EP1259920A1

EP1259920A1 - Payment to charities with prepaid card

Info

Publication number: EP1259920A1
Application number: EP01907780A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Béatrice PARFAIT; Eric Depret; Michel Mirouze
Original assignee: France Telecom SA
Current assignee: Orange SA
Priority date: 2000-02-28
Filing date: 2001-02-13
Publication date: 2002-11-27
Also published as: WO2001065430A1; SV2002000327A; FR2805631A1; US20030007615A1; JP2003531420A; AR029890A1; FR2805631B1; AU2001235665A1; US7050554B2

Abstract

The balance or part of the balance associated with a prepaid card (CA) with or without microcircuit is paid into a server collecting balance parts, as donation to charities, after a communication has been established between a terminal (PU) and the server (SE) and after the payment has been validated by the user on the terminal for incrementing a counter with the balance or balance part. In another embodiment, parts of balance are paid cyclically into the server, or into a connecting unit (UR), as a telephone communication develops.

Description

Payment to good works by prepaid card

The present invention relates to prepaid cards, whether they are of the micro-circuit type, also known as an integrated circuit or microprocessor, the cards then being sometimes called calling cards, or whether they are prepaid cards without an integrated circuit, also called "calling cards "or virtual prepaid cards. For example, prepaid cards correspond to prepayment for telephone consumption, or credit granted by a central purchasing office.

The invention relates to the establishment of a set of means suitable for ensuring the payment of donations to good works. These remote payments, or tele-payments, are made by decrementing the units contained in a card with micro-circuit, or in an account located in a server and associated with a card without micro-circuit.

The invention extends to all prepaid cards, and allows the holders of these cards to be able to make payments to a set of good works.

French patent application FR 2776403 describes an electronic fundraising system based on the use of a bank card of the integrated circuit card type. It relates to the implementation of the payment of donations for the benefit of charitable or humanitarian organizations by means of the bank card with integrated circuit. The principle is as follows: with each banking transaction carried out normally by means of a conventional electronic payment terminal, a donation data pre- stored in the card, called date, which can be a percentage of the transaction, or a fixed sum, mcremente an accumulator register in the card under the control of the processor included in the card. Thus, the accumulator register summarizes all the donations attached to transactions made since the last "emptying" of the accumulator register.

A second payment terminal is dedicated to the payment of the amount contained in the card accumulator register on the initiative of the donor, owner of the card. The payment is perfectly transparent for the user and the dedicated payment terminal. It takes place as follows: once the card has been inserted, the user dials his confidential code, as for a standard banking transaction, and the terminal reads the bank references of the beneficiary organization in the card, resets the accumulator register in the card, and issues a receipt for the amount paid to the donor user.

The fundraising system according to the aforementioned patent application is thus based on the use of a bank card in which each payment results from the accumulation of donations depending respectively on the amounts of successive transactions during a given period. These successive accumulations are therefore fully covered by the card. In addition, the fundraising system requires a specific additional operation, defined as a bank transaction on a terminal dedicated only to the payment of accumulated donations in the card.

The invention aims to pay all or part of the balance of units, such as telephone boxes or monetary units, contained or associated with a prepaid card purchased by the user of the card for the benefit of at least one beneficiary entity, that is to say one or more good works. More specifically, the invention aims to facilitate payments from predetermined units, as gifts to good works using prepaid cards, for example relating to services such as telephone services or to products such as those of a central purchasing office, in a way that is as restrictive as possible for the owner of the card, that is to say according to the conventional use of prepaid cards through standardized terminals for prepaid cards, without requiring second terminals dedicated to the payment of accumulated donations.

To this end, a method for paying part of the balance associated with a prepaid card from a terminal into a means of collecting parts of balance through a telephone transmission means, is characterized in that, after the establishment of a communication between the terminal and the collection means using the prepaid card, it comprises the steps of: detecting a payment validation in the collection means, decrementing the balance with said part of the balance in response to the payment validation detected, and increment a counter in the collection means with the balance part.

For example, the terminal is a public telephone and the balance is expressed in telephone consumption units which can then be converted into monetary value. According to a first embodiment, the balance part is said balance and the payment validation is transmitted in response to an invitation message to be paid from the collection means to the terminal only when all the balance is to be paid. The invitation to tender message may also contain an invitation to select a good work.

According to a first variant of the first embodiment, the validation of payment is transmitted in response to an invitation message to select a payment from the means αe collected towards the terminal only when the balance part has to decrement the balance, and is followed by the transmission of a balance part request message to be paid from the collection means to the terminal and the transmission of the selected balance part from the terminal to the collection means. Another payment validation is only sent in response to the invitation to select a payment message when all the balance is to be drawn.

Said establishment of the communication can result from a voluntary call from the collection means by the terminal, which call precedes an identification of the card by the collection means when the card is without micro-circuit.

According to a second variant of the first embodiment, the invitation to pay message is transmitted from the collection means to the terminal only when the balance is below a predetermined threshold so that payment is systematically offered to the user. good works, before the exhaustion of the balance of his prepaid card. On the contrary, a telephone call from the terminal can be continued when the balance is above the threshold, or after a refusal to pay the balance transmitted from the terminal to the collection means. For this second variant, said communication establishment may result from taking a telephone line by the terminal, then from an automatic call from the collection means by a telephone connection means from the terminal when the balance is below the threshold.

When the card is a prepaid microcircuit card containing the balance and must be introduced into the terminal for the establishment of the communication, the collection means comprises a server containing said counter dedicated to the collection of the balance parts and a means connecting the server at the terminal to receive the card balance from the establishment of the communication, detect the payment validation, decrement the balance with the balance part into a decremented balance and transmit the decremented balance to the card through the terminal and the part balance to the server.

When the card is a prepaid card without micro-circuit having an identification number which must be dialed in the terminal, or be generated automatically from the terminal, to identify the card by the collection means, the collection means comprises a server containing said counter dedicated to the collection of balance parts and managing the balance of the card to detect the validation of payment after receipt of a payment number from the server from the terminal, decrement the balance and increment the counter. According to a second embodiment, the steps of decrementing and of incrementing are cyclic during a telephone call from the terminal, and executed each time that a predetermined decrement of solαe is consumed. In this way, the parts of the balance as donations are paid systematically and very often periodically during a telephone call without any intervention from the user of the card. When the card is a micro-circuit card, the steps of decrementing and incrementing can be executed cyclically αans a telephone connection means internal or external to the terminal, and the balance can be transmitted from the card to the connection means after said establishment.

The steps of decrementing and incrementing are preferably performed only in response to a payment indicator which is transmitted by the card by means of collection when the card is a micro-circuit card, or which is read in correspondence with an identification number of the card in the collection means when the card is a card without microcircuit. The payment indicator signals by means of collection the prior approval of the user of the card, when purchasing it, to the cyclical payment to parts of the balance in favor of good works. Thus, for a first use of the card, the method preferably comprises after the establishment of the call, a selection at least of one of the parameters including the decrement, the balance part and the identity of the entity for which part of the balance is collected, in response to an invitation message to participate in payments transmitted by the collection means to the terminal. Following the selection, said at least one selected parameter and the payment indicator to be associated with the card are recorded in the collection means and, when the card is a micro-circuit card, are also recorded in the card. .

For example, the first use of the card is detected by the collection means when an initial credit read from the card or from the collection means is equal to the balance of the card. In the second embodiment, the collection means can be a means for connecting the terminal to a telephone switch, or be the terminal itself, the counter in the collection means accumulating the parts of the balance that can be emptied periodically in a server belonging to good beneficiary works.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of several preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the corresponding appended drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the connection between a payphone with a telephone card and a payment server for good works;

FIG. 2 is an algorithm of the method according to a first embodiment of the invention for voluntary payment of the balance by prepaid micro-circuit card; FIG. 3 is an algorithm according to a first variant of the first embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 2, for voluntary payment of part of the balance; Figure 4 is an algorithm according to a second variant of the second embodiment of the process shown in Figure 2, for payment by systematic solicitation; - Figure 5 is an algorithm of the method according to a second embodiment of the invention cyclic payment yard by prepaid micro-circuit card; and FIG. 6 details a part of the algorithm of FIG. 5, for a first use of the card.

The prepaid cards implemented by the invention are of two types, depending on whether they are with a micro-circuit or without a micro-circuit.

A card of the first type is a card containing a micro-circuit, also known as a non-virtual card, in which service or product units prepaid when the card is purchased are stored and together correspond to a CR credit.

A card of the second type is a card not containing a processor type micro-circuit, also called a virtual card, the units associated with the card being included in a memory area which is located in a server connected to a telecommunications network. The second type also includes prepaid cards including a ROM memory having pre-registered an identification number of the card and a number of server of payment of good works, so that these two numbers are read automatically by a public phone, after insertion of the card therein, which avoids the long dialing of these two numbers by the user of the card. For both types, the units are erased in the micro-circuit or in the server as purchases of services or products are made with the card, a balance of SO units associated with the card, initially equal to the CR credit , thus decreasing with each purchase.

The method of payment of the invention is described below according to two embodiments. In the first embodiment, all or part of the balance of service or SO product units associated with the card is donated to good works by a voluntary action triggered by the card holder. In the second embodiment, the payment is made as and when the prepaid units are consumed. Thus, in this second embodiment, the payment is made for example at the rate of NBO = 1 unit every DE = 25 units consumed.

As a preferred example to which reference is made below, the units of a prepaid card give access to a service, in this case a telephone service; thus a unit is a telephone unit, but can be another fraction of service, such as a few seconds of communication for example.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the essential means involved in a telephone communication between a prepaid telephone card with a micro-circuit CA, called a calling card, according to the first type, and a server SE dedicated to an application for payment to good works and provided with voicemail and at least one CBO telephone unit counter collecting telephone units as donations for good works. The essential means are a docking station for prepaid card, such as a public telephone terminal PU, for example of the public telephone type (registered trademark) or a public multimedia terminal, into which the CA card is inserted, a connection unit UR connected to the public telephone by a user telephone line LT , and a telephone autonomy switch CO routing connecting the connection unit to the server SE and included in a telecommunications network RE, such as the switched telephone network. The messages produced by the server can be voice or, if necessary, text type and can be displayed in the PU public phone.

The UR connection unit serves several payphones attached to it. It provides a number of intermediary functions vis-à-vis payphones and a technical management system for payphones.

In addition to connecting payphones to the telephone network with remote power supply to them, the UR connection unit provides real-time processing of outgoing communications from attached payphones to control the means of payment, such as a prepaid card. The connection unit also ensures the management of operations for the management of attached payphones, in relation to a SGP payphone management system with several servers.

In another architecture which also exists, the connection unit and the management system are located behind the CO switch and in this case form a single system.

In particular with regard to payment by card with micro-circuit, the connection unit UR receives periodically, after insertion of the card CA in the public telephone PU and establishment of a outgoing communication from the public phone PU, a balance of telephone units SO read in the card by the public telephone so that the UR unit knows the status of this balance throughout the communication. The SO balance is initially equal to a CR credit with the purchase of the card. The card is unusable as soon as the balance is zero and as long as the balance remains zero if the card is rechargeable, or is unusable beyond a validity date of the card. This implementation is not limiting, other alternatives exist and are not described here.

The essential means involved in a telephone communication between a telephone card without micro-circuit according to the second type are similar to those shown in FIG. 1. The card is similar to a badge on which is written the telephone call number of the SE server , for example with 3 or 4 digits, and on which is visible after scraping an identification number IC of the card having ten digits to dial before each communication; the card without micro-circuit, called virtual card, thus comes down to an identification number IC and is naturally not usable in a payphone. The SE server is not a server dedicated to payments to good works, but provides more extensive management relating to the characteristics of prepaid cards without micro-circuit, such as in particular the balance of SO units compared to CR credit initially registered in the server prior to the sale of the card, in correspondence with the IC identification number of the card, as well as the collection of payments for good works according to the invention.

In the following description, the two main embodiments of the payment method according to the invention and the variants thereof are each described first in detail for a prepaid micro-circuit card, then underlining the differences and analogies for a prepaid card without micro-circuit.

As shown in Figure 2, the method of payment to good works by voluntary act according to a first embodiment of the invention, mainly comprises steps E0 to E7.

As is known, a procedure for establishing an outgoing telephone call using a micro-circuit card begins with the introduction of the CA card into the public telephone PU and the taking of the line LT ( dropout) in step E0. At the end of the identification, and then if necessary at the end of the active authentication of the card by the telephone network RE, an invitation tone to be transmitted is sent by the connection unit UR to which the public telephone PU is attached. The user of the CA card dials in step El an easily memorizable short number, such as the number 3067 corresponding to the word "DONATIONS". The telephone network, via the switch CO, directs this call to the dedicated server SE.

Then, after the connection unit UR has read the balance of telephone units SO transmitted in the DTMF (Dual Tone Multiple Frequency) multifrequency code from the card CA, the unit UR signals to the server SE that the balance is positive, that is to say different from zero, in order to trigger the application of payment to good works.

Then, in step E3, the server SE transmits to the public telephone PU through the switch CO and the unit UR a voice message inviting to pay the balance, such as:

"there is N / A in your card; do you want to donate the amount corresponding to the good BO works? If you agree, press the TV key, otherwise hang up", where the balance transmitted N / A, preferably displayed on the payphone, is a number of telephone units, or is expressed in cash, and TV indicates a predetermined validation key, for example a green key on the payphone. The predetermined validation can also be carried out by a voice recognition system.

After detection of a validation signal transmitted by the public telephone PU following the TV validation made by the user in step E4, the connection unit UR cancels the balance SO acting as a donation and sends it to through the public phone PL in the card CA in step E5; all prepaid telephone units being "consumed", the CA card containing a zero balance then becomes unusable. Simultaneously, in step E6 the connection unit UR transmits to the server SE a sequence DTMF containing the number of units SO to increment therewith the counter CBO corresponding to the good works BC in the server. The process is then terminated by the release of the line LT, either by the public phone, or by the server SE via the unit UR in step E7.

At step E4, if after a delay of a few tens of seconds following step E3, the user has not manifested himself by hanging up, the server SE releases the line LT and ends the process in step E7, without making a donation.

In addition to steps E3 and E4, the server SE invites the user also to select a good work BO by sending a request "To which good works?" to the public phone PU in step E3 in order to associate predetermined keys with good works respectively, for example by displaying a table on the screen of the public phone, and to select the key associated with the good work BO selected by the user in step E4.

When the card CA is a card of the second type, without micro-circuit, everything that takes place in relation to the balance SO in the unit UR according to FIG. 2 is carried out in the server SE managing here cards of the second type.

In the initial step E0, the 3- or 4-digit call number of the SE server, then, after taking the line LT, the card identification number are dialed on the keypad of the public phone PU, or are generated automatically after inserting the card in the public phone and reading these numbers in the card's ROM memory; the payphone can be replaced here by any telephone terminal, including radiotelephone, possibly equipped with a card reader. The identification number transmitted from the public telephone PU to the network RE is analyzed by the server SE to identify the card and activate a unit downcounter in the server containing the balance SO associated with the card and initially recording the credit CR before the sale of the prepaid card.

Then, in response to an invitation to transmit tone transmitted from the UR unit to the public phone PU, _{^ the} user dials in step El the payment number corresponding to the word "DONATIONS" on the keyboard. When the word "DONATIONS" is recognized by the server, the latter notes the intention of the user to make a payment to the good works BO. After examining that the balance SO is positive at step E2, the invitation to pay message is transmitted by the server at step E3 and steps E4 to E7 are carried out according to the validation of donation payment or not by the TV key, the transfer of the balance SO decrements to zero from the unit down counter in the counter CBO in steps E5 and E6 being carried out internally in the server SE.

According to a first variant of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 relating to the payment of part of the balance of the card, the payment method comprises steps E0, E1, E2 and E5 to E7, but also between steps E2 and E5, steps E3a and E4a analogous to steps E3 and E4 and additional steps E40 to E42 which with step E4a replace step E4, step E42 being followed by steps E5a and E6a analogous to steps E5 and E6 . After the reporting of a positive balance SO in the card by the connection unit UR to the server SE in step E2, the server SE sends an invitation message to select a payment to the public telephone PU, if applicable including a invitation to select a good work BO, through the network RE and the unit UR in step E3a so that the user selects either the payment of the entire balance SO, as in step E3, or part of the balance, the balance or part of the balance being expressed in number of telephone units or in cash. The aforementioned invitation voice message can be:

"SO remains on your card, do you want to donate to BO good works? If you agree to pay the full amount, press the Tl button and confirm with the TV button; if you only want to pay one game, press the T2 key and confirm with the TV key; otherwise hang up ". The SO balance is preferably displayed on the PU public phone.

If in the next step E4a, the user has pressed the Tl and TV keys, the UR connection unit sends a DTMF code corresponding to the Tl key (digit 1) to validate the payment of all the balance to the server SE in step E40. The process continues by sending a write order containing the number of telephone units serving as a donation, equal to or corresponding to the balance, by the connection unit UR to the public phone PU and to the server SV in the steps E5 and E6, before release at line LT in step E7.

On the other hand, if in step E4a, the user decides to press the keys T2 and TV, the connection unit UR sends a DTMF code corresponding to the key T2 (digit 2) to the server SE in the step E41. The voicemail of the server SE then produces, in response to the code of the key T2, a voice message requesting part of the balance to be paid to the public telephone PU in step E42, such as:

"How many telephone units do you want to pay? Give the number and confirm with the TV button".

The user then dials a number of NUT tax units, or a value, using the public telephone keyboard. cash, less than the balance SO announced in step E3a and presses the TV key. Then the process proceeds to steps E5a and E6a, during which the balance SO is decremented by the number of telephone units NUT serving as a donation and corresponding to the part of balance indicated by the user. The αecremente balance is transmitted in DTMF code to the public telephone PU for updating in the card CA and to the server SE to increment the counter CBO, the process ending with step E7.

If in step E4a or E42 the user has hung up, or if he has not pressed one of the pairs of keys Tl + TV and T2 + TV, or if he has not dialed a number NUT followed by pressing the TV key, after a delay of a few tens of seconds following step E3a or E42, the process ends in step E7 by the release of the line LT either by the public phone PU, either by the SE server via the UR unit. For a prepaid card without micro-circuit, steps E0 to E4a are applied to this second type of card in a manner analogous to steps E0 to E4, as described above. Steps E5 and E6, or E5a and E6a, relating to the transfer of the balance SO or the number of NUT units to be paid to good works to the counter CBO are carried out internally in the SE server, with decrementation of the associated unit down-counter à la carte.

According to a second variant of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the payment method is modified in order to systematically encourage the user to pay the balance of the card when it is equal to or less than a threshold TH for example equal to 3 telephone units. At the start of this second variant, after the initial step EO, the step E1 is deleted and four steps E21 to E24 replace the step E2 so that the server SE is called automatically if the balance is at most equal to the threshold TH. After storage of the balance SO read in the card by the connection unit UR in step E21, the unit UR compares the balance read SO transmitted by the payphone to the threshold TH in step E22. The UR unit calls the SE server by automatically dialing the "DONATIONS" number and abuts the link thus established with the SE server dedicated to payments to the link with the public phone PU in step E23 when the balance SO is less than or equal to the threshold TH in step E22, so that the unit UR transmits the balance SO to the server SE in step E24. When the balance is non-zero, the SE server sends the public phone PU a voice message inviting to pay the balance in step E3, which is for example the following: "There is N / A on your card, would you like to do donation of the sum corresponding to good works BO

If you agree, press the Tl key, otherwise the T2 key, and validate with the TV key ", in order to propose making a payment equivalent to the card balance. As in Figure 2, this message may contain a invitation to select a good BO work.

In the event of a positive response corresponding to the pressing of the keys T1 and TV in the next step E4a, the process continues with the steps E40, E5, E6 and E7 already commented on with reference to FIG. 3. The balance SO is set to zero in the CA card and increments the CBO counter in the SE server. Otherwise, the user refuses to pay the balance and presses the T2 and TV keys in step E4a. This refusal to pay the balance is transmitted by the public telephone PU to the UR unit which interrupts its connection with the server SE at a step E71. A dialing invitation tone is transmitted by the UR unit for the normal continuation of a telephone communication from the public phone PU, as indicated in a step E72 which is also carried out when the balance SO is greater than the threshold TH at the step E22.

The end step E7 releasing the telephone line LT succeeds step E6 or E72.

If none of the keys T1 and T2 is requested in step E4a during a predetermined time delay, the server SE releases the line LT in step E7.

When the card CA is a prepaid card without micro-circuit according to this second variant of the first embodiment, after the identification of the card by the server SE in step EO, steps E21 to E24 are reduced in step E22 so that the server SE compares the threshold TH with the balance SO associated with the card identified CA. If the balance is less than or equal to the threshold TH, steps E3 to E7 are executed according to the choice of the user expressed by pressing the keys T1 and TV, or T2 and TV, steps E5 and E6 being executed in internal to the server.

In the case where the terminal is not a public phone, the voice messages sent by the server indicate the correspondence of the keys T1, T2 and TV.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, the payment to good works is made cyclically as the telephone consumption counted in the card is counted, for example at the rate of NBO = 1 unit every DE = 10 units consumed. The cyclic payment process is transparent to the user. A cyclic payment indicator IV indicating that the micro-circuit card CA cooperates in the process of the cyclic payment is written in a memory zone of the micro-circuit card reserved for particular applications, called the user zone.

The payment method according to this second embodiment shown in FIG. 5 mainly comprises steps ET1 to ET11 after an initial step ETO identical to the step EO and at the start of step E2.

During an identification step ET1 of the card CA, the connection unit UR or the public phone PU verifies that the indicator IV is contained in the reserved memory area. If the IV indicator is not detected, that is to say if the card does not support the cyclic payment service, the proceαe goes to an ET2 step which can trigger a step of verification of first use of the ET3 card described in detail below, or to the normal procedure for establishing a telephone call, starting with the invitation to dial at a step ET21.

On the contrary, if in step ETl, the ¹ payment indicator IV is detected by the connection unit UR or in the public phone PU so as to validate a cyclical payment, the unit UR proceαe has payments from the telephone unit described below during cyclic steps ET5 to ETll activated in the connection unit UR during rolling of a normal telephone call, after a maximum balance variable SOM is set equal to the balance of telephone units SO read by the unit UR in the card, at an initial stage of cycle ET4. At the start of a payment cycle with a decrement DE of telephone units, and continuously during such a cycle, the connection unit UP checks in step ET5 that the telephone communication established between the public telephone PU and a telephone terminal requested through the unit UR and the network RE in step ET0 is not to be broken, that is to say if the line LT is not to be released and if the balance of telephone units read SO n ' is not zero; otherwise, the additional decrementation of the balance SO is stopped at the end step ET11 freeing the line LT if this has not already been done.

During the telephone communication established in step ET6 for the first cycle, the balance of SO units in the card CA is decremented normally, and very often periodically, by a telephone unit as a function of charging criteria determined by the operator of the RE network, or more generally of the service or product provider managing prepaid cards, ie SO ≡ SO - 1 at each stage ET6, as long as the balance does not reach the value SOM - DE + NBO at step ET7. NBO denotes a part of the balance acting as a cyclical donation equal to a number of telephone units automatically decreasing the balance SO all the DE telephone units counted since the last value SOM, and therefore such as NBO <DE, the number NBO incrementing a counter for good works CBO in the donation collection server SE. If in step ET7, the lower limit SOM - DE + NBO is reached by the balance SO and if in the next step ET8 the solαe SO is higher than NBO, an accumulator for good works ABO materialized by a memory area allocated to payphones attached to the UR unit is increased by the number of NBO telephone units sampled during the current cycle, in step ET9. The balance SO is then decremented by the number of units taken NBO and the variable SOM is set equal to SO before another cycle is started, as long as the balance SO is not zero or the telephone communication is not interrupted in step ET5.

If in step ET8 the balance SO is at most equal to the number NBO, the accumulator ABO is incremented by the balance SO between NBO and 0, and the solαe is set to zero before the line LT is released by the unit UR at the end stage ETll.

For example, if the balance SO is 43 telephone units at the ETO line seizure step, and if the operator of the network RE has fixed in the connection unit UR the cyclical decrement DE to 10 units and the number of NBO units to be removed cyclically at 2, 2 telephone units are deducted from the balance SO in favor of good works BO and added to the accumulator ABO in step ET9 when the balance successively reaches the values 35, 25, 15 and 5 to 1 step ET7, if the communication is not broken in the meantime in step ET5.

When several payphones are connected to the UR connection unit, the content of the accumulator ABO totals the telephone units paid to good works BO by the payphones. The remote server SE empties the accumulator periodically, that is to say reads the accumulated account and then sets the accumulator to zero in the unit UR, for example once a day. The counter CBO in the server SE thus accounts for all of the payments made through the operator-managed payphones.

Returning to step ET1, the cyclic payment indicator IV inside the micro-circuit card CA is memorized according to one of the following two methods.

According to the first method, there are particular series of cards specially dedicated to payments to good works. The indicator IV is then stored in the card CA during the recording of "personi.es" characteristics of the card, during the manufacture of the latter. For a card implementing the first method, the payment process shown in FIG. 5 goes directly (ET1, yes) from the ETO step to the ET4 step.

According to the second method, a memory zone is reserved for the indicator IV in the card CA during the production of the latter, but the indicator IV is not yet written in the memory zone reserved during the purchase of the prepaid card CA and must be written when using the card for the first time.

When the CA card is inserted into a payphone for the first use, the indicator IV is not detected by the unit U? at stage ETl. In the next step ET2, the unit UR compares the initial credit CR read from the card, 50 or 120 telephone units for example, with the balance SO of telephone units.

If the balance SO is different from the credit CR, that is to say if telephone units CR - SO have already been consumed, the card CA has already been used (step ET2, no). As no IV indicator was detected in the previous step ETl, the card CA is -ne normal prepaid card. The process continues normally with the establishment of an outgoing call at step ET21, starting with the invitation to dial. Sx the balance SO and the credit CR are îαer.tiques at step ET2, this is a first use of the card CA which requires the development at step ET3 shown in detail in Figure 6 and comprising steps ET31 to ET39. In step ET31, the connection unit UR calls the dedicated server SE which links up a dialogue with the public phone PU to offer the user to cooperate in the payment process of αon with prior storage of the indicator IV. The voice message of the server SE transmits to the public telephone, in response to the call by the UR unit, an invitation message to participate in the payments to the public telephone PU at stage ET32 such as:

"Do you want to participate in the donations to BO good works?".

If the user response is negative in the next step ET33, for example by pressing any key on the telephone keypad other than the TV validation key or by not pressing any key for a predetermined time, the server is disconnected of the UR unit in step ET34, and communication can be established normally in step ET21.

If the user's response is positive by pressing the TV validation key in step ET33, the server SE sends a request "To which good works?" to the payphone in step ET35 in order to associate predetermined keys with good works respectively, for example by displaying a table on the screen of the payphone. Then after selection of a good work BO by the user and transmission of the identity of the good work selected BO from the terminal TE to the server SE, the server sends a voice message "With que_ £ decrement DE and number of units NBO to pour cyclically? " to the public phone at stage ET36. As a variant, the server itself offers vocally and / or in a displayed table several names of NBO units and several DE decrements, for example NBO = 1 or 2 units to be paid every DE = 10 or 2Ξ units. The parameters DE and NBO are selected by the user by means of predetermined keys indicated by display or by voice message in step ET37. Then in step ET38, the selected parameters DE and NBO are saved in the card

CA and transmitted by the card to the UR unit to memorize them. The payment indicator IV is also saved in the reserved memory area of the card. The UR unit then disconnects from the server SΞ in step ET39. The payment process is continued at step ET4 for a telephone call with a cyclic payment of NBO units every DE units consumed.

The next time the CA card is used, the DE and NBO parameters with the SO balance are read from the CA card by the UR unit as indicated in parentheses in the ETO step (Figure 5), and the process then goes directly from step ETO to step ΞT4 since the UR unit detects the payment indicator IV in the card.

For the second embodiment by cyclical payment using a prepaid card without microcircuit, the payment indicator IV is recorded in the SE server in association with the number card IC identification and the SO balance is read in the server:

- either beforehand, before the sale of the card belonging to a particular series, Icrs the registration of all the "personal" characteristics relating to the card in the server,

- either during the first use of the card in step ET3 (FIG. 6) with a view to establishing a first communication paid by the credit CR of the card, the server requesting (step E32) from the user to proceed (step ET33; yes) or not to donation payments. The parameters selected by the user in steps ET35 and ΞT37 are only saved in the SE server. The payment indicator IV associated with the IC number stored in the server SE signals that the card user is willing to accept donation payments.

After identifying the card CA α in the server SE in the ETO step, the server in place of the UR unit tests the value contained in the memory area reserved for the payment indicator IV in the server l 'step ETl. If the latter is present, then the cycle steps ET4 to ET11 are executed in the server SE relative to the variables SO, SOM and ABO, the accumulator ABO being able to directly constitute the content of the counter CBO in the server.

Although the invention has been described in detail above for telephone communications, the service provider may be other than a telephone operator, such as a central purchasing office for products or services other than telephone communications, for example to order inexpensive first products need, establish a list of horses for my horse race or fill in a grid of eu such as lotto grid, etc. A unit can be a monetary unit, or any other predetermined unit, for example between the player and the company organizing the game.

Claims

1 - Method for paying part of the balance associated with a prepaid card from a terminal in a means of collecting parts of balance through a means of telephone transmission (LT, RE), characterized in that, after establishment (E0 -E1, ETO) of a communication between the terminal (PU) and the collection means (UR, SE) using the prepaid card (CA), it comprises the steps of: detecting (E4, E4a, ETl ) confirmation of payment (TV, Tl + TV, T2 + TV, IV) in the collection means, decrement (E5, E5a, ET9) the balance with said part of the balance (SO, NUT, NBO) in response to the payment validation detected, and increment (E6, E6a, ET9) a counter (CBO, ABO) in the collection means with the balance part.

2 - Method according to claim 1, according to which the balance part is said balance (SO) and the payment validation (E4) is not transmitted in response to an invitation to pay message (E3) from the means of collection (SE) towards the terminal (PU) that when all the balance is to be paid, said invitation to pay message preferably containing an invitation to select a good work.

3 - Method according to claim 1, according to which the payment validation (T2 + TV) is not transmitted in response to an invitation message to select a payment (E3a) from the collection means (SE) to the terminal (PU) only when the balance part must decrement the balance, and is followed by the transmission of a request message to the balance part to be paid (E42) from the collection means to the terminal and the transmission of the selected balance part (E42, E5a) from the terminal to the collection means .

4 - Method according to claim 3, where another validation of payment (Tl + TV) is not transmitted in response to the invitation message to select a payment (E3a) only when all the balance (SO) is to be paid .

5 - Process according to any one of claims 1 to 4, according to which said establishment of the communication (E0 - El) following a voluntary call from the collection means (SE) by the terminal (PU), which call precedes identification of the card by the collection means (SE) when the card is without micro-circuit.

6 - Process according to claim 2, where the invitation to pay message (E3) is transmitted from the collection means (SE) to the terminal (PU) only when the balance is less than our predetermined threshold ( E22, yes).

7 - Process according to claim 6, according to which a telephone call from the terminal is continued when the balance is above the threshold (E22, no), or after a refusal to pay the balance (E4a, T2 + TV) transmitted from the terminal to the collection means.

8 - A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said communication establishment result of a telephone line socket (EO) by m terminal (PU), then an automatic call Œ23) by means of collection (SE) by a telephone connection means (UR) of the terminal when the balance is less than threshold.

9 - Process according to any one of claims 1 to 8, according to which the card is a prepaid micro-circuit card (CA) containing the balance (SO) and introduced into the terminal (PU) for the establishment of the communication (EO), the collection means comprises a server (SE) containing said counter (CBO) dedicated to the collection of balance parts (SO, NUT) and a means (UR) connecting the server to the terminal for receiving (E2, E24 ) the balance of the communication establishment card, detect (E4, E4a) the validation of payment, decrement (E5, E5a) the balance with the balance part in a decreasing balance and transmit (E6, E6a) the balance decrements to the card (CA) through the terminal and the balance portion to the server.

10 - Process according to any one of claims 1 to 8, according to which the card is a prepaid card without micro-circuit (CA) having an identification number dialed in the terminal (PU), or automatically generated from the terminal , to identify the card by the collection means, and the collection means comprises a server (SE) containing said counter (CBO) dedicated to the collection of the balance parts (SO, NUT) and managing the balance of the card to detect ( E4, E4a) the validation of payment after receipt of a payment number from the server from the terminal, decrement (E5, E5a) on solαe with the balance part (SO, NUT) and increment (E6, Ξ6a) the counter (CBO).

11 - Method according to claim 1, according to which the steps of decrementing and incrementing (ET9) are cyclic during a telephone communication from the terminal (PU), and executed each time that a predetermined decrement of balance ( DE) is consumed.

12 - Process according to claim 11, according to which when the card is a microcircuit card (CA), the steps of decrementing and incrementing (ET9) are executed cyclically in a telephone connection means (UR) internal or external to the terminal (PU), and the balance 'SO) is transmitted (ETO) from the card to the connection means (UR) after said establishment.

13 - Process according to claim 11 or

12, according to which the steps of decrementing and incrementing (ET9) are only executed in response to a payment indicator (IV) which is transmitted by the card (CA) to the collection means (UR) when the card is a micro-circuit card, or which is read in correspondence with an identification number of the card in the collection means (SE) when the card is a card without micro-circuit.

14 - Method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that, for a first use (ET3) of the card, it comprises after the establishment of the communication (ETO), a selection (ET37) at less than one of the parameters including the decrement (DE), the part of balance (NBO) and the identity of the entity (BO) for which the balance part is collected, in response to an invitation to participate in payments (ET32) message sent by the collection means (SE) to the terminal.

15 - Method according to claim 14, according to which, after selection, said at least one selected parameter and a payment indicator (IV) to be associated with the card are recorded (ET38) in the collection means (UR , SE) and, when the card is a micro-circuit card (CA), also in the card.

16 - Process according to claim 14 or

15, according to which the first use of the card (ET3) is detected by the collection means (UR, SE) when an initial credit (CR) read in the card or in the collection means is equal to the balance (SO) of the card (ET2, yes).

17 - Method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, according to which the collection means is a means (UR) for connecting the terminal (PU) to a telephone switch (CA) or is the terminal itself, the counter (ABO) accumulating the balance parts being emptied periodically in a server (SE).

18 - Method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, according to which the terminal is a public telephone device (PU) and the balance (SO) is expressed in telephone consumption unit.