Multi-purpose transaction card and associated methods and systems
AssigneeCard & Co., Inc.
InventorLori D. Kirkham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An approach for associating a card (e.g., a transaction card, an identification card, etc.) that corresponds to a primary account with one or more ancillary accounts (e.g., a library account, etc.) includes obtaining information from the card and associating that information with an ancillary account. The card may then be used to access the ancillary account. The card may be a transaction card and the primary account may be a financial account. The ancillary account may be a library account. When the card is a transaction card, fees associated with the ancillary account may be charged to the financial account.
Claims17
A method for managing a library account, comprising:
- receiving information from a transaction card;
- generating a secure hash using at least a portion of the information from the transaction card;
- determining whether the generated secure hash matches an account secure hash of a library account;
- identifying the library account as being associated with the information when the account secure hash of the library account matches the generated secure hash, the library account comprising library account information;
- and
- retrieving the library account information from the library account in response to identifying the library account associated with the information.
A system in which an ancillary account is configured to be associated with a transaction card for use in connection with a primary account, comprising:
- a card reader configured to obtain information from the transaction card presented thereto;
- a computing device configured to:
- receive the information from the card reader;
- generate a secure hash from at least a portion of the information from the card reader;
- determine whether the generated secure hash matches an account secure hash of a library account;
- identify the library account as being associated with the information when the account secure hash of the library account matches the generated secure hash, the library account comprising library account information;
- and
- retrieve the library account information from the library account in response to identifying the library account associated with the information.
A method for associating a library account with a transaction card, comprising:
- obtaining information from the transaction card;
- generating a secure hash using at least a portion of the information from the transaction card;
- determining whether the generated secure hash matches an account secure hash of an existing library account;
- and
- upon determining that the generated secure hash does not match the account secure hash of an existing library account, associating a library account with the information from the transaction card, wherein associating the library account with the information from the transaction card comprises associating the generated secure hash with the library account.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.