Multimedia electronic wallet with generic card

An electronic wallet including a magnetic medium interface for transferring card data between the electronic wallet and a magnetic medium contained on a transaction card comprising:

• storage means for storing the card data to be written to the transaction card, said card data being formatted to correspond to predetermined physical positions within the magnetic medium;
• magnetic medium position detecting means for detecting the position of the magnetic medium contained on the transaction card and for generating position information corresponding to said detected position;
• magnetic medium writing means for receiving said card data from said storage means and for writing said card data to the magnetic medium carried on the transaction card;
• and
• processor means connected with said storage means, said magnetic medium position detecting means and said magnetic medium writing means for receiving said position information from said magnetic medium position detecting means and for transferring said card data corresponding to said position information from said storage means to said magnetic medium writing means.

A method of transferring card data between an electronic wallet and a magnetic medium contained on a transaction card comprising the steps of:

• receiving said transaction card into a magnetic medium interface contained in the electronic wallet;
• formatting said card data to correspond to predetermined physical positions within said magnetic medium contained on said transaction card;
• detecting the position within said magnetic medium interface of the magnetic medium contained on said transaction card;
• and
• writing said card data corresponding to said detected position to said magnetic medium.

A method of initiating a secure electronic transaction through the use of a magnetic medium interface and an electronic wallet for receiving a compatible multimedia transaction card having a magnetic medium thereon, comprising the steps of:

• receiving input to the electronic wallet, said input including digital card selection information and transaction format selection commands from a user of the electronic wallet;
• retrieving a digital card data set containing digital card data corresponding to said input from an electronic memory containing a plurality of digital card data sets;
• formatting said digital card data, including encrypting at least part of the digital card data, to correspond to a transaction format selected by said transaction format selection commands;
• writing said formatted digital card data to the magnetic medium on the multimedia transaction card;
• and
• initiating an electronic transaction by providing said multimedia transaction card to a magnetic medium interface, reading said formatted digital card data from said magnetic medium on said multimedia card and initiating a transaction using said digital card data.