Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
129 words
A payment system comprising: a terminal; a payment card for communicatively interacting with the terminal so as to effectuate a transaction therethrough; means, operative in conjunction with a process which increases a balance stored in the card, for changing a symbol stored in the card from a first symbol to a second symbol, wherein said changing means: detects, at a beginning of said process, if said first or said second symbol is stored in the card; if said second symbol is stored, changes said second symbol to said first symbol and performs said process to increase the stored balance; and if said first symbol is stored, indicates that a previous execution of said process was interrupted prior to completion and completes or repeats the previous execution of the process.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
129 words
A payment system comprising: a terminal; a payment card for communicatively interacting with the terminal so as to effectuate a transaction therethrough; means, operative in conjunction with a process which increases a balance stored in the card, for changing a symbol stored in the card from a first symbol to a second symbol, wherein said changing means: detects, at a beginning of said process, if said first or said second symbol is stored in the card; if said second symbol is stored, changes said second symbol to said first symbol and performs said process to increase the stored balance; and if said first symbol is stored, indicates that a previous execution of said process was interrupted prior to completion and completes or repeats the previous execution of the process.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
61 words
The payment system in claim 1 further comprising a central system connected to the terminal, the terminal being remote from the central system, wherein the central system, upon completion of the process to increase the balance stored in the card, sends a signal to the terminal so as to change the stored symbol from the first symbol to the second symbol.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
The payment system in claim 2 wherein at the beginning of the process to increase the balance stored in the card, the terminal changes the stored symbol from the second symbol to the first symbol.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
44 words
The payment system in claim 3 wherein the payment card comprises an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) and the stored symbol is changed from the second symbol to the first symbol as a result of a WRITE instruction executed by the card.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
44 words
The payment system in claim 2 wherein the payment card comprises an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) and the stored symbol is changed from the first symbol to the second symbol as a result of a MODIFY instruction executed by the card.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
141 words
A method for use in a payment system having a terminal and a payment card, wherein the payment card communicatively interacts with the terminal so as to effectuate a transaction therethrough, the method comprising the steps of: changing, in conjunction with a process which increases a balance stored in the card, a symbol stored in the card from a first symbol to a second symbol, comprising the steps of: detecting, at a beginning of said process, if said first or said second symbol is stored in the card; if said second symbol is stored, changing said second symbol to said first symbol and performing said process to increase the stored balance; and if said first symbol is stored, indicating that a previous execution of said process was interrupted prior to completion and completing or repeating the previous execution of the process.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
141 words
A method for use in a payment system having a terminal and a payment card, wherein the payment card communicatively interacts with the terminal so as to effectuate a transaction therethrough, the method comprising the steps of: changing, in conjunction with a process which increases a balance stored in the card, a symbol stored in the card from a first symbol to a second symbol, comprising the steps of: detecting, at a beginning of said process, if said first or said second symbol is stored in the card; if said second symbol is stored, changing said second symbol to said first symbol and performing said process to increase the stored balance; and if said first symbol is stored, indicating that a previous execution of said process was interrupted prior to completion and completing or repeating the previous execution of the process.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method in claim 6 further comprising the step of sending a signal, from a central system to the card and upon completion of the process to increase the balance stored in the card, so as to change the stored symbol from the first symbol to the second symbol.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method in claim 7 further comprising the step of changing, at the beginning of the process to increase the balance stored in the card, the stored symbol from the second symbol to the first symbol.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method in claim 8 further comprising the step of changing the stored symbol from the second symbol to the first symbol as a result of a WRITE instruction executed by the card.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method in claim 7 further comprising the step of changing the stored symbol from the first symbol to the second symbol as a result of a MODIFY instruction executed by the card.