A key having a handle, a torque section and a shank, said shank including two laterally offset blade portions, a longitudinal edge of one of said blade portions carrying a clocking optical code means while the other of said blade portions is adapted to carry a plurality of rows of security optical code means.

A coded label comprising a code pattern in which first and second segments respectively being substantially square and having reflection factors different from each other are arranged in at least four rows and two columns, and in which at least two of either of the first and second segments are arranged in each column and at least one is arranged in each of the uppermost and lowermost rows.

A special credit card arrangement and construction is employed with the credit card precoded in binary code representing several digits and with a locator indicator to insure that the card is correctly positioned when inserted in the console or readout station. The card coding includes an arrangement of high dielectric constant spots or discs and low dielectric constant spots or discs arranged in several bit groupings related to a plurality of identification digits. In one embodiment of the cards, which are preferably of the plastic material type, opaque conductive plastic inserts may additionally be included over and above the first mentioned discs so that the discs, their location and code arrangement cannot be readily ascertained.

The present system for the secure execution of credit based point of sale purchases uses a credit card that is devoid of any human readable customer account information on the face of the credit card and that encodes all the relevant account information on read only media built into the credit card. This encoded information can be encrypted or protected is some manner to prevent its retrieval by an unauthorized user. In addition, the present system makes use of a point of sale terminal to execute the transaction. In the transaction, the point of sale terminal scans the credit card to obtain the account information encoded therein and the user then inputs a personal identification number PIN to proceed to the next step of the charge process. The PIN number can be used as the cryptokey if the account information is encrypted on the card, or may simply represent a first level of user authentication. In either case, the account information and user authentication information is transmitted to a remotely located credit authorizing agency via telephone lines. Neither the credit card account number nor the type of card (VISA, MASTERCARD), nor the PIN number is displayed to the clerk on the point of sale terminal. If the credit card number and PIN number transmitted to the remotely located credit authorizing agency match the customer data stored at the remotely located credit authorizing agency, the point of sale terminal displays a copy of the user's signature (or photograph) for comparison by the clerk with the user's written authorization of the purchase (and/or physical appearance).

A telephone access system utilizes a calling card that is encoded with a machine readable code for both an access telephone number and a personal identification number. A reader/dialer is used to read the data encoded on the calling card and to generate dialing tones corresponding thereto. Once the data encoded on the calling card has been entered into the reader/dialer, the calling card may be stored in a secured location. To access the calling account, the reader/dialer is held to the mouthpiece of a standard telephone set and is actuated to emit the tones corresponding to the access telephone number. Subsequently, tones corresponding to the personal identification number are emitted under automatic or manual control. Once the account has been verified, the caller proceeds to enter a desired destination telephone number or conduct a telephonic transaction.