Cash Card Research Articles

On the design of an embedded biometric smart card reader

In this paper, a highly reliable embedded biometric smart card system with cryptography engine is proposed. We explain the system architecture of portable embedded biometric smart card reader to strengthen security for various consumer applications such as mobile cash card. Proposed biometric smart card system is embedded with 75 MHz 32-bit RISC, 6 channel smart card controller and advanced encryption system (AES) cryptography accelerator. It is devised to communicate with smart card with encrypted biometric data using international standard ISO-7816 and provides system peripherals such as LCD display controller and USB host interface. The proposed implementation shows a 70% performance improvement for decryption of protected biometric data compared to the software based smart card chipset and it is verified using 0.35 um CMOS process.

The Phonetic Effects for Biometric Security System by Palatal Plates

The purpose of this experiment was to correspond for the voice security system when the patients wore the dentures. Because the phonetic disorder by the dentures some troubles in the biometric security system with sound recognition, for example, the cash cards, the credit cards and the lock of the doors. But there was few report about the individual recognition by the palatal plates. So we observed the changes of the rates of individual recognition by the palatal plates. The voices of 5 subjects were recorded without the experimental palatal plates and with them. The voice samples were analyzed with the soft for judging the individual recognition rates by the voices. And the rates of individual recognition, the time durations and the pitch curves for every word were observed. By the palatal plates, the rates of individual recognition decreased, the time durations increased, the pitch curves changed little. And by the palatal plates, there were significance (p<0.05) about the rates of individual recognition and the time durations, but there were not significance (p<0.05) about the pitch curves by the two-way layout ANOVA. The frequencies of the pitch curve changed by the vocal chords vibration and affected to the height of the voice. So they did not change by the labial and buccal plates. Therefore they will be able to use for the individual recognition system.

A Smart Card Based Internet Micropayment Infrastructure: Technical Development and User Adoption

As online shopping services proliferate, the need for a secure and convenient payment infrastructure becomes critical. While credit card payment has become common for online purchases, a payment solution has not yet been developed that can be used to support transactions involving a monetary value in the range of a few dollars or even cents. In this study, the authors report their experience in developing a smart card based micropayment infrastructure in collaboration with a major bank. The infrastructure makes use of Mondex, a cash card standard adopted by major financial institutions worldwide. The infrastructure provides a platform to support online transfer of Mondex value over the Internet. Unlike other cash card products, Mondex is the only standard that can support card-to-card transfer without a mediating party. The transactions are immediate and anonymous. This article outlines the technical approach used in the development of the infrastructure and presents a behavioral adoption model to identify and assess factors that may affect its adoption. The findings indicate that the use of the adoption model in the early stages of product development can provide valuable insights to a development team. Theoretical contributions and practical implications specific to the Mondex Internet micropayment infrastructure are also discussed.

Bank Credit Card Charges and the Interest Free Period: Balancing Equity and Efficiency

There has been a continuous debate on the role and impact of credit cards and whether some practices adopted by this industry should be regulated. Regulators have been concerned about the interest rates and charges levied by card systems generally, and in particular with the shifting of the incidence of some of the costs of card operations to transactions where payment is made other than by credit card. While the cross subsidy problem arising from the latter practice has been addressed in relation to the interchange fee concerning cash payers, card users, merchants, and banks, no serious attempt has been made to address the problem of cross subsidies made in favour of credit card users who pay their debts within the interest free period by those who are unable to pay their debts in time. Consequently, there has arisen a form of upside down equity where the poor generally are subsidising the rich. This paper addresses this latter issue and suggests that the way to eliminate this problem of upside down equity is to adopt a user pay system.

A Mobile Phone Ecosystem: MIT and Nokia's Joint Research Venture

The mobile phone is rapidly becoming the primary personal gateway to access information. In the near future, it will likely become the primary means for accessing services such as personal banking, online purchasing, mobile entertainment, and multiplayer online games. It might also someday replace wallets full of credit cards, cash, and identification cards and become a personal monitoring device, personal trainer, or storage facility for electronic medical records. Enormous challenges exist in realizing this vision, which is why Nokia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have started a joint research venture to refine the vision and develop the required devices, applications, and services. As part of this venture, Nokia formed the Nokia Research Center, Cambridge, which is within walking distance of CSAIL. Researchers are working on six joint research projects, and we believe that constant intermingling of researchers is necessary for deep research collaboration

Preference Ordering Cash, Near Cash, and Electronic Cash

In this research, I surveyed merchant and customer preferences for cash, near cash, and electronic cash (e-cash). E-cash promises new but untested advantages in security, portability, and privacy. In this research, I conducted a large survey of e-cash acceptance by customers and retail merchants to provide 3 preference orderings for cash, near cash, and e-cash. Nonparametric hypothesis testing showed that e-cash was preferred to other payment methods, but the statistics were equivocal. Stochastic dominance statistics explained the equivocal results returned from nonparametric tests. E-cash dominated the hybrid card but was clearly dominated by traditional cash. E-cash neither dominated nor was dominated by credit cards and debit cards. After adjusting for technology adoption risk, a clear preference ordering was obtained: (a) cash and credit cards were preferred to e-cash, and (b) e-cash was preferred to debit cards and hybrids. I conclude that e-cash is unlikely to compete well against cash and credit cards for 3 reasons: (a) switching costs, (b) technology risk, and (c) insufficient market differentiation. The results suggest that there may not be a market niche for e-cash. Instead, successful products are likely to emerge in the form of vertical market cash substitutes that meet specific objectives. As commerce evolves toward customization to a focused cross-section of consumers, a "one-size-fits-all" e-cash is not likely to remain a viable product.

UK software house launches kit for testing cash cards at PCs

UK software house launches kit for testing cash cards at PCs

COUNTRY HOUSE LIFE Creating paradise: the building of the English country house, 1660–1880. By Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley. London: Hambledon, 2000. Pp. xx+428. ISBN 1-85285-252-6. £25. The polite tourist: four centuries of country house visiting. By Adrian Tinniswood. London: The National Trust, 1998. Pp. 224. ISBN 0 7078 0224 5. £24.99. Country house pastimes. By Oliver Garnett. London: The

It is nearly a quarter of a century since the publication in 1978 of Mark Girouard's magnificent study, Life in the English country house. The book appeared at what we can now recognize to have been an important moment for the stately homes of England. After the years of post-war austerity, the growth in private car ownership had begun to make the countryside increasingly accessible. Many of the weekend journeys spawned by this new affluence were to country houses, a trend speeded up by the exposure several high profile houses enjoyed as period settings for television dramas. Brideshead revisited in 1981 was the pioneer, set as it was in the grounds of Castle Howard. In many respects it has never been bettered, but it has certainly been followed, to the extent that hardly a great house has failed to attract a film crew and some have been visited repeatedly. Nor has this new exposure been confined to the cinema and television. The private mansions from which the working classes were traditionally excluded have opened their doors to paying customers, and their shops to anyone with cash and credit cards.

The Market for Electronic Cash Cards

We develop a theoretical framework aimed to model the pricing of electronic cash cards and the market domain in which these cards will be used in an environment where charge cards and currency (the legal tender) are competing payment media. We also investigate whether the adoption of the various payment media generates an underutilization or overutilization of the electronic cash cards relative to currency.

Review of Micro-Credit and Business Development Programmes in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Review of Micro-Credit and Business Development Programmes in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Changes in payments markets, past, present and future: a comparison between Australia and the UK

Reports on research into the payments markets of both Australia and the UK, in the context of the concept of relationship marketing. It compares the evolution of the various types of payment; cash, paper cheques, debit and credit cards and examines the linkages with relationship marketing from both a market‐based approach, to investigate whether data derived from consumer payments can form the basis of a relationship, and from a network‐based approach, to consider how new entrants to the payments market can establish relationships between organisations. Conclusions on this study are then followed by some thoughts on the directions for future research.

Electronic parking meter

Current systems of car-parking charges in public car parks either involve the use of coin-operated parking meters installed by the relevant authorities or the use of paper parking coupons. Enforcement officers are employed to manually check the meters and parking coupons for parking violations. This paper describes the design of an in-vehicle electronic parking meter (EPM) with an associated infrared electronic enforcement gun (EEG). A pre-paid cash card is inserted into the EPM to activate the parking meter and the corresponding amount of parking charges are deducted when the vehicle owner next inserts the cash card to terminate the parking. Parking charges are levied based on the prevailing rates which are selectable by the car owner. The EEG is used by enforcement officials to verify that the vehicle owner has activated their EPM correctly. Communication between the EPM and the EEG is based on infrared transmission.

Power cracking of cash card codes

Power cracking of cash card codes

Smart cards: integrating for portable complexity

The decreasing cost of embedded chips is one of many factors that have spurred growing interest in smart cards. Today, typical markets for smart cards fall into three broad areas: electronic currency, an application in which smart cards replace cash or traditional credit cards in pay phone, transit, and toll collection systems; electronic identification, which permits controlled access to buildings or systems (like computers or cash registers); and data warehousing, applications that must opportunistically store and retrieve data, such as medical records, object tracking information, or process verification information. Such applications are only the beginning-future applications could make smart cards an integral and almost transparent part of our daily lives. Two factors seem to be converging to make this possible. First, as the world we live in becomes increasingly complex, smart cards offer a way to integrate that complexity into a compact and portable package. Second, the increasing functionality developers can integrate into a smart card opens new avenues for application development.

Alternative Monies and the Demand for Media of Exchange

PREPAID CARDS, CASH CARDS, electronic purse, smart cards these are but a few of the elements in the revolution now taking place in monetary systems around the world. At that movement's heart is the emergence of a new value transfer system where alternative monies are offered to consumers through the miracle of electronics. In some cases, the new monies are merely a repackaging of existing media of exchange. For example, stored value cards that have been traditionally available for single vendors now are being offered for multiple merchant use. In other cases, technology and its acceptability are being cross-sold, as with debit cards and the expanded use of ATM cards as point-of-sale vehicles. However, the banking industry is perhaps most enthusiastic about the emerging technology of smart cards chip-in-cards that have been making inroads in Europe. With the expanded capability of a memory chip, alternative monies are seen to have the capability of moving to a new plateau of acceptance. There are many stories in the business press about the general enthusiasm for these new forms of money. For example, Block (1995) and Cutler (1994) herald the new day of electronic money. They forecast the demise of both the greenback and of commercial banks that exploit the float derived from its use. According to the hyperbole from marketing reps from this side of the financial community, currency and demand deposits soon will be endangered species. Consumer acceptance is alleged to be high, and cost efficiency associated with the new technology is expected to be substantial.

On trial at the summer Olympic games: smart cards

Visa International has teamed up with the three largest banks in the southeastern United States to offer stored-value cards to the four million visitors and residents expected to attend the Olympics in Atlanta. Stored-value cards (or cash cards) transfer stored, digital money from the card to merchants' special terminals. Although 350 million smart cards are in use around the world, few Americans have ever used one. The paper considers how the future of the smart card in the US is riding on this high-profile trial at the Olympics.

Benefit segmentation by factor analysis: an improved method of targeting customers for financial services

Banks and building societies typically focus on geographic, demographic, socio‐economic, and psychological characteristics to segment the market for financial services, although these are not efficient predictors of future buying behaviour. To correct this shortcoming, benefit segmentation by factor analysis has been used for the first time to group building society customers in relation to their particular attitudes and behaviour. Identifies eight benefits (listed in order of their popularity): personal service, investment, limited banking, accessible cash, cash card, advice, money management, and full banking. Incongruities between certain of the benefits, and the differing customer profiles for each benefit segment were analysed. Makes suggestions on how building societies and banks could use benefit segmentation to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing strategies.

From The Treasurer

Your name Business: Norfolk Beekeepers Ass. Your home address You will then be given a temporary card which has a very long registration number, do not lose it as you will not be able to gain entry without it, it has to be presented each time you visit. You will be allowed to buy your sugar at this first visit with this card ( a permanent card will be sent to you at a later date) and payment can be made in cash, cheque or credit card. There is no limit on the number of bags you can buy. When you have got your sugar proceed to the checkout point where they will ask for your registration card to produce an invoice for you to pay before you leave.

On Cash Discounts to Retail Customers: Further Evidence

In an earlier article, Ingene and Levy outlined the optimal discount that retailers should offer to induce cash rather than credit card payment. Here it is shown that, on the basis of more careful estimates of the cost differentials of cash and credit card sales, and more likely estimates of the proportions of cash and card payments, retailers generally will not find it profitable to offer cash discounts.

Further Reflections on Cash Discounts

PROFESSOR Grant (1985) correctly points out that retailers incur security and other costs related to the acceptance of cash, check, or credit card. Therefore, the financial difference to the retailer of the various payment methods is not simply the factoring fees and delayed remuneration associated with credit card purchases. In the Appendix we formally incorporate these complications in our computation of the optimal discount.