WO1997004609A1

WO1997004609A1 - System for payment transactions between two active cards

Info

Publication number: WO1997004609A1
Application number: PCT/SE1996/000950
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard Brent Lucas
Original assignee: Eii-Konsulter
Priority date: 1995-07-14
Filing date: 1996-07-12
Publication date: 1997-02-06
Also published as: EP0873660A1; SE9502607D0; AU6474396A

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a system for debiting and crediting transactions between two active cards (25, 33) with resident accounts, inserted each in one telephone (20, 21, 40) connected to a telephone network (36), which telephones (20, 21, 40) possess conventional known telecommunications technology.

Description

SYSTEM FOR PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN TWO ACTIVE CARDS

Field of the invention

The present invention pertains to a system for debiting and crediting transactions between two active cards with resident accounts, inserted in each one telephone connected to a telephone network, which telephones possess conventional known telecommunications technology.

History of the prior art No flexible, mobile and general system for direct contact with banks, credit institutes etc. exists today. Credit and other cards used for payment, for example, processor based so-called smart cards (active cards), are being tried in connection with payment transactions. One example of this is the so-called ^ttSwindon^tt-project in Great Britain, where bank customers via a stationary telephone network can download electronic currency to be used when buying everyday goods from vendors connected to the system. These operations are on a trial level and do not as yet offer more than a limited market for those vendors and their customers connected to the system.

The Swindon project illustrates some possibilities, yet it is limited to local conditions in both technical and market scope in that it is not adaptable to personal mobility and the global market place. Individuals want to move globally without hindrance and they want to have momentary access to the same system for buying, selling, registe¬ ring and updating their economical transactions without the delay of waiting for account statements before making a transaction. Creditors can also effectively realize better cash management by this kind of immediate account updating.

In the USA and other countries, PC based BBS payment transactions systems for goods, services and real estate are being developed. However, they have shown limitations because they lack a mobile interface to the accounts of the buyers and sellers. Thus the legality of these de facto transactions between the parties are delayed. Similar projects are underway in other countries.

Summary of the disclosed invention The object of the present invention is to solve the problems mentioned above in a general and mobile manner so as to give the user security, accessibility and speediness when economical transactions are made anywhere in the world - MOBIPAY ^®, GLOBALPAY ^®, UNIPAY ^® services for payment transactions.

The following goals are reached with a mobile station or conventional telephone according to the invention:

- transactions are quickly registered into the account holders account at the time of purchase thereby reducing the risk of forgotten transactions or human error;

- sure customer identification; and

- reducing the need for cash and thereby reducing the risk of robbery.

By using the system according to the present invention, more effective cash management is obtained for both creditor and debtor, which means further that the following aims are obtained:

- the parties have direct access to transactions;

- fast information capture gives greater market competitiveness regarding the market placement of notes of credit, and

- adherent customers, private and business, get a quicker and safer instrument for the control of revenues and expenses.

The aims and objects according to the present invention are reached through a system for debiting and crediting transactions between two active cards with resident accounts, inserted in each one telephone connected to a telephone network, which telephones possess conventional known telecommunications technology. Telephones according to the present invention comprise means for debiting and crediting a card inserted in a telephone, said means having a common data protocol for communication between the means comprised in telephones. The telephones further comprising each one reader-module with a slot for active cards. Further comprising a first interface for authorized communication between said means and a card inserted in the telephone and a second interface for authorized communication between said means and a card inserted in another telephone.

A crediting transaction between the cards is prompted and initialized through a personal identity code and a call set up from the telephone belonging to a debtor prompt¬ ing the debtor to dial a telephone number and making a call set up to the telephone be- longing to a creditor. The means prompting, the debtor by instructions in sequence to credit the card to be credited with the same amount of payment through said means as was debited from the card to be debited through said means. The means in the telephone, belonging to the creditor, possibly prompting the creditor of the transaction sequences taking place.

A second interface also interfaces a telephone for call set up to a computer system handling accounts allotted to a card. Preferably, a card is only credited from a telephone that is not the bearer of a card to be credited or from a computer system at a creditors location handling accounts allotted to the card by a call set up from the computer system.

Said computer system matches the account belonging to a card with the amount of payment credited or debited upon a call set up through said means in the telephone or from a call set up from the computer system.

The means may automatically set up a call to said computer system when a transaction is completed.

In one embodiment, the computer system sets up a call to the telephone when the account is debited or credited in order to match the account with the account resident on the card.

Also a card may upon insertion in the slot activate a call set up to the computer system in order to match the account resident on the card with the account handled by the computer system.

In yet one embodiment a duplicate to an original account in the computer system at the creditor is available and correlated with the original account.

In a specific embodiment the telephone network is a mobile telephone network and the telephones are mobile stations connected to the network.

In another specific embodiment the telephone network comprises a infrastructure of known telecommunications networks, where telephones can be of all kind of types, wireless or connected through wires to said networks.

The active card can be a SIM-module of card type or smaller format in one embodiment. Also, in another embodiment the active card can be a combined credit/bank card and a SIM-module.

The mobile station is fitted with a extra card reader module for active cards in one embodiment. The extra card reader-module connects to a telephone I/O-port and said means through an interface. Telephone I/O port(s) through said means are used as an interface with external systems for payment transactions in one embodiment. An external system may be of the type digital cashregister and transactions system, or that the external system is a bulletin board system for economic transactions.

A scanner may be connected to a telephone via its I/O-port(s) to said means with its interface so that sums read via the scanner are debited to the account resident on a card.

Telephones taking part in a transactions receive receipts of the transactions in one embodiment through an SMS, e-mail or facsimile which are initialized from either tele¬ phones or from the creditor computer system.

Brief description of the drawings For a more complete understanding of the present invention and for further objectives and advantages thereof, reference may now be had to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a SIM-module in the form of an active card; Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a mobile station in a system according to an embodiment of the invention in a front elevational view and a side elevational view; and Fig. 3 illustrates a general GSM-system with two mobile stations and connections to other known telecommunications systems.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments The present invention is based upon the memory units found in a mobile station (for example a cellular telephone), the memory unit in an active card (smart card), the memory unit in an active card in the form of a SIM-module (Subscriber Identity Module), and the memory unit in a smaller SIM-module ( so-called "plug-in "-module). Usually the smaller module is issued by the telecommunications operator as a module in the format of a credit card, whereby the plug-in unit is broken free from the larger plastic card while at the same time being inserted into the relevant slot in the mobile station.

Moreover, the present invention pertains to a combination card wherein SIM- module functionality, like that of the conventional SIM-module, is found, as well as that of the functionality of the active part of a credit/bank - smart card. In this way a mobile station SIM card is combined with those services which are offered by a credit/bank card administrator (for example VISA ^®, American Express ^® etc.) pertaining to credit and other payment transactions.

To enable the use of existing mobile stations together with existing credit/bank cards, an extra card reader-module may be necessary. It can either be connected internally, integrated in the mobile station or externally, for example with a cable connection via a station in and out port(s) (I/O).

The overall object of the invention is constituted by the use of active memory units (or other memory units), whereby active cards via means for debiting and crediting through a first interface in a mobile station card resident account, is updated with available means of payment as well as that the account is almost simultaneously adjusted and updated in regards to available means of payment, whereby economic transactions occur on-line between, for example a customer bank accounts, or between a debtor or purchasers and a creditors or vendors on card or memory resident accounts.

In the present invention the term "account" is broadly defined. That is to say not only in the form of a bank account, but as an expression for any stored means of payment available for economic transactions. An example of what should be regarded as an account according to the present invention pertains to BBS-systems (Bulletin Board System - existing in the Internet, among other systems) for the payment of economic transactions. The mobile station means for debiting and crediting an account ties together the mobile station and the account allotted to a mobile station in a account givers computer into a physical unit where transactions and balances are updated on-line in the account- holder mobile station resident account. The following is a general description of a SIM-module and is functions.

The technology of SIM-modules pertaining to cellular telephones is well known and specified via GSM-standards (GSM-recommendations), administered by ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute). GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) is a global digital mobile telephone system. Although the embodiments of the present invention use a GSM-system to describe the invention, the invention is not limited to that system, but it is constituted so as to be adaptable to any and all mobile communications systems fulfilling the basic prerequisites needed for implementation - that primarily being an interface between the mobile station and the account.

A subscriber to the services offered by an operator of mobile telecommunications can use a MS-unit by controlling it with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM-module), which is inserted into the MS-unit revealing the identity of the user of the MS-unit (TMSI- International Mobile Subscriber Identity). IMSI is connected to a subscriber number (MSISDN- Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network Number).

Information about IMSI and MSISDN together with other relevant subscriber information is stored in a database (register), in GSM termed HLR (Home Location Register), by the operator of the mobile telephone network to which the user subscribes. A GSM-system also contains databases called VLR (Visitor Location Register) and exchanges, so-called MSC (Mobile Services Switching Center) which expedite the communications.

Information about an activated MS-unit is temporarily stored in the VLR belonging to the service area where the MS-unit is located. The HLR that is relevant for the subscriber receives information about which identity is activated so that communica¬ tion connections and cost registration etc. can be carried out in the correct manner.

The SIM-module can be arranged so that the selective activation, that is to say the choice of identity function in the SIM-module, can occur by using a keypad or the like on the MS-unit. Activation can then be achieved, for example by the keying in of a so-called PIN-code (Personal Identity Code). Respective identities can thereby receive a special code. This brings about the possibility of furnishing a users PIN-code with a complemen¬ tary code element for the selection of the desired identity. Hence, an identity can be a service that the operator of mobile telephone communications system offers to its sub¬ scribers. In the present invention a code element in conjunction with the PIN-code represents an embodiment together with said means for crediting and debiting for connection to an on-line account for debiting and crediting; for example via the keypad on the MS-unit or prompted via text messages and information on the display of the MS-unit. Fig 1 illustrates very schematically how a SLM-module as well as a credit/bank card, both active, are normally constituted. Notice especially the SLM-functions in GSM do not necessarily need to be integrated in a active card in the future, but can also be resident in a memory module integrated in a mobile station. Presently, however, it is thought to be expedient to use a plastic card for the purpose.

Most often a SLM-module is made of a plastic card 10, whereby the card contains also an active part 12, processor based with an internal memory. The active part 12, as mentioned earlier, can be broken off from the card 10 constituting the SIM-module in the form of a plug-in unit in smaller format, which some models of MS-units require. When a SIM-module is inserted into the reader slot contact is made between connectors in the slot and the surface connectors on the active part 12. Hence, the SIM-module can communica¬ te with the MS-unit in a manner known by those skilled in the art of this technology pertaining to processor based technology calling for the use of peripherals. In an embodiment of the invention, the SIM-module is combined with a credit bank card, for example VISA ^®, by which the MS-unit does not need to be provided with an extra slot (for the card) for the debiting and crediting of credit/bank card transac¬ tions. This, however, requires cooperation between an account giver and an operator of the telecommunications system. An easy solution to this problem could be brought about if the account giver (administrator) provided an account holder with a MS-unit together with a credit/bank card at the beginning of a customer-client relationship. Naturally, informa¬ tion adherent to a credit card can be stored directly in the internal memory of the MS- unit. Hence, the MS-unit has in itself a credit/bank card function, should the account giver supply the account holder with a MS-unit. The MS-unit, so to speak, takes the form of an active card as well as possessing the usual functions found in a MS-unit. That kind of procedure would enable the SLM-module to retain its current functions. Such arrangements, naturally, must be combined with satisfactory access control - preferably by program software.

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a mobile station according to one of the embodi- ments of the invention - side and front views.

The MS-unit 20 shown here has the further function of debiting and crediting between credit bank card transactions and/or SIM-module 10 (smart card) visa vi the respective account. The MS-unit is comprised of a display 22, some form of keypad 24 (touch model, wriύngpad, pressure tangents etc.) and an antenna. Moreover, the MS-unit contains integrated electronic components (not shown) for use in a mobile telephone system. The card 10 is shown as being somewhat outwardly protruding for easier viewing.

In the side view in fig. 2 is illustrated an embodiment of the invention which makes it possible for those MS-unit now in use and sold to use existing credit/bank cards in the form of a smart card 25. Fig. 2 shows how a card reader with slot 28 has been attached to the back side of the MS-unit 20 with a credit bank card 25 inserted into the slot 28, at the same time the SIM-module 10 is inserted in its own slot. It is also possible to integrate the card reader 28 directly in the MS-unit. Yet for those subscribers wanting to have a mobile station as an attachment, according to the invention, the method shown in fig. 2 with an extra card reader 28 may be preferred. The card reader 28 is connected to the MS-unit 20 via the units I/O port 29 with, for example, a cable 27 or other connective device. Hence, communication between them is brought about in a known way for processor based units and their peripherals.

A hand held scanner can also be connected to the I/O-port 29 (not shown), by which receipts, invoices etc. may be scanned for direct account crediting - debiting controlled by the means for debiting and crediting in the MS-unit 20. Fig. 3 illustrates a general GSM system with two mobile stations 20, 21 connected to an account 32 via a account givers computer 31 handling accounts allotted to cards or internal memory units in a mobile station and an exchange unit 30 or modem pool according to the present invention.

Also, in Fig. 3, a conventional telephone 40 with a card reader 28 and a card is illustrated. Thus, debiting and crediting transactions between cards in a conventional telephone and a mobile station 20, 21 may take place.

Although the embodiments according to the present invention are described as being transactions between mobile stations 20, 21, it should be understood that they as well can take place between conventional telephones 40 or between a conventional telephone 40 and a mobile station 20, 21.

Further illustrated in Fig.3, in order to get a receipt of a payment transaction, the account givers transmit a facsimile, an e-mail etc. or a SMS message (SMS, Short Messages Services) through the SMS C to the MS units involved in the transaction, either to both parties MS units involved in the transaction (buyer, seller) or to the one party (the registered account holder) involved.

An SMS C (Short Messages Services center) is a function in a mobile telephone network that receives SMS messages and dispatches or distributes and routes them to the addressed mobile station in the network.

If the receipt is transmitted to a MS unit through an SMS message the receipt is stored in a list for account transactions in the MS unit which the owner of the MS unit can access when ever called upon.

Also, a bank or another creditor can establish a connection to a specific MS unit prompting the owner of the MS unit to insert his credit card, if not inserted, in order to download or debit currency on the credit card, through dedicated softwarecomprised in the means for debiting and crediting in the MS unit, when an account transaction is estab¬ lished without the instant knowledge of the account holder. According to an embodiment of the present invention a buyer or purchaser and a seller or vendor subscribing to the services conferred by the present invention, both can insert their credit card in their MS units, respectively, in order to make an account transaction between their card resident accounts, each receiving their receipt through e- mail, facsimile or by an SMS message when the transaction is completed, at the actual site where the transaction is taking place.

A general GSM system is comprised of a BSS system 34 (Base Station System), which contains a BST (Base Station Transceiver), that communicates with the MS unit 20 in full duplex via TDMA technology (Time Division Multiple Access). The BTS is connected to a BSC (Base Station Controller) which, in turn, is connected to an exchange system 36 (Switching System). An MSC unit is found in the exchange system, giving overall traffic- control internally in the GSM-system and externally with other networks. The MSC-unit contains two databases HLR and VLR mentioned earlier. An AUC-unit (authentication Center), which provides HLR with access information and encryption parameters, is connected to the HLR. Moreover, the exchange system 36 contains an EIR- unit (Equipment Identity Register), which controls access pertaining to equipment connection, for example the MS-unit 20. Hence, unauthorized equipment access is controlled and blocked.

The exchange system 36 is also connected to other external telecommunications networks via the MSC-unit or a special GMSC-unit (Gateway-MSC, not shown). Any MSC can make up a GMSC if it contains a so-called Gateway function. Among other things, gateways are used for making connections to telecommunication systems operated foreign operators. In the present invention reference is made only to the external telecommunications network PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), that is to say, the most commonly used telecommunications network. The figure show other networks to which a MS-unit can be connected - ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), PSPDN (Packet Switched Telephone Network, CSPDN (Circuit Switched Public Data Network), PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) and many future networks. Those networks mentioned are all well known within the field of technology.

In one embodiment of the present invention a subscriber, with a mobile station 20, 21 is connected to the account administrator or creditor business exchange 30, or modem pool, whereby making, after access control, economic transactions such as debiting and crediting to accounts 32, between other accounts 32 and copying the accounts in any of the memory units contained in the MS-unit 20 or in any active card.

As an alternative to direct transactions between accounts, which may necessitate extra security measures on the part of the creditor, a duplicate account 38 can be used; that is to say an account which the creditor opens for direct transactions and which on a regular basis is correlated with the original account 32.

Access to the accounts via the MS-unit 20 in the mobile telephone network 34, 36 occurs according to an embodiment as discussed above, namely that to an identity (here the service of reaching a specific account via a mobile telecommunications network) a special code can be devised. This brings about the possibility of allowing a user PLN-code be complemented with a code element for the selection of desired identity, whereas an identity can be a service that the mobile telephone operator offers to its subscribers. In this way, a code element is given, for example, that it is a mobile station, 20, 21 wishing to be connected to one or more accounts 32, via in the code element declared subscriber number, hence, the connection is generated in the usual manner. Yet preferably via the access controls offered by the account giver.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention its objectives are reached through a system for debiting and crediting transactions between two active cards 33, 25 with resident accounts, inserted in each one MS unit 20, 21 and connected to a mobile telephone network 36, which MS units 20, 21 possess conventional known telecommunica- tions technology.

The MS units 20, 21 comprise means for debiting and crediting a card inserted in a MS unit, said means having a common data protocol for communication between the means comprised in telephones. The means (not shown) are memory units controlled by a processor through a dedicated program comprising strong authorization measures. Preferably, a personal identity code (PIN code) connected to a specific account is used for initializing debiting and crediting transactions from the MS unit to the card and from MS units to a account givers computer system 31 or from account givers computer systems 31 to MS units in order to match or update card resident accounts with allotted accounts in computer systems 31.

Means for crediting and debiting do have one first interface connecting it to a card and a second interface connecting a MS unit 20 to extemal units, such as another MS unit 21, a scanner (not shown), to a account givers computer system 31 etc.

Each MS unit (telephone) further comprises each one reader-module (card reader) with a slot for active cards.

A crediting transaction between the cards is initialized through entering a personal account code and a call set up from the telephone belonging to a debtor 20 (purchaser) prompting the debtor to dial a subscriber number and making a call set up to the telephone belonging to a creditor 21 (vendor). The means for debiting or crediting prompts the debtor by instructions in sequence to credit the card 25 to be credited with the same amount of payment through said means as was debited from the card 33 to be debited through said means. The means in the telephone, belonging to the creditor 25, may prompt the creditor of the transaction sequences taking place.

In one embodiment of the present invention the prompting is accomplished through a menu comprised in a telephone 40 or a MS unit 20, 21, whereby the menu instructs a debtor through a display 22. An example of such interaction is as follows:

Payment transaction menu is chosen from the MS unit table of menus; Enter the personal identity code or account code to get access to the relevant account in the smart card through the means for crediting or debiting said account;

Enter the transaction amount.

Enter a recipient creditors account number.

Dial the subscriber number to the creditor. When connected said means transmits the amount of payment and the recipient account number to the creditors means for debiting or crediting.

Await receipt of the transaction through an SMS.

Store the transaction in a receipt list (done automatically).

Disconnect.

The creditor MS unit recognizes data transmission and the relevant account resident in the card is automatically credited with the corresponding amount of payment from the debtor by the MS unit means for debiting or crediting. A receipt of the transac¬ tion is stored in a receipt list. A copy of the receipt is transmitted to the debtors MS unit as an SMS, see above.

The MS unit 20, 21 of both parties to the transaction are now automatically, through the means for debiting or crediting, connected to the relevant account givers computer system 31 in order to match and update the transaction visa vi the original account.

The given example is just one explanatory example among several others possible for those skilled in the art of telecommunications and computer programming conferred by the attached claims.

It is preferred that the owner or bearer of a MS unit 20 with an inserted card 33 only may debit his card 33 from his unit 20 and that his card 33 may only be credited from extemal units, such as MS unit 21, computer system 31, telephone 40 etc. controlled by the means for debiting and crediting comprised in telephones 40 and MS units 20, 21. Hence, it shall not be possible to credit a card 33, 25 in bianco. There should always be coverage for a crediting transaction.

A consequence of the above is, of course, that a card 33 must have coverage to credit a card 25, else the means for the transaction will not allow a transaction taking place. As mentioned above a second interface also interfaces a MS unit for call set up to a computer system handling accounts allotted to a card.

Said computer system 31 matches the account belonging to a card with the amount of payment credited or debited upon a call set up through said means in the MS unit 20, 21 or from a call set up from the computer system. The means may automatically or intermittently set up a call to a computer system

31 when a transaction is completed.

In one embodiment, the computer system 31 sets up a call to a MS unit 20, 21 when the account resident in the computer system 31 is debited or credited, from or with other means then from a MS unit 20, 21, for example from a cheque or cash deposit etc., in order to match the account with the account resident on the card 25, 33.

Also a card 25, 33 may upon insertion in the slot activate a call set up to the computer system in order to match the account resident on the card with the account handled by the computer system. This could for example be called upon when the card is used as a conventional pay card in a shop.

In yet one embodiment a duplicate 38 to an original account 32 in the computer system at the creditor is available and correlated with the original account. In a specific embodiment the telephone network comprises a infrastructure of known telecommunications networks 36, ISDN, PSPDN, CSPDN, PSTN, PLMN, etc., where telephones can be of all kind of types, wireless or connected through wires to said networks.

Active cards 25, 33 can be a SIM-module of card type or smaller format in one embodiment. Also, in another embodiment the active card can be a combined credit/bank card and a SIM-module.

In one embodiment mobile stations are fitted with an extra card reader module 28 for active cards in one embodiment. The extra card reader-module connects to a MS unit I/O-port and said means through an interface. MS unit I/O port(s) through said means are used as an interface with extemal systems for payment transactions in one embodiment. An extemal system may be of the type digital cashregister and transactions system, or that the extemal system is a bulletin board system for economic transactions.

A scanner may be connected to a MS unit via its I/O-port(s) to said means with its interface so that sums read via the scanner are debited to the account resident on a card.

MS units or other telephones taking part in a transactions receive receipts of the transactions in one embodiment through an SMS via a telephone display device, e-mail or facsimile which are initialized from either telephones or from the creditor computer system. The means resident in each telephone or MS unit for taking care of account transactions should be governed by suitable software with high security levels for debiting and crediting. Known software techniques could be used, thus no description of the specific software in use is described herein, and software as such is not patentable according to most domestic patent laws. The above description describes only a few embodiments of the present invention and, therefore, the invention is not limited to these, but they should be seen as exemplifi¬ cation in order that persons skilled in the art of this technology may grasp and use the invention. Consequently, the wording of attached claims allow for still further embodi¬ ments of the invention.

Claims

Claims:

1. A system for debiting and crediting transactions between two active cards with resident accounts, inserted in each one telephone (20) connected to a telephone network, which telephones possess conventional known telecommunications technology, characterized in that said telephones comprise means for debiting and crediting a card inserted in a telephone, said means having a common data protocol for communication between the means comprised in telephones, said telephones further comprising each one reader-module with a slot for active cards (10, 25), a first interface for authorized communication between said means and a card inserted in the telephone, a second interface for authorized communication between said means and a card inserted in another telephone, a crediting transaction between the cards being prompted and initialized through a personal identity code and a call set up from the telephone belonging to a debtor prompting the debtor to dial a telephone number and making a call set up to the telephone belonging to a creditor, said means prompting the debtor by instmctions in sequence to credit the card to be credited with the same amount of payment through said means as was debited from the card to be debited through said means.

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said second interface also interfaces a telephone for call set up to a computer system handling accounts allotted to a card.

3. A system according to claim 1-2, characterized in that a card is only credited from a telephone that is not the bearer of the card that shall be credited or from a computer system at a account givers location handling accounts allotted to the card by a call set up from the computer system.

4. A system according to claim 2-3, characterized in that said computer system matches the account belonging to a card with the amount of payment credited or debited upon a call set up through said means in the telephone or from a call set up from the computer system.

5. A system according to claim 4, characterized in that said means automatically sets up a call to said computer system when a transaction is completed.

6. A system according to claim 2-5, characterized in that the computer system sets up a call to the telephone when the account is debited or credited in order to match the account with the account resident in the card.

7. A system according to claim 2-6, characterized in that a card upon insertion in the slot activates a call set up to the computer system in order to match the account resident in the card with the account handled by the computer system.

8. A system according to claim 2-7, characterized in that a duplicate to an original account (32) in the computer system at the creditor is available (38) and correlated with the original account.

9. A system according to claim 1-8, characterized in that the telephone network is a mobile telephone network and that the telephones are mobile stations connected to the network.

10. A system according to claim 1-8, characterized in that the telephone network comprises a infrastructure of known telecommunications networks, where telephones can be of all types, wireless or connected through wires to said networks.

11. A system according to claim 1-10, characterized in that the active card (10, 25) is a SIM-module of card type or smaller format.

12. A system according to claim 1-10, characterized in that the active card (10,

25) is a credit/bank card and a SIM-module.

13. A system according to claim 1-12, characterized in that the telephone or mobile station is fitted with a extra card reader module (28) for active cards (10, 25).

14. A system according to claim 13, characterized in that the extra card reader- module (28) connects to a telephone or mobile station I/O-port(s) (29) and said means.

15. A system according to any previous claim, characterized in that a telephone or mobile station I/O port(s) (29) through said means is used as the interface with extemal systems for payment transactions.

16. A system according to claim 15, characterized in that the extemal system is of the type digital cashregister and transactions system.

17. A system according to claim 15, characterized in that the extemal system is a bulletin board system for economic transactions.

18. A system according to any previous claim, characterized in that a scanner connected to a telephone or mobile station (20) via its I/O-port(s) (29) can be connected to said means with its interface so that sums read via the scanner are debited to the account (32, 38) resident on a card.

19. A system according to any previous claim, characterized in that telephones taking part in a transactions receive receipts of the transactions through an SMS via a display device, e-mail or facsimile which are initialized from either telephones or from the account givers computer system.