CA1338386C - Portable personal banking system - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable personal banking system comprises a host computer and at least one portable terminal among a variety of terminals including automatic teller machines and personal computers. The portable terminal provides a range of banking services over an automatically dialed-up telephone connection to the host bank computer. The personal terminal comprises a keyboard and display capability with minimal key requirements and display capacity respectively.
Furthermore, during a banking mode of operation, control resides in the host bank computer. Consequently, future modifications or additions to banking services may be implemented without any change to the personal terminal. Also, the costs of providing the present portable personal terminal banking terminals are minimal compared with known home information terminals such as videotex terminals or personal computers. Yet, a personal terminal serving system is compatible with a serving system including home or office personal computers equipped with modems, automatic teller machines and other bank service enhancements implemented by the serving bank. Also, during a local mode of operation without the banking system, the terminal serves as a personal banking manager. The personal terminal housing may comprise a front surface for data entry and display and a rear surface comprising a pocket for banking forms and a writing table.

Description

PATENT

- ~ 338~

PORTABLE PERSONAL BANKING SY~1 BACKGRO~n OF 'I H 1~ ~ON
1. TPrhni~-q-l Pield This i"~ ion relates to home i l- ft .... ~ nAl c and~ more particularly, to a portable ~ 1 bqnlrin~ system for providing a range of bqnki~ inf4.... -I ;nn services via an ~q~.l.. ~l;~qlly dialed trk,~hc~n~. c~nn~l;~u~ from a portable ~ ~on b~ ...;nql to a host bank co~ u~ .

2. De~. ~lion of the I2PlqtPA Art Tra~liti- nqlly, I';n~n~;ql inditutinnc such as banks have been S~J--~I;7~1 by hulllolous -q-n~o~c5 related to ~e co~.~en;PnGe to c-~c~ ..~-~ of o~h~ ng services.
For e~qmpl~, the term ~bqn~ hours" has been used to desc~ibe the limited nine o'cloclc to two o'clock bqnlri~ day as well as the hours of any other bu~ss which might provide limited customer access. In order to make bqnkir~ services more co"~enient, centrally located main offices of banks have provided gecg-~hil~qlly disLIibuled branch offices to move their services closer to the cus~ . r~ --o-~, such innovalions as drive-up teller windows and qu,~,.-q~;~ teller ~ h;n~5 have e~t~nded the hours of service avqilqhi1ity. Such - 1 3383~6 enhancçmPnt~, however, still require the bank customer to travel to the bank or ~ulolllalic teller m~hine to receive service.
Since the mid 1970's, there has been a trend toward the application of eYi~ting co~ ir~tion f~ilitiPs for the tr~n~mitt~l and retrieval of information to and from a central source of information and data proces~in~ capability.
Rec~ e of the w~ivel~lity of the switched telephone connection now available in the United States, AT&T, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Citibank, IBM, CBS and others have experimpnt~ with home videotex and teletex services whereby an unintP-1ligent home information t~rmin~l compri~ing a video quality display, a full alpha-mlmPric keyboard and a microprocessor-controlled intPrfaçe is ~u~olll~ llyconnected over the telephone line to a host co.l.~uler and ~l~t~h~e. Some of theservices provided in such experimPnt~ inchlded in~t~nt~neous stock quotations, home shopping, and home banking, the latter of these via an ~llsili~ry connection from the host co..l~ulel to a bank coll~uler also via a telephone line.
Rec~llse of the great expense and siæ of co-llponent elemeMt~ of the home information termin~l such as the full alpha-numeric keyboard, video display and microprocessor controlled telephone line int~rf~ce, such videotex expp-rimpnt~
have, for the most part, proven to be commercially impractical. It was generallyfound that the size and expense of such a home information termin~l could not bejustified as the cost of intelligent personal COlll~)Ult;l~ decreased. Purth~-rmore, personal COIll~Ul~l~, if equipped with a data modulator and demodulator or modem, now provide access to d~t~h~ee service providers inclu-ling banks, retailestabli~hmPnt~, airline lesel ~lion systems and others at practically equivalent cost.
Nevertheless, the cost of a personal colll~u~r is still beyond the budgets of many -A~

- 1 3383~6 families and cannot be economically justified. Fur~hP-rmore, even for individuals who may be able to afford a ~l~ol al co~ )u~l, it is clear that a large segment of the population simply does not desire to use a co",puler through their concern for data security, over a user-unmPn~ly interf~ce, or for other reasons. Consequently, there remains a requirement for a low cost home information tprminal which provides a full range of information and data proceccing services.
As alluded to above, many banks ha%,e subscribed to a so-called network or individually provide automatic teller machin~s at locations convenient to customers which are ~cescible at all hours. A bank customer is able to obtain currency, for eY~mple, from an aulo",atic teller ma~hine at a retail establichm~nt where the customer shops. Once a card bearing unique personal information is verified and account information retrieved, currency may be dispensed directly from the ma~hin~P to the customer. Furthermore, tran.ca~ti()n verifi~tion is provided by paper plintuul of a printer associated with the au~ol~alic teller maelline. Such automatic teller m~-~hinPs are limited in the type of tran~ction they are capable of pelro~",ing, i.e., currency ~licpPncing, are expensive, must be ",ai~ ;ned and replenished, and are not portable. Furthermore, those which are associated with a so-called network are inherently slow and are prone to customer .1i .ccati cfartion.
Yet another solution is eYemplified by U.S. 4,625,276 to Benton et al.
which discloses a system for funds transfer which comprises a combination telephone and data terminal. The telephone t~rminal is mated with an intelligentpersonal card in order to accomplish a b~nking tran~ction. Consequently, the disclosure of Benton et al. provides an example of yet another trend toward . _.. . ~

JA

-4- 1 3383~6 tran~rolllling a plastic card into an intelligent pel~onal t~ormin~l which still requires the additional telephone termin~l with which it may magnetically or, in Benton et al., optically mate.
Still another solution is re~lesel led by the development in the co~ uler S industry of smaller sized co~ ul~l~. The so-called laptop personal colll~uler today provides the fealul~s of y~ day's full size COIll~Ul~l~. Furthermore, hand-held personal colll~ule~s are known which provide programmable personal diary, finance and communi~ti~n link fealures, the hand-held unit having a full alph~num~-ric thirty-six button keyboard and a two line, sixteen character per line display.
In view of all of the above, there still remains a requirement for a portable personal banking system inclurling a portable pel~nal terminal which provides a range of banking services so that a bank customer need not travel any further than the nearest ulliv~l~dl telephone jack to obtain service ~-ce-s~ible at any hour.

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_ _ 5 _ 1 3383~6 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a portable personal banking system including an inexpensive portable personal terminal for providing a range of information and data proces~ing services.
To accomplish this object, it is an object of an aspect of the invention to minimi7e the key requirements of any data entry input device and the size of any data display while, at the same time, provide an easy-to-use, user friendly interface to a bank customer from a host bank computer.
It is an object of an aspect of the invention to maximize the range of bank information and data processing services to comprise every practically deliverable information retrieval and data proces~ing function which may be characterized as only excluding currency dispensing.
It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a personal banking terminal serving system which is compatible with other customer service delivery vehicles such as the provision of automatic teller m~c~lines and the servicing of home or business customers equipped with personal computers and data modems as well as with internal bank operations such as credit or account verifications by authorized bank employees.
2 o It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to maximize the application of a portable banking terminal off-line in a local mode of operationwithout prohibitive cost as, for example, an electronic b~nking manager.
To accomplish these and other objects, a portable personal banking system comprises a bank host computer and a portable -6- l 3383~6 personal tPrmin~l among other personal or bank teller f~Cilitips The portable personal banking t~rmin~l in accordance with the present invention comprises a battery power source and on/off switch, a data modulator/demodulator (modem), a telephone line automatic dialer intPrf~ including at least one univ~l~l modular jack, a two line, sixteen character per line liquid crystal display, a sixteen key key-board inclu-ling mlmPri~l and function keys, a non-volatile storage memory for software and unique terminal identification, banking and certain log-on information, a random access memory for temporary data storage compri~ing a ten to thirty-two line screen memory, and a controller compri~ing a microprocessor coupled to each of these components.
With respect to data input and output, it has been found that a thirty-two character display is sufficient for all practical purposes while the keyboard may simply comprise ten mlmPri~l keys and a reasonable number of function keys without providing for upper and lower case input. In implemPnting the display, two lines are scrolled at a time, it being found that users are capable of reading two lines at a time more comfortably than one. Altogether, the implemPnt~tinn meets objectives of being user friendly and unco~ u~e like while m~ximi~ing the possible quantity and quality of input and output.
These co~ll~nents in mostly integrated circuit form may be housed in a compact hand-held tPrmin~l The termin~l comprising the at least one univ~l~l telephone jack may be plugged into any wallmounted univel~dl jack to a telephoneline and via a second jack to a separate optional telephone set connected through the tPrmin~l to the telephone line if a customer so desires. Rec~ ç of built-in ~ .~ _.
-A~

-7~ l 3383~6 telephone dialing and line supervision capability, there is no requirement for as~al~t~ telephone set.
The reverse side of the hand-held tPrmin~l may provide a holder for banking forms including checks, withdrawal and deposit slips and provide a desk-like surface for writing checks. Consequently, in a local mode of operationthe tP-~",in~l may serve as a personal b~nking manager.
The bank host co~ uLel ~ccç~es a l~t~h~e and controls the operation of the portable personal t~rmin~l during a b~nking mode of operation. A plurality of services incl~ ing global or personal electronic mes~ging to or from the user, account st~tçment display, check or deposit verific~tion or bank information retrieval are controlled by the host co~ ule~ while during this mode the termin~l acts as a slave to the host.
On the other hand, during the local mode of operation, the t~-rmin~l is disconnçcte~ from the telephone line and assists the user as a form of personal b~nking manager, keeping track of checking or savings account numbers, deposits,withdrawals, checks and balances and p~lrulllling locally progr~mmçd requests such as dele. ."inil-g the value of the user's income retirement account when the user reaches seniority. Also, during an initi~li7~tion mode of operation, the ter-minal autom~tic~lly supervises the establi~hmPnt of a telecommllnic~tions link to the host and uploads predetermined information requests for imm~li~tç response by the bank during the b~nking mode. For eY~mple, the user may initiate a request to determine if a check having a particular number has cleared.
The personal termin~l may further comprise a timer implem~-nt~d either via norm~lly provided clock control of the microprocessor or via host colll~uLer clock ~ ._ -A~

1 33838~

control. The passage of a predet~rmin~d time period or count between bank customer data entries may autom~tic~11y cause a disconnection of the terminal from the host co~ ulel and a power down of the trrmin~1 For example, the telephone line may be disconnPcted after ten Illinul~ s to free the telephone line to incoming calls.
Optionally, the personal tPrmin~l may comprise an alerter or an audible tone generator to provide audible feedb~e~ to a bank customer as the customer enters data or makes choices. For example, a short tone may in~ tP an acceptable ently while a tone of longer duration may indic~te an error. Comm~ndsto sound a short tone may also be tr~n.cmitt~d by the host toward the trrmin~
periodically to in-lic~te that the host is still conn~ted.
Upon initial turn on and telephone connection to a host colll~uler at a bank, the customer is prolllpled to move from a main menu m-mPric~11y identifying seven or more submenus by name: for example, view balance, account information, bill lS payments, transfer funds, rates and bank or ATM locations. Each feature or option item name clearly i~entifiPs the feature in less than sixteen characters. Two Lines or option items are displayed at a time; however, at, for example, the endof a list, one line may describe a menu item and the bottom line a customer prompt such as: "Your choice?" The customer then depresses an appr~pliate numrrir~1 key 1-9 (or more if additional options are provided) in the case of main menu item entry and sequentially de~sses an "enter" key to gain access to the s~1ect~ submenu.
In order to provide security of data commllni~tion belween a personal ~rmin~1 and a host colll~uler, a known packet data protocol, in particular, the ~ A~

1 3383~6 X.25 protocol or a more efficiPnt and reliable asynchronous protocol as herein described is used to tr~n~mit data selectively encrypted by a standard or non-standard encryption algorithm stored in non-volatile memory of the personal t-P.~I~lin~l The herein described asynchronous protocol is also considered to bemore secure than the well-known X.25 commllni~tions protocol. Consequently, data tr~n~mitt~P~ between the host bank co~ uler and the personal termin~l may be first selectively encrypted and then encoded into data packets for tr~n~mi.~.~ion.
During the b~nking mode of operation as already in~ ~t~P~, the pel~ollal terminal microprocessor acts as a slave to the bank host co,l,~u~er for data input and display, inl~.~re~hlg host commands and tr~n~mitting~ rc., I~ ;ng and P.ncorling bank customer entered data for tr~n.~mi.~ion to the host co~ u~er. The host bankco,ll~uler ~lrOl,lls, for example, personal terminal, account, and user number verifi~tion, bank and customer information fl~t~b~e inquiry and retrieval and account transfer requests.
During the initi~li7~tion mode of operation, sorlw~e control is first lodged in the personal le~ inal for the purpose of establishing a telephone connection and ~Iplo~rling data to the host bank co,ll~ulel. The pel~ol al l~."~lin~l software controls local data validation and display and data encryption and encoding for tr~n.~mi.~.~ion to the host co~ uler in the selected asynchronous packet data format. During thebanking mode of operation, control is lodged with the bank host co~ )ulel which s, for eY~mple, customer verifi-~tion, controls the personal tP.rmin~l display of menu options and fealules, interprets tr~n.cmitted data and exercisescustomer chosen option items. Consequently, there exists a partnership of personal l~ll"inal and host col"puler software. On the other hand, control over 1 338~

the provision of fealures and the exercise of chosen options are lodged with thehost bank colllpuler.
Rec~ e the control over menu and submenu choice selection and option item exercise during the banking mode of operation is lodged with the bank host colll~uler, new services may be implemented without any change in hardw~t; or sor~wal~ of the personal terminal.
On the other hand, the local mode of tP-rmin~l operation as a personal banking manager involves a periodic updating of tPrmin~l microprocessor sorlw~e.Most pr~tiç~lly, the tPrmin~l software is perm~nPntly provided in the form of a special application software customized integrated circuit. Furthermore, the comm-mi~ation protocol permits the tr~n.~mi.~.~ion of an in~ tion of the sorlw~eversion provided by a particular tPrmin~l so that a host colll~uler may be informed as to how to appropliately respond. On the other hand, sorlw~e may be downlo~1Pd to the te-rmin~l from the host during the b~nking mode of operation.
However, the greater the feature capability and flexibility provided in the local mode of operation, the more expensive the tP.rmin~l becomes due to increased costs of processor and memory integrated circuits.
As briefly described above in connection with the main menu description, some of the information and data proce.s.eing fealult;s available to a bank customer utili7.ing the present invention include but are not limited to account status inquiry, payment of bills, transfer of funds between accounts, verifir~tion of the status of a particular check, credit, debit or deposit, current loan interest rate information, bank hours, locations of automatic teller m~.hines and branch offices and such.
- -- A~ Consequently, pr~eti~lly, the only service which may not be providable from such - 1 3 3 8 3 ~6 a tPrmin~l that is provided by automatic teller m~c~ines is cash deposit and withdrawal.
One particularly illlpo.l~lt feature provided via the present invention is a feature by which the user may obtain access to what is known in the industry as the control dislul~elllent package, i.e., checks which have not cleared yet but which have arrived on a given day for posting. A submenu under account information of the main menu assists the user to select from the following choices:
find check, find by date, find by amount, get summ~ry, all credits, all debits, all deposits and checks pending. The user selects checks pending to receive data on control di~bu~P-~IlPnt~. In this manner, a user obtains information so that a~propliate funds may be deposited imme~ tPly to permit the pending checks to clear.
The cost of a tPrmin~l in acco~allce with the present invention is reduced from hundreds of dollars to dollars while further cost .,~
~A~

1 33~3~6 savings may be achieved in time and inconvenience to bank cuslollltl~ of obtaining similar services by known means. Furthermore, such a termin~l is regarded as a means for in~ucing new customers to bank at a given bank and may be given free of charge to a new customer when the customer opens an account.
The present personal tprmin~l arrangement is colllpatible with eYi~ting arrangements for serving, for example, home or business customers equipped with personal COlll~)ul~l~. The same bank host coll-puler may serve either a personalcolll~utel or a home tPrmin~l. The host colll~uler, for eY~mple, may determine from a unique termin~l or personal conl~uler identifi~tion how it will propelly serve either type of in~t~ tion.
There is no requirement for either a separate card validation or a requirement that any such card be "smart". Termin~l id~ntifi-~tion and sor~wale version data is stored in nonvolatile memory along with Personal Account Number (PAN). Just as with a card or so-called smart card, the tprmin~l calls for hidden from display Personal kltqntifi~tion Number or PIN verifi~tion before any banking services are provided.
Other aspects of this application are as follows:
A portable personal banking terminal for use in a b~nking terminal system comprising:
and m line by n character display where m is greater than zero and n is greater than eleven, a data modulator and demodulator for tr~n~mitting data over a telephone line, -A~

- 12a - 1 3 3 8 3 ~ 6 an automatic telephone dialer for supervising and ~ctu~ting a switched telephone connection over a public switched telephone network to a host co~ uler~
a data entry means for providing ten plus i selectable choices, the choices comprising ten m~mPrir~l choices and i functional P1~mPnt~ wherein i is between two and ten and a data entry means for providing ten plus i sP1o~t~hle choices, the choices comprising ten num~ric~l choices and i functional elemP-nt~ wherein i isbetween two and ten and a controller, coupled to the display, the data modulator and demodulator, the automatic telephone dialer and the data entry means, for encrypting and form~tting data in packets for tr~n~mi~ion to the host colllpuleland for v~ tin~ and controlling the display of data entered via the data entry lS means during any of a local, an initi~li7~tion or a banking mode of operation, for controlling ~rtu~tion of the switched telephone connection to the host con~uler during the initi~li7~tion mode of operation, the controller being further responsive to the host coll~uler during the banking mode of operation for controlling the display and storage of text messages, p~olllpls and data tr~nsmitted from the host co~ uler.
A portable personal tPrmin~l for use in an initi~li7~tion and a banking mode of operation in a bank terminal system comprising a host col"~uler and for use in a local mode of operation without the banking tPrmin~l system, the portable personal banking tPrmin~l during the local mode of operation serving as ~- ~

1 3383~6 - 12b-a personal b~nkin~ manager and during a banking mode of operation under host co--lpultr control as a bank information retrieval terminal.
In a portable personal banking terminal, a controller responsive to control commands, data, and user prolllpls, for ~ct~l~ting a two-line display ofscrolled menu data two lines at a time through a menu list of lines having at least three lines, the last line displayed being a user prompt for data entry, the user prompt requesting data in the form of a date, an amount, a number or a menu item choice.
0 These and other features of the present invention will become clear to one of skill in the art from the following det~iled discussion of the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPIION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure la is a top pictorial view of a portable personal banking terminal in accordance with the present invention;

- 13- l 3383~6 Figure lb is a per~spective view of the rear of the portable personal b~nking ~.5. ,.lin~l of Figure la showing a check or other b~nking form dispenser or holder and a flat, rigid table or writing surface;
Figure 2 is a perspective pictorial view of the portable tP.rmin~l of the S present invention connP~ted via a modular jack to a telephone line and via an optional modular jack connection to a customer telephone set;
Figure 3 is an overall personal tprmin~l serving system block diagram showing connection of the portable personal banking tçrmin~l of Figure 1 with a host co~ u~el at, for eYample, a bank location over the telephone line;
Figure 4 is vet another overall system block ~i~gr~m showing the col--palibility of the present personal home tP.rmin~l service with eyi~trnt home or business personal coll-l)ul~r, automatic teller m~rhine and branch bank teller data tPrmin~l in~t~ tions;
Figure 5 is an overall system tr~n~rtion control chart showing host and lS personal termin~l information flow;
Figure 6 is a detailed sçhem~tic block ~i~r~m of the portable personal banking termin~l of Figure l;
Figure 7 is an overall subroutine flowchart for the sorlw~e algorithms of the personal b~nking termin~l;
Figures 7a through 7f provide in flowchart/algorithm format information of use to one of or-:lina,~ skill in the art in providing algorithms of Figure 7;
Figure 8 is an overall subroutine flowchart for the software algofl~l---s of the bank host Colll~)Ul~l, and A

- 14- l 3383~

Figure 9 is a par~ir~ ri7ed subroutine ~ gram of the resource manager algorithm of Figure 8.
DETA~ Fl) DESCRIPIION
Referring to Figure la, there is shown a top view of a portable personal banking termin~l in accor~ance with the present invention showing a data input/output top surfa~e. Referring to Figure lb, the reverse side of the unit may comprise a pocket 101 or other dispenser for personal cheeks or withdrawal and deposit slips and rigid table writing surface 102.
Similar reference characters are employed in all figures to identify similar elem~nt~ and so the portable t~rmin~l 1 is also shown in Figures 2-4 and a schPn ~ti~ block diagram of the tPrminal is shown in Figure 6. R~ferring again to Figure la or lb, the personal termin~l 1 is de~i~n~d to be hand held or to be set on a flat surface during operation by a bank customer. The rigidity of the reverse surface may serve as a portable desk for cheek writing, for eY~mple. Keys are recessed into the top surface so when the reverse side is employed as a writing table, the keys may not be inadvertently actuated. Feet 100 provide further rigidity and support for either side.
A two line, sixteen character per line, liquid crystal display 2 provides current le~ ...ill~l status information to a bankin~ customer as the customer uses the t~rmin~l in a local mode and proceeds through a particular transaction. The term"t~n~cti~n" herein shall be defined to comprise the duration from a customer's turning the t~rmin~l on by depressing on-off button 3, and any use in a local mode of operation, through the establi~hment of a switched telephone ,. ~

- 15 - l 3 3 8 3 ~ ~
connection to a host computer (Figs. 3 or 4), through the several possible interactions via the subroutines identified in the information flowchart of Figure 5 to turning the terminal off again via on/off button 3.
In a local mode of operation, the terminal is unplugged from the telephone network and operates similarly to a programmed computer. In accordance with menu driven algorithms, the user may record items in personal banking storage, for example, a numerically identified check at $25 for debiting from a terminal stored account balance. Alternatively, the user may be led to initialize the terminal to transmit a message to the host computer or request status for another numerically identified check, all checks having a particular dollar value or all checks of a particular date. The message to the host computer may simple be a request for a return call from a bank employee.
For example, during the banking mode of operation, display 2 of Figure 1 shows the two line message, "Welcome to Portable Banker," wherein a selected service name or mark is inserted, and/or a plurality of bank marketing messages or personally addressed messages upon the successful dial up of a host bank computer. At another time during a transaction, a menu or submenu option item may be identified on the first line while a simple customer prompt such as, "Your Choice?" will be displayed on a second line with an empty data field for choice entry. At still other times during a transaction, the second or bottom line will be provided in the form of an empty data field into which field, for example, a dollar and cents amount field may be completed between a dollar sign and a decimal 1 3383~6 -point by keyboard entries of a bank customer, most ~ignific~nt digit first.
~ltPrn~tively, a date may be inserted in month, day and year format belwæn folw~d slash marks. ~ltern~tively, a day, month, year format may be used in Europe or elsewhere if a~propriate.
To accomplish numPric~l data entry, a complement of ten nllmPric keys 11-20 are provided. After the completion of the partial or complete line compri~ing the data field is in agreement with the bank customer's desired entry, the bank customer depfesses the ENTER key 4. In the interim between data entry and data display, the data is first locality verified to assure accurate data tr~n~mi~ion to the host co~ ulel. For eY~m~le, if the user inadv~llelltly entersa month value greater than t-welve, the user may be informed of their mi~t~kP and requested to reenter the data appropliately.
In order to display the last' or succeeAing menu or submenu option item, a bank customer utilizes the up or down arrow function keys 5 and 6 respectively.
A bank customer may at any time return to the main menu by del)ressil g the "MENU', key 7. If the bank customer inadv~llently enters a wrong mlmPric~l value, it may be erased by depressing the b~c1r~pace BKSP key 8. This BKSP key 8 thus provides a local editing feature. If the user wants to back up to a higher level or the preceAing submenu selected, the user may recall the previously displayed sub menu information bv depressing the back up BKUP key 9. Both the MENU and BKUP function keys are controlled and implemPnteA from the host in the b~nkin~ mode of operation and are controlled by termin~l sorlw~r~ during thelocal mode of operation.

A;~

The two line display may be provided at an angle to the hori7~nt~1 and so slightly impressed in the tPrmin~l to f~r.ilit~te viewing of the display and alleviate effects of glare. When the main menu or submenu option items are scrolled two items at a time, they may be displayed and scrolled at predet~rminPd intervals such as every two seconds to free the bank customer from having to m~ml~lly depress the up and down arrow keys 5 and 6. These intervals relate to the rate of data tr~nsmi~ion such as 300 band bc~ween host and tPrmin~l but may be intPntion~lly slowed by a supplement~l delay input by the user or set in default by the bank.
Even during scrolling, a menu or submenu choice may be entered and acted upon by the host colllpuler to save time.
When power is turned off, battery is still provided to ensure p-cse~dLion of lclllpol~u~ memory storage. Also, non-volatile memory is provided within the te~ l for storage of tP-rmin~l software, personal banking information, and unique termin~l and user identification data. Within the software are provided standard or non-standard data encryption algorithms to selectively insure the security of data tr~n~mission over the telephone line, for example, the so-called data encryption standard (DES) or a simpler scheme such as one impllomPnte~ via an exclusive or (XOR) gating of data with a host and tPrmin~l shared random number table.
RP-ferring now to Figure 2, there is shown a pictorial represPnt~tion showing how the personal t~rmin~l 1 is easily connectPd to a telephone line 21 via a standard single line modular jack 22, type RJllC, available at most telephone supply retail outlets and now typically provided in each room of new home construction. The personal terminal 1 is equipped with two parallel conn~ct~1 1 33~

jacks 23 or 24 for connection to the single line jack 22 or to an optional telephone set 25. It should be noted that the personal termin~l lc~lui~`es no telephone set 25 as it compri~es a microl)n~cessor controlled aulol,latic dialer and telephone line supervised intPrf~ce.
SDouble-ended lines 26 and 27 equipped with standard ullivel~al pinch-type locking plugs connect either the telephone 25 to the personal tPrmin~l 1 or the onal t~-rmin~l 1 to the single line jack 22. Such lines 26, 27 are also generally available from telephone retail outlets in assorted lengths and equipped with other types of plugs at one end. The arrangement as shown in Figure 2 is more 10descli~live of a perm~nP-nt home office desk in~t~ tion than a portable installa-tion. When it is desired to use the personal tPrmin~l elsewhere inclu-ling at a location outside one's home or office, the telephone may be disconn~cte~ via line 27 from jack 22 and the combination of termin~l 1 and line 27 may comprise a portable hand held b~nking terminal complete with electronic check book 15conn~ctakle whenever desired to any compatible telephone jack inst~ tion. Also, the t~rmin~l 1 may be operated without line 27 in a local mode of operation as a personal banking manager.
Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown an overall block 11i~r~m showing the connection of a personal tPrmin~l 1 at the home 28 of a bank 20customer via the public switched telephone network 30 to the location of a banking or other fin~nçi~l in~titution 40. Personal terminal 1 aulo...~li~lly dials a pres~oled or customer entered telephone number of a line to fin~n~i~l institution 40. At fin~nci~l in~titution 40, a dial up port of host conl~uler 35 is ~(cessed at which point the "Welcome to Pocket Teller" message is caused to be displayed at 1 33838~

personal l~-",in~l 1. At fin~nci~l inetitution 40, bank personnel access host cO~ u~l 35 by way of a data t~rmin~l or personal co~ ulel 36, for example, for updating customer or bank information data stored in an ~eeoci~ted d~t~h5ee (not shown).
S All comml~ni~tions between host 35 and termin~l 1 are pl~f~llc;dly asynchronous, 300 baud, 8 bit data, no parity, 1 stop, using Bell 103 or 212A
colllpatible modems. While somewhat similar to the known X.25 commllni~-~tion protocol, the following described protocol is prerelled for its reliability, se~;ulily, and efficiency.
CONTROL PACKETS are sent to and from the terminal with the following format:
SOH / LENGTH / CONTROL / HEADER CKSUM / EOT.
DATA PACKETS are sent to and from The termin~l with the following format:

EOT.
In these paC~ete~ SOH is the starting character of 01H.

LENGTH, 1 byte, defines the number of bytes in the data field DATA
FIELD; not incl~l-ling CRC, the length variable ranges f rom 0 to 255.
CONTROL, the control byte, is defined as:
Data packet - OxH Data packet with sequence number x, and Control packet -8xH Acknowledge all previous p~c~et~, and 9xH Reject previous packet numbered x where x is a 3 bit value in the range of 0-7 that numbers each packet, and is incremf nted on each new (non-repeated) data packet.

HEADER CKSUM is defined as the 2's complement of the ~rithmptic 8 bit sum without carry of SOH, LENGTH, and the CONTROL byte.

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-20- ~ 3383~6 DATA is an optional field depending on LENGTH of up to 255 bytes.
CRC 16 is the 16 bit (2 bytes) of known cyclic redund~nry cheek CRC
co~ uled over the DATA FIELD only and tr~n~mittPA low byte followed by high byte. CRC is not sent if LENGTH 0.
EOT is the end of packet character of 04H.
The data field of each packet contains 8 bit ASCII data codes. Upper and lower case alpha-nllmeric codes can be displayed at terminal 1. Codes greater than 7FH and less than 20H are reserved for control codes. The character codes and fonts are selected from well known codes and fonts for efficiency and readability.
The following control codes CONTROL are accepted:
BEL (07H) Sound tone (or bell) for .5 sec, long BEL.
BS (08H) R~c~F~r~ cursor, does not erase ~Yi~tin~ character.
HT (09H) Sound tone (or bell) for .2 seconds, short BEL.
FF (OCH) Form feed erases screen and resets display to top line.
CR (ODH) C~ ge return ~lrO llls auto line feed, then resets the cursor to the left-most column.
SO (OEH) Disables encryption both ways, host to t~rmin~l or ~llllinal to host. -,his is the default state.
SI (OFH) Enables encryption of all data in packets tr~n~mitteA to the host.
Default is encryption disabled.
DLE IOH) Enter hidden string mode; displays '*' for each number entered by the user at the next prompt only. Resets after the prompt is completed.
DCl ~IH) Enter exact string length mode; user must fill all displayed ' ' prompt characters before ENTER is accepted at the next prompt only. Resets after the prompt is completed.
DC2 (12H) Enable encryption of data from host to terminal starting with the next data packet.

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- 21 - l 3 3 8 3 ~ 6 EM (19H) Instructs tPrmin~l to not display the current row position on the top line of the display, always displays on the bottom One of the display. Used to link two lines together for two line scrolling.
S SUB (lAH) Resets the tP-rmin~l to the same state as power-on. This command will disconnect the t~rmin~l from the phone line. May be used as an exit from the banking mode of operation.
FS aCH) Select display page A. (default) GS aDH) Select display page B.
RS aEH) Select cursor page A. (default) US (lFH) Select cursor page B.
PO (8xH) Prompts user for num~ric string input, m~ximllm length of x-Icharacters, t~rmin~t~d by the ENTER key. This code instructs the tPrmin~l to display x-I undçrline characters, where x is a four bit value in the range of 0 to 15.
P$ (9xH) Prompts user for a dollar amount input, m~ximllm length of x+i characters, termin~t~A by ENTER key. This code instructs termin~l to display x-I un-l~rlin~- characters as '$ . _ ', where x is a four bit value in the range of 0 to 15.
PM (AxH) Prompts user for a single menu selection input with a number belw~l~ and inclu-ling 0 to x, where x is a value between I
and 9. The exception of x = 0 is an invisible prompt for the ENTER key to be pressed without any nllmeric entry.
p/ (BOH) Prompts user for a date entry of 6 numbers. The t~ "~in~l displays '_/_/_' expecting either five or six numbers termin~tPA with the ENTER key.
ROW (CxH) Loads the screen row address to x, where 0 is the top line of the display and x is a row number between 0 and 15.
COL (DxH) Loads screen column address to x, where 0 is the left-most çh~r~ct~r position and x is a character number between 0 and 15.
DSP aExH) Termin~l displays from line number x, where x is between 0 and 15.
MEM aFxH) Save/Recall strings in/f rom terminal control memory.
F7H Recalls the termin~l phone number storage.
F6H Recalls Host specified 16 character string.
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- 22 - l 33 8 3~

FFH Saves the following 16 bytes of packet data in phone number memory locations.
FEH Saves the following 16 bytes of packet data in a host specified 16 character string storage.
S The tPrmin~l keyboard entered data returned from user plUlllpl~ iS ASCII
coded and placed in a data packet as previously defined in the above-described COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL.
Examples of data from each type of prompt follows:
P# (string prompt) '12345678' P$ (dollar prompt) ' 1234567'to be int~l~ted bv the host as 112345.6,-' PM (menu choice prompt)' 1' P/ (date prompt) '120387'to be inl~l~lc;led by the host as 112/03/'87, MENU returns a data byte to the host of 09H in a b~nking mode of operation, BKUP returns a data byte to the host of OBH in a banking mode of operation, BKSP is not returned as described above and is used locally for keyboard entry editing, ENTER tprmin~tes the prompt and does not generate any return data.
While at a user prompt during the b~nking mode, a pressing of the MENU
or BKUP keys will cause the terminal to ignore any data entered at the prompt and keys will tr~n~mit the code for MENU or BKUP to the host in the data field of a packet with LENGTH = 1. While at a menu prompt (PM, AxH), pressing ENTER without any numeric entry will return a packet with CR (ODH) in the data field. Upon completion of a prompt, the next c~r~-tpr tr~n~mitted from the host to the tPrmin~l will be displayed in the first character position to the right of the prompt.
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- 23 - 1 3 3 8 3 8 b In accor~lce with the above-described comml-nic~tions protocol, all packets received by the termin~l with a good CRC check will force an acknowledgement packet to be tr~n~mitted to the host con~;~illillg no data field, i.e., having a length byte of 0 and the control byte in~ic~ting acknowledgement. On the other hand, S if the received data's CRC check fails, a packet will be tr~n~mitted to the host with the control byte in-lic~ting a packet rejection. If the host receives neither anacknowledgement or a rejection packet while waiting for a predetermined period such as 10 seconds, the host should retransmit the last packet. Only one packet is allowed by the host to be out~t~n~ing at any time. Packets con~ g user prompt data tr~n~mittPd from the terminal to the host should be acknowledged by the host to the terminal in the same manner as described above. Packets receivedwith a bad Header ChPrksum are to be ignored and no rejection packet is to be transmitted.
Upon succe~ful connection to the host co~ ulel during the initi~li7~tion mode, the t~rmin~l sends at least a packet to the host with a data field col.l:1ining in~l identifi~tion information as 'HIT Vx.yl, where x and y are numbers associated with the termin~l software version. The characters HIT distinguish the terminal as a portable personal tPrmin~l The cursor and display page d~fault~ topage A and encryption is disabled.
The keyboard is active in the local mode of operation and at any user prompt input. Pressing the ON/OFF key to turn the unit off while on-line will disconnect the le ",in~l from the phone line.

1 3383~6 If encryption has been selectively enabled in accor~lce with the protocol, all subsequent data fields tr~n~mitted from the tçrmin~l to the host will be encrypted using the following routine:
ptr = CRC.TABLE + HEADER.CHECKSUM loop LENGTH times Transmit [(Data to tr~n~mit) XOR ptrl ptr = ptr + 1 endloop where HEADER.CHECKSUM and LENGTH are the values of the header checksum and data field length defined in the packet header. CRC.TABLE is the first location of a host/ttqrmin~l shared lookup table used to generate the packet's CRC data.
Referring now to Figure 4, there is shown an overall schematic block diagram of a b~nking data proces~ing and information retrieval system in which pel~onal l~llnillal 1 comprise only one elPment. For example, personal tçrmin~l 1 is connected via the public switched network 30 to business/home host colllpulel 35. Business/home host colll~u~er 35 may be a minicolll~,uler or large personal colll~uler having other dial up ports which may be ~essP~ by bllsiness~Ps equipped with personal colll~ul~l~ over lines 41 or bv home personal 31.
As described in the background of the invention section above, the personal colll~ul~ls are equipped with data modems and may p~lÇollll all the options provided to the personal tPrmin~l 1, however, A~

- 25 l 3 3 8 3 8 ~
with greater keyboard and display capability. The problem solved by the present personal t~,rmin~l 1 is to provide practically equivalent features and options at a fraction of the cost while demonstrating a user friendly intto,rf~e to the bank customer.
Business/home host colllpulel 35 may perform practically all tasks associated with service provision to any one of dialed up lines 21, 31, or 41 inclu~ling one serving personal tP-rmin~l 1. Home/office d~t~h~e 37 comprises all identity verific~tion data for all connectible office or home tP- "~in~l~ or colll~ulel~
while the main frame colllyuler 50 is ~ccessed for retrieving customer account information, bank location and loan interest information from database 60. Host colllpulel 35 may identify whether the dialing inst~ tion is equipped with a l~,. ",in~l or a colllL ulel from the unique i(lentifi~tion data tr~n.~mitteA. and serves the in~t~ tion appr~liately.
Also, according to Figure 4, automatic teller machines (ATMs) are served over deAic,~ted telephone lines by means of aulolllalic teller machine controller 63.
Bank teller inquiries from branch bank locations are served over dedicated telephone lines by teller controller 65. Teller controller 65, bank host colll~uler 35, and ATM controller 63 all interf~ce with a bank's m~inframe colll~ulel 50 via a telecommunit~tion processor (TP) controller 67. All require access to the samemain bank ",~inlPn~nce account and information ~t~h~e 60 where are stored customer account data and, optionally, current interest rate, bank location and hour data and other acces~ihle data. Home/host colll~uler 35 and i~t~b~.~. 37 downloaded with data from the mainframe 50 preferably serves as the source for bank information A~

1 3383~6 generally. Bill payment, for example, may be accomplished via either home/host co~ uler 35 or mainframe 50 but preferably by home/host col-~ulel 35 via ~t~h~e 37.
Referring to Figure 5, there is shown an overall system control chart describing information flow to either the home tPrmin~l or the host co",~uler. The flowchal l will now be described with reference to the home terminal 1 (Fig. la and lb) and the system block diagram (Fig. 4).
Box 500 represents the local mode of operation in which there is no information flow to the host. A number of well known applications software packages may be operated in the local mode: electronic checkbook, account balance, foreign eYçh~nge conv~l~ion, calculations related to interest rates such as the future worth of monthly deposits and so on, only limited by one's im~gin~tion.
The more applications software provided in the personal terminal the more costlythe terminal. Consequently, if the tPrmin~l is to be given away to new b~nking customers, applications software may be initially limited and optional applications software provided at additional cost.
According to box 501, all software ~oci~tP~d with the local mode of operation of the personal tPrmin~l, with personal termin~l initi~li7~tion and with establi~hmP-nt of a switched telephone connection to the host co---puler 35 is associated with personal tPrmin~l 1. Box 500 for instance passes initial requests to box 501 for ~et~l~tion. To enter the initi~li7~tion mode, the tP-rmin~l must be connected to a telephone line. The customer depr~sses "on" button 3 activating the termin~l which first initi~li7e~s itself before going off-hook. Thereafter, a ple~lolc~d or customer entered telephone number is autom~ti~lly dialed. Once the A~

-27- l 338386 telephone number is dialed, the call is supervised to insure that a connection is established, i.e., the number is not busy or the number has not been mi~i~lP~
Data repre~Pnting the unique personal tPrmin~l number is then retrieved from non-volatile memory, encrypted and for,.,~l~ed in acco~ance with the known X.25 S packet data protocol or plef~llcd protocol as described above for tr~n~mi~ion to the host co,l,puler 35. The host co~ ulel 35 is responsible for identifying the tr~n~mitting entity as to whether it is a personal co"~ulel or personal le~ in~l and its sorlwalc version and so establish an ap~r~liate serving software intPrf~r~. In so doing, the unique p~l~ollal idçntific~tion number is used to access data retrieved from a customer ~ t~h~e ~oci~tPd with the host co~ u~el. Also, a first personal account number or PAN tr~n~mitted by the personal termin~l is verified. The hostcol"~u~er then replies by requesting via the display 2 the user's personal idPntifir~-tion number, known in the industry as a PIN.
At box 502, under control of the home tprmin~l~ the personal account and irlPntifiC~tion number is tr~n~mitt~P~ to the host co",Lu~er and verified. The personal idçntifit~tion number PIN is verified at the host co,l~uler 35 by co~p~ on with personal data retrieved from the customer l~t~h~e 37. If the PIN is wrong, then PIN data entry is requested again. Otherwise if correct and if the user has preset the termin~l to request certain fealulcs or already, for exam-ple, entered a check status request, this request may be folw~uded by the t~rmin~l at this time.
Also if the PIN is correct, at box 503 the host co",~uler 35 acts on the initialrequest and enters a submenu or if no initial request is pl~sçl~tP~d~ tr~n~mit~ a main menu option list to the personal termin~l where it is locally stored, for eY~mple, A~

in a ten to thirty-two line screen memory. The screen memory is chosen, for eY~mple, to be large enough to store the main menu and the largest sub-menu of the main menu. Furthermore, the host con~ulel ~tll~tes the personal t~rmin~l to scroll through the option items two at a time at, for example, two second intervals S in~.lu-ling the expected data tr~n.~mi~.ci~ n delay until the entire list is displayed. As already in~ic~t~.d, the screen display hold time need not be pre~et~rmined at two seconds but may be user or host co,ll~uler programmable.
The main menu comprises a number of nllm.qric~lly iderltifi~d choices or option items, each of which compri.~es a descriptive legend of a character length less than the length of the display. For example, the main menu list may be:

1 - View balance 6 - Bank locations 2 - Account information 7 - Change Accounts (PAN & PIN) 3 - Bill Payment 8 - Bank Information 4 - Transfer Funds 9 - ATM Locations 5 - Rates 10 - Exit (End Session) At the end of the menu list, the last menu item may be displayed on one line while a prompt and blank data field may be displayed such as: "Your choice?--,' The bank customer then is to enter a choice by its number and depress the ENTER key. For example, a check or deposit sc~nning feature is implem~nted via a hierarchical set of submenus under Account Information.
For example, a submenu under Account Information may comprise the following choices:

1. Find Check 5. All Credits 2. Find by Date 6. All Debits 3. Find by Amount 7. All Deposits 4. Get Sullllllal~ 8. Checks Pending -29- 1~3~38~

The first of these locates a check by number, the second all checks of a particular date, and the third all having a particular amount. Up to four account numbers (PAN) may be stored for a particular individual and so Get Summary retrieves an account summ~ry for the entered account. To change account, one must return to the main menu, for example, by de~ressil g the MENU key and ~ct l~ting choice 7. The retrieval of all credits, debits and deposits is self-eYpl~n~tory. Checkspending is a feature by which the user receives check data by number and amount as to what is pending for posting on a particular day. In this manner, the user may make appro~liate deposits to the account on that day to cover the checks to be posted.
According to box 504, the data is tr~n~mitted to the host co~ ,uler 35 after it is locally verified for reasonable accuracy. Furthermore, the data is selectively encrypted, for example, the personal account or i(lPntific~tion codes and then form~tte~ into data packets for tr~n~mi~ion.
According to an optional feature, an audible tone of a short duration may signal a data entry that is reasonable while one that is not reasonable may be ~i~n~ by a tone of relatively longer duration, for example, when the number key depressed has a value which exceeds the number of possible choices.
The personal t~rmin~l stores all menu choices in local screen memory freeing the host colll~uLel 35 to p~lrOllll other tasks. The bank customer may use up/down arrow keys 5 and 6 to proceed through the list or use the BKSP key to edit a data entry.
Once the option item number is tr~n~mitte~ to the host colll~uLel 35 and the ENTER key 4 depressed, at box 305, the ap~ropliate sub-menu, again comprising Al 1 33~3~f, a list of numeri~lly itl~ntified choices is tr~n~mitted to the personal t~rmin~l. As before, the list may be also stored in screen memory at the personal termin~l and scrolled through two items at a time until complete. Also, the bank customer mayreturn to the main menu by depressing the MENU key 7 at any time or move to a menu or submenu one hierarchical level removed via the BKUP key 9.
At box 506, a selection function within the sub-menu list is acted upon by the host co~lpulel 35 once a nllmeri~l choice is entered and the ENTER key depressed as before. In reply, the host colll~uler leads the customer through a multi-step process such as delP~.,.inillg the status of a personal check which may have been cashed or simply provides requested information such as the nearest location of a branch bank or automatic teller machine.
At box 507, a new menu or submenu selection may be made and tr~n~mitted to the host co",pulel and the entire process repeated until the tr~n~ti( n is ended by either an intentional depression of off button 3, the selection of the End Session option of the main menu, or the passage of a predetP-rminlod period of time suchas ten minutes belween customer data entries timed either via t~rmin~l 1 or hostco"l~ulel 35. The latter time-out feature frees the telephone line 21 for incoming calls in the event the customer has been taken away from the tr~n~ction.
Now referring to Figure 6, there is shown a detailed block sç~ tiC
diagram of the portable ~l~onal b~nking tPrmin~l 1. The personal banking le~",inal comprises a data entry device, for example, a keyboard 600 having mlmeric and function keys. Keyboard 600 most conveniently compri~s a four by four matrix of keys having no upper or lower case, the object being to simplify keyboard use by a user. A five by four matrix may be used if additional A~

-31- l 3383~6 functionality is desired. A six by six keyboard would be required for full alphA~ "eric capability. To format data for data trAnsmi~ion, there is provided a data modem 601. A tone generator 602 is provided for telephone line ~ign~ling by dual frequency tone generating means while AltP-rn~tively~ a make/break connection of the telephone line may provide dial pulse type ~ignAling via telephone line intPrfAre 604. Telephone line intçrface 604 is shown as connectedin parallel with a telephone line and with an optional telephone set as pictoriAlly shown in Figure 2. In this manner, either the telephone set or the personal terminAl may go off hook to request telephone central office dial tone if both are connPctPA to the telephone line 21.
Display and control 603 is provided to display, for example, two lines of chArActPrs, each line having sixteen characters. ~lLP."~Iively, one to three line liquid crystal displays where each line may display 12 to 32 characters may be provided in keeping with the principles of the present invention.
Microprocessor 605 is coupled to the keyboard 600, the modem 601, the display 603, the tone genPrAtQr 602 and an optional alerter or audible tone device 607. The alerter 607 emits a short tone burst in the event of a reasonably correct entry and a longer burst in the event of a clear error. Short tone bursts may becommAn~PA by the host at periodic intervals to in-li~te to the user that the host is still connectP~l.
Responsive to ON button 609, the microprocessor is initi~li7~d into at least the local mode of operation and if the phone line is conmPct~P~ proceeds to establish the dialed connection to the host col"puler via an OFF-HOOK ~i~nAling lead -32- l 33838~

and/or tone generator 602 using a telephone number stored in non-volatile battery backed-up memory or one entered via keyboard 600.
Random access memory 606 is provided for storing screen data tr~nsmitted from the host co~ )u~f and keyboard entries from keyboard 600 until acted upon.
Screen memory may comprise from 10 to 40 lines of data capacity. Battery power to random access memory 606 is presel~ed regardless of the status of "on" switch609.
As intlic~ted, the power source is a battery which may run low and, hence, a low battery in~lic~tor circuit 608 is provided to provide a low battery signal to microprocessor 605. Microprocessor 605 may in turn cause a low battery infli~tor signal to be displayed on display 603.
Referring now to Figure 7, there is shown an overall subroutine flJwcha for the sof~w~re algoli~llllls of the personal banking tPrmin~l and the rel~tionships between the algorithms and harlwalt; components, i.e., the modem 601, keyboard 600 and display 603 shown in Figure 6. The input/output manager of box 701 is responsible for providing data form~tting/deform~tting in accor-lallce with the above described protocol and encryption/decryption. For encryption/decryption, software algorithm 706 is called. In particular, data received from prompt manager and memory are fo~ e~ in the protocol for tr~nsmi~ion via modem 601 to host bank colll~u~r 35 after encryption by, for example, the well known data encryption standard DES or a simpler proprietary algorithm such as a logic gating of data with data from a shared look-up table. The data must be in packetdata form in accordance with the well-known X.25 data tr~n~mi~ion protocol or the herein described and referred protocol and algorithm.
A~

33 - l 338386 In the other direction, data packets are received from the bank host col.lpulel 35 via modem 601, def~ .lalled and decrypted and transferred via shell 705 to screen manager 702 for display on display 603 or via prompt manager to scroll manager '4,03 for display.
Shell 705 is responsible for delel ",ining if the tp-rminal is in a local or other mode of operation and governs the trrmin~l accordingly.
Screen manager 702 is responsible for managing display on display 603.
Received data is le --pol~ily stored in termin~l memory and called by scroll manager -4 03 when required.
In the mea~nwhile, prompt manager 704 is responsive to either keyboard 600 data entries or shell co~ nds from to 1/0 manager box 701 to actuate or de~rt~l~te scroll manager 703. The prompt manager prioritizes data for display and par~iCirates in local data validation.
Scroll manager 703 intrrfar~s with display 603 and responsive to a user or host programmable hold time may scroll through menu or submenu option items in acco~ ce with the programmrd display hold time and the downlo~ling of data from the host co~ uler. ~ ."~lively, the scroll manager responsive to prompt manager 704 and key board entries may go fol~v~d or backwards through an option item list or notify the host co---puler to return to the main menu or backup one level of menu.
Figures 7a through 7f provide further det~ d description of the functions of the algolill----s shown in Figure 7. Referring to Figure 7a, the Input/Outputmanager is primarily conce~led with the tr~n~mi~inn and reception of data.

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Referring to retrieved characters at a particular line. The scroll manager relates to display of menu items and other scrolling two lines at a time.
Referring to Figure 7d, the prompt manager manages the four types of user p~Olllp~ for data: dollars, dates, numbers and menu choices. Referring to Figure7e, the shell is a supervisor, plVgl~:llll which det~rmines status and, if appr~pliate, reads input messages and determines what action or program to call next. If the terminal is not plugged into a phone line, a local mode is ~sum-Pd and local applications sorlw~Le 707 is called. The depicted encryption of Figure -if is pler~ lcd for its simplicity. A pointer is S-PlP~t~P~ and for each byte up to the variable siæ, looks up a random byte in a table and logically p~lrOlllls an exclusive or gating of the data byte with the random byte or the inverse for decryption.
Referring to Figure 8, there is shown an overall subrouline flowchart for the sorlw~t; algolilhllls of the bank host colllpulel 35. Stored in memory 801 at the bank host colll~ulel 35 are a resource compiler for the backbone of the host bank colll~ulel sorlw~t;, the resource manager, a textual d~t~h~e for home or business personal t-Prmin~l~ or personal colllpu~ and a related binary d~t~b~e of files.
Via modem 820 of bank host colll~uler 35 which has been connected via the public switched network 30 to modem 601, data is received from and tr~n~mitted toward personal tPrmin~l 1. Input/Output 1/0 manager box 806 ~imil~rly to 1/0 manager box 4-01 of Figure 7 is responsible for for",~ g/defol",~ll;,lg and encryption/ decryption of data. As shown decryption/encryption box 810 is selec-tively called by 10 Manager 806 when required.

L~

- ~ - 35 -Screen mqnq.~rr 805 is pnmqnly responsible for fo....~ll;n~ the screens sent to tPrminql 1 and _etting the screen mqn~er 702 of the ~.~onal tc.ll~nal. It also .~ data l~;~d from the pc.~onal tPrlninql and provides the r~ll;e.~d data to shell plOgl~ull 804.
Shell or tprrninql control P1UE1~UII 804 is called by f~au ce .. 3nagr r 803 for any so called 1~U1~ g, l~ C~ to l~nd to a ~ J~ P- inquiry.
RP~U1~ mqnas!-pr 803 must access the IIIC~ 801 via file ~qnag-~ 802 or ~answer queries by ~cccs;~ ...~;nr.~ ~I.'PUI' 50. To . .qnaee inputloutput to and from the "A;nr~ Colll~)ut~ 50, there is provided a storage .~.q~-ae~ 807 which also ;"t -r,~5 with ~5;nr~ .q~a~ 808. RP~snc:~_ to l~Ul~
mqnager 803, ~qinr"~ mqnaeP.r 808 fo~.~.q~ app~l,.iale inquirie_ and l~;~CS
data ~o .s;~_ thereto from .. s;nf.,.. r Col~u1~ 50. To mqnqge C4.. i~qtir~nc with ",~; n r" ...~ c~ t~ 50 which must also co~ nirq'e as shown in Figure 4 with au~ laLc teller .~A~l~;n~s~ bank tellers and such, there is proyided ...qi..r.,....G
C~"""l.nirq~ n~ mqnagPr 809. Bill~ar~ 811 is called by lCSUUr~ mqna8er 803 for bill ~lllc~l mqnagPmPnt Bill payment output is provided to storage mqna~Pr 807.
Pof~ now to Figure 9, there is shown a ~s,~ .- of -q~ ;lh..~
qCS~ A~d with the ~u- ie mqnq~er8o3 of Figure 8. The overall l,u l)osc of the l ~ u~ mqna8eris to control ~ ~ n~l tprminql 1 and to assure a proper l~
of data which eve.llually will be displayed at p,.~n~l l ....inql 1. The overall 1 3383~6 program will be referred to as a script manager 900 which must recognize and control the bank customer through the solution of error scen~rios which may present themse1ves via error manager 903. ProceeAing, for example, from the main menu to a submenu, r~t~ to the main menu and flowing through a particular option item is the responsibility of flow manager 902. Screen builder901 builds an appro~liate display depenlling on the point in the tr~n~ction at which the screen builder 901 is ~cces~A i.e., during user dialogues 904, the presPnt~tion of menus or submenus 905, the present~tion of text messages 906 or the pres~n~l;on of user pro~ ?ls 907 for date, dollar, number or menu choice such as in response to "Your Choice?".

~ ..

Claims (26)

1. A portable personal banking terminal for use in a banking terminal system comprising:
and m line by n character display where m is greater than zero and n is greater than eleven, a data modulator and demodulator for transmitting data over a telephone line, an automatic telephone dialer for supervising and actuating a switched telephone connection over a public switched telephone network to a host computer, a data entry means for providing ten plus i selectable choices, the choices comprising ten numerical choices and i functional elements wherein i is between two and ten and a controller, coupled to the display, the data modulator and demodulator, the automatic telephone dialer and the data entry means, for encrypting and formatting data in packets for transmission to the host computer and for validating and controlling the display of data entered via the data entry means during any of a local, an initialization or a banking mode of operation, for controlling actuation of the switched telephone connection to the host computer during the initialization mode of operation, the controller being further responsive to the host computer during the banking mode of operation for controlling the display and storage of text messages, prompts and data transmitted from the host computer.

2. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 where the number of lines m is between one and four.

3. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 where the number of characters n is between twelve and thirty-two.

4. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 where the number of functional elements i is six.

5. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 further comprising timing means of the controller for automatically disconnecting the switched telephone connection after a predetermined period of time.

6. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 further comprising an alerter for providing an audible signal of short duration for reasonable data entries and a signal of longer duration for clearly erroneous entries.

7. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 having a unique identification number, the host computer adaptable to serve the personal terminal with one serving system and a personal computer having access to the same host computer via another serving system.

8. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 comprising remotely controlled timing means, information messages caused to be displayed at the terminal by the host computer being displayed for a programmable display hold time.

9. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 8 where the programmable display hold time is user programmable.

10. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 8 where the programmable display hold time is downloadable from the host computer.

11. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 where during the local mode of operation, the terminal is disconnected from the telephone line and the controller is responsive to terminal stored applications software.

12. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1 having a front and a rear surface, the front surface providing a location for the data entry means and display and the rear surface providing a pocket for banking forms and a writing table.

13. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1, the display during a banking mode of operation for displaying the status of a check, the status data being retrieved from the host computer for display.

14. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 13, the status of a check having a particular number being requested via the data entry means.

15. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 13, the status of all cheeks having a particular date being requested via the data entry means.

16. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 13, the status of all checks having a particular amount being requested via the data entry means.

17. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 13, a listing of all checks pending on a particular day being requested via the data entry means.

18. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 1, the display during a banking mode of operation for displaying the status of a credit or deposit, the status data being retrieved from the host computer for display.

19. A portable personal terminal for use in an initializing and a banking mode of operation in a bank terminal system comprising a host computer and for use in a local mode of operation without the banking terminal system, the portable personal banking terminal during the local mode of operation serving as a personal banking manager and during a banking mode of operation under host computer control as a bank information retrieval terminal.

20. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 19 wherein the bank information retrievable from the host computer comprises check status.

21. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 20 wherein the check status comprises the status of a numerically identified check.

22. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 20 wherein the check status comprises the status of all checks having a particular date.

23. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 20 wherein the check status comprises the status of all checks having a particular amount.

24. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 20 wherein the check status comprises a list of all checks pending and their respective amounts on a particular day.

25. A portable personal banking terminal as recited in claim 19 having a front and a rear surface, the front surface providing means for data entry and display and the rear surface providing a pocket for banking forms and a writing table.

26. In a portable personal banking terminal, a controller responsive to control commands, data, and user prompts, for actuating a two-line display of scrolled menu data two lines at a time through a menu list of lines having at least three lines, the last line displayed being a user prompt for data entry, the user prompt requesting data in the form of a date, an amount, a number or a menu item choice.