WO2001063589A1

WO2001063589A1 - Integrated pointing device-smartcard transaction security system

Info

Publication number: WO2001063589A1
Application number: PCT/IL2001/000168
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yuli Eliyahu Kaplunovsky
Original assignee: Smart Lite Digital Solutions Ltd.; Smart Lite Digital Solutions Inc.
Priority date: 2000-02-23
Filing date: 2001-02-22
Publication date: 2001-08-30
Also published as: AU2001235936A1

Abstract

A transaction security system incorporating a simple-to-use light pen (12) integrated with a smartcard (24) to enable a high level of transaction security when sending credit card information over the Internet or any other communication network. The light pen, operating as a pointing device, is connected directly to a smart box (14) operating as a smartcard reader among other functions. When a smartcard is inserted in the smartbox, its microprocessor (41) performs all processing external to the computer, and this increase security further since the computer is not involved in thes processing, and not subject to access by hackers. The inventive system is operable using software application programs to enable the light pen to draw or write features on a CRT screen (20) such as a visual signature, that becomes embedded into MS Office, e-mail, and any other OLE-compliant software. The inventive system also provides secure digital signature programs for definition, transmission, deciphering and authentication of local user profiles including private details, visual signature and private and public key as a secure digital signature process with smartcard features.

Description

INTEGRATED POINTING DEVICE-SMARTCARD TRANSACTION

SECURITY SYSTEM

FIELD OF TEE INVENTION

The present invention relates to devices and systems for providing E-commerce transaction security, and more particularly, to an integrated system including a light pen and smartcard reader which operate to provide, among other things, a digital signature for verifying identification details of a user, enabling a user-friendly, reliable, and low cost approach to increasing the level of transaction security in many applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The tremendous growth of the Internet as a readily accessible vehicle for worldwide communication has brought about a rapid growth in the volume of E-commerce and business-to-business service and sales. The major problem facing increased acceptance on the part of consumers is the issue of transaction security, which typically involves the use of credit card information sent over the communications network. The risk of theft of information sent in this fashion has generated numerous techniques for encryption and verification, to insure the authenticity of the buyer, and protect the buyer and seller against fraudulent transactions.

One avenue for theft of credit card numbers and expiration dates is via copying sales slips left behind in stores or gas stations, or through telephone credit card transactions, and these stolen numbers are used for illegal purchasing via the Internet. The E-commerce and business-to-business commerce companies, whose job is to verify the credit card details and approve the transactions, cover the cost of such illegal purchases. Thus, the user has limited financial exposure to the improper use of his credit card. Since no physical card is used, and no identification is required for credit card purchases over the Internet, the volume of theittegal use of stolen -credit card numbers is enormous. As described, the main problem in transaction secuπty is the identification of the user in communications over a public network. One of the accepted ways to identify a user is by using a smartcard. A smartcard is a credit card-sized device that has an embedded microprocessor, a small amount of memory, and an interface that allows it to communicate with a workstation or network through a smartcard reader. The smartcard reader is usually attached to the computer through the serial port. Smartcards are especially well-suited for applications in which security-sensitive or personal data is involved because a smartcard has both the data and the means to process it, the onboard processor can service requests from the network and return the results without divulging the sensitive data. For example, a smartcard could be used to digitally sign data without divulging the user's private key.

An additional level of security may be provided by use of a password in addition to the smartcard, and the password may be entered via the computer keyboard. A drawback to this approach is that by data entry via the keyboard, the password information passes through the computer processor itself, and since hackers are capable of accessing information on computer databases, this approach is less secure than desired.

Use of a smartcard enables the user to open a secured connection over a public network such as the Internet. Since it is the interest of all financial institutions involved as credit suppliers, or as clearinghouses, to raise the level of transaction security, an ideal solution was proposed by which each user would have a smart card reader attached to his computer and a smartcard. The major drawback of such a solution is the cost and the distribution of smartcards, and the hardware aspect of connecting the smartcard readers to the existing user PC's.

In addition, there is the problem of convincing users to adapt to new procedures in purchasing. Since as mentioned above, the user's financial exposure is limited, users have been reluctant to shift to new techniques involving the use of smartcards and transaction protocols which may be overly complicated for mass use.

The use of light pens in computer applications is known, for use as a pointing device, for selection of CRT screen display options on a menu, for example. In US Patent 4,656,662 to Filliman et al, there is described a light pen for use with a CRT for generation of signature or other identification indicia by movement of the light pen on the CRT screen. Positional information is captured from the screen by the light pen, using high resolution means to provide precise positional data, and this information may be compressed and collected to form a signature which can be stored and subsequently used as a reference for identification purposes.

As described above, the light pen and the smartcard are two devices useful for providing security in transaction and identification tasks, and typically each is provided with a processor dedicated to its operation. The expense and complexity of these devices makes the overall cost of systems employing them significant, and this tends to reduce the use of these devices, so that they are not used on a wide basis by PC users and consumers.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a user-friendly, inexpensive and easy-to-use E-commerce transaction security system, to reduce and even eliminate the occurrence of fraudulent credit card transactions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages associated with prior art transaction security systems, and provide a simple-to-use light pen integrated with a smartcard to enable a high level of transaction security when sending credit card information over the Internet or any communication network. The light pen, operating as a pointing device, is connected directly to a smartbox operating as a smartcard reader among other functions. When a smartcard is inserted in the smartbox, its microprocessor performs all processing external to the computer, and this increases security further since the computer is not involved in the processing, and not subject to access by hackers.

On top of all of its many other features and benefits (use of the pen as a mouse, the ability to hand-write on screen and sign documents, etc) the inventive light pen can be used as a comprehensive, effective and low cost security device.

The light pen may be substituted by a wireless pen which communicates with the smartbox using an electromagnetic communication link or ultrasonic wave link. Based on this type of communication, the smartbox is aware of the position of the pen relative to the smartbox.

In an alternative embodiment, the hardware of the pen includes the features of a standard PC/SC smartcard inserted in a smartcard reader. No smartcard is needed since the smartcard is embedded inside the pen hardware and no smartcard reader is needed since the pen interface to the computer will connect the embedded smartcard to the computer.

In another alternative embodiment, the pointing device is provided in the form of a touch screen, a mouse, or a track ball.

The inventive system includes light pen software solutions for mass market applications that address three fundamental areas of consumer negative acceptance, and in combination provide a software platform of solutions aimed at reducing physical interface baπiers on PCs and work stations, consumer "friendly" reliable Internet transaction security including a secured digital signature and light pen software, and an affordable retail price.

The inventive system is operable using software application programs to enable the light pen to draw or write features on a CRT screen such as a visual signature, that becomes embedded into MS Office, e-mail, and any other OLE-compliant software.

The inventive system also provides secure digital signature programs for definition, transmission, deciphering and authentication of local user profiles including private details, visual signature and private and public key as a secure digital signature process with smartcard features.

The inventive system also includes driver programs for interfacing with Microsoft PC environments.

The inventive system also includes a number of hardware accessories as optional off-the-shelf components within the overall system, including a basic CRT interfacer, a basic personal e-commerce and business-to-business commerce secured digital signature, an advanced PC smartcard and security signature. Other applications include an arcade game gun, and similar interactive applications.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following drawings and description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention with regard to the embodiments thereof, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals designate corresponding elements or sections throughout, and in which:

Fig. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of an integrated light pen-smart card transaction security system constructed and operated in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

Figs. 2-3 are alternative configurations of the security system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a smartbox in accordance with the invention, having incorporated therein a light pen controller for use with the transaction security system of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a signal timing diagram and associated flowchart describing the operation of the light pen controller in calculating the X,Y coordinates of the light pen;

Fig. 6 is a signal timing diagram describing the operation of a brightness generator in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 is an illustration of a display cursor and an associated flowchart describing an algorithm for optical noise stabilization; and

Fig. 8 is an illustration of a simulated keyboard represented on a display screen, for password entry using the light pen of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a preferred embodiment of an integrated light pen-smart card security system 10 constructed and operated in accordance with the principles of the present invention. System 10 comprises a light pen 12, connected to a smartbox 14, which in turn is connected via a serial RS-232 connection 15, or a PS2 type connection, or a parallel port, to a computer (PC) 16, having a keyboard 18 and CRT display screen 20. The connection 17 between the keyboard 18 and the PC 16 is made via a splitter 22 which provides power via connection 21 and connector 23 to the smartbox 14. Smartbox 14 has a slot for inserting therein a smartcard 24, which may be a credit card having encrypted information for use with credit card verification protocols.

Light pen 12 has a light-detector element 26 located on the top of the pen behind a hollow cylindrical projection 28, which detects the X,Y location of the CRT screen 20 light strobe emitted by the display. Using the vertical and horizontal synchronization signals transmitted from the PC 16 display card 30 to the screen 20 by passing the monitor cable 29 through a special splitter 32, smartbox 14 calculates the exact location of the light strobe (CRT beam). Splitter 32 is connected to smartbox 14, to provide the synchronization signals containing the light strobe position information, enabling this calculation.

Located on top of the pen 12 is a spring- loaded micro-switch 34 that senses when the pen projection 28 is pressed against the screen 20. The micro-switch 34 is uniquely designed to allow pressing while holding pen 12 diagonally at any angle to the screen, up to 45 degrees. The plastic of the pen-top is designed in such a way to prevent scratching the display. Pen 12 has depressable buttons 31 and 33 which provide functions similar to a click-mouse device.

The light pen 12 has a software driver installed in PC 16, and it is available for Windows 95/98 and Windows 2000. The installation of the driver is fast and easy.

The light pen 12 operates by detecting light coming from the display screen 20, but when the screen is dark, and no light is normally detected, the inventive light pen 12 solves this problem by automatically 'brightening' the screen when it points to a black or very dark spot and the projection 28 is depressed. The 'brightening' process is generated in hardware in smartbox 14, and works with any software running on the PC 16, so there is no need to make any changes to existing software. Other commercial light pens don't have this feature and work only when the screen shows bright colors, thus limiting their operation to a narrow variety of software.

Light pen 12 fully emulates the operation of a mouse (pointing device), and can work with any standard program that uses the mouse. Nevertheless, it doesn't interfere with the normal operation of the already existing mouse.

The smartbox 14 also operates to read the smartcard encoded information, and the software for this application can be based on Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0, Windows® 95 and Windows 98, Windows Mb and Windows 2000, which all support smartcards and smartcard readers based on specifications establish by the Personal Computer Smart Card (PC/SC) Workgroup, an industry group of leading PC and smartcard companies. Smartcard solutions that are Windows-compatible can be used with Internet Explorer to authenticate a secure connection and Outlook Express or Outlook 2000 for sending and receiving secure email. In Windows 2000, smart cards can be used to logon to a network using an X.509 version 3 certificate stored on the smartcard.

Microsoft has also released Smart Cards for Windows, an operating system for smart cards with 8K of ROM. It is a low-cost, easy-to-program platform that runs Visual Basic applications, and is designed to extend the PC environment into smart card use. Smart Cards for Windows uses the same development tools— Microsoft Visual C++ and Visual Basic— that millions of independent software vendors (ISVs) and in-house corporate developers use. Additionally, because Smart Cards for Windows is part of the PC/SC program that has already become part of Windows 2000 logon capabilities, smart cards based on Smart Cards for Windows 2000 will be able to be read by any certified card reader.

The security features of smartcard 24 include: Tamper-resistant storage for protecting private keys and other forms of personal information.

Isolate security-critical computations involving authentication, digital signatures, and key exchange from other parts of the system that do not have a "need to know."

Enable portability of credentials and other private information between computers at work, home, or on the road.

Referring now to Fig. 2, there is shown an alternative embodiment of integrated light pen-smart card security system 10, in which the smartbox 14 communicates with PC 16 via connection 35 through a USB port 45, and this connection also provides power. This configuration eliminates splitter 22 of Fig. 1.

Refeπing now to Fig. 3, there is shown another alternative embodiment of integrated light pen-smart card security system 10, in which a splitter 37 is provided between the keyboard 18 and the PC 16, and splitter 37 provides both power and data via connection 39 to smartbox 14.

In Fig. 4, there is shown a block diagram of the smartbox 14 incorporating a light pen controller 40 for controlling the operation of light pen 12, and a smartcard reader 41.

The pen controller 40 has a microprocessor 42 (PIC from Microchip Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ), and a FPGA logic device 44 (Altera Corp., San Jose CA) operated at very fast clock of 64Mhz, for processing the video signals. PC 16 is connected to microprocessor 42 via a USB/RS-232 port 45. This design uses state of the art technology with an inexpensive and powerful microprocessor 42 which also supports smartcard reader 41, and FPGA logic device 44, and video light detector element 26 (QT Optoelectronics Corp., Sunnyvale CA), and a brightness generator 46.

The software for the pen controller 40 has three parts:

1) A VHDL software module, which is in the FPGA logic device 44, which analyzes in real time the video signals controlling display screen 20, and counts the location of the cursor in time units, using a very fast clock of 64MHz;

2) An assembler program executed in the microprocessor 42 operates as real-time software controlling the FPGA logic device 44, and continuously scans to detect movement of pen 12. The software is also responsible to communicate with PC 16 over the serial port;

3) A Device-Driver written in C, runs on PC 16, and obtains the raw video display information, in time-units, of the location of the video beam from the microprocessor 42, and calculates the X,Y location to be assigned to the cursor (expressed in pixels), using a mathematical algorithm, as described further herein. It is also responsible to emulate the mouse, thus it behaves similar to a mouse driver.

The hardware is designed in a way to enable implementation in an ASIC to further reduce the cost, or to be able to embed it on existing VGA display controller card 30.

The video signal from the display card 30 of PC 16 uses two signals, Hsynch and Vsynch, and in addition a signal LIGHT SENSE from the light detector element 26 on the pen 12. When the pen 12 is pointed at display screen 20, a waveform is generated as shown in Fig. 5. The FPGA logic device 44 precisely measures both signals H and Tl. Hsysnch is the number of pulses which have occuπed since the screen refresh of display screen 20, which is signalled by the Vsynch signal negative edge. Number H tells exactly which video horizontal line is being pointed at by pen 12, so that if H = 10, then pen 12 is pointing at the upper portion of the display screen 20, and if H = 550 pen 12 is pointing at the bottom of display screen 20. From the time value Tl the horizontal position of pen 12 is measured, but the Tl signal value is very unstable and hard to measure, due to optical noise. Tl is measured by an internal counter in FPGA logic device 44 which is clocked at 64 Mhz, and Tl is later used to find the horizontal position.

The X,Y location of the display screen 20 cursor position which has been pointed to by light pen 12 is calculated by the equations:

X = a_x ^• Tl + b_x and Y = a_y ^• H + b_y , where the coefficients a_x, b_x, a_y, b_y are generated when light pen 12 is calibrated before use, based on the parameters ^' of resolution and type of display screen 20, and display card 30, and its refresh rate.

In the flowchart of Fig. 5, the method of detection of Tl and H is shown. In block 50, the Vsync pulse is detected and in block 52, the LIGHTSENSE signal is detected. Then in block 54, H is counted, representing the number of Hsynch pulses counted until detection of the LIGHTSENSE signal in block 52. In block 56, Tl and H are detected, and in block 58, if there is no detection of these parameters, it may be because the display screen 20 is dark, and if microswitch 34 on pen 12 is depressed a brightness generator function is activated.

As described in Fig. 6, brightness generation is provided by brightness generator 46, which injects current directly into the display screen 20. The display screen typically has a 75 ohm resistor as its input impedance, and in order to achieve a white screen, a voltage level of about 0.8 volt is needed on the RGB signal to the display screen 20. In brightness generator 46, a set of three common switching transistors connect the RGB signal to the 5 Vcc power supply through a set of three resistors. The switching timing of the transistors is controlled by the FPGA logic device 44 in accordance with a toggle signal at the appropriate time as shown in Fig. 6, to provide the current injection. The magnitude of the current is controllable, and it is set up in the configuration process.

The hardware implementation of brightening the screen is designed to use extremely inexpensive components, instead of using standard video mux, further reducing the cost.

In Fig. 7, there is shown an illustration of a display cursor and an associated flowchart describing an algorithm for optical noise stabilization. The mathematical algorithm calculates the speed of the movement, and reduces the shaking of the cursor, which is generated from the optical noise of a low-cost optical detector. When the algorithm is enabled, there is a small delay between the actual movement of pen 12 and the movement of the cursor, and if the user writes slowly, this phenomena is negligible. If, however, the user writes quickly, this delay might affect the performance. The algorithm which detects the writing speed enables or disables the optical noise stabilization algorithm.

As shown in Fig. 7, three representative points are shown on display screen 20, PI, P2 and P3, with the current location of the cursor at point P2. Point PI is shown to the left 3 mm and point P3 to the right 3 mm. If the pen 12 is sensed as pointing to a point between points PI and P3, then the location of the cursor is not changed, and it remains at point P2. If in block 60, the pen 12 points to a point PP to the right of point P3, then the new location of the cursor is set to be PP minus 3 mm. If in block 62, the pen points to a point to the left of PI, then the new location of the cursor is set to be PP plus 3 mm. Otherwise, in block 64 the cursor location is not changed and remains at P2.

Innovative algorithms enabled the design to use low cost components, to have a total low-cost product.

The VXD driver uses new methods from Microsoft to minimize potential installation problems of collision of COM ports usage. It detects automatically the presence of the pen 12 on power up, allowing use of the port for other purposes in the absence of the pen 12.

Essentially, the light pen 12 can replace the mouse as the standard PC 16 accessory, while on the other hand provide advanced operator applications that the mouse was never designed to give. Both these attributes make the PC more accessible and attractive to a much wider audience than previously targeted by manufacturers. The software used with the light pen 12 includes other applications, making the system 10 desirable to a large market.

Among the applications available using the inventive system are a video game format, in which a hand-held light gun is provided which operates on any computer CRT screen in exactly the same manner as the guns on Arcade Game stalls. This feature will enable OEM games designers to add a new and exciting dimension to their games, making it appealing to home entertainment consumers.

In an alternative embodiment, the light pen hardware includes the features of a standard PC/SC smartcard inserted in a smartcard reader. No smartcard is then needed since the smartcard is embedded inside the pen hardware, and no smartcard reader is needed since the pen interface to the computer also connects the embedded smartcard to the computer. The smartcard is implemented using a microcontroller. Another possible implementation includes use of additional dedicated integrated circuits to emulate all the standard smartcard features. The embedded smartcard complies with existing standards.

In addition to the mouse driver of the light pen 12, a standard smartcard driver is provided which enables any application that accesses a smartcard using a Microsoft Smart card API to access the embedded smartcard.

Using the security features of the pen, secured E-commerce and business-to-business commerce can be achieved. The credit card companies and the E-commerce companies need two tools. The first tool enables the user to create a key pair in the embedded smartcard and send the public key in a secured manner to the credit card companies. The credit card companies supply certification services (verification of digital signatures in transactions involving credit cards) to the E-commerce and business-to-business commerce companies.

The second tool is an electronic signature tool resident on the purchaser's computer. This tool communicates with the embedded smartcard, and appears as an icon in the toolbar display.

The signature tool is a software tool that enables management of user digital key and visual signatures without having to use a certification authority. The certification authority services cost money and many users are not willing to subscribe to these services. For each user, the signature tool stores the user's personal details, digital key and visual signature in an internal database The user can send his profile to other users using the tool through the e-mail or by any other means The user can receive a profile of another user by e-mail and automatically import it to the tool's internal database

Alternatively, the signature tool is operable with a certification authority

One use of the signature tool is to enable the user to digitally sign word documents A word document is first compressed using a compression program, and then the document is signed using the user's pπvate key The user can send signed documents to other users, who can verify the digital signature of a signed document After verifying the digital signature, the tool displays the visual signature of the identified user, creates an unsigned copy of the file and opens it Then, the user can verify the visual signature in the file against the visual signature in his database

The signature tool supports multiple local users on the same computer The user identifies himself by username and password The signature tool can communicate with the smartcard reader of the PC 16 light pen 12

The main features of the signature tool are described below Installation

The signature tool is delivered in an executable file When executed, the installation program is launched and it installs the signature tool Creating Local Users

After installing the signature tool, the user can add new local users For each new user, the personal details, visual signature and username/password have to be specified The tool creates a key pair (private and public key) for each new user Updating local users details

In order to update the details of a local user, the user has to login the signature tool using the username/password Then, the user can update each of the user data fields except for the key pair. After changing the user profile, the user has to resend his updated profile to all the users that are in contact with him

Sending user details

The user can send his profile to other users by two basic methods First he can export the user profile to a file This file can be sent to other users by any means. The second method is to ask the signature tool to send the profile by e-mail by specifying the desired recipients. The sent profile does not include the user private key.

Receiving user details

The user can import an external user profile by double clicking on a user profile file name. The user profile is added automatically to the signature tool database. For example, if the user receivers another user profile by e-mail (user profile is attached to the mail) the user just has to double-click on the user profile, and the new user profile is added to the signature tool database.

Digital Signature

The signature tool enables a logged-in user to sign a file digitally using the user private key. Usually the signed file is a word document that is signed using the user visual signature. Before signing the file, the signature tool compresses the file and then signs the compressed version. In this way the user does not need to activate a compressing tool before signing the file. The signing capabilities of the signature tool can be activated from the annotation tool without having to open the signature tool.

Verifying a digital signature

The user may check a signed file by double clicking on it. If the signature tool identifies the file signer in its database, it display a dialog that enables the user to save the file in an uncompressed and unsigned form and open it. After opening the document, the signature tool displays a form with all the identified user details including the visual signature.

Interface with the PC next pen

The signature tool uses the smartcard reader of light pen 12. The key pair of each local user is stored in the smartcard. If the smartcard is a memory card, the signature tool uses it to store the key pair and the username/password of the local user. When the smart card is inserted, the signature tool performs a user login procedure. The user is only required to enter the password. In order to sign a file, the signature tool retrieves the local user private key. The private key is not stored in the computer. If the smart card has cryptographic capabilities, the digital signature is contained inside the smartcard (encryption of the hash of the file). In this way the private key never enters the computer.

In another use of the signature tool, as stated above, secured E-commerce and business-to-business commerce can be achieved. When the tool is enabled and the user is connected to the Internet, the tool is armed. Each electronic web page presenting a purchase order form in HTML will include a special digital signature field. When the user initiates three consecutive clicks, for example, on the pen button over this field on the screen display, the content of the HTML page will be signed and the signature will be placed in the field. When such a purchase order form arrives at the E-commerce and business-to-business commerce companies, they can verify the digital signature with the credit card companies.

The invention provides this solution for use with E-commerce to provide a high level of authentication that the user has made a particular purchase on an Internet shopping site. When the Internet page presents a purchase order form, a field in the HTML page is dedicated for placement of a digital signature. This field is selected using the light pen 12, for example, by pressing it three times, and this will select that field for entry of digital signature information.

The digital signature to be placed in that particular selected field will be the signature of all the contents of all the data fields on the Internet page which will be placed in this particular field as a digital signature. The digital signature consists of taking the data entered in the various blocks of the Internet page as a data block, processing them through a one way function such as a MD5, to produce a unique value, which is then encrypted with the private key.

The private key is stored in the smartcard which is placed in the smartcard reader for purposes of creating the digital signature. The important point here is that the invention integrates use of the pen for selecting on the Internet page the field for placement of the digital signature, and the smartcard reader and smartbox functions which actually perform the processing to create the digital signature. This is the integration of the two items.

Another level of security when using a smartcard is the use of a password to identify the holder of the smartcard if he is in fact the correct owner. In existing programs the entry of a password is an event that occurs in a particular field of the data entry sequence and therefore a hacker can identify the information occurring in that field, and use it illegally, which is theft of a password. This creates a problem using a password in existing programs.

One of the solutions to this problem is to have the smartcard reader in series between the keyboard and computer. In this way, the entry of data on the password in the keyboard never reaches the computer and remains only in the smartcard reader.

Another similar solution is to have a keypad mounted on the smartcard reader and have the data entry occur there, so that again none of the password information is communicated to the computer. Both of these solutions limit the password to keyboard keys, so that these methods of password identification rely on data entry of existing keyboard numerals or signs to identify the user.

As described by the illustration in Fig. 8, the inventive solution is to display on the screen 20 a simulated version of a keyboard which can be used as a data entry device via the light pen 12. When the prompt "ENTER PASSWORD" is presented, the user manipulates the light pen 12 to select various numerals and signs on the simulated keypad and these become the data entry information, and this is the method of identifying the password.

In addition the invention allows for password recognition to become anything that can be done on a screen including drawings, figures, signatures or anything that is visual, which can also become part of the password. This is not possible with the existing solutions.

The password information entered using the method described in Fig. 8 never reaches the PC 16, and remains only in the smartbox 14, so that it is immune to access by hackers, and this increases the security level.

Having described the invention with regard to certain specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the description is not meant as a limitation, since further modifications may now suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and it is intended to cover such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An integrated pointing device-smartcard transaction security system comprising: computer means comprising a first processor; a display means connected to said computer means; a pointing device for indicating a location on said display means, and for drawing, selecting and activating objects displayed on said display means, said objects comprising data entry information; and a smartcard reader means, said pointing device and said smartcard reader means being integrated in a smartbox means, performing the functions of communication with a smartcard, control of said pointing device, and communication with said first processor, said smartbox means having a second processor enabling implementation of said smartbox functions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein a portion of said data entry information comprises user identity information, which can be selected by said pointing device for processing in said smartbox means, enabling the smartcard to identify the user, without requiring communication with said first processor associated with said computer means.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said identity information comprises a password.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicated location is a field of an HTML page display, for entering in said field a digital signature of the user-entered content of the page.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a light pen.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a touch screen.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a mouse.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a track ball.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a pen in communication with said smartbox means based on an electromagnetic communication link, enabling said smartbox means to be aware of the position of the pen relative to said smartbox means.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is a pen in communication with said smartbox means based on an ultrasonic wave communication link, enabling said smartbox means to be aware of the position of the pen relative to said smartbox means.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said display means incorporates said smartbox means as an integral part thereof, enabling said smartbox means to communicate with said computer means via said connection of said display and said computer means.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said pointing device is operable in parallel with any other pointing device which may operate with said computer means..

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said smartbox means can be incorporated in a point of sale station and convert any CRT display in the station to a touch-like screen.

14. The system of claim 1 operating as a digital signature tool, for performing a method of digitally signing a document containing a visual signature of a user, enabling transmission of the document over a communication system and verification thereof at a recipient location, said method comprising: compressing the document as a digital file; signing the document with a digital signature using a private key associated with a user, and transmitting said digitally signed document to the recipient location, wherein said compressing, signing, and transmitting are performed by a single data entry input stroke, and performing, at the recipient location, a verification procedure comprising: verifying said digitally signed document, to identify the user associated therewith, by matching against information stored in a database, displaying details associated with said identified user, including a stored visual signature, removing the digital signature and decompressing the document in a file format, and displaying said decompressed document file format, wherein said verifying, displaying, removing and displaying are performed by a single data entry stroke.

15. A method of digitally signing a document containing a visual signature of a user, enabling transmission of the document over a communication system and verification thereof at a recipient location, said method comprising: compressing the document as a digital file; signing the document with a digital signature using a private key associated with a user, and transmitting said digitally signed document to the recipient location, wherein said compressing, signing, and transmitting are performed by a single data entry input stroke, and performing, at the recipient location, a verification procedure comprising: verifying said digitally signed document, to identify the user associated therewith, by matching against information stored in a database, displaying details associated with said identified user, including a stored visual signature, removing the digital signature and decompressing tne document in a file format, and displaying said decompressed document file format, wherein said verifying, displaying, removing and displaying activities are performed by a single data entry stroke.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said digital signature signing is performed by use of an integrated pointing device-smartcard transaction security system comprising: computer means comprising a first processor ; a display means connected to said computer means; a pointing device for indicating a location on said display means, and for drawing, selecting and activating objects displayed on said display means, said objects comprising data entry information; and a smartcard reader means, said pointing device and said smartcard reader means being integrated in a smartbox means, performing the functions of communication with a smartcard, control of said pointing device, and communication with said first processor, said smartbox means having a second processor enabling implementation of said smartbox functions.