Secure interactive digital system for displaying items to a user identified as having permission to access the system

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are described which provide secure interactive communication of text and image information between a central server computer and one or more client computers located at remote sites for the purpose of storing and retrieving files describing and identifying unique products, services, or individuals. A feature of the system is the ability to associate an identification image with a plurality of accounts, transactions, or records and identify a user not physically present at the client computer. Textual information and image data from one or more of the remote sites are stored separately at the location of the central server computer, requests for information are entered from remote terminals, the system being able to respond to multiple user requests simultaneously, and the information requested is recalled and downloaded for review to be displayed at the remote site.

1 . A computer implemented method for allowing a transaction between a central computer and a remote terminal connecting to the central computer to occur, the steps of the method comprising:
 storing an image at said central computer;   storing at the central computer text associated with said image;   retrieving said image and said associated text from said central database to said remote terminal in response to a communication and displaying them on a display device; and   allowing said transaction to occur only after verifying that the image and associated text are the same.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image is stored in encrypted form. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the associated text is stored in encrypted form. 
     
     
         4 . A method of providing secure interactive communication of textual information and image data between a central server computer and one or more client computer terminals, located at remote sites, for the purpose of storing and retrieving files, the steps of the method comprising:
 storing text and/or one or more images at the location of the central server computer, with the images being in compressed form and the text being included in a relationship database with identifiers associated with any related data, wherein the storing of said data comprises capturing as the image to be stored the graphical representation of an object, the object being preselected by a user and serving as an identifier of said unique product, service, or individual;   receiving and processing at the central computer requests for identification confirmation received from at least one of the remote terminals;   recalling and downloading text and/or images satisfying the criteria specified in the requests from the at least one of the remote terminals to the requesting terminal for review, wherein the step of recalling includes using a communications channel to contact the remote terminal for identification confirmation, and the step of downloading includes downloading the graphical image of the object; and   using the textual information and image data downloaded to the requesting terminal to identify the product, service, or individual to be identified, wherein the step of identifying the product, service, or individual includes the user confirming that the object is the same object previously preselected by the user.