An optical payment transceiver and an optical settlement system using the
same uses a personal portable terminal incorporated with an optical
transceiver as a card substitute payment unit for settlement. Here, card
information is incorporated in a personal portable terminal incorporated
with an optical transceiver such as a portable phone or a PDA and the
optical transceiver is connected to a card inquiry machine to thereby
optically transmit and receive card information. The card inquiry machine
recognizes the received card information in the same manner as that of
the card reader reading a magnetic card, and transmits the card
information to a VAN company server or a card company server, to then
request for an approval and settle transactions. The present invention is
applied to most fields where financial transactions are performed as in a
general commerce, a toll gate fee or tunnel passage fee collection
system, a subway or bus fare levying system, a gas station, a department
store, a drive-thru ordering system, a vending machine, and a fee payment
system of kiosks. Also, the present invention can be applied to an
entrance/exit security system requiring personal identification. Thus,
the present invention can use a portable terminal as a payment unit
without carrying a cash or cards, to thereby provide an effect of
performing a safer and more reliable credit transaction.