SMART WEARABLE RING BASED WIRELESS TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

PCT Application Number                     : Will update soon
Indian Patent Application Number  : 201841015370
US Patent Application Number         : Will update soon 

Problem Statement:

Currently few financial institutions are already introduced smart NFC rings for bank customers to pay the bills at merchant sites however if user need to use the smart ring for multiple banks then customer has to wear multiple rings to do financial transactions also this device can only works at POS and billing counters but not at ATM centres to do our regular ATM transactions like cash withdrawals and deposits. If we lost the ring and if there is no second level of authentication such as PIN based or OTP based then it might be biggest threat to bank customers. One more disadvantage is most of the current smart rings are working as prepaid cards so customers have to load the amount before they use the ring. If the ring has insufficient funds the transaction will be declined automatically.

Solution: 

The objective of this idea is to implement new enhanced secure smart ring which can works at both POS for our purchases as well as at ATM for all our regular ATM transactions.

How to load the bank info into the Ring:

For the first time loading particular bank debit card or credit card information then the user has to set RPIN on the ring and place the device near NFC module.  Now user should insert/swipe card (i.e. debit card or credit card which means which card details has to be stored in the ring) in the ATM and then enter the desired ATM PIN and Once the ATM authentication is successful then user has to choose the ‘Load card Info’ option. Now ATM will ask user to enter the Ring device ID, RPIN (Ring Pin which is used to set on the ring) and priority number for this bank i.e. user should enter between 0-9 (0 is the highest priority and 9 is lowest). Once the user enters all the details then ATM will pair with the Ring and it will validate the enter device ID and the actual device ID in the ring (which is embedded in the ring). If validation is successful the ATM will transfer the required bank information to the ring in encrypted format. We need to do the same exercise for all the cards.

How it works at POS/merchant sale devices:

As shown in the below picture the smart ring can contain 3 or more inner rings to set the pin on the ring to enable the RFID or wireless chip which is embedded in the ring. This Pin number can or cannot be the same at all the times. The PIN of the ring can be given by the bank or by the manufacturer. We can use colour codes on the ring instead of using the regular numbers. Once we set the correct pin/colour codes on the ring then the device starts working and if we place the ring near NFC device then it will pair both the devices and if the ring have multiple bank accounts then the ATM/POS will display all the bank names on the screen and user has to select the desired bank account from the displayed list an then enter the bank PIN to start the transaction. If user has configured multiple banks in the ring i.e. including both (credit cards and Debit cards) then the ATM or POS will display all the bank names including debit card and credit card bank name on the screen.

For example if any use has configured ABCD bank debit and credit cards in the same ring then the POS/ATM will display the bank names in the following manner.

ABCD DC  - Where DC represents Debit Card

ABCD CC  - Where CC represents Credit Card

Once the user selects the particular bank name and it may ask for bank PIN (based on bank server) for authentication. Once user enters the PIN and if authentication is successful and then it start the transaction. We can either enable the chip inside the ring by using our NFC enabled mobile devices such as enable or disable the chip. Only bank related information will be stored in the ring in the encrypted format. Whenever we are trying to pay using this ring the bank details can read from the NFC reader and send it to bank server and if that particular bank account have sufficient balance then the payment will be approved automatically. The system may or may not ask PIN or authentication details of the user.

How it works at ATM:

Making the transactions at POS and ATM are completely different and tricky. As shown in the above image this proposed smart ring is able to do the transactions at POS as well as at ATM. Once we set the Pin on the ring and enter into ATM centre or if we stand near to the ATM then the ATM will read the information from the ring and associated bank names are displayed on the ATM screen. We can configure this ring with multiple bank accounts so ATM can detect all the configured banks from the ring and display all the bank names(for both CC and DC)  on the screen. Now user can select the bank name and enter the appropriate bank ATM PIN (as second level authentication) once the system is authenticates the user then it will show the other options on the ATM screen to continue further.  Once we complete the transaction the system will go to the main screen which contains all the user specific bank names. Once the user is exit from ATM centre the system will automatically close the session and display the default ATM screen. All the information inside the ring is completely encrypted so only bank server can decrypt and understand the information. If third person try to steal the information from the ring they can get only encrypted data and or in binary format. The same ring can be used for multiple bank transaction at POS as well as at ATM’s.

Another method to select the bank from the Ring:

As we said user has to enter the priority number for the bank while loading the bank info to the ring. Once we set the priority to the particular bank account then the priority can be set to the particular bank account. Now once user set the RPIN on the ring and once the Ring is paired with the merchant device then the user can select the particular bank using the last inner ring i.e. user should choose number 0 to 9 then the ring will automatically select the bank based on the user selection by the number and then connect the bank server to start the transaction with the selected bank.

Activation/Deactivation of the Ring:

If the user lost the ring and then the user can call any bank which is configured in the ring and they can deactivate the ring from bank side. This is how deactivation works in real time.

For example if user lost the ring and user called bank and then bank will block that ring. If someone is trying to do the transaction with that ring first bank will check whether the particular device is in active state or in blocked state. If active state then it continues otherwise the device will throw an exception as invalid device. If that ring is having multiple bank accounts then if user blocks one bank then the entire device will block because there is no make sense if other banks are enable to do the transactions by the wrong person. However the ring is having multiple layers of authentication still better to block entire device if user lost.

Advantages:

•  No need to carry bank cards to do the payments and or to do the ATM transactions
•  Once RPIN is valid then only RFID stats functioning
•  Two level security authentication one on the ring as R-PIN(Ring PIN) and second one is appropriate bank ATM PIN or using bio-metric  authentication
•  User has provision to enable or disable the RFID feature on the ring through smartphone.
•  Can add multiple bank accounts to associate with single ring. No limitation.
•   No battery required
•  Can be water proof
• No need to pair mobile and Ring 
•  No need to load cash into the ring because the NFC reader will work with bank server in real time and approve or reject accordingly.
•   If lost the device by the customers, still banks can block the ring using device ID. 

Please provide your valuable suggestion and comments on this article

Reach me @ my.innovationconcepts@gmail.com

Note: All the above images are only for illustration purpose.

Disclaimer: Chances are there that some one may have patents on the similar innovative ideas but all these concepts are my own individual thoughts.

Thanks,
SPCS