1. An anti-fraud financial method comprising:
registering a financial payment instrument by
generating a public key and private key and storing the public key and private key locally on a user computer,
transmitting the public key to a Certificate Authority server and retaining the private key locally,
obtaining a signed cryptographic digital certificate from the Certificate Authority server to complete the registering of the financial payment instrument;
digitally signing a financial transaction associated with a user with the private key to initiate the financial transaction with the financial payment instrument, wherein said digitally signing a financial transaction is configured to provide authentication and obtain authorization from the user and enable authorization from a financial institution to complete the financial transaction from a financial institution computer; and,
inserting an account number associated with the financial payment instrument into the cryptographic digital certificate to enable backwards compatibility with existing financial transaction systems.
2. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
obtaining a one-time use registration code and registration URL associated with the financial payment instrument via the user computer;
transmitting the one-time use registration code to a registration computer at the registration URL;
receiving a first random number to use at least as part of a seed from the registration computer; and,
seeding a key generator with the seed before generating the public key and private key.
3. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 2 further comprising:
receiving a second random number from a random number generating computer; and,
performing a function to combine the first and second random numbers to create the seed.
4. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 2 further comprising:
receiving a second random number from the random number generating computer;
creating a first pseudorandom number on the user computer; and,
performing a function to combine the first and second random numbers and the first pseudorandom number to create the seed.
5. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 2 further comprising:
generating a hash value of the public key via the user computer;
prompting the user to say the hash value of the public key;
recording video or capturing at least one image or audio of the user saying the hash value of the public key;
accepting an agreement of terms of services from the user; and,
submitting the hash value and video or at least one image or audio of the user to the registration computer at the registration URL.
6. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 5 further comprising:
verifying that the hash value is equal to the user’s read out of the hash value;
obtaining a trusted picture of the user from a trusted source; and,
verifying that the user in the video or at least one image matches the trusted picture of the user from the trusted source before generating the cryptographic digital certificate.
7. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 5 further comprising:
obtaining a picture of the user from the video or at least one image; and,
inserting the picture of the user into the cryptographic digital certificate.
8. (canceled)
9. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
encrypting the accounting number so that only the financial institution can decrypt it before the inserting of the account number into the cryptographic digital certificate.
10. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
obtaining the account number wherein the account number is associated with an existing credit card account, existing debit card account, existing checking account, existing money transfer account or any combination thereof.
11. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
accepting a bill from a merchant computer for the financial transaction and then performing the digitally signing of the financial transaction to create a digitally signed invoice via the user computer; and,
transmitting the cryptographic digital certificate and the digitally signed invoice from the user computer to the merchant computer or financial institution computer or both.
12. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
verifying the digitally signed invoice of the financial transaction; and,
verifying that the cryptographic digital certificate has not expired and is trusted by the Certificate Authority.
13. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
verifying that a picture extracted from the cryptographic digital certificate is the user.
14. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
extracting the account number from the cryptographic digital certificate via the financial institution computer and processing the financial transaction associated with the account number with the existing financial transaction systems.
15. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 14 further comprising:
decrypting the account number using a key that is only known by the financial institution.
16. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 14 further comprising:
transmitting the authorization to complete the financial transaction to the merchant computer from the financial institution computer if the user has sufficient credit or funds to conduct the financial transaction; and,
transmitting a receipt or digitally signed receipt to the merchant computer or user computer or both.
17. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
displaying an advertisement, coupon, or discount to the user.
18. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
accepting from the user a temporal limit or range, spending maximum, category of financial transaction, recurring time of payment, list of users who can charge to a tab, a tab closeout command, secure return request, or any combination thereof to limit the financial transaction.
19. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
displaying information associated with at least one previous financial transaction.
20. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
displaying information associated with at least one previous financial transaction that is associated with the account number but which is potentially fraudulent, that was not a transaction associated with the user, that was invalidly signed, that was unsigned, that was signed but unknown to the user computer, or that was not a result of the digitally signing of the financial transaction to audit an account having the account number associated with the financial institution computer.
21. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
forwarding the invoice or receipt obtained from a merchant computer from the user computer to at least one other user computer to enable the at least one other user to contribute to or complete the financial transaction wherein the at least one other user may split the financial transaction according to a percentage or amount or item with or without a tip amount associated with the financial transaction, or any combination thereof.
22. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
accepting a tip amount from the user computer to add to the financial transaction.
23. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 11 further comprising:
accepting a request of the invoice for the financial transaction from the user computer without interaction with a cashier and accepting and then performing the digitally signing of the financial transaction to complete the financial transaction.
24. The anti-fraud financial method of claim 1 further comprising:
disabling the digitally signing of the financial transaction associated with the user with the cryptographic digital certificate if the user computer is in an area where cryptography is illegal or otherwise not allowed.
25. An anti-fraud financial method comprising:
registering a financial payment instrument by
generating a public key and private key and storing the public key and private key locally on a user computer,
transmitting the public key to a Certificate Authority server and retaining the private key locally,
obtaining a signed cryptographic digital certificate from the Certificate Authority server to complete the registering of the financial payment instrument;
digitally signing a financial transaction associated with a user with the private key to initiate the financial transaction with the financial payment instrument, wherein said digitally signing a financial transaction is configured to provide authentication and obtain authorization from the user and enable authorization from a financial institution to complete the financial transaction from a financial institution computer;
inserting an account number associated with the financial payment instrument into the cryptographic digital certificate to enable backwards compatibility with existing financial transaction systems;
encrypting the accounting number so that only the financial institution can decrypt it before the inserting of the account number into the cryptographic digital certificate; and,
obtaining the account number wherein the account number is associated with an existing credit card account, existing debit card account, existing checking account, existing money transfer account or any combination thereof.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical scanning apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member, comprising:
a light emission unit configured to emit plural light beams including first and second light beams and arranged to form images of light at different positions in a rotation direction of the photosensitive member;
a deflection unit configured to deflect the light beams emitted from said light emission unit such that the light beams move in a predetermined direction, wherein the photosensitive member is positioned on movement paths of the light beams deflected by said deflection unit;
a first detection unit disposed on the movement paths of the light beams and configured to detect each of the first and second light beams emitted from said light emission unit before the light beams move along an image region on the photosensitive member;
a second detection unit disposed on the movement paths of the light beams and configured to detect each of the first and second light beams emitted from said light emission unit after the light beams have moved along the image region on the photosensitive member;
a measurement unit configured to measure a first time period from when said first detection unit detects the first light beam to when said second detection unit detects the first light beam and measure a second time period from when said first detection unit detects the second light beam to when said second detection unit detects the second light beam; and
a position adjustment unit configured to adjust relative positions of said first and second detection units such as to make the first time period equal to a product of the second time period and a correction coefficient set based on a wavelength difference between the first and second light beams.
2. The optical scanning apparatus according to claim 1, including:
a correction coefficient acquisition unit configured to acquire the correction coefficient based on the wavelength difference between the first and second light beams and based on the first and second time periods.
3. The optical scanning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said light emission unit includes plural light emitting portions at least including a first light emitting portion configured to emit the first light beam and a second light emitting portion configured to emit the second light beam, a first temperature detection unit configured to detect a temperature of said first light emitting portion, and a second temperature detection unit configured to detect a temperature of said second light emitting portion, and
said correction coefficient acquisition unit acquires the correction coefficient based on a temperature difference between said first and second light emitting portions as well as based on the wavelength difference between the first and second light beams and the first and second time periods.
4. The optical scanning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said first and second detection units is configured to have a variable inclination relative to the predetermined direction, and
said position adjustment unit changes the inclination of the at least one of said first and second detection units.
5. The optical scanning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first detection unit has a first slit and at least detects each of the first and second light beams passing through said first slit,
said second detection unit has a second slit and at least detects each of the first and second light beams passing through said second slit, and
said position adjustment unit adjusts the position of the at least one of said first and second detection units so as to make the first and second slits parallel to each other.
6. A control method for an optical scanning apparatus having a light emission unit for emitting plural light beams at least including first and second light beams shifted from each other in a rotation direction of a photosensitive member, a scanning unit for deflecting the light beams emitted from the light emission unit in a predetermined direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photosensitive member and for causing the light beams to scan a to-be-scanned surface of the photosensitive member, and first and second detection units each for detecting each of the first and second light beams at a region that deviates from the to-be-scanned surface in the predetermined direction, the second detection unit being disposed away from the first detection unit by a predetermined distance in the predetermined direction, comprising:
a measurement step of measuring a first scanning time required for the first light beam to scan between the first and second detection units and measuring a second scanning time required for the second light beam to scan between the first and detection units; and
a position adjustment step of adjusting a position of at least one of the first and second detection units such as to make the first scanning time equal to a product of the second scanning time and a correction coefficient set based on a wavelength difference between the first and second light beams.