KR20030003398A - Billing agent system and method for contents provider using subscriber’s accounts mapping - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and method for payment are provided to act the payment of the charged contents used by users, who joined in several contents providers, in one system by mapping the accounts of charged contents during an Internet contents service. CONSTITUTION: A user authentication unit(111) maps a user account and authenticates the user. A contents gateway(112) relays contents supplied from contents providers(121-123). A user account mapping DB(114) maps a subscriber of each contents provider with one user account. An accounting process unit(113) pays for accounts of the charged contents being relayed by the contents gateway(112) using the user account mapping DB(114). An accounting log recording DB(116) stores an accounting log processed in the accounting process unit(113) according to the user accounts.

Description

Billing agent system and method for contents provider using subscriber ’s accounts mapping}

The present invention provides a billing apparatus for integrating subscribers owned by a content provider at the time of Internet content service and billing using the account mapping, and a computer-readable recording medium recording the method and a program for implementing the method. It is about.

At present, due to the explosive increase in the use of the Internet through the high-speed communication network, as well as public institutions such as companies and schools, the demand for a variety of content on the Internet is increasing, many companies providing content on the Internet. These companies are monetizing not only free content but also premium content, and it is essential to have a billing system.

However, most of the content providers are small companies, and there are a lot of users who use the content, so there is no expectation of profit for the paid content, and even if there are many users, they are having difficulty in implementing their own billing system. There are many.

In addition, in order to charge paid web content, a method of directly recording paid web content transmission history from a web server and transmitting it to a billing agency is possible. There is a need for a transmitting device. It is also possible to install a program that records usage history on the client side and send it to the billing agency, but this method also requires a separate program to operate on the client side, and also to the side where usage history is payable. It is undesirable to exist for security reasons.

Therefore, in order to substitute usage records or billing without constructing a separate program on the content provider or user side, it is preferable to provide a billing system between the web server and the client and to bill through the billing system.

Nevertheless, in the related art, as described above, the paid content business of content providers has a problem in that a user has a small size and a difficulty in having a charging system, so that management of users and billing is not efficient.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above problems, and provides different content providers using user account mapping by grouping the accounts of users owned by each content provider in the Internet content service. It is an object of the present invention to provide a billing apparatus for billing for paid content used by a user who subscribes to a system, a method thereof, and a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing the method.

1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the Internet service system linked to the billing apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a billing method according to the present invention;

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

101 ~ 103: user terminal 110: billing device

121 ~ 123: Content provider

The present invention for achieving the above object, In the billing apparatus in the Internet service system, User authentication means for user authentication; Content relay means for relaying content provided by a content provider to a user authenticated by the user authentication means; User account mapping means for mapping subscribers of each content provider to one user account; Billing processing means for processing billing for paid content relayed by the content relay means for each user account using the user account mapping means; And billing log storage means for storing the billing log processed for each user account in the billing processing means.

In addition, the present invention provides a billing method in an internet service system, comprising: a first step of integrating subscribers of respective content providers and mapping them into one user account; A second step of confirming authentication of the user's account and transmitting a content list to the authenticated user; A third step of requesting payment of a fee by transferring payment information of the corresponding paid content to the user when selecting the paid content of the user from the contents list; A fourth step of, when checking payment information from a user, processing charges for the corresponding paid content for each user account, and connecting the corresponding content provider for providing the corresponding paid content; And a fifth step of relaying the paid content transmitted from the corresponding content provider to a user who paid the fee of the paid content, and recording a corresponding charge log.

The present invention also provides a billing apparatus having a processor, comprising: a first function of integrating subscribers of respective content providers and mapping them to one user account; A second function of confirming authentication of the user's account and transmitting a content list to the authenticated user; A third function of requesting payment of a fee by delivering payment information of the corresponding paid content to the user when selecting the paid content of the user from the content list; A fourth function of processing billing for the corresponding paid content for each user account and connecting the corresponding content provider for providing the corresponding paying content when checking payment information from a user; And transmitting the paid content transmitted from the corresponding content provider to a user who paid the fee of the paid content, and recording a program for realizing a fifth function of recording the billing log. To provide.

The present invention integrates subscribers owned by content providers on Internet content services and charges them using their account mapping, enabling content providers to do paid content business without having to set up a separate billing system, It is intended to provide a basis for providers to share subscribers with each other. That is, the present invention implements a system for billing for provision of paid content using the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet, thereby reducing efforts for implementing a function required for billing and providing high quality content. Only try to work.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a basis for integrating content of various content providers and subscribers possessed by each content provider, thereby preventing a user's overlapping investment in small size and billing system.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an embodiment configuration diagram of an Internet service system in which a billing apparatus according to the present invention is interlocked. In the drawings, reference numerals 101 to 103 are user terminals, 110 are billing agency devices, and 111 are user authentication units. , "112" is a content gateway, "113" is a billing processing unit, "114" is a user account mapping database, "115" is a user account mapping table, "116" is a billing logging database, and "121-123" is content. Represents each provider (CP: Contents Provider).

As shown in FIG. 1, the Internet service system to which the present invention is applied includes a user terminal (web client) 101 to 103 for user registration, a content provider 121 to 123 for providing web content, and a user. Receives the digital content requested by the terminals 101 to 103 from the content providers 121 to 123 and transmits the digital contents to the user terminals 101 to 103 through an information communication network such as the Internet, and is held by each content provider 121 to 123. A billing apparatus 110 that charges for paid content used by users who have joined the different content providers 121 to 123 by using a user account mapping by tying user accounts together; Include.

The information communication network connects communication lines between the user terminals 101 to 103 and the content providers 121 to 123 so as to establish data connection with each other.

The user terminals 101 to 103 establish a communication environment including a web browser that can access the Internet, and use a wired or wireless data network such as a dedicated line or a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public switched data network (PSDN). The content providers 121 to 123 may also be accessed through a synchronous / asynchronous wireless network such as a mobile communication network, a personal mobile communication network (PCS), and a next generation mobile communication network (IMT-2000).

Accordingly, the user terminals 101 to 103 may include personal digital assistants (PDAs), as well as personal computers (PCs) and laptops, which include communication mediation devices (modems, etc.), monitors, keyboards (or keypads), and the like. It may also be a mobile communication terminal such as a cellular phone or a personal communication system (PCS) phone, or a next generation mobile communication terminal such as an International Mobile Telecommunication Service (IMT-2000).

The billing apparatus 110 may provide a portion related to user account processing, such as a user authentication unit 111 and a user account mapping DB 114 for processing user account mapping and authentication, and contents from the providers 121 to 123. A content gateway 112 for delivering to the user terminals 101 to 103, a billing processing unit 113 for processing and recording the billing for the provision of the content, a billing log record DB 116 and the like.

The content providers 121 to 123 may reduce the burden on the billing system by providing their contents and subscriber information to the billing apparatus 110 without having to have a billing system of their own, as well as those of other content providers. By providing content to subscribers, it is possible to secure superior users than before without securing additional subscribers.

To this end, the billing apparatus 110 should be able to handle mapping of subscriber accounts for the various content providers 121-123 and user accounts of the billing apparatus itself. Processing for this is performed using the user authentication unit 111 and the user account mapping DB 114.

Some of the tables of the user account mapping DB 114 may be represented as the user account mapping table 115.

As shown in FIG. 1, users 1, 2, and n of users of the billing apparatus 110 are connected to the billing apparatus 110 through the Internet through their terminals 101 to 103. Contents provided by the content providers 121 ˜ 123 registered in the billing apparatus 110 may be used.

Referring to the configuration example of the user account mapping table 115, user 1, user 2, and user n, which are user accounts of the billing apparatus 110, are subscribers 1 of the content provider A 121 and subscribers of the content provider B 122, respectively. 1, the subscriber 2 of the content provider A (121), the charge for the paid content delivered through the content gateway 112, the user account mapping DB 114 to be delivered to each content provider (121 ~ 123) In the billing processing unit 113 to process and leave a log in the billing log record DB (116).

2 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a billing method according to the present invention.

Before describing this operation, first, it is assumed that the user is registered in the billing apparatus 110 and the content providers 121 ˜ 123 are also registered in the billing apparatus 110 to provide paid contents as shown in FIG. 1. do.

First, when the user inputs the address of the server having the billing apparatus 110 (201), the billing apparatus 110 requests the user's ID and password (password) (202). Then, the billing apparatus 110 checks whether the user inputs the ID and password 202 is the correct user (204). In this case, the user's ID is an account assigned by the billing apparatus 110. If the user fails to confirm, an error screen is sent to the user and the user inputs an ID and password (password) again.

On the other hand, after the user confirmation, the billing apparatus 110 transmits the content list registered by the content providers 121 to 123 to the user (205), when the user selects the desired content from the content list (206), billing agency In operation 207, the device 110 requests payment of a fee by delivering payment information corresponding to the content selected by the user to the user.

Thereafter, when the user inputs payment information (208), the billing apparatus 110 checks the payment information input by the user (209), and when the payment information is confirmed, the subscriber using the user account mapping DB 114 The billing process is performed and the content providers 121 to 123 are requested to transmit the content selected by the user (210). On the other hand, if the payment information check fails, an error screen is transmitted to the user to request re-entry of the payment information.

Next, the content providers 121 to 123 transmit the requested content from the billing apparatus 110 to the billing apparatus 110 and request a billing log record (211).

Then, the billing apparatus 110 transmits the content transmitted from the content providers 121 to 123 to the user through the content gateway 112 and records the billing log in the billing log record DB 116 (212).

Finally, the content transmitted from the content gateway 112 is output to the user's terminal (213).

The method of the present invention as described above may be implemented as a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.).

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes can be made in the art without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be clear to those of ordinary knowledge.

As described above, the present invention reduces the burden on the content provider to set up its own billing system to charge the paid content, and enables subscribers held by each content provider to use other contents registered in the billing apparatus. There is an effect that can provide a base to increase subscribers without great effort.

Claims (3)

In the billing apparatus in the Internet service system, User authentication means for user authentication; Content relay means for relaying content provided by a content provider to a user authenticated by the user authentication means; User account mapping means for mapping subscribers of each content provider to one user account; Billing processing means for processing billing for paid content relayed by the content relay means for each user account using the user account mapping means; And Billing log storage means for storing the billing log processed for each user account in the billing processing means Billing apparatus using the account mapping of the paid content user including a. In the billing method in the Internet service system, A first step of integrating and mapping subscribers of each content provider to one user account; A second step of confirming authentication of the user's account and transmitting a content list to the authenticated user; A third step of requesting payment of a fee by transferring payment information of the corresponding paid content to the user when selecting the paid content of the user from the contents list; A fourth step of, when checking payment information from a user, processing charges for the corresponding paid content for each user account, and connecting the corresponding content provider for providing the corresponding paid content; And A fifth step of relaying the paid content transmitted from the corresponding content provider to a user who paid for the paid content, and recording a corresponding charge log; Billing method using the account mapping of the pay content users, including. In the billing apparatus equipped with a processor, A first function of integrating subscribers of each content provider and mapping to one user account; A second function of confirming authentication of the user's account and transmitting a content list to the authenticated user; A third function of requesting payment of a fee by delivering payment information of the corresponding paid content to the user when selecting the paid content of the user from the content list; A fourth function of processing billing for the corresponding paid content for each user account and connecting the corresponding content provider for providing the corresponding paying content when checking payment information from a user; And A fifth function of relaying the paid content transmitted from the corresponding content provider to a user who paid for the paid content, and recording a corresponding charge log; A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing this.