US 7,032,109 B1Granted

Method and system for ensuring the security of service supplies broadcast on a computer network of the internet type

AssigneeFintel S.A.

InventorsFranck Rosset, Alain Gayet, Jean Moulin

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Abstract

The invention concerns a method and a system enabling users (11) of an Internet type computer network provided with multimedia terminals (16) comprising a microphone (17) and connected to an Internet type computer network (15), remotely located from a service supplier (12), to accede rapidly and safely, to services (30) offered by this service supplier (12). The method comprises the following steps: the service supplier (12) provides each of the users (11) of an Internet type computer network (15) who have subscribed to his services (30), a card, formatted like a credit card; said card (10), formatted like a credit card, emits brief identifying sound signals (20), of the DTMF type, at least partly encrypted, varying with each operation, when it is actuated (14) by the user (11); said identifying sound signals are received by the microphone (17) of the multimedia terminal (16) and transmitted via the Internet type computer network (15) to the computer service (18) of the service supplier; the transmitted signals and the identification data of the subscriber and the card in the possession (23) of the computer service (18) are electronically processed (24) and compared (25) by the computer service. In the event of coincidence, the subscriber is immediately put through to the services (30) of the service supplier (12).

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method enabling the users (11) of a computer network, who have multimedia terminals (16) with a microphone (17) and are connected to the computer network, located at a distance from a service provider (12), to access securely and rapidly the services (30) that the service provider (12) offers to the users (11) of the computer network, said method comprising the following steps:

the service provider (12) supplies to each of the users (11) of the computer network, who have subscribed to the services, a credit-card sized card (10), customized with specific identifiers for each subscriber and each card, said credit-card sized card (10) issues short ID audio signals (20), of DTMF type, encrypted at least partially, varying for each transaction, when it is activated (14) by the user (11) of a computer network,
said card (10):
further calculates (105) the number of times C(p,n) (242) that said card has been activated (14) and has issued said audio signals (20), wherein C(p,n) takes account of all activations, including activations at a wrong time,
issues ID audio signals (20) representative of the number of times C(p,n) (242) that it has been activated, and
encrypts (103) the ID audio signals (20) into a function S(p,n) as a function of said number of times C(p,n) (242) that said card has issued said audio signals (20) and as a function of said specific identifiers of the subscriber and the card,
said ID audio signals (20) are received through the microphone (17) of the multimedia terminal (16) and transmitted via the computer network (15) to the computer facility (18) of the service provider,
the signals transmitted to the computer facility (18) and the specific identifiers of the subscriber and the card, held (23) by the computer facility (18), are processed (24) and compared (25) electronically by the computer facility (18) of the service provider by computer means which:
store (230) the number of times C(p,m) (246) the card has been used at a time of a last validation operation,
compare (245) the number of times C(p,n) (242) the card has been activated, at the time of the current transaction, to the number of times stored C(p,m) (246),
reject the current transaction if C(p,n) (242) is less than or equal to C(p,m) (246) and continue with the verification of the current transaction if C(p,n) (242) is greater than C(p,m) (246),
recalculate the ID audio signals (20) into a function S′(p,n) as a function of said number of times C(p,n) (242) that said card has issued said audio signals (20) and as a function of said specific identifiers of the subscriber and the card, and
then compare S′(p,n) to S(p,n),
so that in case of a match, the subscriber (11) can immediately be put through to the services (30) of the service provider (12).

10 more elements

A system enabling the users of a computer network (15), who have multimedia terminals (16) with a microphone (17) and are connected to the computer network, located at a distance from a service provider (12), to access securely and rapidly the services (30) that said service provider (12) offers to the subscribed users (11), said system comprising:

a credit-card sized card (10), customized with specific identifiers for each card and each subscriber, supplied to them, said card (10) comprising:
a means for issuing (13) short ID audio signals (20), of DTMF type, activated by the subscriber by means of an element (14) accessible from outside the card (10),
an incremental counter (105), interconnected with the issuing means (13) and an encrypting means (103), incrementing at least by one unit as a function of the number times C(p,n) (242) said element (14) has been actuated and that said card (10) has issued said audio signals (20), wherein C(p,n) takes account of all activations, including activations at a wrong time,
an encrypting means (103) for encrypting at least partially and varying the ID audio signals (20) into a function S(p,n) as a function of said number of times C(p,n) (242) that said card has issued said ID audio signals (20) and as a function of said specific identifiers of the subscriber and the card,
a transmitting means (19) located inside the multimedia terminals (16), remote transmitting said ID audio signals (20) received through said microphone (17) of said multimedia terminal (16), in the form of electronic signals via the computer network (15),
a computer means (21), depending on the computer facilities (18) of the service provider (12), connected to the computer network (15) and receiving the status C(p,n) of said incremental counter (105) and the ID audio signals in the form of said electronic signals from the multimedia terminals (16), said computer means (21) comprising:
a database (23) containing the references of the cards (10) and the subscribers (11) and said specific identifiers of the cards and the subscribers,
a means for processing (24) and a means for comparing (25) the electronic signals and the specific identifiers of the cards and the subscribers contained in the database (23),
a means for storing (230) the number of times C(p,m) (246) the card has been used at a time of a last validation operation,
a means for comparing (245) the number of times C(p,n) (242) the card has been activated, at the time of the current transaction, to the number of times stored C(p,m) (246),
so that verification of the current transaction is rejected if C(p,n) (242) is less than or equal to C(p,m) (246) and continues if C(p,n) (242) is strictly greater than C(p,m) (246),
a means for recalculating (239), the ID audio signals (20) into a function S′(p,n) as a function of said number of times C(p,n) (242) that said card has issued said audio signals (20) and as a function of said specific identifiers of the subscribers and the card,
a means for comparing S′(p,n) to S(p,n),
so that in case of a match, the services (30) of the service provider (12) are immediately accessible to the subscribers (11).

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.