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Tyfone, a mobile financial services infrastructure and near field communications (NFC) payments provider, today announced it has been awarded a second patent for its innovations in smart card-based electronic wallet technology.  

Tyfone, a mobile financial services infrastructure and near field communications (NFC) payments provider, today announced it has been awarded a second patent for its innovations in smart card-based electronic wallet technology.

 

This newest patent, US 7,581,678 is entitled "Electronic Transaction Card" and, using time varying magnetic fields, the patented technology enables the use of a memory card as an electronic wallet and/or the ability to use that memory card for the secure transmission of financial information.

 

This new technology is used in the company's u4ia mobile financial services platform, which completed successful beta testing in June of this year.

 

In the growing contactless payment marketplace, Tyfone said its patented technologies and u4ia secure memory card platform would enable a trusted service manager (TSM) in the mobile payments the ecosystem by enabling existing market-deployed handsets to become NFC ready.

 

This would lead to significant benefits to consumers and the key stakeholders such as banks, transportation companies, mobile operators and merchants, without change to the current ecosystem and without incurring significant cost to enable it.

 

Unlike other software only technologies, including the development work of Sony and Infineon that refer to their applications as electronic wallets, Tyfone said its platform includes a neutral secure element-thereby making it a true electronic container or "wallet".

 

This system allows a TSM to securely manage different consumer credit, debit, transportation and pre-paid accounts for use in a wide range of payment and other secure transactions.

 

A key application for Tyfone's newly patented technology is using SideTap to conduct a contactless payment transaction. Using SideTap consumers purchase goods at point of sale simply by tapping their mobile device at point of sale.

 

"To Tyfone, this patent is the culmination of tireless work developing a neutral solution not only as a viable implementation of NFC that can be broadly used today, but also as a truly game changing technology," said Dr. Siva Narendra, chief technology officer at Tyfone. "As was demonstrated when initial testing was completed with the key stakeholders in the NFC value chain, Tyfone's newly patented technology brings us one step closer to a ubiquitous contactless payment reality."

 

www.tyfone.com