JP2002183629A - Electronic account settlement system, electronic account settlement method, and recording medium recorded with electronic account settlement program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic account settlement system that can safely and positively settle accounts at a low cost, even for account settlement processing of a small amount on a computer network, such as the Internet and can promote individual use. SOLUTION: This electronic account settlement system (an electronic banking system 10) is provided with a communication control device 11, connected to a network 30 so as to become a connection window; web servers 13a-13n providing web pages for inputting account settlement information and receiving the account settlement information; account settlement execution servers 15a-15n carrying out account settlement processing, on the basis of the account settlement information; account settlement updating servers 17a-17n updating the account information of each customer, on the basis of the result of account settlement processing; account information DBs 18a-18n for recording the account information of the customers; and LANs 12, 14, 16 for connecting the respective servers 13a-13n, 15a-15n, 17a-17n.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic payment system for performing payment processing on a computer network such as the Internet, an electronic payment method, and a recording medium on which an electronic payment program is recorded. In particular, the present invention relates to an electronic payment system, an electronic payment method, and a recording medium on which an electronic payment program is recorded, which performs low-cost, low-cost payment processing by performing distributed processing from reception of payment information to updating and recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a computer network (hereinafter simply referred to as a "network") in which a plurality of computers are connected by a communication line or the like to store and exchange data and programs among the plurality of computers and to share data and the like. Say) is built.

[0003] As a method of such a network,
An open network system that allows computers to be freely connected as a general rule if it conforms to a predetermined communication protocol, etc., and the network is managed by a host computer, etc., and certain restrictions such as security are imposed on terminal devices such as connected computers. There is a closed network system in which an unmanaged computer node is not connected to the network.

The Internet is a typical example of the above-mentioned open network system. In this Internet, the communication protocol is TCP (Transfer
Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol) is adopted. In principle, any computer that complies with this communication protocol can be connected to a network.

[0005] In recent years, with the background of a free network environment such as the Internet, WWW (World Wide W
eb) and other multimedia environments have been developed. In particular, recently, many Internet businesses (e-businesses) that provide specific services using the Internet have been proposed and operated.

In the Internet business (e-business), there is a service in which a virtual store is provided on the server side, sample pictures of products, explanatory texts, and the like are placed on a Web page, and products are bought and sold.

[0007] As such an electronic commerce settlement method, there is a method in which a virtual bank is provided on the Internet and provisional settlement of the electronic commerce is performed by the virtual bank.

[0008] Patent Publication No. 1997-326002 describes an electronic settlement system connected to a computer network. This electronic payment system builds a virtual shopping street on a computer network, enables users to purchase desired products online from the stores that constitute the shopping street, and clears the purchased price. An electronic payment system on a computer network that performs a virtual bank on the network for a real bank that clears the price of purchased products, and the virtual bank provides a virtual account and sales for each user We have a virtual account for each store, and when a user purchases a product,
The virtual bank transfers virtual funds between the user's virtual account and the retail store tail virtual course, issues an automatic transfer instruction for payment to the real bank, and, based on this instruction, A real bank is characterized in that it is constructed to settle the price.

According to this electronic settlement system, a virtual bank corresponding to the real bank is constructed on the computer network, a temporary account transfer is made between the user and the virtual store, and the result is notified to the real bank. Then, by performing the actual transfer processing, the payment processing on the network can be reflected in the payment information of the actual real bank.

[0010]

However, according to the above-mentioned electronic settlement system, since it is necessary to make the virtual bank correspond to the actual bank system, it is necessary to construct a system having a large cost and a large scale as the virtual bank. There is a problem that construction, operation, and maintenance of the system require extremely high cost and labor.

In order to maintain the operation of this system,
Fees for actually using a virtual bank are forced to be high. For a small amount, for example, for a payment of 500,000 yen or less per transaction, the fee to be paid by the user is relatively high. There was a problem that the personal use of the bank could not be planned.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable secure and reliable payment at low cost even with low-cost payment processing on a computer network such as the Internet.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic payment system, an electronic payment method, and a recording medium that records an electronic payment program that can promote personal use.

[0013]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an electronic settlement system of the present invention is an electronic settlement system for performing settlement processing on a computer network such as the Internet, and a user terminal connected to the computer network. A communication control device that transmits and receives information to and from the user; a web server for providing a payment information input web page to the user terminal via the communication control device, and receiving payment information from the user terminal; A payment execution server that processes payment information, a payment update server that updates customer account information according to the processing result of payment information from the payment execution server, and a payment information that is connected to the payment update server and records customer account information Recording means.

Here, the communication control device, the Web server, and the W
The eb server and the settlement execution server, and the settlement execution server and the settlement update server may be respectively connected by a LAN.

[0015] The communication control device may determine a Web server that performs communication with the user terminal, and may transfer control of communication with the user terminal to the determined Web server. Here, the communication control device may detect the load state of the Web server, and determine the Web server that performs communication with the user terminal based on the detected load state.

Further, the Web server can determine a payment execution server that processes the received payment information, and send the payment information to the determined payment execution server. here,
The Web server may detect the load state of the payment execution server, and determine the payment execution server that processes the payment information based on the detected load state. Further, the Web server may transmit an e-mail including the contents related to the payment information input to the provided payment information input Web page as an e-mail that can be received by the user terminal.

Further, the payment execution server can determine a payment update server for updating the information of the customer account, and send the processing result of the payment information to the determined payment update server. Here, the payment execution server may determine a payment update server that updates the information of the customer account based on the information of the customer account.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic payment method for performing a payment process on a computer network such as the Internet.
(A) providing a payment information input Web page to a user terminal connected to a computer network, receiving payment information from the user terminal, (B) processing the received payment information, and (C) performing step (B). There is a step of updating and recording the customer account information in accordance with the processing result of the settlement information, and the steps (A) to (C) are executed by independent servers.

Further, before the step (A), a step of determining a Web server that executes the step (A) may be provided. Here, the step of determining the Web server includes detecting a load state of the Web server,
It is possible to determine a Web server that executes step (A) based on the detected load state. Furthermore,
(D) Web for payment information input provided in step (A)
An e-mail including the contents related to the payment information input to the page may be transmitted as an e-mail that can be received by the user terminal.

Step (A) is replaced with step (B)
Can be determined, and the payment information can be sent to the determined payment execution server. here,
The step (A) may detect the load state of the settlement execution server, and determine the settlement execution server that executes the step (B) based on the detected load state.

Step (B) is equivalent to step (C)
Is determined, and the processing result of the payment information is transmitted to the determined payment update server. Here, the step (B) may determine the settlement update server that executes the step (C) based on the customer account information.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a computer-readable recording medium storing an electronic payment program for executing the electronic payment method of the present invention on a computer is connected to a computer network such as (A) the Internet. For inputting payment information to the user terminal
b, providing the payment information from the user terminal, (B) processing the received payment information, and (C) receiving the payment information from the customer account according to the processing result of the payment information in step (B). Updating and recording information;
A computer-readable recording medium on which an electronic payment program for executing the electronic payment method having a computer is recorded, wherein steps (A) to (C) are:
It is characterized by being recorded on recording media of independent servers.

Further, before the step (A), there may be provided a step of determining a Web server that executes the step (A). Here, in the step of determining the Web server, the load state of the Web server may be detected, and the Web server that executes step (A) may be determined based on the detected load state. Furthermore,
(D) Web for payment information input provided in step (A)
An e-mail including the contents related to the payment information input to the page may be transmitted as an e-mail that can be received by the user terminal.

Step (A) is equivalent to step (B)
May be determined, and the payment information may be sent to the determined payment execution server. Here, the step (A) may detect the load state of the settlement execution server, and determine the settlement execution server that executes the step (B) based on the detected load state.

In the step (B), it is possible to determine a payment update server for executing the step (C) and to send a processing result of the payment information to the determined payment update server. Here, the step (B) may determine the settlement update server that executes the step (C) based on the customer account information.

In the present invention described above, the settlement information may be small-amount settlement information.

In a system connected on a network,
By performing each of the settlement information communication process, the settlement information execution process, and the settlement information update recording process by a plurality of independent servers, the size of each server can be reduced in size and price. For this reason, the commission from the user can be kept low, and the use of the individual user can be effectively promoted.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electronic settlement system, an electronic settlement method, and a recording medium that records an electronic settlement program according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, in the electronic payment system, the electronic payment method, and the recording medium on which the electronic payment program is recorded, a computer network such as the Internet is used,
Payment processing can be performed based on payment information from the user side.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a network system using the electronic settlement system of the present invention. This network system has a browser function and user terminals 20a and 20b such as PCs (Personal Computer) for inputting payment information and the like, and a mobile terminal 20c such as a mobile phone and the like having a browser function and inputting payment information and the like.
And an electronic banking system 10 that has a server function and performs a user's payment processing based on payment information, and an electronic store server (EC store server) that provides goods and services to users on a network. ) 40, each terminal 20a-20c, electronic banking system 10, and EC
A computer network (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “network”) 30 such as the Internet for connecting the store server 40.

Here, the network 30 can be constructed using the Internet or an intranet. In this case, an existing application or system that conforms to the Internet communication protocol can be used, so that the electronic banking system of the present invention can be realized at low cost.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the electronic banking system 10 which is the electronic payment system shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, an electronic banking system 10, which is an electronic settlement system, is connected to a network 30,
a through 20c (FIG. 1), and a network 30 via the communication control device 11 through the communication control device 11.
Provide a web page for inputting payment information to terminals 20a to 20c (FIG. 1) connected to
One or more Web servers 13a to 13n for receiving payment information from (FIG. 1), one or more payment execution servers 15a to 15n for performing payment processing based on the payment information received by the Web servers 13a to 13n, and payment. Execution server 15a-
One or more payment update servers 17a to 17n for updating account information of each customer based on a result of the payment processing of 15n;
Account information DBs 18a-1 connected to individual payment update servers 17a-17n and recording customer account information, respectively.
8n, the communication control device 11, and one or more Web servers 13
LAN (Local Area Network) connecting a to 13n
And a LAN 1 for connecting one or more Web servers 13a to 13n and one or more payment execution servers 15a to 15n
4 and a LAN 16 for connecting the settlement execution servers 15a to 15n and one or more settlement update servers 17a to 17n.

Next, an electronic settlement service using the electronic banking system 10 which is the electronic settlement system of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described. In the following description, as a specific example, the user terminal 20a is described as a PC having a browser function, and the computer network 30 is described as the Internet. Also,
It is assumed that the user purchases a product from the EC virtual store 40 on the Internet 30 from the user terminal 20a, and performs the payment in the electronic banking system 10. Here, the account information of the user of the user terminal 20a is stored in the payment update server 17a.
The account information of the EC virtual store 40 is recorded in the settlement information DB 18a connected to the settlement update server 1
It is assumed that the payment information is recorded in the payment information DB 18n connected to 7n.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing an electronic settlement service (electronic settlement method) using the electronic banking system 10 which is the electronic settlement system of the present invention. In FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, first, a user operates an electronic bank via a computer network (hereinafter, also referred to as “Internet”) 30 from a browser running on a user terminal (hereinafter, also referred to as “PC”) 20a. System 1
0 (step 30).
1). Here, the user does not need to recognize to which server his / her account information is connected, and all users access the communication control device 11.

Communication control device 11 of electronic banking system 10
Responds to an access request from the PC 20a,
2 to check the load status of the Web servers 13a to 13n (step 302), and to the Web server with the lowest load (hereinafter referred to as the Web server 13n), the PC 20
The access request from a is passed (step 303). Here, the load status of the Web servers 13a to 13n is based on LAN
12, it may be determined based on the communication load in CPU 12, the CPU usage rate of Web servers 13a to 13n, and the like.

Next, the Web server 13n connects to the PC 20a.
In response to an access request (URL) from
P via the communication control device 11 and the Internet 30
A Web page for inputting payment information is transmitted to C20a (step 304). As a result, a Web page for inputting payment information is displayed on the screen of the PC 20a (step 305).

Next, the user enters an ID (account number) and a password (personal identification number) for identifying and specifying himself / herself into P.
The information is input from the C20a and transmitted to the Web server 13n of the electronic banking system 10 along with the account number and the trading value of the EC virtual store 40 transmitted from the EC virtual store 40 as settlement information (step 306).

Web server 13n that has received the settlement information
Are settled through the LAN 14 through the settlement execution servers 15a to 15
n (step 307), the payment execution server having the lowest load (hereinafter, payment execution server 15a)
Is passed from the PC 20a (step 308). Here, the load status of the settlement execution servers 15a to 15n may be determined based on the communication load on the LAN 14, the CPU usage rate of the Web servers 15a to 15n, and the like.

The settlement execution server 15a is the Web server 1
Account number and EC of user of payment information received from 3n
Payment update server 1 based on the account number of virtual store 40
7a and the settlement update server 17n are requested for the account information of the user and the account information of the EC virtual shop 40 (step 309).

The settlement update server 17a responds to a request from the settlement execution server 15a, and the user's account number (ID)
And password (password), account number (ID)
If the password and the password correctly match (step 310), the user's account information is read from the account information DB 18a and passed to the settlement execution server 15a (step 3).
11).

The settlement update server 17n confirms the account number of the EC virtual store 40 in response to a request from the settlement execution server 15a, reads out the account information of the EC virtual store 40 from the account information DB 18n, and reads the account information of the EC virtual store 40. 15a (step 312).

The settlement execution server 15a compares the balance of the user's account information received from the settlement update server 17a with the transaction price of the settlement information, and if the balance exceeds the sum of the transaction price and the usage fee ( Step 313), subtracts the total value of the trading value and the usage fee from the balance of the user's account information, and transmits the value to the settlement update server 17a together with the user's account number (ID) as an account balance (Step 314). Further, the settlement execution server 15a adds the trading value to the balance of the account information of the EC virtual store 40 to obtain a new balance, and transmits the new balance to the settlement update server 17n together with the account number of the EC virtual store 40 (step 315).

The settlement update server 17a updates the user's account information in the account information DB 18a with a new account balance based on the user's account number (ID) received from the settlement execution server 15a (step 316). The payment update server 17n receives the E received from the payment execution server 15a.
C based on the account number of the virtual store 40, the account information DB1
The account information of the 8n EC virtual store 40 is updated with the new account balance (step 317).

On the other hand, if the account number (ID) of the user and the password (password) do not match correctly in step 310, and if the account balance of the user is less than the total of the trading value and the usage fee in step 313, And the respective error messages are sent to the PC via the Web server 13n.
20a is notified (step 318, step 31)
9).

As described above, by using the electronic banking system 10 which is the electronic payment system of the present invention, the user can surely make payment on the Internet 30.

In this way, after the settlement on the Internet 30 is completed, the electronic bank system 10 notifies the EC virtual store server 40 of a payment, and the EC virtual store server 40 responds to the payment notification. , The product can be delivered to the user side.

The electronic payment system and the electronic payment method according to the present invention have been described above, but the above-mentioned notification of the payment can be made by e-mail.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the Web servers 13a to 13n. In FIG. 5, Web servers 13a to 13n provide a user with a Web page for inputting account information, a Web page processing unit 51 for receiving the input account information, and a Web server for providing the user.
A web DB 53 for storing pages, and an e-mail processing unit 52 for transmitting e-mails including contents related to account information input to the Web pages provided by the Web page processing unit 51 so that the e-mails can be received by the user terminals 20a to 20c on the user side. And a mail DB 54 for storing an e-mail transmission / reception record and a destination (mail address), and a settlement execution server 15a-1 connected to the LAN 14 and processing account information.
And a communication control unit 55 for determining 5n.

[0048] Web servers 13a to 13c shown in FIG.
According to 13n, W provided by the Web page processing unit 51
An e-mail including the contents related to the account information input to the eb page can be receivably transmitted by the user terminals 20a to 20c on the recipient side. That is, the electronic banking system 10 connected to the network 30 such as the Internet performs payment / receipt (settlement) of money between user accounts and notifies the receiving side of the fact of the settlement by e-mail. Can be.

By operating such an electronic settlement system 10 as an electronic bank, the receiving side of money can be notified of settlement promptly and reliably, and the settlement processing by the user can be speeded up. .

The electronic payment system and the electronic payment method of the present invention have been described above. The above-described electronic payment method is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium as an electronic payment program that can be executed by a computer or the like. You may.

[0051]

As described above, according to the electronic payment system, the electronic payment method, and the recording medium on which the electronic payment program is recorded according to the present invention, communication of the payment information is performed by a system connected to a network such as the Internet. By performing each of the processing, the payment information execution processing, and the payment information update recording processing by a plurality of independent servers, the size of each server can be reduced in size and price.

As a result, the commission from the user can be reduced, and the use of the individual user can be effectively promoted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network system using an electronic payment system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic payment system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an electronic payment service using the electronic payment system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an electronic payment service using the electronic payment system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a Web applied to the electronic payment system of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a server.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electronic bank system 11 Communication control apparatus 12, 14, 16 LAN 13a-13n Web server 15a-15n Payment execution server 17a-17n Payment update server 18a-18n Account information DB 20a, 20b User side terminal 20c Mobile terminal 30 Computer network 40 EC virtual store server 51 Web page processing unit 52 Email processing unit 53 WebDB 54 Mail DB 55 Communication control unit

Claims (28)

[Claims] 1. An electronic payment system for performing payment processing on a computer network such as the Internet, comprising: a communication control device for transmitting and receiving information to and from a user terminal connected to the computer network; A web server for providing a payment information input web page to the user terminal and receiving payment information from the user terminal, a payment execution server for processing payment information from the web server, and a payment execution server A payment update server that updates customer account information in accordance with the processing result of the payment information from, and a payment information recording unit that is connected to the payment update server and records the customer account information. Electronic payment system. 2. The communication control device and the Web server,
The Web server and the payment execution server, and the payment execution server and the payment update server are LAN
The electronic settlement system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic settlement system is connected by a (Local Area Network). 3. The communication control device determines a Web server that communicates with the user terminal, and determines the determined Web server.
The electronic settlement system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein communication control with the user terminal is passed to a server b. 4. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein a load state of the Web server is detected, and a Web server that communicates with the user terminal is determined based on the detected load state. Item 3. The electronic settlement system according to Item 3. 5. The payment server according to claim 1, wherein the Web server determines a payment execution server that processes the received payment information, and sends the payment information to the determined payment execution server. Electronic payment system. 6. The payment server according to claim 1, wherein the web server detects a load state of the payment execution server, and determines a payment execution server that processes the payment information based on the detected load state. 5. The electronic payment system according to 5. 7. The payment execution server that determines a payment update server that updates information of the customer account, and sends a processing result of the payment information to the determined payment update server. An electronic payment system according to any one of claims 6 to 6. 8. The electronic settlement system according to claim 7, wherein the settlement execution server determines a settlement update server that updates information on the customer account based on the information on the customer account. 9. The payment information is small payment information.
The electronic settlement system according to claim 1, wherein: 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Web server transmits an e-mail including the contents related to the payment information input to the provided payment information input Web page as an e-mail that can be received by the user terminal. The electronic payment system according to claim 1. 11. An electronic payment method for performing a payment process on a computer network such as the Internet,
(A) providing a payment information input Web page to the user terminal connected to the computer network; receiving payment information from the user terminal; (B) processing the received payment information; Updating and recording the customer account information according to the processing result of the settlement information of (B), wherein the steps (A) to (C) are executed by independent servers, respectively. Electronic payment method characterized by the above-mentioned. 12. The electronic settlement method according to claim 11, further comprising, before said step (A), determining a Web server that executes said step (A). 13. The step of determining the Web server includes detecting a load state of the Web server, and determining a Web server that executes the step (A) based on the detected load state. Claim 12
Electronic payment method described. 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step (A) determines a payment execution server that executes the step (B), and sends the payment information to the determined payment execution server. Electronic payment method described. 15. The step (A) detects a load state of the settlement execution server, and determines a settlement execution server that executes the step (B) based on the detected load state. The electronic settlement method according to claim 14, wherein 16. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step (B) determines a payment update server that executes the step (C), and sends a processing result of the payment information to the determined payment update server. The electronic settlement method according to any one of items 11 to 15. 17. The electronic settlement system according to claim 16, wherein in the step (B), a settlement update server that executes the step (C) is determined based on the information on the customer account. 18. The electronic payment method according to claim 11, wherein the payment information is small payment information. 19. (D) transmitting, as an e-mail receivable by the user terminal, an e-mail including the contents related to the settlement information input to the settlement information input Web page provided in the step (A); 19. The electronic settlement method according to claim 11, wherein: 20. (A) providing a payment information input Web page to a user terminal connected to a computer network such as the Internet and receiving payment information from the user terminal; and (B) receiving the payment information from the user terminal. And (C) updating and recording the information of the customer account according to the processing result of the settlement information in the step (B). A computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded, wherein the steps (A) to (C) are recorded on recording media of independent servers. 21. The recording medium according to claim 20, further comprising, before said step (A), a step of determining a Web server that executes said step (A). 22. The step of determining the Web server includes detecting a load state of the Web server, and determining a Web server that executes the step (A) based on the detected load state. Claim 21
The recording medium according to the above. 23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step (A) determines a payment execution server that executes the step (B), and sends the payment information to the determined payment execution server. The recording medium according to the above. 24. The step (A) detects a load state of the settlement execution server, and determines a settlement execution server that executes the step (B) based on the detected load state. 24. The recording medium according to claim 23. 25. The step (B), wherein a payment update server that executes the step (C) is determined, and a processing result of the payment information is sent to the determined payment update server. 25. The recording medium according to 20 to 24. 26. The recording medium according to claim 25, wherein in the step (B), a payment update server that executes the step (C) is determined based on the information on the customer account. 27. The recording medium according to claim 20, wherein the payment information is small payment information. 28. (D) transmitting an e-mail including the contents related to the payment information input to the payment information input Web page provided in the step (A) as an e-mail receivable by the user terminal; 28. The recording medium according to claim 20, wherein: