KR20070048860A - Electronic money charging and payment device and electronic money charging system including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to electronic money, and more particularly to a technology for charging electronic money.

The electronic money charging system according to the present invention includes a host and an electronic money charging and payment device. The host communicates with a server that converts points to electronic money, requests that the points be converted to electronic money, receives the converted electronic money information, and transmits the information to a physically connected electronic money charging and payment device. Then, the electronic money charging and payment device RF transmits the received electronic money information to the internal IC chip, and the IC chip charges the electronic money information in the memory. Accordingly, the electronic money converted from the point can be easily and automatically charged in real time.

Electronic money, points, charges.

Description

Apparatus for charging / settling electronic cash and system for charging electronic cash including the apparatus}

1 is an overall system configuration for charging electronic money according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic money charging and payment device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: server 200: host

300: electronic money charging and payment device 310: interface unit

320: information processing unit 330: first communication unit

340: second communication unit 350: charging / payment unit

360: storage

The present invention relates to electronic money, and more particularly to a technology for charging electronic money.

The era of no cash is coming. In particular, public transportation such as buses and subways, which require a small amount of cash, encourages the use of transportation cards instead of cash. The transportation card stores electronic money corresponding to cash in the internal memory and is a smart card that can be used for contactless payment. Furthermore, the transportation card function is applied to products such as watches and other accessories, rather than a card form, to make it easier to use. Indeed, the applicant has a watch business that combines the above-described traffic card function with a watch. In order to make a payment using a transportation card or a watch or other accessory having a transportation card function, electronic money must first be charged. The charging of electronic money is done at an offline charging station with a charging terminal, and the electronic money can be charged by cash payment. For reference, the electronic money used for public transportation is now popularized under the name of 'T-money' in Korea. .

On the other hand, systems such as bonus points or miles are being activated. This system provides a certain percentage of performance when a company purchases its products to attract consumers, and if a certain score or more is earned, a certain amount of goods, services, money, etc. will be awarded as a bonus, or It is a system that allows you to get a discount when purchasing a product of the same company in proportion, and the score is a point or mileage. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the points will be uniformly expressed.

In the related art, a method for charging such a point by converting it to electronic money has been proposed. Specifically, the solution is as follows. First, a user connects to a server that provides a point service using a computer. Here, the server that provides the point service is an example of a server operated by a domestic company 'Point Park'. Point Park Co., Ltd. is a service that collects and uses points provided by each company, and it is very useful because members can use a small amount of points together. The user connects to the server and applies for the conversion of his points into T-money, which can be used for public transport payments, and receives an authorization number. The user then visits the charging station and presents the product and approval number, such as his or her transportation card or a watch with that function. Then, the charging station enters an authorization number into the charging terminal to charge the electronic money to a transportation card or a product having the function.

This process makes it possible to charge electronic money with points, which is quite useful for the user. However, in order to charge electronic money with points, the point must be converted to electronic money online as described above, and then the relevant charging station must be visited at the offline charging station and presented with a corresponding authorization number. That is, there is a problem in that the charging method is cumbersome.

The present invention was derived from this background, and an object thereof is to facilitate charging of electronic money converted from a point.

Electronic money charging system according to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a host, and electronic money charging and payment device. The host communicates with a server that converts points to electronic money, requests that the points be converted to electronic money, receives the converted electronic money information, and transmits the information to a physically connected electronic money charging and payment device. Then, the electronic money charging and payment device RF transmits the received electronic money information to the internal IC chip, and the IC chip charges the electronic money information in the memory.

Accordingly, the user of the device physically connects the device to a computer (host), connects to the server through the computer, requests a conversion and download of points to electronic money, and charges the electronic money to the electronic money charging and payment device. In this case, the user can be provided with the convenience of automatically and in real time automatically charging the electronic money converted from the point. That is, after applying for a point to convert the electronic money as in the prior art to obtain the approval number, you do not have to go through the cumbersome process of charging the electronic money by visiting the offline charging station with the approval number and can save time.

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail to enable those skilled in the art to easily understand and reproduce the present invention.

1 is an overall system configuration for charging electronic money according to the present invention. The server 100 provides a service for converting points into electronic money. As described above, the server 100 basically provides a service for allowing the points provided from each company to move together to collect and use the points, and further, convert the points into electronic money. For example, it enables the conversion to electronic money worth 1 won per point.

The host 200 may be a computer as shown, or may be a personal digital assistant (PDA). However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any host device according to the present invention may be connected to the Internet, and may be any device having a configuration in which data communication is possible by physically interfacing with the electronic money charging and payment device 300 to be described later. Either is satisfied.

The electronic money charging and payment device 300 processes payment for the use of public transportation with electronic money stored in a memory through contactless communication as is known. The electronic money charging and payment device 300 may be a watch as shown. Since the electronic money payment technology using a contactless communication is a known technology, description thereof will be omitted. Furthermore, the electronic money charging and payment device 300 according to the present invention provides an advantageous charging function, which will be described later.

Hereinafter, the overall operation of FIG. 1 including such components will be described. According to the user's manipulation, the host 200 accesses the server 100 through the internet network and requests that some or all of points held by the user be converted into electronic money. For example, the user can achieve the conversion request by clicking on the electronic money conversion request icon (also called 'T-money conversion' icon) through a mouse operation. The server 100 converts the electronic money according to the point-> electronic money conversion request from the host 200 and transmits the converted electronic money information to the host 200 without a separate download request or request. Preferably, the server 100 transmits the electronic money information to the host 200 after encrypting the electronic money information using an RSA technique, which is an asymmetric public key cryptography method. The host 200 receives and decrypts electronic money information transmitted from the server 100 via the Internet. The electronic money information is converted to the electronic money charging and payment device 300 by converting the electronic money information decrypted according to the interfacing method with the physically connected electronic money charging and payment device 300 according to the transmission method. The electronic money charging and payment device 300 processes the electronic money information transmitted from the host 200 and charges the internal money. The electronic money charging and payment device 300 will be described below with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic money charging and payment device 300 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the storage unit 360 stores electronic money, and the electronic money charging and payment device 300 that performs payment with the stored electronic money through contactless communication includes an interface unit interfaced with the host 200 ( 310, a first communication unit 330 for modulating RF transmission of electronic money information, and an information processing unit 320 for transmitting and processing electronic money information received through the interface unit 310 through the first communication unit 330. And a second communication unit 340 for receiving and demodulating the RF-transmitted electronic money information, and charging the demodulated electronic money information in the storage unit 360, and charging the electronic money stored in the storage unit 360. And a payment unit 350.

The storage unit 360 may be a NAND-type flash memory capable of reading and writing data, and stores electronic money information used as a payment fee due to the use of public transportation. The interface unit 310 is configured to interface with the host 200 described above, and may be a USB interface according to an embodiment. In the case of the USB method, the electronic money charging and payment device 300 is physically connected to the host 200 through a USB port and a USB cable connected to the port, and controls the USB controller (not shown). Therefore, data communication is performed.

The information processor 320 is a kind of processor for signal processing and processes electronic money information transmitted from the host 200 and received through the interface unit 310. If necessary, the information processor 320 may convert the electronic money information into a format for contactless RF communication. The information processor 320 outputs the format-converted electronic money information to the first communication unit 330.

The first communication unit 330 modulates the electronic money information output from the information processing unit 320 and then RF-transmits the antenna. The antenna is preferably a loop antenna. The second communication unit 340 receives and demodulates the electronic money information transmitted from the first communication unit 330, and outputs the demodulated information to the charging / payment unit 350.

The charging / payment unit 350 is implemented as a single IC chip together with the second communication unit 340 and the storage unit 360. The charging / payment unit 350 implemented in a single IC chip performs electronic money payment processing through a contactless communication with an external payment terminal, as known. The IC chip must be activated for electronic money settlement processing. The activation of the IC chip is performed as follows. When the user touches the electronic money charging / payment device 300 within a certain distance of the payment terminal, an induced current flows through an antenna connected to the second communication unit 340 by a magnetic field generated from the payment terminal. The IC chip is activated. According to the activation of the IC chip, the charging / payment unit 350 performs contactless communication with the outside through the second communication unit 340, and performs electronic money payment processing using a secure application module (SAM) as known. Perform.

In addition, the charging / settlement unit 350 according to the present invention performs an operation for charging the electronic money information in the storage unit 360. To this end, the IC chip must be activated. The activation of the IC chip can be performed as follows. Electric current flows through an antenna (coil) connected to the first communication unit 330 by the power supplied from the host 200 through the interface unit 310, and a magnetic field is generated. The magnetic field is connected to the second communication unit 340. Induction current flows through the antenna (coil), and the induced current causes the IC chip to operate. The charging / payment unit 350 of the activated IC chip is modulated by the first communication unit 330 and transmitted, and the electronic money information demodulated and output by the second communication unit 340 according to a storage method is stored in the storage unit 360. To store, ie charge.

As described above, a user using the electronic money charging and payment device according to the present invention physically connects the device to a computer (host), and accesses a server through the computer to convert the points into electronic money and request a down. When the electronic money is charged to the electronic money charging and payment device, the convenience of automatically and in real time charging the electronic money converted from the point can be provided. That is, after applying for a point to convert the electronic money as in the prior art to obtain the approval number, you do not have to go through the cumbersome process of charging the electronic money by visiting the offline charging station with the approval number and can save time.

On the other hand, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, which are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

Claims (5)

In the device for storing the electronic money, the device for performing the payment with the stored electronic money through contactless communication, The device is: An interface unit interfaced with the host; A first communication unit for modulating and transmitting RF information of the electronic money; An information processing unit which transmits and processes electronic money information received through the interface unit through the first communication unit; A second communication unit for receiving and demodulating the RF-transmitted electronic money information; A charging / payment unit which charges the demodulated electronic money information in the storage unit and processes payment by the electronic money stored in the storage unit; Includes, The electronic money charging and payment device, characterized in that for receiving the transfer request and the converted electronic money information to the server via the communication with the server for converting the point to electronic money electronic interface. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface unit: Electronic money charging and payment device, characterized in that the USB interface. The electronic money charging and payment device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the electronic money charging and payment device is a watch. A host for receiving a switch request and the converted electronic money information to the server through communication with a server for converting a point into electronic money; An interface unit interfaced with the host, a first communication unit for modulating RF transmission of electronic money information, an information processor for transmitting and processing electronic money information received through the interface unit, and the RF transmission unit An electronic money charging and payment device including a second communication unit for receiving and demodulating electronic money information, charging the demodulated electronic money information to the storage unit, and a charging / payment unit for processing payment with electronic money stored in the storage unit; Electronic money charging system comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein the interface unit: Electronic money charging system characterized in that the USB interface.

Images