Tyfone Inc. has received a patent for programming add-on smart cards in a mobile phone to function as a payment account.
The Portland, Ore., vendor said Monday that the patent covers how smart cards are programmed in response to communication they receive over a wired, wireless or cellular network.
Such "provisioning" activities are an integral part of mobile payment systems starting to take shape in the U.S. Consumers who want to use a mobile phone for payments must first have payment credentials established inside a chip known as the secure element.
"We recognized early on the benefits of supporting over-the-air and over-the-wire programming of add-on secure elements in electronic devices, especially for financial transactions," Siva Narendra, the president of Tyfone's North American business, said in a press release.
Tyfone said it filed for the patent in 2005 and that it was issued on June 7.
