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Description  |
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FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates, in general, to electronic transaction and
identification systems, and, in particular, to portable electronic
transaction devices, such as cards, keys, etc. and appertaining stationary
equipment, such as terminals and coding and transaction devices.
For the sake of simplicity, the portable devices will be referred to as
"cards" "M-cards" or "modules". M-cards, for the purpose of this
application, are plastic devices, comprising integrated circuits, commonly
called "smart cards" or "chip cards". Such smart cards or chip cards
contain electronic components in microstructure, i.e. integrated circuits.
Devices of this nature have been disclosed in German patent DE 19 45 777
C3 to DETHLOFF, filed on Sept. 10, 1969.
The integrated (semiconductor) circuits contained in such cards are
generally of two types: logic structures and memories.
Before the advent of these cards, all machine-operable or machine readable
cards carried only passive memory means. Information could be written on
or read from a magnetic stripe, for instance. A piece of information could
also be erased from the stripe and another, e.g. updated, piece of
information, could be written onto it again. The capacity of magnetic
media on cards is limited to a few hundred bits of information.
The advantage of a card containing chips is twofold: the logical structures
make the card active, i.e. information can be processed within the card
and could be computed or compared with other information and the like. The
other advantage is provided by the semiconductor memories, which have a
multifold capacity compared with magnetic media on cards, and which can be
programmed in various ways (to make their contents inaccessible after
write-in, to make it unalterable etc). It can be foreseen, that within a
reasonable period of time, chip cards will be more generally introduced
and will replace the presently widely used magnetic stripe cards.
Presently, common cards, magnetic stripe, and others, are "single-user
cards", i.e. such cards are assigned to only one cardholder.
Current magnetic stripe cards, which are machine-operable, carry as one
piece of information on their magnetic stripe, a personal designation of
the rightful cardholder. A so-called PIN (Personal Identification Number)
is widely used as such a personal designation. It is encrypted and, when
the card is used, it will be decrypted in the reading device. To ensure
the identity of the user and the rightful owner, the PIN is read from the
mag stripe and then decrypted. The PIN is then compared in the reader,
with the PIN inputted into the reader by the user.
The algorithm to decrypt the coded PIN obtained from the card is available
in all readers. It is obvious that technically trained criminals could
obtain the algorithm or the decrypting module or a whole reader, to
illegally decrypt PINs from stolen cards or to learn how to encrypt false
PINs onto the memory of forfeited cards.
To overcome this drawback, U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,156, to DETHLOFF, discloses
memory means that are inaccessibly and integrally incorporated in a card
for entry and storage of information therein, and further, the contents of
the memory being available only within the card.
This patent further discloses components included in the card and activated
in response to inputs from a reader, to effect checking of the identity
and entitlement of a user of the card. Thus, the comparing of the PIN
stored in the card and the PIN inputted at the time of using the card is
no longer executed in the reader. No algorithm can be derived or stolen
from the reader, nor does it make sense to obtain a reader for deriving
PINs from stolen cards or illegally encrypting PINs for faked cards.
But still the PIN is to be inputted into the card for checking via the
reader by keying the PIN onto the PIN keypad of the reader. It is possible
to illicitly tap the line from the PIN keypad in the reader to the
terminals of the card. This would permit a criminal to learn individual
PINs from specific cards.
To eliminate this kind of a risk, U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,316, to DETHLOFF et
al, discloses means incorporated in a card to input the PIN directly into
the card. This, in addition, eliminates the possibility of a third person
unauthorizedly spying out the PIN, when same is keyed in onto the keypad
of the reader by the rightful cardholder.
Upon checking (comparing the PINs), the checking means within the card
produces a signal, which indicates whether the inputted PIN corresponds to
the stored PIN or not.
It will be understood that cards can be faked to produce positive signals.
It is therefore essential that a precedent card authentication check is
made. Only an authentic, i.e., genuine card can produce a true identity
check signal.
Such checks for authentication will very probably be based on so-called
public key or "trapdoor" algorithms, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
4,405,829 to RIVEST et al. This kind of verification requires a secret key
to be "sealed" within the card, i.e., the key is to be charged into a
memory within the card in a way that it cannot be read out from the card
and cannot be altered after having been charged and that it is only
available within the card for processing when executing an authentication
check.
A key in the form of a card with a magnetic stripe that can be programmed
by the issuer when issued for a selected period of time to unlock doors,
for example, in a hotel, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,231 to MIZUTANI
et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,297 to UGON et al discloses a portable hand
held machine which includes a keyboard, display, microprocessor and
memory, and which receives a carrier in the form of a plastic card, which
also carries a microprocessor and memory for the purpose of carrying on a
dialogue between the machine and the carrier. Also, see U.S. Pat. No.
4,305,059 to BENTON which discloses a system for transferring funds
utilizing portable modules carrying keyboards and displays; U.S. Pat. No.
4,614,861 to PAVLOV et al which discloses a unitary self contained card
having keyboard and display; U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,450 to KERKHOFF
disclosing a cash dispenser with a PIN changing function; and U.S. Pat.
No. 4,460,965 to TREHN disclosing the loading of a sub transaction memory
from a main credit memory in portable devices.
DETHLOFF U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,156 claims memories that are chargeable only
once and the contents of same being only available within the card.
As will be seen thereafter, the integrated circuits within a card, which
include memories whose contents are only available within the card,
components included in a card, which are responsive to an input from
outside the card, and means incorporated in a card to input information
directly into a card, represent the state of the art.
It is further within the state of the art that cards are issued and
assigned to one and one only user or cardholder. It is common practice for
card issuing organizations to strictly instruct card users not to give
away or permit other persons to use the card. The organizations hold the
cardholder liable for any seemingly authorized use of the card by third
persons.
For example: the instructions of a known card issuing organization, which
will be called XY, read as follows:
"keep your XY card in a safe place and permit no other person to use
it....do not tell any other person your secret Personal Identification
Number (PIN) or write your number on your XY card or otherwise make it
available to anyone".
The XY cardholder Agreement states:
"We will mail you a secret PIN and you agree to keep the number secret,
even from bank employees".
The limitation by the principle "one card--one user" represents an
uncomfortable inconvenience. If one thinks, for example, of a card used by
travelers abroad. The cardholder is accompanied by his or her family; the
cardholder is required, in each and every case, to execute card
transactions personally, i.e. he/she could not send somebody else of the
family for shopping with his/her card.
Aside from traveling, there are numerous examples when cardholders are
hindered by having to appear personally to use their cards. They often
would like to charge somebody else to do the transaction or to obtain the
service in question for him/her. However, cardholders are not permitted to
hand over their cards and name their PIN to third parties. In most cases,
they would not want to do this either. So card issuing organizations and
cardholders find themselves on the same side. If third persons were
permitted to use the cards and, therefore, to learn the PIN of the
original cardholder, they could dispose of the whole value which is
assigned to the card.
In an attempt to overcome this inconvenience, card issuing organizations
sometimes offer additional cards for cardholders' families ("partner
cards") or members of cardholders' business, often at lower cost.
The card issuing organization may thus assign one card to more than one
person and personalize such card with more than one PIN, each one for a
different person. This, however, would require an advance determination of
the use data (money, services, time frames or other authorization) for
each authorized person. Such procedure would only meet the requirements of
a small percentage of conceivable applications or cardholders. It would
also require quite some amount of red tape to be exchanged between the
card issuing organization and such applicant cardholders to prepare and
agree upon the individual card (use) data for the personalization of those
cards in a legally satisfying way and to cover the relevant liabilities.
All in all such preprogrammed cards for plural users would be an inflexible
instrument as day-to-day requirements of users cannot be foreseen.
The multi-user card (M-card) of the present invention should not be
mistaken for a multi-purpose or multi-service card, i.e., a card which is
commissioned or backed by different "issuers", that is to say by different
businesses, for example, by one or more banks, a railway company, a
gasoline company and by a car parking business. Cards of this nature have
been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,027, by McNEELY et al
as a Multiple Company Credit Card System. Also, see U.S. Pat. No.
4,656,342, to UGON. Such cards are still assigned to only one cardholder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,837 to STUCKERT discloses a portable terminal for
receiving two cards for conducting transactions between the cards. PCT
application no. W083/03018 discloses the use in cards of a plurality of
identifying characteristics which can be randomally selected.
The limitation of one card to one cardholder is not the only drawback of
present card systems. Another one is represented by the inflexibility of
the values of stored units of money or other credits.
Cards contain in their memories, information which permits the cardholder
to obtain certain values, i.e., a piece of merchandise, a service such as
car parking, or a fare from location A to location B. Such credit
information is usually expressed by "units". Those units may represent
different values, even in the same card In a multi-purpose or
multi-company card system, one card may contain different kinds of units
for different kinds of businesses, such as a bank, a railway company, a
gasoline company or a parking lot. For example, the "units" in banking are
designated as money units (1 unit--1 U.S. $ or 1 yuean), the "units" of a
railway company can be designated as a number of rides between two
predetermined locations for commuting The "units" of a gasoline company
are--again designated as money units, and a unit of the car parking can be
equivalent to one day's parking.
All cards to date have in common that such units do not change their
individual value from the time of card issuance or re-issuance until the
moment when the last unit is "consumated". In other words one unit
"initiated" as one U.S. Dollar or as a one way fare from location A to
location B, retain, for the time of their "life", the value of one U.S.
Dollar and of such one way fare.
Presently known cards, thus, (a) are single-user cards (unless they would
originally be personalized by the issuer for more than one user, which,
however, has practically not yet been done) and (b) contain "units" whose
value is unalterable once loaded.
Summarizing, it can be stated that the relevant assignments, such as (a)
the assignment of a card to a user (cardholder), (b) the assignment of a
designation to the credit units, and (c) the assignment of a value to one
unit, are (A) controlled by the issuer(s) and (B) accomplished prior to
issuance or reissuance of the card.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a system
wherein a card issued to a single cardholder or user, comprise means
controllable by the cardholder at any time after issuance or reissuance,
to assign rights to third parties, to change and cancel such rights and to
assign additional designations and values to data stored in the card. The
cardholder and the sub-user can also change designations and values of
data originally assigned to such data by the issuer(s), all within the
scope of the original rights, terms and conditions of the issuer(s).
Expressed more generally, the inventive system with cards or other
modules, includes means for permanent after issuance or after reissuance
variability of data stored in memories within the card, by assigning
codes, values and designations to said data stored in said memories within
the card
In more detail, these means are controllable by the cardholder to assign
rights to a third person (sub-user) at any time, at any place and to any
selectable extent of use of the card, within the scope or rights, terms
and conditions the card has originally been initialized or reissued for by
the issuer or the issuers, to the cardholder. The card is assignable by
the cardholder to a predeterminable number of sub-users. The extent of
rights, terms and conditions for sub-use by an individual sub-user, can
refer (a) to its application or issuer, such as for banking involving
monetary application, or railway riding involving a service; (b) to the
term within which the assignment shall be valid; and (c) to the value,
e.g. in money units, service units, number of uses or any other kind of
digitally determinable credit or authorization, and to other properties of
the card.
These means further allow the cardholder or the issuer, after issuance or
re-issuance of the card, to assign different values to one unit, change
the designations of units and assign additional designation to a unit, all
within the scope of the original extent of terms, and credit values
initialized or reissued by the issuer(s).
The capabilities of the card, namely to be assignable to sub-users and to
be alterable as to the values and designations of the stored units, can be
provided in individual (single) or in combinational (multi-user
card+variable value card) embodiments.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a card with one or
both of the aforesaid properties which is compatible with existing
systems. The input and output procedures of the multi-user card can be
made to match the standards for cards that are within the state of the
art.
The cardholder's operation to assign certain rights of use to sub-users is
selfcontained. That is, it does not require any assistance from the
system. The system can be designed, however, to provide assistance to the
cardholder to do the programming any time after issuance or reissuance, at
the cardholder's option, and in accordance with his or her then prevailing
requirements.
It is still another object of the invention to provide key means for
entering data into the card, display means for checking the available
conditions and balances of consumable values, units and time and for
specifying and checking the assignment or alteration data, and a resident
power source. The card further includes memory means and logic control
means to process data when (a) the card is assigned to a sub-user, (b)
values are altered or newly designated and (c) the card is used by a
sub-user with the original unit values and designations or by the
cardholder or a sub-user with altered unit values and designations.
It is still another object of the invention to provide such a card without
keyboard, display and power source, but in combination with a
supplementary device ("envelope") that can be connected to the card, the
supplementary device comprising the keyboard, display, logic and memory
means, and a power source. The exterior of the card is then
indistinguishable from conventional cards.
The supplementary device can be portable or stationary. The contact between
card and supplementary device can be galvanic or otherwise, such as
optical, inductive, capacitive or by microwave. The supplementary device
includes the means to assign the card to sub-users and to assign and alter
values and designations. The supplementary device can be made in at least
two embodiments, one for assigning the card to sub-users, and another one
to assign and alter values and designations, or it can be embodied as a
combination device for both tasks. This card is hereafter referred to as
an "M-card", while the supplementary device is referred to as an "M-card
envelope" or simply an "envelope".
It has been found that a substantial need in the business and banking
community would be satisfied by the provision of a cardholder controllable
multi-user card, such as that of the present invention. This card would
serve to greatly enhance the comfort and convenience of cardholders, card
issuing organizations and card receiving businesses. Cardholders would be
relieved of performing each and every transaction themselves and would be
allowed to designate third persons as sub-users to do one or more
particular transaction or to obtain certain services within the
limitations of fixed terms and conditions set by the cardholder without
disclosing his/her PIN and without opening thereby the card's full credit
to such sub-users. For assignment to a sub-user a new PIN has to be
entered for that sub-user. The M-card of the present invention can thus
also serve to enhance security against loss and theft. In cases when a
cardholder is afraid that during the course of a transaction the PIN could
be explored or spied out by a third person, he could make the M-card
useless for a thief or a dishonest finder. The cardholder simply
preprograms the M-card to make himself a sub-user, i.e., to assign
(besides his main PIN) a new PIN and limits the available value under the
new PIN to the approximate or exact amount of the expected transaction and
also sets a time window (term) within which such transaction shall be
possible. He can do this shortly before a transaction is executed. Should
he lose the card thereafter, the preprogrammed credit has either been
consummated or the time limit has expired.
Another advantage is the alterability of values and designations. This
makes the M-card flexible in a way which cannot be foreseen as to all
possible aspects. The following examples may serve to understand a few of
the new applications.
While it is conceivable that cards within the state of the art could be
initialized by the issuer for different currencies, this is not very
comfortable though, as most people cannot foresee what their needs will be
in a year's time or so. It would enhance convenience and comfort, if
without re-initializing (reissuing) the card, either a bank or the
cardholder, or even a sub-user, could "change" any time, currencies within
the M-card to the extent which is set by either the originally initialized
terms and conditions and values or by the relevant sub-user data. In
another application, where a business ("company") is the cardholder, the
M-card can become a so-called company card. They may be in the form of
credit cards. Such company cards can be given by the company to employees
who travel at the company's expense. The company can assign the M-card to
an employee to make him/her a sub-user of the M-card and set the estimated
amount of credit in one or more currencies with a time limit. When using
the M-card the employee enters the kind of expenditure into the card and
then the M-card automatically keeps records of the transactions. When
traveling abroad, he/she could even change valuta from one currency to
another when he/she needs money in another country. The procedure of
changing valuta with floating rates of exchange will be described later.
Upon return of the employee, he/she surrenders the M-card to the issuing
company office. The issuing company office then inserts the M-card into a
reader, where the transactions are read out from the transaction memory,
the transactions representing the expense account of the traveling
employee and are fed into the computer accounting system, where it is
further processed. Thereafter, the transaction account in the memory of
the M-card is reset to zero, the sub-user PIN (M-PIN) memory is cleared
and the M-card can be programmed to be issued to another traveling
employee.
It can easily be seen that the advantages of an application like this are
manifold: the company saves liquidity. Since it need not furnish the
traveling employee with cash money, (or its equivalent in travelers
checks), and it saves card fees, since it need not obtain individual cards
for all or most of its traveling employees. Further, the employee is
relieved of having to sit down and write expense accounts. The bookkeeping
of travel accounts is automated. The procedure even prevents "padding" or
falsification of travel expense accounts or other expense accounts, since
the transaction memory of the M-card reflects the true value of each
transaction, unless a vendor cooperates fraudulently with the employee.
Another application becomes evident when an M-card is used by a traveling
family. In such case, the cardholder can assign the M-card in different
ways, e.g. to certain members of the family for the whole time of the trip
and to others, only from one expected transaction to another or for a day
or a number of days. The cardholder can program full authority for
instance, for his or her spouse and limited amounts for the children. In
addition, the M-card can serve as a foreign valuta means of payment, as
described before.
For changing valuta from one currency to another, which means altering the
value of units and altering the designation of units, i.e., to "change" a
certain amount of currency A to currency B, where there is a floating rate
of exchange, a device or a machine serves to calculate and to authorize
such "exchange" to make the M-card operable for transactions in the "new"
currency. Such devices or machines will be installed by internationally
operating card issuing organizations at locations where travelers mainly
convene, e.g. airports, railway stations, hotels, etc. The machines
operate on-line with a host computer, which updates the prevailing rates
of exchange of floating currencies, permanently or from time to time.
In still another application where a country provides visitors from abroad
with special goods and services to be obtained at special places, e.g.,
hotels, M-cards provide advantages over a system which either furnishes
the visitor with special visitor vouchers (ViVo) in exchange for his/her
foreign valuta, or which country requires payment at those special places
by foreign valuta. Neither alternative may suffice when it is illegal for
domestic people to possess either visitor vouchers or foreign currency,
especially when visitors pay for goods and services with ViVos or foreign
currency at such places which also accept domestic currency.
Now, in a system of the present invention which permits or requires the
foreign visitor to exchange his/her foreign valuta against a "Visitor's
Voucher Card", M-cards can be issued at the consulates of the country or
at the place of entry into the country from M-card issuing machines into
which the visitor's name, the PIN selected by him/her and the amount of
money he/she wants to exchange is entered. Such machines can also comprise
a banknote receiving module for valuta of a known type or a card acceptor
for visitors' home credit or debit cards. The machine may even store the
visa and health certificate of the visitor or visitors in their M-cards.
When traveling inside the country, the visitor can assign the card to
his/her co-traveling family members in accordance with their requirements.
The great versatility of M-cards can be demonstrated by still another
example within the aforesaid application of the M-card as a visitor's
voucher card. The visitor may wish to obtain goods or services which are
provided at certain places for domestic people and foreign visitors alike,
such as clothes in department stores or airline or railway tickets. Since
the visitor, when entering the country and exchanging his/her money,
cannot predetermine or foresee what will be the ratio of special goods and
services reserved for foreign visitors to be paid by ViVos or the like, on
the one hand, and other goods and services being obtainable by domestic
customers and foreign visitors as well as to be paid by domestic money on
the other hand, he/she--at the moment of transaction--enters into the
M-card, the amount of money in domestic currency he/she is due to pay,
which then is "exchanged" within the M-card into domestic currency. Thus,
the domestic vendor receives domestic currency from domestic and foreign
customers likewise In cases like this, there is no need for a device or
machine to calculate and validate card currency exchanged, as the
government authorities use to set a fixed rate of exchange between
visitor's vouchers (ViVo) and domestic currency, i.e., at least during the
term of the M-card there is no floating rate, of exchange.
Further, at places such as hotels, airports and railway stations, where
visitors accumulate, domestic currency cash dispensers can be placed which
accept M-cards with an already pre-changed credit in domestic currency to
provide the visitor with domestic bank notes.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described
in detail to illustrate the application of the principals of the
invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied
otherwise without departing from such principals.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in
which reference numerals shown in the drawings designate like or
corresponding parts throughout the same:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of the M-card, used with the system of the invention,
in its self-contained form;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the components of the M-card shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of an M-card for use in combination with an envelope;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an envelope usable in combination with the
M-card of the inventive system;
FIG. 4a is a perspective view of another embodiment of the envelope with
M-card;
FIG. 5 is a view of the envelope with the M-card in a non-contact position;
FIG. 6 is a view of the envelope with the M-card partly extracted and
aligned in contacting position with envelope contacts;
FIG. 7 is a view of the envelope with a cut-out to see contact positioning
for the sub-user M-PIN and variable value operation;
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the M-card and the envelope, connected to each
other;
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the multi-user programming for sub-users;
FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the cancellation process for a sub-user
authorization;
FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the variable value programming demonstrated with
the example "FOREIGN EXCHANGE", including information on credit status;
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of variable value programming shown in FIG. 11
without information on status;
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the terminal validating process related to FIGS.
11 and 12;
FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the re-change process;
FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the visitor voucher card issuing machine,
showing the operator control pane-;
FIG. 16 is a view of the machine of FIG.-5, showing the visitor control
panel;
FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the visitor voucher card issuing machine;
FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the visitor voucher card issuing process; the
process related to FIG. 17;
FIG. 19 is a perspective view of a visitor voucher card return machine;
FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a visitor voucher card return machine; and
FIG. 21 is a flowchart of the visitor voucher card return process, related
to FIGS. 19 and 20.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The objects of the present invention are accomplished in general, by a
device which may be portable or not, and operative in conjunction with
other devices. In case the device is portable, it is hereafter referred to
as our "M-card". In another embodiment, which may be portable or
stationary as well, it is referred to as "incentive module" or "IncMod".
While the M-card is compatible with cards in external systems which
conform with generally accepted standards, the other embodiment of the
module, forms, in combination with appertaining devices, a system of its
own. Such other devices would normally be in the form of a terminal or an
off-line stand alone unit, which will be referred to as a "business
station" or "BST".
The M-card includes keyboard means for entering commands and identification
data, and numerical values comprising, but not limited to, transaction
data. The devices further include memory means for permanently and
temporarily storing data, and logic means for performing logic processes
and arithmetic calculations on data stored in the memory means and data
entered via the keyboard means. Display means are provided for selectively
displaying data including, but not limited to the commands and
transactions to the card and to the module in its portable embodiment. The
devices include also a power source, such as a battery.
The M-card may comprise all means as described above. In an alternative
embodiment, the above means are distributed between the card and an
"envelope", hereafter referred to as "M-card envelope".
In such an embodiment, the M-card comprises logic and memory means, while
M-card envelope may include other logic and memory means, display means,
keyboard means and an internal power source.
The M-card envelope in its portable form, in general, has the form of a
card, whereby its outer dimensions are a small percentage greater, so that
it can receive the M-card through an opening at its shorter side.
This embodiment of a combination consisting of M-card and M-card envelope
has the advantage that the M-card looks like conventional cards and does
not include display or keyboard means and the power source.
Since the function of the M-card, when it also comprises the display and
the keyboard means and power source, is analogue, i.e., almost equal to
the function of a combination consisting of an M-card and an M-card
envelope, only the latter one will be described in more detail.
The present M-card envelope would normally, although not necessarily, be
owned by the holder of an M-card. However, the M-card and the M-card
envelope are not logically connected with each other. So, an M-card holder
could use any other "foreign" M-card envelope to program his/her M-card.
The M-card, when used for transactions in an external system, is utilized
as any standard smart card or chip card, i.e., the utilization of the
M-card for transactions does not require the presence of the M-card
envelope.
For programming the M-card, the M-card is placed inside the M-card
envelope. The M-card envelope may serve as a container for the M-card,
when it is carried around by its holder. When the M-card envelope serves
as a container, the M-card is totally inserted into the M-card envelope.
To prepare the combination of M-card and M-card envelope for programming
the M-card, the M-card and the M-card envelope must be configured in a way
that a cooperative data exchange relationship is established. This can be
done via galvanic contacts or otherwise, such as inductance, light,
microwave, etc. In the present description, galvanic contacts are assumed.
Referring now to FIG an M-card 101 is shown in its selfcontained form. The
keypad 102 includes the numerical keys "1" through "0" and "C" 110, which
serves to cancel the last entry, and further "reset" 109, "ok" 108, "info"
105, "service" -04 and the special keys in accordance with the present
invention; "M" 106 and "VV" 107. The M-card 101 further includes the
alphanumerical display 103.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram, where the terminals 219 and 220 establish
contact with a | | |
