System for immediate and anonymous transfer of (virtual guarantees concerning) virtual trade paper, the monitoring of virtual trade paper or virtual money in circulation and the charging of the system costs to the users in ratio to their use.

The invention relates to systems for the transfer of electronic value between electronic purses or electronic wallets in a casing or carrier. Although this carrier will often be an ISO-7810 card, the invention relates to any -actual or future- system of electronic purses, wallets, or value carriers, in any casing whatsoever, with the essential feature that the purses are fraud proof. In the following all these possible forms of value carriers will be referred to as ' WC (virtual value carrier) that particularly (although not exclusively) has to be taken as any entirety of casing, processor or processors, memory(ies) and program(s), aimed at the transferring and receiving of electronic value or electronic money between themselves.

A system as meant before has been described in, among others, PCT-application PCT/GB91/00566 (publication number WO 91/16691) of 10th April 1991. A disadvantage of this and similar systems known so far, with which electronic money is circulating amongst the participants of the system without intervention of third parties (for instance bankers) is that they do not provide for an effective monitoring of the electronic money volume in circulation.

Besides, the power to issue electronic money is sometimes a national affair, granted to the Central bank or other institution, so that these systems can not really be true globally working systems. And finally, these systems do not provide for the potentiality to charge the system costs to the users in ratio to their use.

The invention meets these drawbacks. To this end, it provides for such a progr--rnm-ng of system computer and WC's that, as a result of their working, in a WC virtual trade paper and or a virtual payment guarantee with respect to a promise to pay is created, which trade paper and which guarantee through the working of the progr-unming according to the invention can be transferred, wholly or in parts, to other WC's. The precise (juridical) effects of the working of the programs, that is to say the rights and obligations that will arise among the users of the system by that working, will be regulated contractually (usually in a multi-party contract), so that, because of the freedom of contracting that applies practically everywhere, a system that functions according to the invention will be serviceable truly worldwide. Besides, the programming according to the invention provides for an instrumentation to monitor the total volume (for instance expressed in money value) of guarantees casu quo virtual trade paper, but also of 'electronic money' or otherwise named value of existing or systems still to be developed in that through the working of the system according to the invention a transferred guarantee, transferred virtual trade paper, or otherwise named transferred value is linked to a group code, that has been allocated to a WC in accordance with the invention. Furthermore, through a system of conditional blocking and resetting of the

WC, the prograπmiing in accordance with the invention works out that data concerning origin and extent of the value (hereinafter to be interpreted as a general term for virtual guarantee(s), virtual trade paper, electronic money and the like) received through the WC will be frequently passed on to the system computer and processed by the last mentioned into information about extent and velocity of the flow of value. With the help of known statistical methods extent and origin of possible 'false value' will be demonstrated even quicker and more accurate than this would be possible with respect to common money in circulation. Finally, the programming in accordance with the invention provides for such a working of the system that of the value present in a WC only the value after deduction of the transaction costs will be available for transfer to another WC unless a third party will carry the transaction costs, that data concerning the transaction costs with respect to transferred and/or received value, whether or not immediately charged, will be stored in the memory of the WC, that these data will be frequently written into the memory of the system computer, and, if third parties carry these costs, the transaction costs will be settled with those third parties.

The existing and/or known systems for the immediate transfer between WC's, with which value can circulate in changing sizes time after time, relate to electronic money and thus to a terrain that belongs to the (central) government. However, the invention introduces a solution within a private law frameworl-, based upon what can be exercised in general, with any legal remedy whatsoever, concerning promises to pay and it does so by having a computer program work in such a way, that, as a result of that working, virtual trade paper and/or a virtual promise to pay is (are) created, is transferred wholly or partly to other WC's and is cancelled wholly or partly as a result of payment. With this, the concept 'trade paper' is in principle very broad and will, for the application of the present invention, contain each promise to pay in any existing or not as yet existing form whatsoever and irrespective of the way in which a creditor can be replaced and with which the payment may concern any possible object of possession or transferrable right. Usually, a multi-party contract will regulate how, in a certain system, a certain virtual trade paper has to be understood and what certainties the system provides for, amongst others with respect to the liability for (eventual) payment of the virtual trade paper that is in circulation within the system. A program in accordance with the invention may work out that way that virtual trade paper comes into being in a W^C, is transferred from one WC to another, is cancelled by payment, that virtual trade paper in a WC is replaced by more virtual trade papers of smaller and/or different nomination under simultaneous cancellation of the original virtual trade paper, that in stead of or next to the virtual trade paper a virtual guarantee to pay circulates within the system, which guarantee to pay can be miscible wimin a WC or not, and so on. The invention does not only relate to the mentioned, but also to all not mentioned possibilities, since the invention does not concern the legal concept, but the working of a computer program that has the technical effect of the creation casu quo the cancellation of virtual trade paper (in the broadest sense as mentioned) with, ancillary, the consequences of the use in accordance with a certain legal concept.

As with all systems for the immediate transfer of value between WC's, in which value in ever changing sizes circulates among WC's without intervention of intermediaries, all communication between two WC's starts with an exchange of electrical signals aimed at authenticating one another, after which, if the authentication process has had positive results, the communication aimed at the transfer of value can start. In the present invention (and restricted to what has been said in the foregoing paragraph) the program, if 'an uploading of value' by a WC trough the system computer is intended (and the value volume in the system thus will increase), brings about that a virtual trade paper, that is accepted by the system manager or a third party, being a binary representation of that accepted promise to pay is created in the memory of the WC in the form of a record that is composed of binary representations of, for instance, a WC transaction number, the transaction date, the designation of the WC with the help of which the trade paper is issued (so in this case the designation of the system- WC) and the as positive characterized value of the promise concerned; also, the program brings preferably about that a binary representation of the total (that is added up) value present in the WC is created in the memory of the WC, in as far as it concerns the currency of the 'uploading' and the payment of which is guaranteed by the system manager or a concerned third party, and which value is calculated by the working of the program by adding up the binary presentation of this value, as it was present in the memory of the WC immediately before the 'uploading', and the one of the 'uploading'.

As mentioned, the virtual trade paper of the present invention has the legal meaning, that has been assigned to it (mainly) by agreement; for the purpose of this example it is assumed that a virtual trade paper grants the power to its holder to issue virtual trade paper to the amount and in the currency of that virtual trade paper himself and that the holder by receiving the virtual trade paper is granted the power by the acceptor of the original trade paper to accept, on his behalf, virtual trade paper issued on the basis of the competence just mentioned. That is why the program according to the invention brings about that in case of 'presentation of virtual trade paper for payment' by a WC through the system computer (through which the value volume in the system thus will thus decrease) that the binary representation in the memory of the WC of the value present in the WC, in as far as it concerns the currency of the virtual trade paper presented for payment, is reduced with the binary representation of the value of the virtual trade paper presented for payment and is replaced by the binary representation of the balance thus calculated and, preferably, that the cancellation of in that WC present virtual, by the system manager or a third party accepted, trade paper is recorded in the memory of it, preferably in the form of a record this is composed of binary representations of, for instance, a WC transaction number, the transaction date, the designation of the WC with which is communicated (so in this case the designation of the system- C) and the as negative characterized value of the cancelled trade paper. With respect to the transfer of value between two WC's, the program brings about the same as for the 'uploading' of value in the WC to which value is transferred and in the WC, that transfers value, the same as mentioned for the 'presentation for payment' of virtual trade paper, on the understanding that for the designation of the other party with both ^C's the designation of the other WC is used. In a system according to the present invention, preferably a part of the memory of each WC, hereinafter to be indicated as 'transaction-log', is reserved for the recording of the records just mentioned and is the recording preferably carried out in such a way that the records are written on places not yet taken by earlier records in the first place and subsequently on the places, beginning with the one on which is written the then oldest record. In the same way, in a system according to the present invention, preferably a part of the memory of each WC, hereinafter to be indicated as 'value-log' is reserved for the (overwriting of the 'balance' or the different balances of the virtual trade papers in the various currencies admitted to the system.

For the sake of completeness, although implicitly already put, there is no need to seek connection with the legal concept of trade paper for the application of the invention and is the application possible with regard to any promise to pay, transferrable or not. And, as the general concept of trade paper includes the special trade papers with their common and particular characteristics, the general concept of virtual trade paper may also be particularized in several ways, or may its use be adapted to special needs and circumstances. The present invention therefore provides for it that the program according to the present invention, under the control of the system manager or the W^C-holder, works out that one or several codes are written in the memory of a ^C , that restrict the normal workings of the program with regard to the transfer of value concerning the total value present in the WC or with regard to the transfer of a certain value present in the ^C. An example of this is the placing of a code that has the same affect with respect to a certain, via the WC 'received value' as the crossing of a cheque, or of another code, that has that effect with respect to the total 'received value' via the WC.

The other elements of the invention (the monitoring of the virtual value in circulation and the charging of expenses at the moment of using the system) relate to any present and future system of value transfer, however this value might be indicated, or however that value might be constructed. For this reason, in the following only "value' will be spoken of, to be understood as any binary representation of trade paper, a guarantee concerning trade paper, money or whatever present or future object of value or any representation thereof whatsoever.

Systems for the transfer of value between WC's amongst themselves consist preferably of a system computer and a once-only writeable extern memory coupled thereon, a multitude of WC's and a multitude of interfaces (PC's, cash registers, dedicated handheld interfaces, etcetera, all with contacts and/or aerial for electric supply of and data transfer to/from WC's), in addition to which a system, on which the invention will be applied, will preferably have a system- WC coupled to the system computer. The system- WC may differ from common WC's in the sense that the system- ^C, through the working of the program, only keeps the balances of the various values (currencies or sorts of value) present in the system. Although the following is based on the presence of a system- WC, the present invention also applies to systems with which central non-manipulable registration of uploading and offloading transactions has been ensured in a different way. Value can only be introduced into the system through the working of the program (under the control of the system manager) and via the system- WC and value can only be withdrawn form the system through the working of the program (under the control of the system manager) and via the system- WC.

In the existing and/or known systems, the transfer of value between two WC's is preferably preceded by dynamic authentication from both sides and the data transfer resulting in value transfer is encrypted. The present invention relates to all present and future systems, irrespective of the encryption method or methods applied with them.

In the existing and/or known systems, an indication that refers to the ^C, or better, the WC- holder, is generally recorded in the (permanent) memory of the WC. Through the working of the program in these systems the binary value that states the balance available for transfer is, in case of value transfer, reduced with the transferred value in the transferring ^C and increased with that value in the receiving WC. Furthermore, a record is written in the memory of both WC's (in a part thereof that is usually named the transaction-log), that generally consists of transaction number, indication of the other party and transferred received value. Preferably, this record is written on a location that is not already in use and, if these are taken, on the location that is taken by the record concerning the then oldest transaction; in most cases, the contents of the transaction-log may be recorded outside the WC by the holder. In the present invention the just indicated process(part) has been expanded with data and instructions for the monitoring of the volume of value in the system and for the immediate settling of the costs of the use of the system.

As far as the monitoring of the volume of the value in the system is concerned, in accordance with the present invention, each WC is assigned a code (hereinafter called 'code of origin') that is written in the memory of the WC before its issue, which code will not link the WC to a specific holder, but to the region where the holder lives or where the centre of his economic activities is located, or to a group of bank accounts, or to a professional group etcetera. Any choice is in accordance with the invention, but as the invention aims at making the monitoring of the value in circulation possible without harming the anonymity of the transactions, a correct application of the invention asks for a certain number of W^C's with the same code of origin. Furthermore, the monitoring according to the invention includes also the finding of the velocity of value and the flows of value between codes of origin; regional linking will give more economic relevance to the latter output. Besides, it is quite in accordance with the invention to compose the code of origin, for example of a number of positions for the region, a number of positions for the professional group or economic function, etcetera, so that the output of the monitoring process could contain even more detailed and/or supplementary information.

Besides the location for writing (at issue) the code of origin, the program, according to the present invention, also asks for another two or three locations, namely one for writing the reset-value, one for writing the reset-counter and, possibly, one for writing the reset-date. With this the reset-value is the figure, indicating the number of transactions that can be made with a WC before, through the working of the program according to the invention, the making of (particular) next transactions is blocked until, subsequently, the ^C has been connected with and the data of the control-log (see below) have been moved to the system computer, the reset- counter the figure, indicating the number of the transactions that are made with the WC until then and the reset-date the date value indicating the date on which -unless the ^C is reset before (see below)- through the working of the program according to the invention, the making of (particular) next transactions is blocked. A certain value is preferably written on the location 'reset-value' before the issue of the WC; through the working of the program according to the invention the binary representation of the reset-value can be replaced by the system computer

(under the control of the system manager) by the binary representation of another reset-value. At the location 'reset-counter' will, at issue, preferably the binary representation of the value 'zero' be written.

The working of the program, limited to the monitoring of the value in circulation, is preferably as follows.

If, for the working of the program according to the invention, the value that is present on the WC needs to be determined, the program compares the reset-counter with the reset-value and produces subsequently output (for instance in the form of a code, or expression on a display, a sound signal, etcetera, that is dependent on the result of the comparison). If the determination of the value starts an intended transaction, for instance the transfer of value, the working of the program according to the invention -dependent on the result of the comparison as well- allows the continuation of it or ends the routine involved. If the routine is continued, the program brings about that, in connection with the transaction, a record, composed of the code of origin of the transferring WC and the received value, is written in the memory (in the part hereinafter indicated as 'control-log') of the WC to which the value is transferred. The program, according to the invention, brings also about that the reset-counter of the WC, to which value is transferred, is increased with the value 1.

Every time a WC is linked with the system computer, the program, according to the invention, brings about that the contents of the control-log in connection with the code of origin of that WC is copied written to the memory of the computer, possibly (for instance if the program according to the invention brings about that the system- WC indicates the value balances per code of origin) that the binary representations of the value balances involved are adjusted in accordance with the data copied from the control-log, preferably that the records, copied from the control-log are recorded on a permanent storage medium connected with the system computer that has the recorded data be not-manipulable and only readable, that the start value in vigour at the time (probably: '0') is placed in the reset-counter of the WC involved and, preferably, that the control-log of the WC involved (the part of the memory that is indicated as such) is erased, casu quo is written with irrelevant signs. It is quite in accordance with the present invention, that this routine (hereinafter indicated with the term 'resetting') is preceded by a check of the WC reset-counter and also, that the routine in question only takes place when the reset-counter as value differs from the start value thereof. Also is it quite in accordance with the present invention that also in the control-log (or in a control-log specifically intended for that purpose) of the transferring WC a record is written that is composed of the code of origin of the receiving WC and the transferred value and that in that case the received and transferred values are filed as positive, respectively negative values, or that the received and transferred valued are distinguished in the control-log through the addition of one or more identifying marks. And moreover is it quite in accordance with the present invention that the control-log records are composed of more than just code of origin and value, but, for example, also of transaction date, time, or any other data whatsoever.

Every time a WC receives or transfers value trough the system- WC, or, for whatever reason, is connected with the system computer, the program brings, according to the present invention, preferably about that the relevant value balance in the system- ^C is decreased/increased with the uploaded/offloaded value and/or that a record made up of the code of origin of the WC involved and uploaded offloaded value, as well as, if desired, transaction date etcetera, is written on a permanent storage medium connected with the system computer, that has the recorded data be not-manipulable and only readable. Last mentioned data plus the data that -as described above- in case of a connection of WC's with the system computer, are copied from their control-logs are, through the working of the program according to the invention, processed permanently or periodically in such a way that, as a result, statements, preferably sorted on date, of the transactions between the codes of origin and, per transaction or not, of the balances changed by those transactions concerning the outstanding values per code of origin are brought about. These results can be processed with the help of known statistical methods in such a way that a comparison with the binary representation of the outstanding value according to the system- W^C gives an understanding of the probability that 'false value' circulates within the system, within which code of origin the origin lies and to which code of origin it moves; furthermore it gives an understanding of the velocity of the value and differences as to that within or between codes of origin.

As far as the direct settlement of the system costs is concerned, data for the calculation of these costs are written in the memory of the WC before its issue, with which a code, indicating whether the costs of the use of the system is carried by the holder, or by a third party indicated or not by that code; these data may, through the working of the program according to the invention, be overwritten with other data by the system computer (under the control of the system manager).

The working of the program, limited to the settling of the costs of the use of the system, is preferably as follows.

In the part of the memory in which the data in question are filed (and that will be indicated hereinafter as 'costs-log') sufficient space is reserved by the working of the program for the filing of the binary representations of at least two values, being the transaction-balance and the transaction-costs-reserve (possibly per currency of the values present in the WC). With this, the transaction-balance is the value that equals the sum of the transaction costs concerning the transactions done with the WC since the last resetting and the transaction-costs-reserve is the value that equals the (theoretical) transaction costs on that residual value in the C, which together with the transaction-costs-reserve equals the value in the WC. If for the working of the program according to the invention the determination of the value present in the WC, as far as for transactions available, is necessary, the program brings according to the invention about that the binary representation of the total value present in the ^C (as far as of the relevant currency) is decreased with the transaction-costs-reserve (concerning the same currency). In connection with the transfer of value to/from a WC, the program, according to the invention, brings also about that, in the WC, the transaction costs concerning that transfer are calculated, the binary representation of the total (that is added) value present in the WC (as far as the currency in which the transaction was made is concerned) brought about as a result of the transaction in question is replaced by the binary representation of the difference of that value and the value of the calculated transaction costs, that the binary representation of the transaction-balance is replaced by the binary representation of the sum of that value and the value of the calculated transaction costs and finally, that the binary representation of the transaction-costs-reserve is replaced by the binary representation of the newly calculated transaction-costs-reserve. The data for the calculation of the transaction costs may contain the rates of exchange in relation to one currency (for instance a currency used by the system manager) as well, or may be completed with a rate of exchange as soon as a WC receives value in another currency, in which case one transaction-balance and one transaction-costs- reserve suffice, but it will also be possible in the framework of the invention to use different tariffs, both a transaction-balance and a transaction-costs-reserve per currency, or a mixture on the basis of the foregoing.

Every time a WC is connected to the system computer, the program, according to the present invention, brings preferably about that the value 'transaction-balance' is copied on a permanent storage medium connected with the system computer, that has the recorded data be not-manipulable and only readable and that the transaction-balance in the ^C is overwritten with the value 'zero'.

In the foregoing it has been assumed that a WC could be carrier of values in different currencies at the same time. Although this is less determined by the claims than by the legal framework, it might be advisable to underline that value in a currency can only be received by a W^C under control of the system computer (and by which total value in circulation within the system increases), or from another WC against value in a different currency, against something else or for nothing (and by which total value in circulation within the system does not change). The working of the program according to the invention indicated above does relate to these transactions as well, also if they are (sometimes) two opposite, mutually dependent transactions.

A result of what was put above concerning trade paper is that virtual trade paper has the legitimizing working that is legally attributed to ordinary trade paper, so that this aspect (with the corresponding ones) is covered by the present invention as well.

Although the present invention aims, amongst others, at anonymity of transactions, the invention does of course make the external recording of the transaction-log, certainly if under control of the WC-holder, not impossible. To give these recordings more evidential value one could think of adding clues to the transaction-log-records, that can only be done under the working of the program or of signing the files in question in a way that is available or will be developed.

Finally, an apphcation with which more system managers operate or with which one or more third parties guarantee observance does fall under the present invention. According to the contract, severally liability could apply, but the value could, for instance, also be linked to a special accept-code per guarantor and/or be treated as a separate currency.