System and Method for Secure Keypad Protocol Emulation in a Fuel Dispenser Environment

Abstract

A system used in a retail environment, such as a fuel dispensing environment, for providing secure communication of payment information to a host computer. The system includes at least one keypad device configured to receive and encrypt personal information according to a first encryption scheme to produce encrypted personal data. The keypad device is further operative to generate a local zone emulated message in a message format of a second encryption scheme, the local zone emulated message containing the encrypted personal data. A site controller is in communication with the keypad device to receive the local zone emulated message. The site controller is configured to provide a message in the second encryption scheme to a security module for decryption and re-encryption in the first encryption scheme. An emulator is associated with the site controller to emulate the security module. In this regard, the emulator is operative to receive the local zone emulated message and return the encrypted personal data without decryption. The site controller provides the encrypted personal data to the host computer according to the first encryption scheme.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.