JP2002175487A - Small sum settlement system using portable telephone network with internet connecting function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for conducting the settlement of a relatively small amount of payment at low costs by using only a portable telephone in the same way as communication without making it necessary to use any complicate exclusive terminal or card or the like. SOLUTION: A communication network is constituted of a portable telephone group with an Internet connecting function beforehand joining in the prepaid contract of a communication fee, a switchboard connecting server computer for receiving the communication request information of the transmitter and receiver of the portable telephone through the Internet, and for transmitting this to the switchboard of an international telephone public network, and a charging server computer for holding the prepaid contract member information, and for withdrawing the communication fee. Then, a charging program for allowing the owner of the portable telephone to withdraw payment to the other owner from his or her own prepaid balance, and to add the sum to the balance of the other party by accessing a settlement mode on the Internet connecting function is added to the charging server computer, and a site for allowing the user to select the settlement mode or the communication mode is set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a relatively small payment method using a mobile phone group or a server computer having an Internet connection function (i-mode).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that, at present, payments are settled by financial institutions such as banks mainly by means of remittance or automatic deduction. In addition, it is also practiced that stores have credit cards, prepaid cards, and the like held by consumers so that stores and the like can perform payment settlement functions on behalf of financial institutions.

[0003] Recently, attempts have been made to acquire so-called user settlement data into a portable terminal and exchange data with a dedicated terminal to perform so-called electronic settlement.

[0004]

However, the transfer procedure at a conventional financial institution has a problem in that the cost and labor burden are too large in the case of a small amount of money that is frequently settled. In addition, the method using other special cards,
Consumers need to always have it, and even with the recently proposed electronic payment methods, all of them have dedicated communication terminals, identification terminals, data communication terminals, etc. At the same time, there is also inconvenience and inconvenience for the user, such as the incorporation of data into the IC card and the different processing methods for each facility.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, remarkably reduce the cost and labor in the settlement of a relatively small amount of payment, and aim to simplify the settlement.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a communication network as shown in FIG. 1 is first formed. That is, a group of mobile telephones with an Internet connection function, which are pre-paid subscribers to a call fee, and call request information of a caller and a receiver of the mobile telephone 1 are received via the Internet and sent to the exchange 2 of the international telephone public network. In a communication network including an exchange connection server computer 3 to be transmitted and a billing server computer 4 for holding prepaid contract member information and deducting a call charge, the holder of the mobile phone 1 makes a payment to another owner. In addition to adding a charging program to the charging server computer 4 to access the payment mode on the Internet connection function, the charging server computer 4 performs the operation of deducting from the prepaid balance of the above and adding to the other party's prepaid balance. And a site for selecting the call mode With this, the user selects the homepage of the communication company that provides the service of the system by using the Internet connection function corresponding to the “i-mode” of the mobile phone, and accesses either the call or the payment, and the call or the payment [ Transfer).

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Here, the exchange 2 for providing a telephone call service uses the one having the lowest international call rate system in the United States or the like (by contract with a telecommunication company in the country). In addition, the present inventors have already realized the specific equipment of the switcher 5 and the switch connection server computer 3 for giving the exchange command to the exchange 2. Thus, in the call mode, the user simply dials (pushes) the other party's telephone number to form a communication path between the caller and the receiver in the international telephone public network, regardless of whether the call is international or domestic. You can make cheap calls immediately.

[0008] call charge thereof, by incorporating a billing program that has already been implemented in the dial Q ₂ and the like to the accounting server computer 4 is automatically debited from a prepaid balance of the user.

[0009] Therefore, a user who is a participant of the present method has i
The user owns a mobile phone with an Internet connection function such as a mode, and pre-purchases an appropriate amount of a prepaid card or the like to contract with a service company of the system and register ID.

By inputting the ID number written on the prepaid card into the charging server computer 4 in the “i-mode” of the mobile phone, the “Web money” having user information such as the balance corresponding to the purchase amount can be obtained. The account has been opened.

Since the billing server computer 4 has a function of counting the call charge at a predetermined rate and deducting the charge from the prepaid balance, by providing another settlement mode, it is possible to make a call regardless of the call. Indicates the intention of the recipient to make a deposit to the recipient by telephone number, I
A billing program for confirming only by dialing a D number, a recitation number, and a payment amount, and deducting the same from the sender's balance and adding it to the receiver's balance is set to operate in the payment mode. Needless to say, this can be realized without any difficulty using current conventional technology.

To describe a more specific embodiment, first, a communication company which performs a service business of the present system contracts with a U.S. communication company and connects the switcher 5 and the exchange to the U.S. exchange 2 of the international public telephone network. The connection server computer 3 is installed in the United States and registered on the Internet site. The call program there is such that the caller who accesses in the i-mode dials the telephone number of the other party with his / her mobile phone 1 to exchange between the two parties based on the telephone number information of the caller and the receiver. This is to be regarded as a command to open a communication path. However, as for billing, a billing program that counts a charge based on making an international call to both the caller and the receiver from the US exchange connection server computer 3 to the caller is provided by another billing server. It is set in the computer 4.

The user who desires the call and settlement service of the present system is basically the owner of the mobile phone 1 with an Internet connection function such as i-mode, and for example, a prepaid amount of an appropriate amount corresponding to a call charge of 20 yen / min. The card is purchased, its own telephone number, personal identification number, ID authentication number, and the like are registered and input to the accounting server computer 4.

[0014] Since the communication mode and the settlement mode are displayed on the homepage of the communication company that performs the service business,
The registered user accesses one of them, dials the other party as it is in the call mode, and talks to the other party, and in the settlement mode, the ID and the password, and the telephone of the remittance partner participating in this method. If the number and the payment (transfer) amount are entered on the same mobile phone, the user is immediately deducted from his / her own prepaid balance and added to the other party's balance. At this time, the upper limit of the settlement amount is set to less than 30,000 yen each time, and this is referred to as a small amount settlement.

Although the above-mentioned password is for security, a selection of a compression / decompression method in packet communication may be used for security measures.

[0015] The term "prepaid" in the present invention is also broadly interpreted, and the case where the balance of an appropriate bank account or the like is replaced is included in this.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, payment can be settled only by dialing a mobile phone in the same manner as a telephone call, and another device such as an IC card or a dedicated terminal is not required. The settlement costs can also be significantly reduced, which has a tremendous effect, especially in small payments that can frequently occur at various times and places.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication network on which the present invention is based.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mobile telephone 2 ... Exchange 3 ... Exchange server connection server computer 4 ... Billing server computer 5 ... Switcher

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A group of mobile phones with an Internet connection function, which are pre-paid subscribers to a call fee, and receive call request information of a caller and a receiver of the mobile phone via the Internet, and receive the call request information of an international telephone public network. In a telephone network consisting of an exchange connection server computer to be transmitted to an exchange and a billing server computer that holds prepaid subscriber information and reduces telephone charges, the owner of the mobile phone can pay for another owner by himself / herself. In addition to adding a billing program to the billing server computer, the billing program is executed by accessing the billing mode on the Internet connection function to perform the withdrawal from the prepaid balance of the above and adding to the balance of the other party. And a site for selecting a call mode Small settlement system using the Internet connection function with a mobile phone network.