The Wireless Money™ Patents

Wireless Money(tm) is a patented business process that enables:

1. secure wireless payments
2. very simple, 24/7, anywhere, product purchasing.

The availability of secure wireless payments would allow cell phones to replace paper checks, credit cards and cash to pay for purchases. The simplified 24/7 – anywhere system would create an entirely new structure for world commerce.

The first part of the patent is based on a very simple method of securing payments that requires no added hardware or encryption.

Consider what would happen if a new type of bank account was created that had an account number, or IDENTIFIER, that would ONLY allow money to be put INTO the account with that identifier. Let’s say the Red Cross had one of these identifiers – say it was “*DO* Red Cross”. Because it could only be used to put money into that account, they could actually publish that account identifier for all to see. Anyone who wanted to send money to them would just write on the “TO:” line on a check, ” *DO* Red Cross” and give the check to anyone who processes checks. Another method which is just as simple can be used to protect the person’s account sending the check. These methods also apply to electronic transfers. SO, cell phones using this method can now move money with ZERO risk.

The second part of the patent is a group of processes to simply the purchase process. For example, you are sitting at home watching the Super Bowl, and they have a commemorative cup for sale. The purchase code is, for example, *2 ( yes, it can be that simple ). So you pick up your cell phone or home phone, click the auto dial button for Wireless Money, and type “ *2 “. It responds to you by name and asks how many you want. You type 3. It gives you a transaction summary and says press Y to accept or N for no. SO, 5 clicks and you’re done! The same simplification can be done for people window shopping in NYC at 2 in the morning, or reading the paper in a park, or from a computer: 24/7, anywhere purchasing.

Wireless Money is now protected by U.S. patent 7,729,984 and is available for licensing. For additional information, contact Bruce Nappi at bnappi {{at}} a3society {{dot}} org.

Additional detail is provided in an Executive Summary below.

Wireless Money Executive Summary
Wireless Money(tm) is a new, patented capability for transferring money and making product purchases. It allows consumers to easily use any communications device, like smart phones, to pay bills or purchase products from anywhere, at any time, using just simple entries.

Wireless Money(tm) is protected by 2, very unusual, United States patents: 7,729,984 and 8,010,451. These patents were allowed in 2010 and 2011 with a total of 145 claims. However, the patents, which were first filed in 2002, were believed by the U.S. patent office to have the potential of introducing such a paradigm shift into the financial world, that they were assigned to a special prosecution unit. After 8 years, and substantial expense, they were issued with ALL the initial claims and approved for coverage starting from the 2002 filing date. That means, these patents have dominance over other patents which claim any of the concepts protected by the Wireless Money patents that were allowed after that date, while still allowing patent rights until 2029. This will give anyone licensing the Wireless Money patents, an immediate and very significant position in wireless commerce.

There are reasons, even today, that smartphones have not been widely used to make mobile purchases:

o   Money security: Wireless and network devices do not “inherently” provide secure data transmission. Encryption is available, but is technically difficult, typically requiring special hardware and software. Furthermore, the logistics of handling, protecting and remembering passwords, PINs and encryption keys is cumbersome and expensive. The safeguards could still be compromised if the phones were stolen.
o   Data complexity: Even simple money transfers, using conventional approaches, require a lot of information. This includes: identification of a product or service, amount of payment, money source and destination, data transmission security codes and transaction authorizations. Portable devices like cell phones and handheld computers are not efficient for long data entry or display.
o   Additional hardware requirements: Changes are typically needed to phones or computers for encryption, or bar code reading, or external credit card readers. This is expensive on a system wide basis and a logistical nightmare for broad implementation.

Wireless Money uses multiple novel approaches to solve all of these problems:

1.   A novel financial account protection method uses a profoundly simple, inherently safe, method for protecting money in personal and commercial financial accounts and transactions. Protection is achieved by using unsecured special account identifiers that only allow money to be put into an account. Separate, protected identifiers are used to remove money from the accounts. This process is referred to as the Credit Only ( CO ) process and the identifiers, CO identifiers. This deceptively simple principle creates a number of powerful benefits:

o   The CO identifiers are inherently safe; so safe they can be made public – even published in indexes. They can be posted along with advertising in public displays. Money transfers using them are inherently safe, even if intercepted. Encryption is not needed. Passwords, PIN numbers and encryption keys are not needed.
o   The identifiers can be characters, rather than just numbers, thus making them easier to remember. They can be personalized, like a person’s name or a charity name. Multiple identifiers can be used for the same account.
o   The process can be used with a wide variety of payment systems including cell phones, conventional phones, the internet, and even paper checks. It can be used for product purchases or bill payment, by both businesses and individuals.
o   Because money being transferred can only be moved from identified accounts into targeted, registered accounts, loss or theft of sending devices or interception of information is easy to trace. But, regardless of loss or theft, the money transfers still cannot be diverted.
o   Because of the structure of the CO identifier, it is directly identifiable as a CO transaction. Because it is safe for public disclosure, transaction handlers can easily be involved. For example, throwing a check with a CO identifier into any mail box would be sufficient to launch the payment (once the Post Office adopts the system).
o   Because standard banking account systems can be used, all existing money transfer systems can easily adopt the system.
o   No new hardware is needed! No software changes are needed, for phones, computers or POS devices.

2.   By adding additional characters to a CO identifier, the identifier can also identify goods or services, allowing a single identifier to both make a payment and complete a purchase.

3.   An included context based system greatly simplifies identifier creation for users, typically keeping user input to just a few key presses. To do this, the system makes simultaneous use of attributes like:
o   Payee name, a personal ID or user name, telephone number, personal or professional association, home or work address,
o   Internet cookies, device registration numbers,
o   Time codes, spatial coordinates of purchase or advertising locations, vendor identity,
o   Goods or service categories, commodity identifiers,
o   Reverse biometrics.

4.   The patent provides very broad legal coverage. Not only does it restrict direct use by consumers, it restricts use by individuals, businesses, advertisers, merchants and intermediate processors. It restricts use of its methods in related services, such as advertising on paper, plastic or fabric, or any display device, or with any electronic data system, device or network, using writing, tones, digital data or voice. It even restricts the use of mobile commerce for personal or commercial funds transfers.

There are additional features enabled and restricted by the Wireless Money patent that merit special explanation:

5.   Wireless Money™ will open up entirely new sales channels in modern commerce. The patent protected elements of Wireless Money work together as a system to minimize needed data entry. This will enable consumers, for the first time, to easily use their phones, or ANY nearby communications device, to make payments, or complete purchases, from anywhere, at any time, using very simple entry formats. For example, products can be ordered, very simply, from advertisements presented in the following ways:
o   Roadside billboards, both static and electronic; blimps and planes
o   Electronic and static ads on structures, on gas pumps, in shop windows, or on taxis and buses
o   Kiosks and extended purchase displays in stores right next to products with special offers
o   In magazines, newspapers and flyers
o   At service POS locations – on restaurant tables for example
o   On TV or radio
o   On the internet – it will be easier to use a personal phone using Wireless Money than to enter payment data on a web page
o   Included with billing statements for instant purchase

For further information about Wireless Money™, please contact:

Bruce Nappi
Bnappi {{at}} A3society {{dot}} org