Context-based card selection device
AssigneeSprint Communications Company L.P.
InventorKevin Zhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A card transaction device is provided for selecting virtual cards for transactions based on a context. The portable device includes a plurality of virtual cards, and a storage device for storing the plurality of virtual cards. The cards may relate to credit or debit cards, loyalty cards, reward cards, security or access cards, or identification cards, for example. The portable device includes a user interface for a user to maintain rules for selection of one or more virtual cards based on the context of the transaction. The portable device also includes a processor to process the rules and select at least one of the virtual cards based on the context of the transaction.
Claims20
A portable device for selecting virtual cards for a transaction based on a context, comprising:
- a microprocessor chip comprising a plurality of virtual cards, wherein each of the virtual cards include transaction information that enables transaction capabilities and functionality of a traditional card transaction device, wherein the microprocessor chip activates an appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context upon receiving a determination of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context;
- an external interface coupled to the microprocessor chip that enables communication with a vendor device, wherein the external interface receives context information of the context from the vendor device and provides the context information to the microprocessor, and wherein the external interface further receives the transaction information of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context from the microprocessor chip and provides the transaction information of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards to the vendor device in performing the transaction;
- and
- an internal interface coupled to the microprocessor chip that enables communication with an application layer of the portable device, wherein the internal interface receives the context information from the microprocessor chip and provides the context information to the application layer, and wherein the internal interface receives a determination of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context from the application layer and provides the determination of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context to the microprocessor chip,
- wherein the application layer comprises a services module that has access to rules for automatic selection of one or more of the plurality of virtual cards based on the context and a control module that processes at least one of the rules using the context information to automatically select the one or more of the plurality of virtual cards and provide the determination of the appropriate one of the plurality of virtual cards for the context.
A method for selecting virtual cards appropriate for a transaction based on a context of the transaction, comprising:
- storing transaction information from multiple card transaction devices in a corresponding plurality of virtual cards on a single mobile device, wherein each of the virtual cards acts as a surrogate for the corresponding card transaction device;
- receiving, by the mobile device, context information of the context of the transaction;
- automatically selecting, by the mobile device, one or more of the plurality of virtual cards appropriate for the transaction based on the context of the transaction including the received context information.
A portable system for selecting one or more virtual cards appropriate for a context of a transaction, comprising:
- a plurality of virtual cards stored on the portable system, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards acts as a surrogate for a corresponding card transaction device;
- a set of rules accessible by the portable system for selecting one or more of the plurality of virtual cards;
- and
- a processor of the portable system that applies at least one rule from the set of rules and automatically selects one or more of the plurality of virtual cards based on the context of the transaction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.