GB2428855A

GB2428855A - Payment system for internet services using a telephone account

Info

Publication number: GB2428855A
Application number: GB0515349A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Landsberg; Merul Patel
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-07-26
Filing date: 2005-07-26
Publication date: 2007-02-07
Also published as: GB0515349D0; WO2007012822A2

Abstract

For a user 1 to order and pay for goods or services on the Internet, the provider 3 of the goods or services directs the user to contact a telephone number and provides a code to be used corresponding to the order. The cost of the call includes the payment to the provider 3 and the system then directs the provider to supply the goods or services. The code may be communicated by SMS, DTMF tone capture or interactive voice response (IVR).

Description

INTERNET PAYMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and system for payment for goods or services ordered on the Internet, the method and system of the present invention being particularly applicable to making small payments for access to premium content provided by a content provider on the Internet.

Background to the Invention

Many content providers, such as those providing specialist news services, or other online journals, are now charging customers for access to such premium content. Traditionally, this has been done by requiring consumers to subscribe, typically, using a credit or debit card. However, many consumers do not wish to commit to a regular subscription or do not wish to take the time to complete a subscription form, or do not wish to provide credit or debit card details over the Internet due to security concerns. Even if the option of making a one off payment was available, consumers may still not wish to give credit card details over the Internet, or indeed even provide personal information such as an email address, in case this information is passed on to generators of mailing lists for the sending of junk mail or spam.

Therefore, there is a requirement for a system in which small one off payments can be made with relative anonymity assured for the user, and without the need for providing personal information or credit card details over the Internet.

Summary of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of payment for goods or services ordered on the internet comprising the steps of: a provider receiving an order from a user for goods or services and directing the user to a payment system; the payment system issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; wherein the payment system monitors communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, the payment system initiates the provision of the requested goods or services.

The present invention also provides a system for payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet comprising: a provider and a payment system, wherein the provider is configured to receive an order from a user for goods or services and direct the user to the payment system; wherein the payment system comprises: means for generating and issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; means for monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

The present invention also provides a payment system for use in a system for payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet comprising: means for receiving an order for goods or services from a user redirected from a provider; means for generating and issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; means for monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

The present invention also provides, a method of payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet by a user comprising the steps of: receiving an order from the user for goods or services, the order being redirected from the provider; issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

Therefore, in the present invention, the user obtains a code corresponding to his order, which he sends to the payment telephone number, for instance by SMS or DTMF tone capture by IVR (interactive voice response). The user therefore enters the code using their telephone keypad. The telephone number can be a shortcode such as those typically used for premium text services. Payment is made via the charge made to the user for sending the SMS or making the phone call, a portion of which is paid to the owner of the payment telephone number. Thus, the present invention provides a quick and secure way for a user to make a small one- off payment for goods or services ordered over the internet without the user having to complete a subscription form, give credit card details or personal information, or to sign up for a regular subscription.

Preferably, the user is charged for sending the communication, either via a land line or mobile telephone account. A payment is made to the "owner" of the payment telephone number, and at least a portion of that payment can be remitted to the provider.

Preferably, the code is a character string, preferably an alphanumeric string.

Preferably, on receiving the request, the provider contacts the payment system, and the payment system returns a redirect URL to the user to the provider, and the provider sends this to the user. This allows the payment system to identify the provider to whom the payment is to be made.

Preferably, the payment system generates a billing record indicating a payment to be collected from the user's telephone service provider and a payment to be made to the provider.

Preferably, on issuing the code, the user's web browser is set to automatically send a request at intervals to the payment system to verify whether the code has been received.

The step of initiating provision of the goods or services may be achieved by the payment system notifying the provider that payment has been made. Preferably, the goods or services comprise access to content provided on the internet by a content provider and, when a communication containing the code is received, the payment system initiates provision of the goods or services by authorising the user to obtain access to the corresponding requested content. The present invention is particularly useful for this application, when a user does not want to commit to a regular subscription to view premium content, and requires a quick and secure method for making a small payment.

Preferably, the payment system authorises the user to obtain access to the corresponding requested content by redirecting the user to the requested content.

Preferably, on receiving the request, the content provider verifies whether the user already has authorisation to view the requested content.

Preferably, at least a portion of a charge made to the user for sending the communication to the payment telephone number is paid to the content provider.

The present invention also provides a method of payment for goods or services ordered over the internet, comprising the steps of: a user making a request for goods or services; issuing to the user a code corresponding to the request; the user sending the code via telephone to a specified telephone number; charging the payment to the user's telephone account with a telephone service provider; receiving and verifying the code, and in response, a provider providing the corresponding requested goods or services to the user; the telephone service provider providing payment to the provider.

Brief Description of the Drawing

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying Figure 1, which illustrates schematically a method and system in accordance with the invention.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 illustrates schematically a system and method for payment for goods or services ordered on the Internet and illustrates schematically the interaction between three entities, a user 1, a payment system 2 and a content provider 3.

The user 1 has a computer terminal 6 and a telephone 7, which may be a mobile telephone or a land line telephone, the computer terminal 6 being connected tothelnternet5.

The content provider 3 comprises a web server 4 and an application server 8.

The payment system 2 acts as an intermediary for handling of payments by the user 1 to the content provider 3. The payment system 2 comprises a payment web server 9, a payment application server 10, a database 11, an IVR handler 12 and an SMS handler 13. The payment system 2 can act as an intermediary between any number of users and content providers.

The operation of the system of Figure 1 for making payments by the user 1 to the content provider 3 will now be described. In this example, payments are made for access to selected web pages on the content provider's web site which are usually only available to subscribers, although the present invention is also applicable to orders made by the user 1 for other types of goods or services.

In this example, it is assumed that the content provider 3 already has a content management system of their own which establishes whether the user 1 attempting to access their content is authorised to view the desired content. It is also assumed that a prior business relationship has been established between the content provider 3 and the payment system 2.

If a user 1 is browsing the content provider's web site as illustrated by step A, and finds some content which they would like to read, but they are denied access because the content provider's application server 8 determines that the user 1 is not a current subscriber, the user 1 is prompted to either subscribe or pay by some other payment means. At this stage, the user 1 can choose the option of paying for access to the content via the payment system 2 in accordance with the method of the present invention. If the user 1 selects to pay via the payment system 2, the content provider's web site then detects that the user 1 has elected to pay via the payment system 2, and at step B, the content provider's application server 8 requests where the user 1 should be directed to in order to pay via the payment system 2. This redirection may take place via a standard HTTP redirect as will be familiar to persons skilled in the art. The payment web server 9 receives the request from the content provider 3, and the payment web server 9 determines if the content provider 3 is a known party and determines to where the user I should be redirected to if they pay. The payment web server 9 stores this information in the database 11 and returns a redirect URL, as is familiar to those skilled in the art, to the content provider 3, who then provides this to the user 1.

The user 1 is now redirected to the payment server 9 as shown by step C. Although a number of steps are involved as described above, these are not apparent to the user 1, and the user 1 simply sees that in response to electing to pay via the payment system 2, they are directed to the payment system's web site.

At this stage, the user 1 has been redirected to the payment web site and the payment application server 10 knows which from which content provider 3 the user 1 arrived at the web site from the details of the request used to access the payment web site, and the details of the user's request.

The payment application server 10 generates a code unique to the user's order and provides this to the user 1, and the user 1 is requested to send the code via SMS or to call a telephone number and give the code. At the same time, the user's web browser is set to automatically send a request at regular intervals to the payment web server 9. This could be accomplished by simple HTTP refreshing, or by more sophisticated AJAX calls, as will be familiar to persons skilled in the art.

The user 1 can send the code to the payment system 2 by telephone in several ways. Two possible examples are shown in Figure 1 at steps Dl and D2. The code can be sent via a premium rate SMS to SMS handler 13 as shown in step Dl, or via a premium rate phone call as shown in step D2 to IYR handler 12. If the user 1 elects to send the code via SMS, then the code is received by SMS handler 13, after transport through the customer's operator's SMSC. The payment application server can then confirm that the code has been received correctly, retrieve details from the database 11 and redirect the user's browser to the desired content as provided by the content provider 3 as shown in step E, when the user's browser next queries the payment web server 9. The payment application server 10 also generates a billing record for eventual settlement with the user's telephone operator and the content provider 3.

If the user 1 elects to send the code via a premium rate telephone call, then the user 1 is asked to dial IVR handler 12, and the code is captured via DTMF tone capture. The payment application server 10 can then confirm that the code has been received correctly, retrieve details of the user's request from database 11 and redirect the user's browser to the requested content, as shown in step E, when the browser next queries the web server 9. The payment application server 10 further generates a billing record for eventual settlement with the customer's fixed line telephone operator and the content provider 3.

The entire sequence from step A to step E can be as quick as 5 seconds, but it is more typically expected to take between 7 to 15 seconds.

The system components are built using open source software components, and support a range of Internet standards to ensure inter-operability with a range of content providers, and mobile operator and fixed line operator networks.

Aside from facilitating simple and rapid access to premium content by the user 1, the payment system 2 also has to settle transactions with both telephone operators and content providers, and to handle invoice and statement generation, dispute resolution and clearing of finds. The relationship with the operators and content providers may also be established through a channel aggregator or content syndicator respectively.

Content providers and operators are also provided with authenticated online access to edited transaction logs to allow full reconciliation of transactions recorded in invoices.

In order to ensure the anonymity of the user, no details are given to the content provider 3 apart from times and tracking codes, and similarly no details are given to the telephone operators about which content provider 3 the user was accessing.

Finally, users also need customer support for transactions where they experience difficulties, or which they wish to dispute. These need to be handled in an interactive manner, since the user has no actual contractual relationship with the payment system 2 (unlike content providers and operators), and so the payment system 2 needs to verify the user's identity using some means of authentication (which could also include verification of the user's mobile or land line number in this example) before discussing transaction details. -.

Although a system could be constructed in which the payment system 2 and the content provider 3 are the same entity, there are a number of advantages to the payment system 2 being a separate entity. Firstly, a single payment system 2 can be used to process payments for a number of content providers, thus removing the need for each content provider 3 to put in place a payment system of their own.

Furthermore, users may be more willing to trust making payments through an independent third party.

Claims

1. A method of payment for goods or services ordered on the internet comprising the steps of: a provider receiving an order from a user for goods or services and directing the user to a payment system; the payment system issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; wherein the payment system monitors communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, the payment system initiates the provision of the requested goods or services.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the code is a character string.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the code is an alphanumeric string.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, on receiving the request, the provider contacts the payment system, and the payment system returns a redirect URL to the user to the provider, and wherein the provider sends this to the user.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, in issuing the code, the user's web browser is set to automatically send a request at intervals to the payment system to verify whether the code has been received.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the goods or services comprise access to content provided on the internet by a content provider and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, the payment system authorises the user to obtain access to the corresponding requested content.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the payment system authorises the user to obtain access to the corresponding requested content by redirecting the user to the requested content.

8. A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein, on receiving the request, the content provider verifies whether the user already has authorisation to view the requested content.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the code is communicated to the payment telephone number by SMS or DTMF tone capture by IVR (interactive voice response).

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least a portion of a charge made to the user for sending the communication to the payment telephone number is paid to the content provider.

11. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the payment system generates a billing record indicating a payment to be collected from the user's telephone service provider and a payment to be made to the provider.

12. A system for payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet comprising: a provider and a payment system, wherein the provider is configured to receive an order from a user for goods or services and direct the user to the payment system; wherein the payment system comprises: means for generating and issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; means for monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

13. A payment system for facillitating payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet comprising: means for receiving an order for goods or services from a user redirected from a provider; means for generating and issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; means for monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

14. A method of payment for goods or services ordered from a provider on the internet by a user comprising the steps of: receiving an order from the user for goods or services, the order being redirected from the provider; issuing to the user a code corresponding to the order; monitoring communications to a payment telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, initiating the provision of the requested goods or services.

15. A method of payment for access to content provided on the internet by a content provider comprising the steps of: the content provider receiving a request from a user for access to contents and directing the user to a payment system; the payment system issuing to the user a code corresponding to the request; wherein the payment system has a payment telephone number and the payment system monitors communications to the telephone number and wherein, when a communication containing the code is received, the payment system authorises the user to obtain access to the corresponding requested content.

16. A method of payment for goods or services ordered over the internet, comprising the steps of: a user making a request for goods or services; issuing to the user a code corresponding to the request; the user sending the code via telephone to a specified telephone number; charging the payment to the user's telephone account with a telephone service provider; receiving and verifying the code, and in response, a provider providing the corresponding requested goods or services to the user; the telephone service provider providing payment to the provider.