Data carrier - Patent Review 4582985

I claim:

1. A data carrier of the personal card type, holding information about at least one of the owner, the card issuing organization, account number, etc., and being intended for manual utilization at a place of use or by means of a read in/read out device comprised in a terminal equipment, said data carrier comprising:

means for carrying out a verification process which includes internal processing of supplied identification information of the owner during said verification process and for generating an acceptance signal (acc) as a result of a verification of the identity and/or right of the owner to use the data carrier;

said means including:

a verification device for carrying out said verfication process and comprising a sensor device (2) for sensing a finger tip of the user of the card and obtaining corresponding finger print line information of said user, said sensor device (2) comprising a plurality of sensing elements each having a sensing surface (9') for contacting the finger tip of the user and a registration means (23; 34) which is controllable by said surface and the registration state of which during the sensing operation is defined dependent on the relative positions of the sensing surface and a finger print line;

reading means (3) for reading said state of registration;

signal processing means (4) coupled to said reading means for forming an identification bit sequence from the registration state information obtained by said reading;

memory means (6) for permanent storage of a previously and correspondingly obtained reference bit sequence;

comparator means (5) for comparing said identification bit sequence formed by said signal processing means and said reference bit sequence and for generating said acceptance signal (acc) when the degree of coincidence between said bit sequences is within a predetermined acceptance range; and

control means for the control and current supply (8,10) of said verification device during the verification process.

2. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said verification device includes an adjustable switching means (7) arranged for activating, at the reception of said acceptance signal (acc), a visually readable indicating means (7).

3. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said verification device includes an adjustable switching means (7) arranged for activating, at the reception of said acceptance signal (acc), a signal path for the transmission of information between the data carrier and a terminal equipment.

4. The data carrier of any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein each sensing surface comprises an internal contact plate (21) and a surrounding contact plate (22) surrounding said internal plate but separated from said internal plate by a non-conductive slot, said slot being adapted to be overbridged electrically by a detail of a finger tip pattern of the user; a first current supply line (25) connected to said surrounding plate; and a second current supply line (26) connected to said internal plate via a respective registration means (23); whereby current is supplied to said registration means when said slot is overbridged by a finger tip pattern of the user.

5. The data carrier of claim 4, wherein said surrounding contact plates of said sensing surfaces are integrated into a common contact plate (30), comprising for each of said sensing elements a ring-shaped hole (30) corresponding to said slot and in the center of which is provided said internal contact plate (32), said internal contact plate being substantially point-shaped.

6. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein each sensing surface comprises an element the resistance of which is temperature dependent, the magnitude of the current which is supplied to said registration means being thereby controlled by the transmission of heat from the finger tip to the sensing surface.

7. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein each sensing surface comprises an element of a thermoelectric transducer comprising two elements of different types of metal, and which is temperature sensitive, for controlling the magnitude of the current which is supplied to said registration means as a function of the transmission of heat from the finger tip to the sensing surface.

8. The data carrier of any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein each sensing surface comprises an optical sensing element (41, 49) for the supply of light to a contacting detail of the finger tip of the user and for the reception of reflected light from the same detail, said optical sensing element comprising a light source (45) and a means (46) which is sensitive to said reflected light and which is arranged to control the registration means (48) responsive to reflected light.

9. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said registration means (23,24) comprises a plurality of registration elements for analog registration, said analog registration elements generating an analog registration value dependent on the supply of current.

10. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said registration means comprises a plurality of bistable elements which change their respective states when a current which is supplied exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

11. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said current supply means (8,10) comprises activating means for temporarily activating the verification device, said activating means comprising a bistable element which is controllable via a touch contact element and which is so arranged to inactivate the verification device at a repeated operation of the touch contact element.

12. The data carrier of claim 1, wherein said memory means (6) comprises memory areas for permanent storing control information corresponding to a method for reading the registration means and decision rules for forming said identification bit sequence.

13. The data carrier of claim 12, wherein said memory areas store control information corresponding to the decision of a reference point (51, FIG. 5a) in the finger tip pattern and the reading of recorded finger tip pattern information from the registration means coinciding with a reading circle (63) having its center in said reference point.

14. The data carrier of claim 12, wherein said memory means (6) comprises memory areas for permanently storing control information which is specific to an individual, said control information being established during forming of said reference bit sequence.

15. The data carrier of claim 13, wherein said memory means (6) comprises memory areas for permanently storing control information which is specific to an individual, said control information being established during forming of said reference bit sequence.

16. The data carrier of claim 13, wherein said memory means (6) comprises memory areas for permanently storing control information which is specific to an individual, said control information being established during forming of said reference bit sequence.

17. The data carrier of claim 16, wherein said memory areas for storage of control information which is specific to an individual store information corresponding to at least one of the following: line-by-line scanning of the registration means by the use of horizontal or vertical scanning lines; reading direction along said lines; direction of displacement of said reading lines; decision rules for the evaluation of the information which has been read for establishing said reference point; number of reading circles for reading the finger tip pattern information; radius or center of a circle when several reading circles are used; and rules for establishing said identification bit sequence from the finger tip pattern information which is read along said circles.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a data carrier being preferably shaped as a personal card (i.e., credit card) holding information about the owner, the card issuing organization, account number, etc., and being intended for manual utilization at the place of use or by means of a read-in/read-out device included in a terminal equipment. The data carrier comprises means for internal processing of supplied identification information of the owner during a verification process and for generating an acceptance signal as a result of a verification of the identity and/or right of the owner to use the data carrier.

Data carriers or cards of the type indicated above are known and are generally referred to as credit cards. Normally, said cards are dimensioned according to an accepted ISO standard, which means that the card is made from a PVC material being bendable to some extent and having the approximate dimensions of 0.8 mm.times.54 mm.times.85 mm.

Data cards intended to be handled manually may comprise said information in an embossed print allowing the information to be transferred to a payment verification by means of a print operation.

Data cards intended to be handled by a terminal equipment may comprise a loop of magnetizable material comprising said information, and the terminal comprises a read-out device for reading the information which is registered magnetically and a read-in device for a read-in of new information. Data cards of this type may alternatively comprise optically readable and writeable areas and may also be of the punched card type holding a combination of holes being mechanically readable by the terminal equipment.

Recently active data cards have begun to appear on the market. Said cards are provided with memory circuits and logic circuits of semiconductor type which allows for storing of information and processing of the same internally on the card. For communication with a terminal equipment, cards of this type are provided with a number of externally available electrical connection means or corresponding coupling means.

A general problem when data cards are used is the fact that a lost or stolen data card may be used without authorization by a different person. This problem may be eliminated if the user is obliged to verify his right before the data card may be used.

In the case of data cards intended for manual handling, the verification may be carried out in that the user verifies his identity by presenting a different identification document. Normally, however, a certification is not required when such a data card is used, among other things due to the fact that this will create a delay and give rise to a long line of people at the places of use. Instead the active control or check is carried out by means of so-called black lists comprising the numbers of all blocked accounts, which may have been blocked due to the fact the account holder has not fulfilled his obligations towards the accounting organization or the fact that the account holder has reported the card as lost. The black lists, being up-dated regularly, mean a significant increase of work at the places of use. Moreover, it is possible that a blocked account will not be observed during a manual check. As a consequence, the card will be used despite the fact that it should not. Furthermore a card, which has been lost for example, may be misused from the time it is reported as lost until an updated black list is available.

In order to improve the working situation at the places of use, so-called electronic "black lists" have been developed lately. Then, a data computer including a memory is used to check the list. In said memory the information about blocked accounts which was previously printed on the black lists is stored. During a check the actual account number is introduced and thereafter compared with the total of scored account numbers. Summarizing, even if a device of this type allows for an improved check, it may be concluded that an adequate solution to the described problem is not available for the time being.

For data cards intended to be handled by a terminal device, one method for preventing unauthorized use of the card means that the card holder will have to verify his right by introducing a personal identification code, i.e., a PIN code, via a key set of the terminal equipment. In the terminal, the PIN code introduced in this manner and other information which has been read out from the card are evaluated and if the result of the evaluation is positive, the data card is accepted and the transaction may continue. Handling of the secret codes means a significant administrative problem to the accounting or card issuing organization. To the card holder it means a practical problem to memorize the secret code comprising normally four digits. The last-mentioned problem is aggravated also by the fact that many persons today hold a number of different data or account cards of this type and, consequently, are forced to memorize a corresponding number of different secret codes. This may lead to a situation that a person in this situation, as a support to his memory, writes down the different codes and keeps the note easily available together with his credit cards. Obviously this means a drastic decrease of the security which is aimed at by the personal code.

Within the reasonably near future it may be expected that cards of the last-mentioned type will be useful more generally as a payment means at so-called POS terminals in shops of many different types. This actualizes a further security risk of the system described above according to which a PIN-code is evaluated in a terminal device. People within this field talk about the so-called "wardrobe case". Thereby is understood the situation when a card holder may come into contact with a false terminal at a place of purchase. Then the customer will introduce this PIN-code without any doubts. The PIN-code and the associated account number will be registered by means of an equipment arranged at a different place, that is in the so-called "wardrobe". In this "wardrobe" is also kept equipment for forwarding the transaction correctly. The registered pairs of associated account numbers and PIN-codes may afterwards be used for preparation of false account cards. If these false account cards are used now and then and within an extended geographical area, a significant time may elapse until the forgery is detected. The main reason behind this problem is the fact that the account number information and the PIN-code information are transferred to an evaluation device on signal lines being already or which may be made physically available, allowing thereby detection of the information.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,012 proposes a solution which eliminates the problem of administrating the secret code numbers. According to this solution the card holder may by himself select his secret code whtn the card is used for the first time. This code is stored on the card and is later on used for verification when the card is used thereafter. In case a person is a holder of a number of different cards of this type, it may happen that this person selects the one and same secret PIN-code for all of these cards in order to make it easier to memorize the PIN-code. Alternatively, this person may select his PIN-code in accordance with a rule which is simple. e.g., as part of his telephone number or citizen identification number (i.e., social security number). In both of said cases the security is influenced negatively since detection of the secret code is facilitated and this opens for a misuse of a number of different account cards.

From U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,473 is known a data card comprising a number of rotatable and translatable switching means. Said switch means are provided with numeric or alphabetical designations. By the setting of a secret number or a letter combination, which is known to the holder, the switching means are made to close an internal electrical circuit on the data card. When the data card is thereafter used in a terminal device, the so-closed electrical circuit may be used as a verification of the holder's authority. Similar technical solutions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,504,343; 3,287,839; 3,593,292; 3,713,235; 3,762,081; 3,972,138 and 4,100,689. All of the data cards described in these U.S. patents have in common the drawback that the holder must memorize a part of or a complete secret code. Furthermore, the construction of the cards including mechanically adjustable means will have to be considered as an old state of the technical development.

The object of the invention is to provide a data carrier or data card in which the drawbacks described above have been eliminated and which makes possible a verification of the user by the use of means accommodated on the card without the use of a secret information which must be memorized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is obtained by a data carrier as defined in the introduction and which, according to the invention, is characterized in that a verification device is provided for carrying out said verification process and comprising a sensor device for sensing a finger tip of the owner and obtaining the corresponding finger print line information, said sensor device comprising sensing elements each having a sensing surface for contacting the finger tip and a registration means, which is controlled by said sensing surface and the registration state of which during the sensing operation is defined dependent on the relative positions of the sensing surface and to a finger print line, means for reading said state of registration, signal processing means for forming an identification bit sequence from the registration state information of said registration means obtained by said reading, memory means for permanent storage of a previously and correspondingly obtained reference bit sequence, comparator means for comparing said identification bit sequence and said reference bit sequence and for generating said acceptance signal when the degree of coincidence between said bit sequences is acceptable, and means for the control and current supply of said verification device during the verification process.

The problem of memorizing a secret code is eliminated since the identification information is received from a finger tip pattern. The finger tip pattern is unique for each individual and thereby provides for a good identification security. Due to the fact that the verification is carried out on the very data carrier, the risk of the above related wardrobe case is eliminated and the verification may be carried out with the least possible inconvenience for the user by the use of the personal data carrier only. The achieved verification security allows for a use of the data carrier as a mere identification document, for example, at border passages between countries and at entrances to restricted areas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the verification device which is provided on the data carrier;

FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of a sensing element included in the verification device;

FIG. 3 shows a modified embodiment of the sensing surface in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3a shows a further modified embodiment of the sensing surface;

FIG. 4 shows schematically one embodiment of an optical sensing element;

FIG. 5a, 5b and 5c, respectively, show the principal zone of three different finger tip patterns;

FIG. 6 shows a simplified finger tip pattern illustrating a method for the reception of information; and

FIG. 7 illustrates signal waveforms obtained at the reception of information according to FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The block diagram shown in FIG. 1 of the verification device on the data carrier 1 comprises a sensor device 2 having sensing elements arranged in the shape of a sensing matrix 9. The dimension of the sensing matrix is adapted to the finger tip pattern of a thumb. The sensing elements may be read by means of a reading means 3 connected to the sensing device via a transmission line a. By the reading means 3, the sensing elements may be read in accordance with a predetermined reading program, and the information will obtain a binary form.

Via a transmission line b the binary information is forwarded to a signal processing device 4 in which the information is transformed so that it may be used for identification. Dependent on the predetermined reading program, the information may be modified with respect to the position and orientation of the finger on the matrix during the recording operation. Finally, an identification bit sequence is calculated from said information, the method of calculation and the bit number of said bit sequence being such that it will characterize the finger tip pattern in a way which is adequate with respect to the security of identification.

The identification bit sequence is forwarded to a comparator means 5 via a transmission line c. At the same time a reference bit sequence is supplied to the comparator 5 from a memory 6, which may comprise a PROM-memory into which the reference bit sequence has been programmed when the data carrier was delivered to the holder. Preferably, the number of bits of the reference sequence and of the identification bit sequence are equal and the same is calculated in a manner which corresponds to the calculation of the identification bit sequence in an equipment which, besides the means which correspond to units 2, 3 and 4, also comprises means for programming the memory 6. Methods and means for programming a PROM- or a ROM-memory are generally known in this field.

Block 8 comprises means for control and current supply of the other units. In order to simplify the disclosure the interconnections are shown as one single line, which transmits control signals as well as supply current. The control signals are generated by a microprocessor, being programmed to control the reading operation of the reading means 3 and the calculation performed by the signal processing device 4. As will be evident from the following, the microprocessor may receive control information which is specific to the individual from memory 6. The current supply is activated by a switch 10, being constantly in a so-called "stand by" position. Switch 10 obtains its control information from a touch contact. This contact may be provided separately on the data carrier or the sensing elements of the sensing matrix 9. When the finger tip is pressed against this contact, the switch 10 is changed to a closed position and closes thereby the current supply loop. Thereafter the switch will stay closed during a given amount of time necessary for performing the identification process and the eventually following transactions or alternatively, it may comprise a bistable circuit, for example a flip-flop, from which follows that the switch will change from a closed position to an open position when the sensing element is activated a second time. In FIG. 1 it is assumed that said touch contact comprises one element of the matrix 9, which is indicated by a connection between the switch 10 and the sensing device 2.

In case the comparator 5 detects a sufficient degree of coincidence between the reference bit sequence from memory 6 and the calculated identification bit sequence from the signal processing device 4, an acceptance signal acc is generated and supplied to the indicator 7. The indicator 7 comprises a switching means which may be activated by the signal acc for activating a likewise included light emitting diode (LED) which transmits a green radiation when the acc-signal is received. This green light then indicates the fact that the holder of the data carrier has been able to verify his right to use the same. Alternatively, the block 7 may comprise a switching means which, when receiving the acc-signal, closes a signal path and thereby enables an exchange of data between the data carrier and a terminal equipment.

The data carrier is provided with some given amount of written information, which in FIG. 1 is illustrated by the name of the card holder, and a mark 11 illustrated as a schematic finger tip for a course adjustment of the finger on the matrix 9.

It is observed that, besides the sensing device 2, the separate blocks are shown in an enlarged scale in FIG. 1. The physical structure of blocks 3-10 corresponds to prior art of said so-called active cards. Blocks 3, 4, 6