JP2001167017A - Internet registration contract system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an internet registration contract system, with which an electronic mail address containing a user name desired by a user can be instantaneously issued and further, there is no danger to leak information for a contract to the outside. SOLUTION: A prescribed item containing the user name is sent through a terminal 10 and a dedicated line to a host computer 20 in the head office, and the mail address composed of the user name and one sub-domain name is issued. When the novel issued mail address is overlapped with an issued mail address, the sub-domain name is changed and the issued mail address is returned to the terminal 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet subscription system including the issuance of an e-mail address.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the spread of personal computers, etc., and the development of network environments such as the Internet, etc.
With the expansion, e-mail using the Internet, information providing services, network shopping, and the like have been widely performed.

Here, when performing e-mail, information browsing, and network shopping, the user needs to connect the user terminal to the Internet, but it is difficult for the user to connect the user terminal directly to the Internet.
Usually, the user is connected to the Internet via an access point of an Internet connection agent (service provider: hereinafter simply referred to as a provider).

Therefore, in order to use the Internet, it is necessary to first make a contract with a provider. Initially, they filled out the application form, mailed it to the provider, and returned a document containing their username, email address, password, and so on. However, in this case, it takes time from sending the application form to actually using the Internet,
Each provider distributes Internet contract software free of charge (attached to magazines and other appendices) and contracts online. According to this, the contract is completed instantaneously, but secret information such as a credit number for paying the usage fee is transmitted to the provider via the network, and may be known to others during transmission.

[0005] On the other hand, a conventional e-mail address has a user name X02AT4375 in which alphanumeric characters are listed in front of a domain name (for example, kojima.co.jp) (to the left of the @ mark) in accordance with the rules of the Internet service provider. In this case, a user name that is difficult for the user to get close to and remember is automatically given. In addition, even if it is possible to register a user name according to the user's desire, if the same user name is already used,
The user needs to re-create the user name and apply for registration again, which is extremely troublesome.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional Internet subscription contract system for the Internet, it takes time to perform the mailing by mail, but there is a risk that confidential information may be leaked when performing the mailing online. Also, the issued e-mail address may not be the e-mail address desired by the user.

An object of the present invention is to provide an Internet subscription system which can instantly issue an e-mail address including a user name desired by a user, and in which there is no risk of leaking contract information to the outside. .

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention uses the following means.

An Internet subscription system according to the present invention is a system for subscribing at a store of an Internet connection agency having a plurality of sub-domain names under one domain name. , Sent to the headquarters host computer via a dedicated line,
Issue an e-mail address consisting of a user name and one sub-domain name. If the newly issued e-mail address overlaps with the already-issued e-mail address, change the sub-domain name,
The issued mail address is returned to the terminal.

[0010] According to this, since the terminal and the host computer are connected by a dedicated line, the subscription contract is completed instantly without leaking secret information such as a credit card number. In addition, since a plurality of subdomain names are provided under the provider's domain name and the subdomain name is added to the user's desired user name to form an e-mail address, even if a duplicate user name is desired by a plurality of users. Also, since the e-mail address can be distinguished by the subdomain name, the e-mail address including the user name desired by the user can be issued without fail.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an Internet subscription system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an Internet subscription system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

This system is a system in which a provider includes a large number of sales offices, member stores, and the like, and can make a contract at the store. As an example, an example will be described in which a provider is a retailer having a large number of stores, and each store uses a POS terminal to sign up online. That is, the POS terminal 10 is connected to the host computer 20 of the headquarters via a dedicated line.
Connected to. The host computer 20 is a Radius server (a so-called authentication server) of a provider, and is connected to an authentication server 42 in a narrow sense for performing user authentication for access from a user and a server 30 of a card issuing company via a dedicated line. A credit confirmation server 44, a domain name server 46, a billing server 48, a dial-up server 50, a mail server 52, a gateway 54 for determining whether or not to permit use of a credit card.
including. Note that each of these servers is not composed of one computer but may be composed of a single computer and may be divided by software. Further, these servers may not be located at one place but may be located at a remote location and connected via a dedicated line or the like. Note that the provider also includes a WWW server that provides a homepage, but is not shown because it is not directly related to the present invention.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. Here, an operation of contracting with a provider managed by a retail store when a user purchases a personal computer at a retail store will be described. The user fills in an application form in advance. All you need is your name, address, phone number, date of birth, gender,
There are an occupation, a credit card number, a desired user name (which becomes a part of a mail address), and the like. If you have another email address, fill it out as well. After paying the cash at the cash register, give the application form to the clerk,
To input necessary information. Alternatively, the user may operate the POS terminal 10 by himself to input necessary items. In any case, the user needs to input the password (twice) to confirm the password. This information is transmitted to the head office host computer 20.
The OS terminal 10 is connected to a host computer 20 via a dedicated line.
, There is no risk that a credit card number or password, which is a secret matter, may be stolen by a third party during transmission.

In the host computer 20, information about the user such as a user name (also referred to as a user ID) and a password is stored in the authentication server 42. As the user name, each user inputs a favorite ID from the POS terminal 10. As is well known, an e-mail address usually includes a user name (ID) and a domain name. In the present invention, a sub-domain name is provided below the domain name, and the user name (ID) and the sub-domain name are included. Issue an email address. This guarantees that a user's desired user name (usually his / her own name) can be used for a mail address with a high probability. That is, "kojim
"00" to "ZZ" under the domain name "a.co.jp"
1296 subdomains consisting of numbers and alphabets are created to handle 1296 duplicate usernames. If 1296 are not enough, the subdomain name may be changed to three digits to cope with 46656 duplicate user names. By increasing the number of digits of the subdomain name in this way, an e-mail address including the desired user name can be issued to an unlimited number of users.

Specifically, when registering an e-mail address to a provider, the user name is set to, for example, "kojima".
It transmits to the domain name server 46. The domain name server 46 determines whether or not an e-mail address obtained by adding the subdomain name (initial value) “00.kojima.co.jp” to the user name “kojima” desired by the new user has already been registered. If the email address "kojima@00.kojima.co.jp" is not already registered, enter "kojima@00.kojima.c"
o.jp "is registered as the user's e-mail address, and the user is notified of this e-mail address.

On the other hand, if "kojima@00.kojima.co.jp" has already been registered in the domain name server 46, an e-mail address with the following subdomain name "01.kojima.co.jp" It is determined whether or not is registered. If it has been registered, the same applies to "02.kojima.co.jp" and "
03.kojima.co.jp ", ... to determine if it is registered as an e-mail address with a unique e-mail address, and to determine a unique e-mail address. Since the domain name after the, .DELTA. Mark is not so disturbing, an e-mail address including the user name desired by the user can always be given by giving the sub-domain name in this way.

The host computer 20 inquires of the card issuing company's server 30 whether the card can be used based on the credit card number entered by the user. Since this inquiry is also made through a dedicated line, the confidentiality of the secret information is protected.

When the host computer 20 has issued the e-mail address and confirmed the credit of the card, the PO 20
The e-mail address is returned to the S terminal 10. The mail address (or password) is printed out from the POS terminal 10 and notified to the user. The printout may be output on a receipt issued at a normal cash register. The time required for this process is several seconds. Therefore, an Internet contract can be made in addition to shopping, and user convenience is enhanced.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, online sign-up is performed using a POS terminal connected to a host computer via a dedicated line, so that a contract can be made instantaneously. An object of the present invention is to provide an Internet subscription system in which information for a contract does not leak outside. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, a large number of sub-domain names are prepared under the domain name, and the sub-domain name is added to the user name desired by the user to obtain an e-mail address. The user name can be included in the email address.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,
Various modifications are possible. For example, in the above description, the POS terminal is used, but the point is that the terminal is connected to the host computer via a dedicated line, and
It is sufficient that the terminal is installed in a place where the user can easily use it, and the terminal is not necessarily limited to the POS terminal. For example,
You may use the cash dispenser of a bank, the automatic contract machine of a credit card company, etc.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an Internet subscription system having the following functions and effects.

(A) Since the terminal connected to the host computer via the dedicated line is used, the contract is completed instantly without leaking secret information such as a credit card number.

(B) A plurality of sub-domain names are provided under the domain name of the provider, and the user's desired user name is added to the sub-domain name to form an e-mail address. However, since the e-mail address can be distinguished by the sub-domain name, an e-mail address including the user name desired by the user can be issued without fail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of an Internet subscription contract system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram showing an outline of a mail address issuing process according to the first embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 POS terminal 20 Host computer 42 Authentication server 44 Credit check server 46 Domain name server

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A system for subscribing at a store of an Internet connection agency having a plurality of sub-domain names under one domain name, a predetermined item including a user name is transferred to a head office via a terminal and a dedicated line. And sends an e-mail address consisting of the user name and one sub-domain name. If the newly issued e-mail address overlaps with the existing e-mail address, change the sub-domain name and change the issued e-mail address to An Internet subscription system characterized by returning it to a terminal.