FI108188B - Method of providing product and service exchange by means of the telecommunications network - Google Patents

Description

108188

A method for arranging the exchange of products and services through a telecommunications network

The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of claim 1.

5 Such methods are used to implement the identification and procurement of products and services through a telephone / telecommunication network.

In accordance with the prior art, the purchase of products and services by telephone is based on the user's method of calling the caller to either a standard voice-10 line number or a special premium rate service number. When a caller dials a regular telephone number, the call is connected to the provider of the products or services, after which the caller places his order either on the basis of pre-obtained product information, such as a product list, or a telephone conversation. Payments for a product or service can be made, for example, by cash on delivery, bank transfer, credit card, or delivery of the product, such as pizza orders. When a caller dials a special premium rate number, the price of the product or service will be charged at the rate for that number. The price can be one-time (FIM / call) or time-based (FIM / minute). The product or service is paid for by a telephone bill where it is summed up with other calls in this service number line to the same service number line.

, ',: The disadvantage of the prior art is that the billing process is manual and often • · complicated and inexpensive when purchasing a product or service by calling a regular phone number and that pricing is very rigid for the caller and the 25 products or services sold and it is virtually impossible to pay for multiple products or services on the same call when you purchase a product or service by calling the premium rate number.

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In the case of a call to a regular telephone number, the provider of the product or service will charge the caller retroactively with traditional telephone billing methods.

, ·. However, cash on delivery or a separate home bill is a costly method of billing especially for cheap products and services. Because of the potential for abuse, callers are reluctant to give their credit card number to pay for a product or service. Bank transfer, on the other hand, is not well suited to billing for a service or product, since account and reference information must be given verbally to the caller during the call and payment is not sufficiently certain for the producer. In some cases, billing in connection with the delivery of the product (for example, pizza orders) is quite easy, but the disadvantage is the potential for abuse (for example, malicious orders to other people). In addition, the order supplier must always carry enough replacement money. The introduction of the electronic purse also creates pressure to suppress cash payments in this kind of business.

In the case of a call to a premium rate service number, the caller pays the price of the service or product on a one-off basis (FIM / call) or on a time-based basis (FIM / minute). However, in practice, products and services cannot be priced 15 in such a way that their total amount corresponds to the number of beats transmitted during a call or to any rate category appropriate to the length of the call. Because of the flexibility of changing the price of products and services and the need to add an arbitrary combination of different products and services to your shopping cart, the traditional billing method would require a huge number of different tax breaks to ensure that all Purchase Options are always properly invoiced.

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Nor does traditional service number billing allow you to remove a product or service from your shopping cart or cancel a purchase transaction in the middle of a call without sending the caller pulses that cause billing. This creates a situation where the caller will have to: '· · have to manually reimburse the cost of calling the 25 service number in question. In addition, current service number billing does not allow for flexible: V * pricing of products and services by their provider. Nowadays, the caller is not able to::: also not be able to see the individual purchases, products and services they purchase: and their various subscribers in their telephone bill, as service number calls are usually bundled into their own summary line based on the service number line.

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The object of the invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a completely new method of stiffening the exchange of products and services by means of a telecommunications network.

The invention is based on the fact that, during the same call, the customer is followed by the ability to select from a variety of services or products at different rates which may be charged to the customer, for example in connection with this telephone bill.

The invention provides considerable advantages.

In the method of the invention, billing can be flexibly tracked so that the price charged for the products and services is no longer dependent on e.g. the length of the call or the number of pulses to be sent. The caller (buyer) is free to fill and, if necessary, to empty his shopping cart until he is ready to confirm his purchase. The time you choose to shop may be priced at a local call charge or a small additional charge may apply. You will not be charged for a call voucher until the caller confirms their purchase. Alternatively, the caller can cancel all their purchases without incurring any charges for the products and services.

In addition to the flexibility, invoicing according to the invention is cost-effective, since the data of the confirmed purchase transaction is transferred by a call invoice to the operator billing system, where the purchase price is printed on the telephone bill. Thus, the producer does not have to calculate • ·: ·, · the products and services sold separately. In addition, the producer receives information about each confirmed purchase directly on his PC or GSM mobile phone.

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1 * 1 «· •::: The invention also has the advantage that an accurate *: breakdown of purchase transactions can be easily obtained for a telephone bill. The breakdown shall indicate the date of purchase, the products and services purchased, the quantities thereof, the unit prices and the total amounts. · Invoice breakdowns may also include · V 30 additional information about products and services and their producer.

4, 108188

The audio product menu concept of the method of the invention also enhances the sales work of the producer by providing new callers with basic information about the products and services sold, their prices, etc. On the other hand, the audio product menu solution always allows direct contact with the producer for example delivery time, method or more product features. In addition, the producer always receives information on his or her computer or GSM mobile phone about the products or services that are present in the caller's shopping cart before the call is connected to him.

By means of the method according to the invention, the producer can easily and flexibly maintain his / her product and service selection as well as their price information etc. by updating the database to the voice menu of the DB and IP / IVR device.

The invention will now be illustrated by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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Figure 1 is a block diagram of a method for ordering and billing products and services in one possible system environment according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a method of maintaining product and price information 20 in accordance with the invention.

The system environment of Figure 1 comprises a service dial-up telephone interface 101, a SSP exchange 102 closest thereto, a SCP- · · «* server / call control database 103 controlling a SSP exchange 102, a database DB 104, an IP / IVR device 105 connected to a telephone network. a product / service provider PC 106, a product / service provider landline connection 107 and a GSM mobile phone 108, a billing server 109, and the telephone bill 110 provided by it. Throughout the telephone system; there are, of course, a large number of subscriptions like telephone subscriber 101, and these can dial simultaneously to the service number in question, but for the sake of clarity, only one telephone subscriber is shown. Similarly, several product / service providers, and thus all systems of a PC 106, a landline 107, and a GSM cellular phone 108 may be included in the overall system, although only one of them is shown in the figure.

According to the invention, with reference to Figure 1, the buyer (caller) 101 of a product or service dials a premium service number and this call is routed to the nearest SSP (Service Switching Point) 102 of the telephone intelligent network, which is queryed by the SCP = Service Control Point. The SCP call control database 103 further interrogates the database DB 104, which contains real-time information on the products and services of the service provider corresponding to the service number in question. The SCP Call Control Database 103 requests the voice automation device IP / IVR 105 to call the buyer. audio product menu by service number. The menu tells the buyer about 101 different product and service options, their prices and, if necessary, a brief product description. The audio product menu may also contain other information about the products and services being sold and the company that provides the services.

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Buyer 101 is able to select one or more products or services through a voice menu. The current content of the Shopping Cart is stored in the SCP Call Control Database 103. When the Buyer 101 determines that the Content of the Shopping Cart is final, it obtains information about the Content of the Shopping Cart, the price of each product and service in the Shopping Cart, and the Total Price of the Shopping Cart. Alternatively, the buyer 101 may also choose to have a conversation with the provider of the products or services before making a final purchase decision.

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Information about the contents of the shopping cart is transferred via DB 104 to either the product or service provider's information system, or • via GSM data connection or SMS 25 to his GSM phone 108. Alternatively, the producer may also be informed that:: * that the caller wants to chat with the producer before refilling the Shopping Cart. In this case, • * «I / · caller 101 can be connected to a subscription 107 selected by the product or service provider: where the caller can provide necessary additional information (e.g., address information) to the product or service •; the supply. At the same time, the producer confirms its products in the audio product menu and; 30 availability and suitability of their services with the buyer. Alternatively, caller 101

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, · Can also inquire about the products and services of the producer and their availability, 108188 and then return to the audio product menu. The caller is then disconnected from the producer and reconnected to the audio product menu. He can now acknowledge the shopping cart he has already selected for payment, make changes to it, listen to more of the products and services for sale, decide to ask even more from the producer, or even cut off 5 calls.

When the caller 101 acknowledges the Shopping Cart for payment, he receives a voice note on the total amount of the announcement and the payment information is transmitted via the SCP Call Control Database 103 and DB 104 to the producer for confirmation. The SCP call control database 103 requests the 10 SSPs 102 to make a billing label for the payment of the Basket. The billing label shall include the relevant invoice. the product and service codes of the producer's products and their order quantities. Multiple billing labels can be created as needed to provide product and service codes and order quantities for all products and services in your shopping cart. The billing labels are further transferred with the ordinary call label data to the billing system 109 of the operator 15, which combines the product and service codes of the products and services to be paid and their order quantities with the product specification and price information in the billing system. After the billing system 109 has combined, the telephone bill 110 received by the buyer 101 (the caller) details the products ordered by the buyer and their prices. Invoice 110 may also include, as an attachment, the producer's contact information, terms of delivery, or other information serving the buyer.

The producer of a product or service maintains its product and service grouping and price list «· .V. DB 104. This database also maintains information on one or more destination numbers for each service number that the call connects to when the buyer 25 wants to talk to the producer. The producer can update their data in real time either. via computer networks (e.g., from your own PC 106) or, alternatively, through menu control based on the key selections of the audio device. Information about the manufacturer's product and service codes and product specification, as well as other information displayed to purchasers by telephone bill, is transferred from the DB 104 database to the operator's billing system.

, '. 30 The producer of the product or service maintains his / her audio product menu on the IP / IVR 105. He / she may record his / her own menus, product information and other information. Price information on the products and services cannot be recorded by the producer himself, but is reproduced to the caller based on the data in DB 104 via the SCP call control database 103.

5 The processing of a buyer call associated with the exchange of products and services over a telecommunications network, as shown by the action arrows in Figure 1, includes the following method steps: 1. Caller 101 dials a premium rate service number to route the call to the nearest SSP exchange 102.

2. The SSP exchange 102 interrogates the SCP call control database 103.

3. The SCP Call Control Database 103 detects the audio product menu service 15 lu and interrogates the DB 104 database, which maintains the audio product menu information of the producer. Based on this, the SCP Call Control Database 103 retrieves the information that is currently valid, e.g. real audio props, product and service codes, prices, etc.

;; 4. The SCP call control database 103 requests the IP device 105 to provide the caller with a service: an audio product menu. The caller can navigate the menu and add and; ' .; remove products or services from your shopping cart. When the caller wants to connect to the • 0 or service provider, he or she will make the appropriate choice from the menu.

5. SCP Call Control Database 103 detects that the caller must be connected to the provider.

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A: to a phone number and that the producer must send information about the current status of the caller's Shopping Cart • · · ·. *.

6. SCP Call Control Database 103 sends caller Cart Status via Database-30 nan DB ...

8 108188 7a. ... either to the producer's PC 106 via data networks, or ...

7b .... to the producer's GSM phone 108 either as GSM data or as an SMS.

5 8a. In addition, the SCP call control database 103 requests the SSP exchange 102 to redirect the caller to the telephone number of the provider, which may be either a fixed connection 107 or ...

8b. GSM Cell Phone 108.

9. After the caller has engaged in conversation with the provider (e.g., on delivery contents, shipping method, or other product information), the provider shuts down the phone and the SSP exchange 102 returns the call control back to the SCP call control database 103.

10. The caller is reconnected to the IP device05, where he can either acknowledge the payment of the 15 selected Shopping Carts, make changes to his shopping cart, request reconnection to the producer's phone number, or close the phone. The latter option does not charge for the contents of the Cart.

11. When the caller accepts the content of the Shopping Cart for payment, information about it will be sent to the producer and a billing label with the correct producer and product codes will be created.

12. The SCP Call Control Database 103 sends information about the Caller Status of the Caller and the Payback • «·: Family History via DB 104 ...

• · * • · · 25 13a. ... either to the producer's PC 106 via data networks, or ...

* · * '13b. ... to the producer's GSM phone 108 either as GSM data or as an SMS.

14. The SCP Call Control Database 103 requests the SSP-central 02 to make a ticket containing information about the producer and the codes of the products or services sold.

108188 9 15a. The billing labels are passed through the operator's normal ticket post-processing to the billing system 109.

16. The billing system 109 combines the information on the billing label (product and service codes of products and services 5 and their order quantities) with the product specification and price information in the billing system at the time of purchase. Based on this, the buyer (caller) will receive a breakdown of their ordered products and their prices on their telephone bill 110. The invoice may also be supplemented with the manufacturer's contact information, delivery terms or other information serving the buyer.

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Figure 2 shows, by means of arrows, a method for maintaining product and price information by using the bodies involved in the operations performed as image symbols.

The system environment of Figure 2 comprises a database 104, an IP / IVR device 105, a PC / PC 106 of the product / service provider, a fixed telephone line 107 and a GSM mobile phone 108 of the product / service provider and a billing server 109.

The product and price related to the exchange of products and services over the telecommunications network: "The maintenance of data as shown in the case of Figure 1 includes the following measures;": 20 as in Figure 2:

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la. The manufacturer maintains product and price information for its products and services by updating • ·: .v database DB 104. This is done in real time either via · · · · networks, eg from its own PC 106 ...

25 v. · Ib. ... or, alternatively, menu controls based on the choices of the telephone 107, 108 and the audio automation device 105.

2. Information about the producer's product and service codes and product specification, as well as other information displayed to the purchaser by telephone bill, is transferred from the DB 104 database to the operator billing system 109.

10 108188 3a. The provider of the product or service maintains its own audio product menu on the IP / IVR 105. This is done by calling the audio control unit 105 and making any necessary changes to the menu sounds, product information and other audio information provided to the 5 callers. However, the price information for the products and services is not updated through this, but comes as system voice through the SCP call control data base (103, Fig. 1).

3b. Alternatively, this may also be from the producer's GSM telephone 108.

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One significant, different way of using the invention is through the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) concept. WAP is an Internet-like communications architecture that takes into account the specific needs of wireless traffic. The WAP concept, born in 1999/2000, will enable 15 web browsers to be integrated with mobile terminals so that the narrow bandwidth of the radio path will be better utilized. WAP will be fully integrated with the Internet: all components of the Internet architecture will have their counterparts on the WAP side. For example, the Internet's HMTL language and Java scripts have been replaced by WML (Wireless Markup Languagej and WML scripts, respectively) in WAP. 20 In practice, conversions between these two "worlds" are made in so-called Filter elements unless the Web server in question recognizes that the information must be sent to the terminal in WAP format.

In this case, the short message and GSM data communication method described in this invention will still be preserved (points 7b and 13b of Figure 1), but in practice the producer does not see the short message or receive the · · '' GSM data and instead uses the WAP browser of the mobile terminal. . When using this WAP browser, when a producer wants to receive information about the caller's shopping cart status and payment status, they will move to their own 30 web applications via their WAP-enabled mobile terminal.

The basic idea is that the caller's shopping cart status will only appear on the producer's 108188 11 WAP browser at the same time as the caller wants to contact the producer to inquire about product availability or other product information. Likewise, confirmed purchases will always appear in the service provider's browser.

5 In theory, it is even possible to receive continuous updates on the navigation of buyers in the menu and the current status of the Shopping Cart. This would allow the producer to even monitor in real time how his customers shop at his WAP browser.

10 The foregoing measures of the producer to maintain product and price information on products and services via data networks and a PC may also be performed using the producer's mobile terminal and WAP browser. In this case, the database-based update of DB 104 will still be maintained (point 1 of Figure 2), but instead of the PC, the producer will use a WAP browser on his mobile terminal to communicate with DB 104 via appropriate WAP-15 Internet gateways.

Another major variation would be to transfer all billing information (products, quantities, product specification, product descriptions, general product and producer information, etc.) from the producer database DB 104 first to SCP 103 and then to SSP 20 102 ticket and TRANSPARENTLY to telephone bill 110. 1 in accordance with a direction of arrow 15b.

In other words, the producer database DB 104 would not update the billing server 109 with Billing Server products, but ALL specifications and information for the 25 telephone bills would come through the tickets made by SSP 102.

This would leave only billing v 1 print control part of billing system 109.

This functionality allows you to configure your phone bill in a very flexible way. Examples of this include additional lines of text, graphics, images, alphanumeric, '", set characters, barcodes, etc. One but not the only embodiment for transmitting this billing information and information to form a phone bill is to encode it to ASCII (8 bits) - 12 108188 characters, which are used to print the lines of text of each desired transaction on the phone bill.

Although reference has been made above only to GSM telephone, short messages and GSM data when describing motion picture terminals and their data transmission methods, the present invention can also be applied to other digital mobile terminal systems, networks and their data transmission methods. 1 ««

Claims (11)

108188 A method for rigidly exchanging goods and services over a telecommunications network, wherein the service provider (106-110) tracks the ability of a voice server (105) 5 to provide supplies and / or services to customers (101) via a premium rate exchange method, characterized in that (101) is followed by the option of selecting from the voice menu (105) a plurality of differently priced services or products that may be charged to the customer (101), for example, in connection with this telephone bill. 10 A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the customer (101) is provided with a voice menu (105) the ability to obtain additional product or supplier specific information during the subscription call. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the call made by the customer (101) to the premium rate service number is routed to the nearest SSP exchange (102) of the telephone network, which is queryed to the SCP call control database (103). a database DB (104) containing real-time information about the products and services of the service provider corresponding to the service number in question, the SCP call control database (103) requesting the voice automation device IP / IVR (105) to call the buyer. menu item, the customer informs the customer (101) of the various product and service options available, including prices and, if necessary, a brief description of the product. • · · • «I •« · Method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the current contents of the Shopping Cart selected by the customer are stored in the SCP- * «»% m - * ·] 'call control database (103). and when the customer (101) determines that the contents of the Cart are final, they will be informed of the Cart Content, the price of each product and service in the Cart, and the total Cart price, the Cart Content will be transferred to the database: \: 30 nan DB ( 104) via either the product and service provider information system (109) or: via GSM data connection or short message to the service provider's GSM phone (108). Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that after the customer (101) has acknowledged the payment of the Shopping Cart, a voice note of the total amount is delivered and the payment information is transmitted via the SCP call control database (103) and 5 DB (104) to the service provider for confirmation and SCP. the Call Control Database (103) requests the SSP Center (102) to make a billing label for the payment of the Basket which includes the said Cart. the product and service codes of the producer's products and their order quantities. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that multiple invoice labels are created to provide product and service codes and order quantities for all products and services in the shopping cart. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the billing labels are further transferred with the ordinary call label data to an operator billing system (109) which combines the product and service codes of paid products and services and their order quantities with product specification and price information in the billing system. at the time of purchase. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the invoice (110) is accompanied by the service provider's contact information, delivery terms or other information serving the buyer as an attachment. • · • * * A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the service provider is allowed to update its data in real time either via data networks. '(106) or, alternatively, by' menu control (107, 108) based on the keypad capabilities of the audio automation device. • · · * * A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information about the 30 product and service codes and product specifications of the 30 producers, as well as other information displayed to buyers by voice 108188, is transferred from the database DB (104) to the operator billing system. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that all billing information such as order-related products, quantities, product specification, product descriptions, general product information and the producer database DB (104) is transferred (15b) first to the SCP: (103) and thereby to the SSP (102) ticket and transparently to the telephone bill (110), wherein the producer database DB (104) does not update the billing server (109) with product and 10 producer basic information, but at least Via tickets made by SSP (102). • · ♦ «· • 1 · • • • •« • 1 1 • · · «« · • «. «M» ' 4 I. «• O · • 4» · • »· • ♦ 1 • · 16 10 8188