include a program to receive receipt-transaction information from merchants, to verify the merchant name and that the digital signature on all information conveyed has been signed by a trusted CA, and to verify that this information has been placed into a message or email in the user's (buyer's) account.
The authentication server 18 is configured to authenticate transactions based on keys associated with the terminal 14 and the receipt device 12. Collectively, the servers 16, 20 enable a buyer of goods or services to obtain real-time, non-reputable transaction information electronically without a paper receipt. The buyer can log into the servers 16, 20 anytime subsequent to the transaction through a secure link or the like and verify the transaction-related information thus ensuring the transaction is verified and trusted without a paper receipt. Note, the communications between the various devices over the Internet can be secure such as through Hyper Text Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS), a Virtual Private Network (VPN), or the like.
The buyer can utilize the receipt device 12 to retrieve an electronic receipt. For example, the receipt device 12, as described above, can include a secure mobile device. The secure mobile device can display key information about the transaction validated by the trusted user-servers 16, 18 and communicated to the secure mobile device. Also, the secure mobile device can include a display and processing subsystem that is protected by a tamper responsive grid so that any effort to physically access the device will cause all cryptographic keys to be erased. This display and processing subsystem can be a cryptographic subsystem that contains a user's private Key (PKI), and the cryptographic subsystem of the device 12 can receive messages from the trusted server 16 and decrypt such message using the user's private key information (enabling only this device to interpret and display transaction information).
Referring to
This digitally signed electronic receipt is sent to the buyer's user account and/or a trusted server (step 35). Here, the electronic receipt can be sent to the buyer's account (e.g., on the email server) or to the email server/authentication server with the digital signature via email or some other mechanism. This email can be to an email server for purposes of verifying the validity of the seller through the seller's digital signature. The email server has a certified private key trusted by the buyer (step 36). With this, the email server can verify the seller's certificate from the private key in the electronic receipt to validate the seller (step 37). The email server signs the electronic receipt using the buyer's trusted private key (step 38). The email server can then send the signed electronic receipt back to the seller (step 39). The electronic receipt now has a preloaded verified certificate/public key of the email server allowing a public key operation to verify the transaction (step 40). The seller can provide this electronic receipt signed by the email server to the buyer, and the buyer can later verify the transaction through a public key operation with the email server that is quick and efficient (versus a private key transaction). For example, the seller can provide the electronic receipt to the buyer through a contact, a contactless-HF link, a RFID link, a WLAN link, and the like. Alternatively, the seller can email the buyer offline. For example, the smart card can provide the buyer's email address which receives the signed electronic receipt. Alternatively in step 39, the email server can send the signed electronic receipt directly to the buyer, e.g. through email, instant message, etc.
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The processor 82 is a hardware device for executing software instructions. The processor 82 can be any custom made or commercially available processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliary processor among several processors associated with the server 80, a semiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chip set), or generally any device for executing software instructions. When the server 80 is in operation, the processor 82 is configured to execute software stored within the memory 90, to communicate data to and from the memory 90, and to generally control operations of the server 80 pursuant to the software instructions. The I/O interfaces 84 can be used to receive user input from and/or for providing system output to one or more devices or components. User input can be provided via, for example, a keyboard and/or a mouse. System output can be provided via a display device and a printer (not shown). I/O interfaces 84 can include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a small computer system interface (SCSI), an infrared (IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, and/or a universal serial bus (USB) interface.
The network interface 86 can be used to enable the server 80 to communicate on a network. For example, the server 80 can utilize the network interface 88 to communicate to with remote networks, such as a wireless network, a hosted wireless network, and the like. The network interface 86 can include, for example, an Ethernet card (e.g., 10 BaseT, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet) or a wireless local area network (WLAN) card (e.g., 802.11a/b/g). The network interfaces 86 can include address, control, and/or data connections to enable appropriate communications on the network. A data store 88 can be used to store data. The data store 88 can include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof. Moreover, the data store 88 can incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. In one example, the data store 88 can be located internal to the server 90 such as, for example, an internal hard drive connected to the local interface 92 in the server 80. Additionally in another embodiment, the data store can be located external to the server 80 such as, for example, an external hard drive connected to the I/O interfaces 84 (e.g., SCSI or USB connection). Finally in a third embodiment, the data store may be connected to the server 80 through a network, such as, for example, a network attached file server.
The memory 90 can include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, etc.), and combinations thereof. Moreover, the memory 90 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Note that the memory 90 can have a distributed architecture, where various components are situated remotely from one another, but can be accessed by the processor 82. The software in memory 90 can include one or more software programs, each of which includes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions. In the example of
For the email server 16, the programs 96 can include a management program and a communication program. As described herein, the email server 16 is configured to communicate to a seller and/or buyer to create a public key based on data associated with a sales transaction such as a private key, certificate, etc. The communication program can include software configured to interact with devices associated with the seller and/or buyer for communicating transaction data, keys, etc. The management program can include software configured to create electronic receipts with public keys based on the data associated with the transaction. Additionally, the management program can be configured to process public keys for verification of transactions based on the public key associated with an electronic receipt. The authentication server 18 can be integrated in the same server 80 as the email server or a separate server 80. The authentication server 18 can be a certificate authority (CA) that issues digital certificates for use by other parties such as the buyer and seller. Additionally, the servers 16, 18 can include registration and configuration applications in the programs 96. For example, a registration application can enable a user to sign up for electronic receipts by registering a device (e.g., smart card 60, mobile device, etc.) and assigning data to the device (e.g., contact info, email addresses, etc.). The configuration application can enable the user to set preferences, set alerts, managed existing receipts, etc.
In
The mobile device 100 can be utilized in place of the smart card 60 by a buyer. Specifically, the mobile device 100 can be configured to communicate with the terminal 14 to provide information regarding the buyer to the seller to enable creation of an electronic receipt. Thus, the mobile device 100 can include a receipt program in the programs 96 that enable communication with the terminal 14 and that stores/manages electronic receipts. The mobile device 100 can further include a graphical user interface (GUI) for display on the I/O interfaces 84 that can allow a user to view recent purchases and the associated electronic receipts.
In addition to providing secure and verifiable electronic receipts, the present invention can be extended to further provide value transfers for the associated transactions. For example, the servers 16, 18 can be interfaced to a bank, an automated clearing house (ACH) network, a credit card processing system, and the like. This could enable cash or equivalent to be exchanged between the buyer and seller as part of the secure electronic receipt processes described herein.
Although the present invention has been illustrated and described herein with reference to preferred embodiments and specific examples thereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments and examples may perform similar functions and/or achieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention and are intended to be covered by the following claims.
