Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
  • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
  • G06Q20/16—Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
  • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
  • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
  • G06Q20/325—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices using wireless networks
  • G06Q20/3255—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices using wireless networks using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
  • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
  • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
  • G06Q20/326—Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
  • G06Q20/3263—Payment applications installed on the mobile devices characterised by activation or deactivation of payment capabilities

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for a mobile communication terminal belonging to the network of a mobile operator to access a service within a service platform.
• service is meant a software module to be downloaded or used online, a feature or any other application accessible via a mobile communication terminal.
• These services can be send and receive emails, connect to the Internet, download files, ...
• a user wishes to access a service by means of his mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone or an advanced smart phone, he contacts the provider of this service via the Internet. on the provider's website, by email or by telephone in order to request the activation of the service and to communicate the means of payment for this service.
• These means can be the creation of an account at this service provider, sending a check or communication references a credit card.
• the service is active on the terminal only the following month or on an anniversary date of the subscription. We realize that the delay between the order of a service and the enjoyment of this service is a significant problem.
• GB2449223 describes a method of payment in which the payment of a product purchased on the Internet can be done by sending an SMS and a PIN to the accounting server of the mobile operator. The user receives a confirmation SMS if his account has been debited. This document does not discuss a service for a mobile communication terminal.
• EP1585075 is also known describing a method in which when receiving on a mobile phone a video in
• the user of the mobile phone pays in real time in response to a request from the provider of the video.
• the provider transmits a payment notification to use, this notification includes an SMS number to dial.
• the user can then send a
• SMS to its mobile operator, then send a confirmation to the video provider.
• the latter continues to provide the video in real time as soon as it receives the payment confirmation by the operator within a predetermined time.
• This document describes a payment method limited to the purchase of streaming content, and therefore needs to stay in line with the service provider, which has a cost in terms of consumption and bandwidth.
• the present invention aims to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a method of payment easy to handle by the user, secure and reliable.
• At least one of the aforementioned objectives is achieved by a method enabling a mobile communication terminal belonging to the network of an operator to access a service within a service platform.
• this method comprises the following steps:
• the method according to the invention also comprises a step of charging said service within the operator's server platform, this charging being determined: from the transaction request transmitted in the form of an overtaxed event within the mobile network, and / or - from a payment request transmitted by the service platform to the operator's server platform.
• the service is accessed only after validation by the server platform of the operator. Access to the service is done in a secure way because the user is clearly authenticated.
• This service is directly available and its taxation or billing is done in a simplified way within the platform of the operator.
• the present invention is particularly remarkable, but not limited, in that the billing of this service is included in the overall billing of the user to the operator.
• the global billing is for example the billing of mobile communications of the user.
• the user's usual billing account is used to charge subscribed services to service servers that may be independent of the operator.
• This billing account can be of prepaid type, that is to say a credited account that is counted according to the cost of the service subscribed by the user, or postpaid type, a kind of debit account.
• the server platform of the operator may include an accounting server that counts a prepaid account of the user of the mobile communication terminal according to the taxation of said service.
• the cost of this service may be based on a duration of use, a number of uses or a volume of data.
• the transactional request is transmitted via a signaling channel of the mobile network of the operator so as to consume few network resources and especially transmit information in a secure manner.
• the transactional request transmitted via this signaling channel or via another channel can include data relating to a SIM card contained in the mobile communication terminal so as to authenticate the user of the mobile communication terminal during the authentication step.
• the SIM card for "Subscriber Identity Module” in English
• the SIM card is an electronic chip containing a microcontroller and memory. It stores user-specific information. Thus authentication is done from encrypted data from a physical device.
• the transactional request may comprise a short text message according to SMS technology or an unstructured message according to USSD technology.
• SMS technology for "Short Message Service” in English
• GSM Global System for Mobile communications
• GPRS Universal Mobile Broadband
• UMTS Universal Mobile Broadband
• USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
• the transactional request comprises an internet address of URL type transmitted via a data channel.
• the operator's server platform can find service charging data for this user.
• the transaction request is advantageously a message whose transmission cost is predetermined and corresponds to the charging of said service.
• This characteristic can effectively be implemented by a message of the SMS type said overtaxed SMS where for a given service, the cost of this service corresponds, for example, to the sending of the overtaxed SMS.
• the user's account within the operator's server platform will be debited with an amount equal to the consumption of a premium rate SMS, this amount being equal to the cost of using said service.
• the introduction of an overtaxed SMS is performed by the mobile network operator who assigns to a particular call number a predetermined cost. This considerably simplifies the billing of said service acquired from a service server.
• the process according to the invention provides flexibility in the access to services of the mobile operator and especially to services independent of the mobile operator. We can thus access new services offered by different service servers while avoiding binding processes related to payment methods.
• the method according to the invention makes it possible to retain a single mode of payment which is that of its mobile network operator. The costs associated with these services are integrated into the user's billing account with their mobile network operator. It is the different service servers that arrange with the operator for the distribution of revenues, the user retaining a single contact for billing.
• the transactional request comprises several messages whose transmission cost of all the messages corresponds to the charging of said service.
• several premium SMSs are used to reach an amount equal to the cost of the service.
• the transactional request is a message enriched according to the MMS (for "Multimedia Messaging Service” in English) which is a messaging service for sending and receiving multimedia content .
• MMS Multimedia Messaging Service
• the transaction request may comprise at least one message containing information on the charging of the required service.
• This information may be the cost of the service.
• the invention may also comprise a preliminary step of transmitting a verification request from the mobile communication terminal to the service platform to check whether the user of the mobile communication terminal is authorized to use the required service; the transaction request is issued only in case of a positive response to the verification request.
• This positive response from the service platform to the mobile communication terminal may include a transaction number identifying the transactional request.
• This preliminary step may comprise, for example, a step additional authentication of the user with the service platform.
• the service platform comprises at least one multimedia service server and a gateway between the operator's server platform and the multimedia service server, the gateway executing all the communication steps with the service server.
• the gateway can thus interface service between the operator and the mobile communication terminal on the one hand, and several multimedia service servers on the other hand.
• the gateway records the operational state of each service accessible by the user; at each change of state, the gateway transmits this change of state to the mobile communication terminal.
• the mobile communication terminal indicates the operational state of this service by means of a graphic icon on a screen of the mobile communication terminal.
• the operational state can include the following states: activated, suspended, and not activated.
• the service platform comprises a server application
• the mobile communication terminal comprises a client application associated with said server application by a client-server type communication; the client and server applications being configured so that an access by the mobile communication terminal to a service of the service platform is performed using the method as described above.
• the invention also relates to a mobile communication terminal comprising functionalities enabling it to be authenticated during an access to a service platform by implementing the method that is the subject of the present invention.
• the terminal may include a client application for authenticating the user of the mobile terminal with the service platform and the server platform of the operator from data contained in a memory of said mobile communication terminal.
• the client application can be set to generate:
• a first data stream for a first upstream authentication for example of the operator's server platform via a first communication channel
• a second data stream for additional authentication with, for example, the service platform via a second communication channel.
• the first channel and the second channel may be the same. But preferably, the first channel is a signaling channel, the second channel being a data channel.
• the terminal includes a memory containing cryptographic secrets used during said first authentication.
• This memory is in particular contained in a SIM card.
• the client application is advantageously configured to take into account a PIN entered on the mobile communication terminal by the user and / or a biometric characteristic of the user, in particular a fingerprint and / or a fundus, when the first authentication.
• FIG. 1 is a general view of a system implementing a method according to the invention
• FIG. 2 is a general view of a diagram illustrating steps of the method according to the invention as a function of each entity
• FIG. 3 is a general view of a process for suspending and activating a service according to the invention
• FIG. 4 is a general view of a diagram illustrating steps of the process of suspending and activating a service according to the invention as a function of each entity
• FIG. 5 is a general view illustrating a secure authentication process using a data channel and a signaling channel according to the invention.
• FIG. 6 is a general view of an XML schema and associated data.
• FIG. 1 we see a platform A servers of a mobile operator.
• the mobile telephone B comprises software and hardware means enabling it to access the mobile network of the operator.
• the telephone B comprises a client application capable of communicating with a server application within a service platform C.
• These applications are contained in conventional storage means, and can be managed by an operating system using a microcontroller or microprocessor (not shown).
• the service platform C offers many services accessible to the user of the mobile phone B.
• this service can be a "push mail” service for receiving 100 emails over a period of 30 days.
• the "push mail” service allows you to constantly scan the arrival of new e-mail messages. Any new incoming email is forwarded ("pushed") to the phone ("smart phone").
• the user sends in step 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 a verification request to the service platform C.
• This verification request may contain an identifier of the desired service as well as an identifier of the user.
• the service platform C verifies that the user is able to use this service and transmits a message of agreement to the mobile phone B.
• the client application of the telephone B transmits a message.
• transaction request to the operator platform A.
• This request may be an MMS message, or a URL type address, containing information relating to the required service, the service platform, and data of a SIM card of the telephone B.
• the transactional request is an overtaxed SMS message or an overtaxed USSD message with information about the required service, the platform services, and data from a SIM card of the telephone B so as to authenticate the user.
• the client application can include the cost of the required service in the transaction request. But, one can also predict that the cost of this service is communicated by the service platform during step 1 of verification. Depending on the cost of the service and the value of an overtaxed SMS, one or more SMS messages are sent whose total amount equals the cost of the required service.
• the SMS sending number is a number associated with the service platform C.
• the transaction request is received by an SMS management server D within the operator platform A.
• the user is then authenticated from the data of the SIM card, then the charging is carried out within an accounting server E within the operator platform A.
• This accounting server E holds an account of the user thus authenticated. This is the account normally used for billing the mobile communications of the user.
• This account can advantageously be a prepaid account where the user has a credit balance. This account will then be debited with an amount equal to the cost of the required service.
• the accounting server E manages this purchase of service as if it were the consumption of one or more premium SMS messages.
• step 3 the platform A transmits a message of agreement on the authentication and the taxation towards the platform of services C. This then activates the required service. The user can then send and receive emails. It is also planned to send a service confirmation message activated from the service platform C to the telephone B.
• a variant of the invention is the dashed step 4 in FIGS. 1 and 2, where the charging is done. performs in response to a request for payment from the service platform C after activation of the service.
• the service platform C may comprise a gateway C1 enclosing said server application capable of communicating with the client application and the operator platform A, as well as a plurality of multimedia servers C2-C4 each offering services . It can be seen in FIG. 1 that step 5 corresponds to the step where the telephone B accesses the required service from one of the multimedia servers C2, for example via the Internet.
• a service suspension and activation process is provided.
• the same elements bear the same references as in FIG. 1. It is in the case where the user has subscribed to a "push mail" service for receiving 100 emails over a period of 30 days, and that he has already consumed 80 emails in 10 days. He then wishes to suspend his service for 10 days in order to be able to use it during the last 10 days where he foresees the reception of important messages.
• the client application of the telephone B transmits a service suspension request to the service platform C. The latter identifies the user from data present in the service platform. request for suspension.
• the client application of the telephone B transmits in step one an SMS message to the SMS management server D within the operator platform A.
• This management server D authenticates the user from the data of the SIM card sent with the SMS message, then transmits an agreement message to the service platform C in step 2.
• the user is thus definitely authenticated within the service platform C and the push mail service. Can be suspended.
• the service platform C confirms the suspension of the service with the accounting server E of the operator platform A in step 3. This is an update. With such a process, a provisional billing can be established with the effective consumption of the service and not the whole of the service.
• the service platform continues to monitor the period of validity of the service, that is to say the 30 days, and can send reminder messages before the end of this period.
• the user may want to reactivate his "push mail" service to consume his last 20 emails. It then performs the same operations as those described above for Figures 3 and 4, but in the context of a service activation request.
• the process is greatly secured by the fact that communication is provided between the telephone B and the service platform C via a data channel, in particular via the Internet, while the communication between the telephone B and the operator platform A for sending SMS is via a signaling channel, the latter being a very proven channel, secure and to recover the data from the SIM card. It is therefore possible to carry out steps 1 and 1 in parallel fashion since they are two separate channels. Two separate communication channels are thus used to authenticate the user.
• FIG. 5 we see a secure authentication process using a data channel 10 and a signaling channel 11 according to the invention.
• the client application 12 housed in the telephone B communicates with the server application 13 housed within the service platform C, via the Internet.
• the data exchanged transit via the data channel 10 from the telephone B. This connection via the Internet is not completely secure.
• the signaling channel 11 is used to communicate between the client application 12 and a billing application 14 housed within the operator platform A, preferably in the server It is through this secure connection via the mobile network of the operator that the transactional request, such as a premium SMS, or the authentication request is transited.
• the operator platform is therefore able to detect the data of the SIM card of the user of the telephone B, authenticate the user, possibly manage the charging or the billing, and then transmit a message of agreement or not to the platform of services via Internet.
• a new mode of communication of XML files is provided which is used to update the client application from the server application.
• a synchronization is performed at each communication session between the client application and the server application.
• an XML file is sent to the client application.
• the method according to the invention provides for sending an identification number of the XML schema with the data. Only if the client application does not have this XML schema would the server application send the XML schema in response to the request from the client application.
• a server application is therefore provided that can identify XML schemas by identification numbers, and generate an XML file containing not the associated XML schema but only an identification number next to the data.
• the client application is able to save different XML schemas, each being identified with the same identification number as that provided by the server application.
• Figure 6 we see a simplified example of an XML schema containing metadata and an example of associated data. We see that we achieve a considerable bandwidth gain if we manage to save the systematic sending of XML schemas that have a much larger size than the data.
• the potential applications of the method, object of the present invention are numerous, and are not limited to services directly usable on a mobile communication terminal. More generally, the invention can be implemented when using a mobile communication terminal to activate, deactivate, modify any service, and in particular to bill this service.
• the invention finds a particularly interesting application in the field of access to pay television channels, including channels broadcast by cable, ADSL line or satellite, when the user wishes, with immediate effect, enable or disable the access to a channel. He will then use his mobile communication terminal to transmit his request, the access to the required service and the billing of this service being performed by implementing the present invention.
• Another particularly interesting application of the invention lies in the field of car navigators (using in particular so-called GPS systems), offering certain complementary services such as real-time access to traffic information, in order to determine optimal route.
• the invention offers the user the possibility, with immediate effect, of activating or deactivating access to such a device.
• supplementary service in particular when, during a trip, he arrives in a region for which he has not subscribed to this service. He will then use his mobile communication terminal to transmit his request, the access to the required service and the billing of this service being performed by implementing the present invention.

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• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Finance (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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Citations (2)

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• 2009
  • 2009-04-29 FR FR0952814A patent/FR2945139B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2010
  • 2010-04-29 EP EP10727066A patent/EP2425388A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 2010-04-29 WO PCT/FR2010/050819 patent/WO2010125317A1/fr active Application Filing

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Non-Patent Citations (1)

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