KR20010023710A - Method and system for guaranteed purchasing - Google Patents

Abstract

A) establishing credit for a retailer (RB) of a guarantor (GO);

B) provide within the GO a means of storing, retrieving and updating information indicating the credit rating of the RB assigned by GO;

C) provide a means of communication operated by the RB and indicative of transactions to be assured, suitable for providing the GO with predetermined data;

D) providing in GO a means for printing at the remote printer a validly authenticated warranty for the amount related to the transaction;

E) modifying the RB credit rating at GO by checking whether RB's credit is sufficient to cover the requested guarantee and, if sufficient, subtracting the requested guarantee from the total available credit;

F) prepare the data necessary for issuing to the purchaser a warranty indicating the transaction, the amount of the guarantee and the period within which the purchaser can submit to GO for a refund;

G) outputting the validly authenticated certificate from the remote printer;

This allows the buyer to make a prepayment to purchase goods and services at a retail store (RB), the prepayment being insured by a guarantee organization (GO) that provides a warranty that can be issued within the retail store. , How to buy warranty.

Description

Warranty purchase method and system {METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GUARANTEED PURCHASING}

When purchasing a product at a retail store, prepaid or prepaid payment of the acquired goods and services is often required prior to the actual delivery of the purchased goods or services.

Many products, such as cars and houses under construction, are not readily available, but are ordered or paid first to the supplier and then completed to the buyer's requirements.

When a high purchase is made, such as in the purchase of an apartment that has not yet been built, if the seller fails to procure the apartment or other expensive property paid by the buyer, the buyer may be required to make a prepayment or advance payment to ensure that the prepaid funds are returned. We often want to be secured by a bank guarantee.

Providing bank guarantees is a relatively complex, expensive, and time-consuming task that involves providing proof of seller credit, establishing a seller's collateral that meets the bank's terms, and ensuring that the seller does not or cannot fulfill its contractual obligations to the buyer. It includes the issuance of banking documents indicating that the bank guarantees that the money will be reimbursed to the buyer when certain predetermined conditions occur. The process of authorizing and issuing such bank guarantees, which usually cover a small amount, is time-consuming to carry out and cannot be carried out in the merchant's store.

Because of the complexity of providing bank guarantees, and because of the cost of these procedures, these guarantees are typically issued on transactions involving large amounts of money, such as home purchases, which are often expensive because they require the buyer to pay for the bank guarantee. Even transactions do not always issue bank guarantees. However, very few small transactions are made every day at retail or other trading companies, which are individually small amounts but very large in total.

Thus, for example, when ordering furniture in three installments, the use of a bank guarantee that is paid in full or in part before delivery of the purchased furniture, and guarantees a refund of the payment is very impractical. Even if the seller provides a bank guarantee, the seller cannot do it at the point of purchase. Therefore, buyers who are required to pay in advance at the time of purchase are often exposed to financial risks such as sellers 'bankruptcy, such as sellers' bankruptcy. Therefore, it is often necessary for a seller to trade without prepayment as a result of not being able to provide an adequate warranty at the point of purchase.

Thus, in the field, no means have been provided so far to assure buyers of goods and services that are delivered or provided after payment, if goods and services are not procured, that the buyer will be refunded.

The present invention is directed to a method and system that enables the public to securely prepay or prepay for goods and services.

1 schematically illustrates the operation of a system according to one embodiment of the invention.

2 shows an arrangement of a computer according to one embodiment of the invention.

3 is an example of a simple form for input data to be sent from a retail store (RB) to an assurance agency (GO), with example details recorded.

4 is a flow chart summarizing the main steps involved in the processing of GO for a certificate issuance request.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system that enable a buyer to receive a guarantee of the amount paid for goods and services to be supplied later.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a means for issuing a reliable guarantee efficiently and inexpensively to the buyer.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and system whereby a seller of goods and services provides a valid guarantee to the buyer on the spot, without the need for expensive, time consuming and banking procedures outside the trading area. .

The present invention enables prepayment to purchase goods and services primarily at a retail store (RB), wherein the prepayment is a method assured by a guarantee organization (GO) that provides a warranty that can be issued within the retail store. The method consists of the following steps.

A) establishing credit for a retailer (RB) of a guarantor (GO);

B) provide within the GO a means of storing, retrieving and updating information indicating the credit rating of the RB assigned by GO;

C) provide a means of communication operated by the RB and indicative of transactions to be assured, suitable for providing the GO with predetermined data;

D) providing in GO a means for printing at the remote printer a validly authenticated warranty for the amount related to the transaction;

E) modifying the RB credit rating at GO by checking whether RB's credit is sufficient to cover the requested guarantee and, if sufficient, subtracting the requested guarantee from the total available credit;

F) prepare the data necessary to issue the warranty to the buyer, indicating the transaction, the amount of the guarantee and the period during which the buyer can submit the warranty to GO for a refund;

G) Printing the validly authenticated certificate from the remote printer.

In an embodiment of the invention, the data used to issue the certificate also includes the name of the person to whom the certificate is issued. Of course, a warranty may be issued to the bearer, but a warranty indicating the customer is usually preferred.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method also includes adjusting the RB credit rating at GO by adding an amount corresponding to the original certified warranty that RB returns to GO to the total available credit. Such certified warranty, of course, will be returned when RB's customer returns the warranty while procuring the guaranteed goods and services. In addition, the amount of the unclaimed and expired warranty is also added to RB's credit rating.

There are actually many kinds of trades, and in many cases, for example, when buying furniture, a customer goes to a store in RB and trades. In this case, according to the present invention, the certificate is output at the printer in the RB.

Some transactions are not carried out at RB stores but by remote purchase methods. Examples of such remote purchase methods include purchases over the Internet, purchases over the telephone, purchases by mail, and the like. According to another embodiment of the present invention, when a purchase is made by a remote system, the warranty is output from a printer available to the purchaser or owned by the purchaser. In the context of the present invention, the term "printer" includes a device that provides a valid warranty to a customer, such as a computer printer, a fax printer, and the like.

There are several ways to control the output of the certificate. For example, the Turbo Pascal program can be used to read ASCII files sent to the printer character by character without using BIOS. This example program sends text to the printer in many cases using a direct print protocol to the port, connected to the LPT1 (LPT1) in a modern computer. The program checks whether or not the printer can be used for each character, but does not perform checks such as error checking. Such a program uses a commonly used program well known to those skilled in the art and can output the file to the printer without using the PC's BIOS to make it difficult to capture the print file.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the certificate is output by sending executable objects that control the print job to computing means connected to the printer. That is, there are several means of doing this, such as the use of languages such as Active-X and Java. According to one embodiment according to the invention, when a purchase is made by a remote system, the output of the certificate is performed by a program using a language such as Java.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the printer is connected with a decoding apparatus which receives an encrypted output command from the computing device operated by GO.

The present invention also provides for a system to be prepaid to purchase goods and services at a retail store (RB), the prepayment being a system assured by a guarantee organization (GO) that provides a warranty that can be issued within the retail store. This is done as follows.

A) means provided within the GO for storing, restoring and updating information indicative of the credit rating of the RB assigned by the GO;

B) a means of communication operated by the RB and suitable for providing the GO with an indication of the transaction to be guaranteed and predetermined data;

C) means provided in the GO for outputting at the remote printer a validly authenticated warranty for the amount related to the transaction;

D) means provided within the GO to check whether the RB's credit is sufficient to cover the requested guarantee and, if sufficient, modify the RB credit rating at the GO by subtracting the applied guarantee amount from the total available credit;

E) means for preparing data necessary for issuing the warranty to the buyer, indicating the transaction, the amount of the guarantee and the period during which the buyer can submit the warranty to GO for a refund;

F) means for outputting the validly authenticated certificate from the remote printer.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system may also add to the total available credit an amount corresponding to the original certified warranty that RB returns to GO or the warranty that has not been charged by the purchaser and has expired. Include means for adjusting RB credit rating.

In one embodiment of the invention, the system comprises means for outputting a certificate at a printer at the RB. In another embodiment of the present invention, the system includes means for outputting a certificate that is validly validated on a printer that can be used or owned by a customer of the remote purchasing system.

In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system comprising means for outputting a certificate by sending an execution object controlling a print job to a computing device connected to a printer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the system includes a decoding means connected to a printer, which receives an encrypted output command from a computing device operated by GO and decrypts it and interprets it as an output command of the printer.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description.

Here, the present invention will be described in detail by simply describing the exemplary embodiments without any limitation. 1 schematically illustrates the operation of the system, illustrating a functional relationship between a warranty agency (GO) indicated by the number 1 and a retail store (RB) indicated by the number 2. FIG. The GO may be any financial institution if it is legally authorized to carry out such financial activities in the relevant scope of banks, insurance companies, credit companies, and so on. RB can actually be any kind of business, such as a retailer, a service company, and any kind that requires prepayment or prepayment to provide any form of goods and services or transfer legal rights to assets. It could be a vendor of.

In order to be able to use the system of the present invention, the RB must establish a credit line at GO. At some point, the total amount of guarantee that GO will issue for an RB does not exceed the total credit that GO has placed on the RB, although each GO may, of course, make an exception to this rule for any RB. The RB credit line at the GO indicated by the number 3 keeps changing, as will be clearly explained in the following. In Figure 1, only two credit ratings (Level A and Level B) are shown for simplicity.

GO and RB are connected via a communication line 4, which may be a computer line or a telephone line, which is used by the RB to issue a certificate. As described in detail below, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the request for issuance of a certificate is performed through a computer terminal in accordance with a standard set by GO.

GO is also connected to the printer 5 via a communication line 6, which is used to output the warranty. As will be described in detail later, in many cases, communication lines 4 and 6 may be integrated into one line. In addition, the printer 5 operates as a remote printer of the computing system in the GO, or is coupled to an computing device, such as a PC, provided in the RB, so that the GO prints a print command of the certificate through the local computing device. Can be provided as The printout of the certificate will be described in detail later.

When the buyer desires a guarantee of prepayment, the RB contacts the GO via the communication line 4 to provide purchase-related details such as purchase amount, guarantee amount, expected supply date, and details about the buyer. GO first checks the credit ratings currently available to a particular RB. If credit rating A exceeds the amount of guarantee requested and this transaction meets all of the other basic requirements of GO, GO approves the transaction and reduces the credit rating available to RB to class B (the amount of guarantee requested for a specific transaction). Assuming this is AB). Then, a command is sent to the printer 5 through the communication line 6 to output a warranty certificate in which all the details of the specific transaction are written. The certificate 7 is output and handed to the buyer. The purchaser 8 receives the warranty 7 and can contact the GO to check the authenticity and details. This verification can be done by telephone or in person, or by any other suitable method.

When the goods or services to be supplied are obtained, the warranty is returned to the buyer and the goods or services are provided. The RB then returns the original certificate to GO (this procedure is indicated by the dashed line in number 9 to show that the original certificate should actually be returned to GO, not through the telecommunications line). As a result, the credit rating is increased again by the guarantee amount indicated on the guarantee. This recovery of RB credit ratings in GO occurs even when the validity of the specified warranty expires. This completes the entire cycle of sale, warranty and end of warranty. However, many of these cycles can be run at the same time, with only one available credit rating of RB at GO.

The GO, of course, charges the RB mutually agreed upon amounts, for example, a percentage of the amount of guarantees issued, or the amount calculated in other ways. Since the present invention is not for the commercial aspect between GO and RB, the compensation required by GO for the aforementioned services is not described here.

In Fig. 2, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a system is used to output a valid warranty to a customer. The printer 5 of FIG. 1 is located in a store of an RB, and in this embodiment is connected to an arithmetic unit 10, which is a PC or the like in the RB. The computer 10 is connected to an arithmetic unit 11 that controls the certificate issuance processing in the GO.

For the sake of brevity, only the procedures for fully computerized operations are described below. However, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, all operations performed by the computer 10 may be performed in other ways, for example, the information may be sent via fax or telephone without receiving the information directly from the computer 10. The operator of GO can input the relevant information into the computer 11. This option is useful when the RB is a small business that does not own a local PC (ie, a kiosk), in which case a communication device (not shown) is provided so that the computer 11 can directly Perform the output of Another case where this option is important is when the computer 10 cannot send the necessary information directly to the computer 11 due to a temporary communication failure of the RB. However, such changes are obvious to those skilled in the art and are therefore not described in detail here for the sake of brevity.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the RB operator enters transaction related details into the computer 10, which functions as a terminal of the computer 11 or in a suitable communication protocol, the file having the information associated with the computer 11. Send to). For transactions involving the transfer of funds or securities, appropriate security measures, such as encryption or verification of data to and from the computer 11, are desirable, as is routine and well known to those skilled in the art.

An example of a simple form for entry of data to be sent from RB to GO is shown in FIG. 3. However, the "Transaction Entry Form" must contain at least full details of the buyer, related goods, purchase amount, guarantee amount, and "guarantee date of supply". The 'guaranteed supply date' is such that when goods or services are not supplied after this date, the buyer may contact GO to return the original warranty before the warranty expiration date and the buyer may require that GO pay the warranty. It is a date. GO, of course, must take appropriate care in processing such claims to ensure that no fraud has been involved, for example to process stolen warrants. However, routine and essential precautions in such commerce are beyond the scope of the present invention and are not described in detail herein.

In order to avoid the possibility of RB attempting to issue a fake warranty, the warranty printing procedure on the RB side should also be carried out with appropriate precautions. Many methods are known and are constantly being developed to achieve this goal, so those skilled in the art will be able to select the appropriate means to use in combination with a given particular system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the computer 11 controlling the certificate print job performs such a job by sending executables to the computer 10 that perform the print job. Such executables are not permanently resident in the memory of the computer 10 and are deleted after this operation is performed. An example of such executables is the Java-applet.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the output command, directly or via the computer 10, is sent to the printer in an encrypted form requiring decryption before output. Decryption may be performed using the appropriate decryption hardware, ie provided by GO and connected externally or internally between the printer and the computer 10. This decryption hardware is in principle no different from a television decoding device, and because it operates according to a standard known only to GO, the RB is not easily accessible, which prevents the RB from intervening in the output of the certificate. It is well known to those skilled in the art to provide such a coding and decoding device, such a device is not described here for the sake of brevity.

The main steps GO performs in processing a certificate issuance request from RB are summarized in FIG. 4. The first step 41 involves receiving data provided by the RB, which is the basis for accepting or rejecting the RB's request and also for preparing the certificate output. Based on the specific details required by the GO, the transaction is reviewed to determine if it falls within the scope of the transaction that GO defines as acceptable (42). For example, in the example of FIG. 3, the GO examines the type of transaction (purchase of furniture), the amount of transaction and the period satisfying the regulations, which will of course vary with each RB. In order to simplify the processing of information on the computer of the GO and to avoid as much as possible the need for human intervention in the processing, for example, codes such as 'transaction code', 'product / service code' in the example of FIG. 3 may be provided. Can be. Of course, if the transaction involves the sale of illegal drugs, for example, GO may refuse to issue a valid warranty on it, but there may be such unclear cases where it is not so clear whether the transaction can be accepted by certain GO criteria. have.

If the transaction cannot be accepted on the basis of the principle, GO notifies the RB of this fact (43) and stops processing the warranty request. This may be notified to the RB in any suitable way, ie by outputting a 'notice of rejection' instead of a valid warranty, or by contacting an RB representative.

If there is no reason for rejection of the transaction, the credit rating of the RB (sometimes referred to as the 'customer' from the GO's point of view) is reviewed to determine whether there is sufficient credit available to cover the amount of guarantee applied and the costs associated with GO ( 44). If the available credit rating at the time of processing is not sufficient, GO again informs the RB of the rejection of the issuance of the certificate (45) by some suitable means and stops processing the warranty request.

If the RB has sufficient available credit for a particular transaction, the guarantee amount (including the GO cost) is deducted from that credit. The GO then prepares the data necessary for the output of the warranty, including at least the main details necessary to represent the transaction as described above and the conditions under which the buyer can ask the GO to pay the guarantee. The warranty is usually issued with the name of the particular buyer identified, and may be issued to the bearer if the relevant transaction is clearly demonstrated. The GO then connects to the output means of the RB and outputs the certificate via a computer in the RB or directly to the output device, ie via a secure interface, as described above. After the buyer reviews the warranty, he or she can contact the GO directly to verify its credibility and pay RB, knowing that if the RB fails to meet the terms of the transaction, it can claim the warranty from GO.

As is evident from the foregoing, the present invention simplifies commercial transactions by making transactions more secure for the public and by providing a valid guarantee for relatively small transactions that had no means to effectively guarantee prior to the present invention. Moreover, the present invention can be used in various environments, either domestically or internationally. For example, GO and RB can work over the Internet, not just via a LAN or direct modem connection. Buyers who wish to purchase goods over the Internet will also receive a valid warranty from GO, which also functions over the Internet. Furthermore, GO may have branch offices in various countries, so that a purchaser who wishes to purchase goods from an RB located in another country via the Internet may be issued a warranty payable in the buyer's currency in the buyer's country.

Another example to which the present invention may be applied is the purchase of goods through an international TV channel, in which a buyer pays through a credit card to a company located in another country, where the buyer can be sure that the goods will be delivered to the buyer. There is no means.

Another variant of the invention, which is particularly useful in the case of purchases via the Internet, TV or catalogue, allows GO to output a valid certificate from the buyer's printer, as opposed to printing the warranty in a store where both the buyer and seller are actually present. It is. Those skilled in the art will recognize that there is no particular problem with printing forms on the buyer's side, and this can be done in a number of ways, either by accessing the buyer's printer or by having the buyer print the file sent to the buyer. In this case, the operation may be performed in a manner similar to that used when the work is performed in RB. In all cases, however, means should be provided to prevent unauthorized duplication of the printed warranty, and means should be provided to ensure that documents printed by the GO on the printer of the buyer's customer are unique and cannot be forged. Many methods are known for this purpose and those skilled in the art will be able to select the appropriate method for a particular system.

All the foregoing embodiments are provided for purposes of illustration and are not intended to limit the invention. Within the scope of the present invention, many modifications may be made to the various systems and methods used, and many functions may be incorporated into the system of the present invention.

Claims (23)

A) establishing credit for a retailer (RB) of a guarantor (GO); B) provide within the GO a means of storing, retrieving and updating information indicating the credit rating of the RB assigned by GO; C) provide a means of communication operated by the RB and indicative of transactions to be assured, suitable for providing the GO with predetermined data; D) providing in GO a means for printing at the remote printer a validly authenticated warranty for the amount related to the transaction; E) modifying the RB credit rating at GO by checking whether RB's credit is sufficient to cover the requested guarantee and, if sufficient, subtracting the requested guarantee from the total available credit; F) prepare the data necessary for issuing to the purchaser a warranty indicating the transaction, the amount of the guarantee and the period within which the purchaser can submit to GO for a refund; G) outputting the validly authenticated certificate from the remote printer; Consists of stages, A method of purchasing a warranty, which enables a buyer to make a prepayment to purchase goods and services at a retail store (RB), wherein the prepayment is assured by a guarantee organization (GO) providing a warranty that can be issued within the retail store. The method of claim 1, wherein the data used to issue the certificate also includes the name of the person to whom the certificate is issued. The RB credit rating at GO according to claim 1 or 2, by adding to the total available credit the amount corresponding to the original certified warranty that RB returns to GO or the amount of the out-of-claim warranty expired. Method comprising the step of modifying. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the certificate is output at the printer in the RB. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transaction is not performed at the store of the RB, but is carried out by a remote purchase method. The method of claim 5, wherein the purchase is performed over the Internet. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the purchase is made via telephone. 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the purchase is made via mail. 8. A method as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that a warranty is output on a printer owned or available to the purchaser. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the certificate is output by sending executable objects to the computing device connected to the printer to control the print job. The method of claim 10, wherein the output of the certificate is performed by a program using a Java language. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the printer is connected with a decoding device which receives an encrypted output command from the computing device operated by GO. A) means provided in the GO for storing, retrieving and updating information indicative of the credit rating of the retail store RB given by the assurer; B) a means of communication operated by the RB and suitable for providing the GO with an indication of the transaction to be guaranteed and predetermined data; C) means provided in the GO for outputting at the remote printer a validly authenticated warranty for the amount related to the transaction; D) means provided within the GO to check whether the RB's credit is sufficient to cover the requested guarantee and, if sufficient, modify the RB credit rating at the GO by subtracting the applied guarantee amount from the total available credit; E) means for preparing data necessary for issuing to the purchaser a warranty indicating the transaction, the amount of the guarantee and the period within which the purchaser can submit to GO for a refund; G) means for outputting the validly authenticated certificate from the remote printer; Consist of, A guaranteed purchase system, which enables a buyer to make a prepayment for purchasing goods and services at a retail store (RB), wherein the prepayment is assured by a guarantee organization (GO) that provides a warranty that can be issued within the retail store. 15. The method of claim 13, comprising means for modifying the RB credit rating at the GO by adding to the total available credit an amount corresponding to the original certified warranty or the expired warranty returned by the RB to GO. System. 15. The system according to claim 13 or 14, comprising means for outputting a certificate at a printer in the RB. The system according to claim 13 or 14, comprising means for outputting a validly authenticated certificate on a printer that can be owned or used by a purchaser of a remote purchasing system. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the output of the warranty is performed via the Internet. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the output of the warranty is performed via a modem. 19. A system according to any one of claims 16 to 18, comprising means for outputting a certificate by sending executable objects to the computing device connected to the printer to control the print job. 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the output of the certificate is performed by a program using a Java language. 14. The system according to claim 13, comprising decoding means adapted to receive an encrypted output command from a computing device operated by GO, to decipher and interpret it as an output command of a printer, and connected with the printer. As actually described and illustrated, a guaranteed purchase method that enables a buyer to pay a prepayment guaranteed by a financial institution to purchase goods and services at a retail store (RB). As described and illustrated in practice, a guaranteed purchase system that enables a buyer to pay a prepayment guaranteed by a financial institution to purchase goods and services at a retail store (RB).