METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MAGNETICALLY STORING AND RETRIEVING CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION INFORMATION

摘要

A smart credit card holder module (3) is provided to read an account information stored on a magnetic strip (1) on a card (2), when it is inserted into the module. The information on the card can be erased, such that the card cannot be used for transactions. The card may be stored outside of the module in the meantime. When the card will be used for transactions, the information must be rewritten on the card. The card must be again inserted into the module and the stored information will be rewritten onto the erased strip. Also the informations of various cards can be stored in the memory (24) of the holders module and may be rewritten on a blank or new card and may be erased again. Thus only one card is necessary instead of many various cards. The informations stored in the memory may be read on a display (11). New codes may be written by means of a keypad (6). The module comprises an input/output slot (3, 7), an alarm or audio transducer (8), a reader/writer (27) and an erasing mechanism (30).