GB2537683A

GB2537683A - Digital currency conversion

Info

Publication number: GB2537683A
Application number: GB1507020.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Cole Desiree
Original assignee: Vodafone IP Licensing Ltd
Current assignee: Vodafone IP Licensing Ltd
Priority date: 2015-04-24
Filing date: 2015-04-24
Publication date: 2016-10-26
Also published as: GB201507020D0

Abstract

Systems, a method and an application programming interface (API) are provided for transferring funds. A system comprises a digital currency manager 20 which receives a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system 50, and receives digital currency corresponding to the request. An API for the digital currency manager issues a request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system 50 to the recipient user. A mobile telephone based money transfer system 50 is receives the issued API request and makes the payment to the recipient user. The mobile telephone based money transfer system 50 includes an API gateway 140 to receive an API request and an unstructured supplementary services data USSD gateway.

Description

Digital Currency Conversion

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile telephone based money transfer system and in particular a system and method for converting digital currency to and from mobile money.

Background of the Invention

Mobile telephone based money transfer systems such as M-Pesa for example, provide facilities for transferring funds between mobile users. Cash may be exchanged for electronic money, which may be sent to family and friends, to pay bills or to purchase mobile airtime, for example. Such systems are designed to work on limited functionality mobile handsets using an installed SIM toolkit (STK) to provide additional menus dedicated to funds transfer, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) sessions or interactive voice response (IVR) systems. SMS messages may be used to confirm to a sender and/or a receiver that an amount has been transferred following a transaction or payment. Cash may be redeemed or exchanged for electronic money (or "e-money") at outlets, which may be grocery stores or airtime resellers, for example.

An example of such a system is described at: http://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/services/financial-solufions/m-pesa Such money transfer systems are typically in use in countries with a limited banking infrastructure, where the population may not have access to basic financial services. Such systems are gaining popularity with millions of transactions occurring daily.

Digital money may take many different forms. For example, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are one type of digital money. Other non-cryptocurrency examples include electronic wallets, online bank accounts, credit and debit cards, and other software or mobile administered account systems. Whilst mobile telephone based money transfer systems (mobile money or MM systems) allow users to exchange cash for mobile money, this procedure is not always appropriate or convenient. Therefore, people wishing to transfer funds to a user of a MM system may require the services of a third-party organisation to accept digital money and then make the payment on their behalf. Some of these third-parties accept digital currencies such as Bitcoin or credit card payment. The third party holds its own account or accounts in the MM system and so uses this to make the transfer to the recipient. This may be achieved by accepting digital money and then setting up a corresponding payment to the recipient on an ad-hoc basis or as a batch process. Confirmations (typically in the form of SMS messages) are then received by the third-party once the payment has been made. The third-party organisation may then prepare and issue their own confirmation message to their originating customer (i.e. the source of the digital money).

The same or different third-party organisations may provide a service to sell digital money in exchange for mobile money. In this case, the third party becomes the recipient of funds sent to them by their customer. In exchange, digital money (such as Bitcoin amounts) are provided. In both situations, it is difficult to track individual payments (transactions) and confirmations through the system and to ensure that the all steps complete correctly (i.e. ensuring that mobile money is received before digital money is issued or that digital money is received before the mobile money is sent to the intended recipient). Furthermore, many interfaces, internal transactions, communications between different organisations and other complexities limit the usefulness and functionality of such systems and opens potential security vulnerabilities. This also increases the requirement of manual intervention (e.g. to correct errors) raising costs and further limiting usability.

Therefore, there is required a method and system that overcomes these problems.

Summary of the Invention

An entity such as a digital currency manager may be external to a mobile telephone based money transfer system or mobile money (MM system). An application programming interface (API) provides an interface between the entity and the MM system. The entity has an API client and the MM system has an API gateway. Therefore, the entity can issue requests to initiate mobile money transactions (for receipt by a user of the MM system).

The MM system may also have an unstructured supplementary services data (USSD) gateway. This may be used to receive instructions (from mobile telephones or other user equipment -UE) for payments to be made.

Preferably or alternatively, the API may provide an interface between the USSD and a payment processor within the MM system. Therefore, on receipt of payment instructions from a user the USSD may issue an API request to the payment processor.

As the communications between the MM system and the digital currency manager are made according to the API requirements and format then this provides a more reliable and secure interface between the different systems. Furthermore, this may also reduce the occurrence of failed or missed transactions (i.e. transactions that complete but that are not properly confirmed) as the system no longer relies on SMS communications.

In accordance with a first aspect there is provided a method for transferring funds in a mobile telephone based money transfer system, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system; receiving digital currency corresponding to the request; issuing an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; and making the payment from the account to the recipient user. The recipient user may be the same or different to the user making the request (i.e. providing the digital currency).

This provides more direct integration between third party service providers (e.g. the digital currency managers, providers or brokers) and the mobile money system further improving efficiency in both process flow and data flow.

Advantageously, the request to transfer funds to the recipient may be in a first denomination and the received digital currency may be in a second denomination, the method may further comprise the step of applying a currency conversion from the transferred funds to the received digital currency. In other words, currency conversion may take place.

Optionally, the digital currency may be a crypto currency, an online banking currency or a digital wallet currency. Other digital currency types may be used.

Preferably, the API request may be received by an API gateway of the mobile telephone based money transfer system and further wherein the API gateway issues an API response to the API request.

According to a second aspect there is provided a system for transferring funds comprising: a digital currency manager having logic configured to: receive a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system, receive digital currency corresponding to the request, and issue an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; a mobile telephone based money transfer system configured to receive the issued API request and make the payment to the recipient user; and an application programming interface, API, configured to transmit the API request from the digital currency manager to the mobile telephone based money transfer system.

Optionally, the request to transfer funds to the recipient may be in a first denomination and the received digital currency may be in a second denomination.

Advantageously, the logic of the digital currency manager may be further configured to apply a currency conversion from the transferred funds to the received digital currency.

Preferably, the mobile telephone based money transfer system may comprise an API gateway configured to receive the API request.

Advantageously, the API gateway may be further configured to provide a confirmation of the payment to the recipient user over the API.

Optionally, the logic of the digital currency manager (or entity) may be further configured to: receive from a user a request to acquire an amount of digital currency, issue a response to the request including an indication of a required payment amount for completing the request, receive from the mobile telephone based transfer system a confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account within the mobile telephone based transfer system, and provide the user with the amount of digital currency in response to the confirmation, and the mobile telephone based money transfer system may further comprise: application programming interface, API, gateway configured to receive an API request to transfer the required payment amount to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system and in response to the request issue a command to make the payment; an unstructured supplementary services data, USSD, gateway configured to: receive an instruction from the user to transfer the required payment amount to the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system, and issue the API request to the API gateway to execute the transfer of the required payment amount; and a payment processor configured to: receive the command to make the payment; make the payment to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system; and issue the confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account. In one example application, users may purchase digital currency and pay for it by initiating a mobile payment instruction (using their mobile telephone) within the MM system.

The digital currency manager or entity may send the requesting user an invoice or reference for the requested transactions. This may accompany the instruction from the user so that the MM system may send a confirmation back to the entity together with the reference so the purchase of the digital currency (e.g BitCoin) may complete.

Optionally, the mobile telephone based money transfer system may further comprise an organisational portal configured to manage the account within the mobile telephone based money transfer system used as the source of the payment to the recipient. This may be used to obtain information about the account or to administer the account, for example.

Optionally, the organisational portal may be further configured to provide the digital currency manager with a balance of the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system.

According to a third aspect there is provided a digital currency manager provider, exchange or entity comprising logic configured to: receive a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system, receive digital currency corresponding to the request, and issue an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; and an application programming interface, API, client configured to transmit the API request to the mobile telephone based money transfer system. The digital currency manager, provider, exchange or entity may be external to the mobile telephone based money transfer system, for example.

Advantageously, the digital currency manager may further comprise a webserver configured to receive the request to transfer funds over the internet or other network.

Optionally, the digital currency manager may further comprise a database configured to store any one or more of: completed requests; completed transfers, and requester details.

Preferably, the digital currency manager may further comprise an application server configured to execute the API client.

According to a fourth aspect there is provided an application programming interface comprising logic configured to: receive a request from a digital currency manager to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system; and/or provide a confirmation of a payment to the recipient user.

According to a sixth aspect there is provided a system for acquiring a digital currency in exchange for a mobile telephone based transfer system payment, the system comprising: a digital currency manager having logic configured to: receive from a user a request to acquire an amount of digital currency, issue a response to the request, receive from the mobile telephone based transfer system a confirmation that a payment amount (or a requested or required payment amount) has been received at an account within the mobile telephone based transfer system, and provide the user with the amount of digital currency in response to the confirmation; and a mobile telephone based money transfer system having: an application programming interface, API, gateway configured to receive an API request to transfer the payment amount to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system and in response to the request issue a command to make the payment; an unstructured supplementary services data, USSD, gateway configured to: receive an instruction from the user to transfer the payment amount to the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system, and issue the API request to the API gateway to execute the transfer of the payment amount; and a payment processor configured to: receive the command to make the payment; make the payment to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system; and issue the confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account.

Optionally, the response to the request may include an indication of a required payment amount for completing the request and/or an identifier for enabling the subsequent received amount to be matched against the request.

The methods described above may be implemented as a computer program comprising program instructions to operate a computer. The computer program may be stored on a computer-readable medium.

The computer system may include a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). The processor may execute logic in the form of a software program. The computer system may include a memory including volatile and non-volatile storage medium. A computer-readable medium may be included to store the logic or program instructions.

The different parts of the system may be connected using a network (e.g. wireless networks and wired networks). The computer system may include one or more interfaces. The computer system may contain a suitable operating system such as UNIX, Windows (RTM) or Linux, for example.

It should be noted that any feature described above may be used with any particular aspect or embodiment of the invention.

Brief description of the Figures

The present invention may be put into practice in a number of ways and embodiments will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system for converting digital money to and from mobile money; FIG. 2 shows a sequence diagram of a method carried out by the system of claim 1 for converting digital money to mobile money; FIG. 3 shows a sequence diagram of a method carried out by the system of figure 1 for converting mobile money to digital currency; FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a method for transferring funds in a mobile telephone based money transfer system; and FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a method for acquiring digital currency in exchange for mobile money using a mobile telephone based money transfer system.

It should be noted that the figures are illustrated for simplicity and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Like features are provided with the same reference numerals.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 10 used to make payments to and from mobile telephone based money transfer system (MM system) accounts. A digital currency manager or third party entity 20 interacts with a digital money user 30.

Application programming interface (API) payment instructions are sent over the internet 40 to the MM system 50. The MM system 50 may carry out payments for a number of different local networks 60 each of whom may have their own set of mobile money customers 80 having mobile telephones or UE 70.

The digital currency manager 20 includes a number of separate components. These include a webserver 100 for interacting with requests to and from digital money users 30, one or more operator consoles 110 (for managing their account with the MM system), an application server 120 and database server 130.

The application server 120 includes an API client configured to issue API requests and receive API confirmations from the MM system 50 and specifically from an API gateway 140 within the MM system 50. The operator consoles 110 interact through the internet 40 with MM system 50 and specifically with an organisational portal 150 in order to administer their mobile money account. The MM system 50 also includes an application gateway 160 and a notification centre 170 used to interact with a USSD gateway 180 and short message service centre (SMSC) 190 respectively, within the local network 60.

The data, communications and messaging flows between the various components within the system 10 are annotated with capital letters.

This flow represents digital money management, conversations and transactions between a digital money customer 30 and the digital currency manager 20.

These flows represent internal traffic within the digital currency manager 20.

C. This flow includes HTTPS browser access to the organisational portal 150 in order for operators within the digital currency manager 20 to manage their account, obtain balances and make other account queries and changes.

This flow includes by-directional server-to-server API flows between the digital currency manager and the mobile money system 50 for money transfer, account balance and transaction status checks, for example.

This flow indicates SMS notifications to particular mobile money customer handsets 70 following customer account credits (or other transactions).

F. Provides customers 80 with mobile money account management and digital currency purchases using USSD.

The application gateway 160, the notification centre 170, the USSD Gateway 180 and the SMSC 190 form part of existing MM systems and mobile networks. The Organisational portal 150 and the API Gateway are new components.

Figure 2 shows a sequence diagram of a particular example method 200 executed using system 10 described with reference to figure 1. Similar components have the same reference numerals. When a digital currency customer 30 wishes to make a mobile money payment to a mobile money user 80, they issue a request to the digital currency manager 20. This may be using a web page, telephone request, smart phone or other device. The digital currency manager 20 receives an amount of digital currency from the customer 30 (e.g. Bitcoin) if a currency conversion is required, then this is carried out to determine the amount to be paid to the mobile money customer 80. Alternatively, the digital money customer 30 may indicate a required amount (and optional denomination) to be received by the mobile money recipient 80 and the digital currency manager 20 may calculate the require amount of digital money (including any fees) in order to complete the transaction.

Upon receipt of the digital currency, the digital currency manager 20 issues an API request to the MM system 50, which is received by the API gateway 140. Within the MM system 50, the API gateway 140 issues an instruction to process a customer deposit within a payment processor 210. A response is issued from the payment processor 210 to the API gateway 140 indicating receipt of this instruction. The API gateway 140 passes this receipt response to the digital currency manager 20. The payment processor 210 debits an account held by the digital currency manager 20 and credits an account of the intended recipient 80 (minus any fees). An API confirmation is received by the digital currency manager 20 reporting the result of this transaction. The digital currency manger acknowledges receipt of the report.

The payment processor 210 within the MM system 50 sends a notification to the recipient 80 reporting the successful funds transfer. The payment processor 210 sends a message to the notification centre 170 to initiate the process of sending an SMS message to the recipient 80. This is achieved by the SMSC 190 within the local network 60.

Finally, the digital currency manager 20 provides a success response to the digital money user 30 indicating that the recipient 80 received the funds.

Figure 3 shows a sequence diagram of a further example method 300 executed using system 10 described with reference to figure 1. This method is used when a mobile money customer 80 wishes to exchange mobile money for digital currency.

A request to purchase digital currency is received from a mobile money customer 80 at the digital currency manager 20. The digital currency manager 20 responds by providing a reference to the transaction or other identifier and in this example a particular requested value of mobile money. The mobile money customer 80 receives this response and then proceeds to make a mobile money transaction within the MM system 50. This request (along with the reference or identifier) is received by the USSD gateway 180 within the MM system 50. The USSD gateway 180 passes this request internally to the API gateway 140, which passes it on to the payments processor 210, which responds (success or failure) to the API gateway 140. This response is passed over the API to the USSD gateway 180, which provides its own response to the mobile money customer 80. In the meantime, the payments processor 210 instructs the notifications centre 170 to provide one or more notifications of the transaction. In this example, an SMS notification is requested from the local SMSC 190, which sends the SMS notification back to the mobile money customer (or specifically their handset 70 over a mobile network). The notification centre 170 also instructs an email server 310 to send an email confirming the purchase to the digital currency customer manager 20 so that the digital currency manager 20 may provide the mobile money customer 80 with the requested digital currency (not shown in this figure).

Whilst similar components and entities are shown in figure 1 corresponding to the method 300 described with reference to figure 3, their logical arrangement is slightly different. In particular, the mobile money customer 80 does not receive mobile money but instead makes the payment to an account held by the digital currency manager 20.

-12 -Figure 4 shows a flowchart at a higher level of the method 400 for exchanging digital currency for mobile money (i.e. corresponding to the method 300 shown in the sequence diagram of figure 3).

At step 410, the request is received from the digital currency customer 30. The digital currency manager 20 receives the digital currency 420 (not shown in figure 2). The digital currency manager 20 makes the API request (step 430) described with reference to figure 2. The mobile money payment is then made to the mobile money customer 80 at step 440.

Whilst this procedure has been described as having two separate customers (the digital currency customer 30 and the mobile money customer 80), these two people may be the same, in which case the procedure simply results in a conversion from digital currency to mobile money.

Figure 5 shows a flowchart of a high level method corresponding with the method 300 described with reference to figure 3. This flowchart summarises the procedure starting with the digital currency manager 20 receiving a request to purchase digital currency at step 510. The digital currency manager responds by issuing a required amount at step 520 (which may be accompanied by an identification or reference for the transaction). The mobile money customer 80 instructs the MM system 50 to make the payment to the account held by the digital currency manager 20. This instruction is accompanied by the reference or identifier issued by the digital currency manager 20. Internally within the MM system 50, an API request for payment is made at step 540 resulting in the payment from the mobile money customer's account to the digital currency manager's account 20 at step 550. One or more payment confirmations are issued and received at step 560 (e.g. email and/or SMS). The digital currency manager 20 then provides the requested digital currency (minus any fees) to the mobile money customer 80 at step 570.

Further features and properties of the system 10 and method are discussed below.

Third parties can convert digital money to local currency, and then transfer money from their organisation account on the MM System to a customer's account. Local currency may be converted to digital money for customers wishing to purchase digital money. Organisation account balances may be checked. The status of a requested money transfer transaction may be checked. The organisational account may be managed, preferably, using a web portal.

Various components are integrated within the MM System 50. This includes the API Gateway 140 which exposes a Core API allowing external systems to communicate with the MM System 50 for managing identities or initiate transactions to provide services. The organisation portal 150 manages the third party account created for them on the MM System 50.

Security procedures may be used to secure browser access to the organisational portal 150 including Signed Client Certificate via an Internet Explorer (1E) browser running on the Operator PC 110 using a browser certificate request process. Server-to-Server Access to API Gateway may request, download and install an SSL Client Certificate. The SSL client certificate may be used for encrypting all API requests to the MM System 50 sent over the internet 40. In addition, API Caller and API Operator credentials may be included in API request messages.

The Mobile Money Core API provides a Web Service Interface through which external systems can communicate with MM System 50 to manage identities or initiate transactions to provide services for partners. Use cases include: 1. Transfer money from their organisation account on the MM System to a Mobile Money customer's account; 2. Check their organisation account balance on the MM system; and 3. Check the status of a requested money transfer transaction.

As will be appreciated by the skilled person, details of the above embodiment may be varied without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

For example, various different digital currencies and conversions may be used.

Many combinations, modifications, or alterations to the features of the above embodiments will be readily apparent to the skilled person and are intended to form part of the invention. Any of the features described specifically relating to one embodiment or example may be used in any other embodiment by making the appropriate changes.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A method for transferring funds in a mobile telephone based money transfer system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system; receiving digital currency corresponding to the request; issuing an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; and making the payment from the account to the recipient user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to transfer funds to the recipient is in a first denomination and the received digital currency is in a second denomination, the method further comprising the step of applying a currency conversion from the transferred funds to the received digital currency.
3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the digital currency is a crypto currency, an online banking currency or a digital wallet currency.
4. The method according to any previous claim, wherein the API request is received by an API gateway of the mobile telephone based money transfer system and further wherein the API gateway issues an API response to the API request.
5. A system for transferring funds comprising: a digital currency manager having logic configured to: receive a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system, receive digital currency corresponding to the request, and issue an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; a mobile telephone based money transfer system configured to receive the issued API request and make the payment to the recipient user; and an application programming interface, API, configured to transmit the API request from the digital currency manager to the mobile telephone based money transfer system.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the request to transfer funds to the recipient is in a first denomination and the received digital currency is in a second denomination, and further wherein the logic of the digital currency manager is further configured to apply a currency conversion from the transferred funds to the received digital currency.
7. The system of claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the mobile telephone based money transfer system comprises an API gateway configured to receive the API request.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the API gateway is further configured to provide a confirmation of the payment to the recipient user over the API.
9. The system of claim 7 or claim 8, wherein: logic of the digital currency manager is further configured to: receive from a user a request to acquire an amount of digital currency, issue a response to the request including an indication of a required payment amount for completing the request, receive from the mobile telephone based transfer system a confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account within the mobile telephone based transfer system, and provide the user with the amount of digital currency in response to the confirmation, and the mobile telephone based money transfer system further comprises: application programming interface, API, gateway configured to receive an API request to transfer the required payment amount to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system and in response to the request issue a command to make the payment; an unstructured supplementary services data, USSD, gateway configured to: receive an instruction from the user to transfer the required payment amount to the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system, and issue the API request to the API gateway to execute the transfer of the required payment amount; and a payment processor configured to: receive the command to make the payment; make the payment to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system; and issue the confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account.
10. The system according to any of claims 5 to 9, wherein the mobile telephone based money transfer system further comprises an organisational portal configured to manage the account within the mobile telephone based money transfer system used as the source of the payment to the recipient.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the organisational portal is further configured to provide the digital currency manager with a balance of the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system.
12. A digital currency manager comprising logic configured to: receive a request to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system, receive digital currency corresponding to the request, and issue an application programming interface, API, request to make a payment for the amount from an account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system to the recipient user; and an application programming interface, API, client configured to transmit the API request to the mobile telephone based money transfer system.
13. The digital currency manager of claim 12 further comprising a webserver configured to receive the request to transfer funds over the internet.
14. The digital currency manager of claim 12 or claim 13 further comprising a database configured to store any one or more of: completed requests; completed transfers, and requester details.
15. The digital currency manager according to any of claims 12 to 14 further comprising an application server configured to execute the API client.
16. An application programming interface comprising logic configured to: receive a request from a digital currency manager to transfer an amount of funds to a recipient user of a mobile telephone based money transfer system; and/or provide a confirmation of a payment to the recipient user.
17. A system for acquiring a digital currency in exchange for a mobile telephone based transfer system payment, the system comprising: a digital currency manager having logic configured to: receive from a user a request to acquire an amount of digital currency, issue a response to the request, receive from the mobile telephone based transfer system a confirmation that a payment amount has been received at an account within the mobile telephone based transfer system, and provide the user with the amount of digital currency in response to the confirmation; and a mobile telephone based money transfer system having: an application programming interface, API, gateway configured to receive an API request to transfer the payment amount to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system and in response to the request issue a command to make the payment; an unstructured supplementary services data, USSD, gateway configured to: receive an instruction from the user to transfer the payment amount to the account in the mobile telephone based money transfer system, and issue the API request to the API gateway to execute the transfer of the payment amount; and a payment processor configured to: receive the command to make the payment; make the payment to the account within the mobile telephone based transfer system; and issue the confirmation that the required payment amount has been received at an account.