Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q99/00—Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages

Definitions

• the present invention relates to telecommunication systems.
• the present invention relates to a new and improved procedure and system for confirming a transaction in a telecommunication system.
• the problem is how to confirm that the bargain has really been concluded and that the parties understand the purport of the bargain and the terms of sale in the same way.
• it is necessary to make sure that the purchase can be safely debited to the customer's bank account.
• few customers are willing to give their bank account numbers or equivalent by telephone and, on the other hand, there is also the risk of dishonesty on the part of the cus- tomer and/or seller.
• Another risk is that of misuse of a bank account number given by telephone.
• the transaction may be a business transaction, order or other transaction involving two contracting parties who agree on a transaction.
• the object of the invention is to eliminate or at least to significantly alleviate the problems referred to above.
• a specific object of the invention is to disclose a new type of procedure and system for safely implementing a telesales transaction during a single call down to direct debiting.
• a further object of the invention is to disclose a system that enables a payment transaction to be implemented either without giving an actual account number to the seller or by using an account number if it has already been given to the seller. When the seller receives a client identification number, he can later get the account number on the basis of the client identification number.
• the procedure of the present invention concerns a procedure for confirming a transaction in a telecommunication system
• a telephone net- work which may be a public switched telephone network or a public land mobile network, a first telecommunication terminal and a second telecommunication terminal, which are compatible with the telephone network and connected to the telephone network.
• the system comprises an automatic telephone service system (ATS) connected to the telephone network.
• ATS automatic telephone service system
• the automatic telephone service system is a telephone network component known in itself, which is used for automatic implementation of various telephone services.
• a secret code is sent to the customer e.g. by mail or in an electronic form together with marketing material transmitted to the customer.
• a telecommunication connection is set up between the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal, e.g.
• the seller makes a call from the first telecommunication terminal to the subscriber, who uses the second telecommunication terminal, or the other way round.
• the telecommunication connection is transferred uninterrupted from the second telecommunication terminal to the automatic telephone service system.
• the customer transmits the secret code to the automatic telephone service system from the first telecommunication terminal, in which the code is verified. If the code is correct, then the customer is additionally asked to give a personal individualizing client identifier, e.g. a mailing name, and the business transaction or equivalent is confirmed if the client identifier is correct.
• the client identifier is transmitted to a payment system, which is a system implementing a high level of data security and controlled by a bank, and, based on the client identifier, customer information, such as account number and other data required, is retrieved and transmitted further to an order book.
• a transaction confirmation is generated and sent to the customer in an electronic form or by letter.
• the customer or contracting party to the transaction is allowed some time to react to the transaction confirmation by accepting or rejecting the transaction. In practice, if the customer accepts the order, he will nor respond to the transaction confirmation in any way, and if he does not accept the order, then he will react to the transaction confirmation by rejecting or canceling the order.
• the invention also concerns a system for confirming a transaction in a telecommunication system as described above in conjunction with the procedure of the invention.
• the system comprises means for transmitting a secret code to a customer, means for transferring the telecommunication connection uninterrupted from the second telecommunication terminal to the automatic telephone service system and means for verifying the secret code and the client identifier and confirming the order if the code and the identifier are correct.
• the system comprises means for transmitting the client identifier to a payment system after the transaction has been confirmed in a transaction database.
• the system may also comprise means for transmitting a transaction confirmation to the customer in an electronic form, e.g. by electronic mail, telefax or in an electronic letter.
• the secret code, client identifier, advertising material and other information can be transmitted using any message transmission protocol or message transmission system known in the telephone network or using the public postal service.
• the tele- communication terminals and telecommunication network or telephone network used may be other than the conventional telephone network.
• the present invention provides the advantage that the telesales transaction and its confirmation are brought to completion including direct debiting or other debiting during a single call.
• the transmission of the payment transaction can be implemented safely without delivering an actual account number to the dealer, if necessary.
• a further advantage is that, using the system of the invention, the actions of the seller and the customer can be controlled and fraudulent behavior can be prevented. Moreover, the invention provides means for effective utilization of the advantages of direct debiting.
• FIG. 1 presents a diagram representing a system according to the invention.
• Fig. 2a - 2b illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention in the form of a flow diagram.
• Fig. 1 presents a preferred embodiment of the confirmation system of the invention.
• the system comprises a first telecommunication terminal 1 and a second telecommunication terminal 2, which are connected to a telephone network 7, which may be a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public land mobile network (PLMN) .
• the telephone network also comprises means 8 for transmitting a secret code to the customer if the secret code is transmitted in an electric form. In this case, it is possible to use e.g. a s-hort message (SMS, Short Message Service) or some other format.
• SMS Short Message Service
• the telephone network comprises means 9 for transferring a telecommunication connection uninterrupted from the second telecommunication terminal 2 to an automatic telephone service system ATSS.
• the system also comprises a payment system 6 comprising an automatic telephone service system ATSS, which is provided with means 10 for verifying the code and the client identifier.
• a payment system 6 comprising an automatic telephone service system ATSS, which is provided with means 10 for verifying the code and the client identifier.
• the system com- prises a transaction database 3, which is connected to the automatic telephone service system 10 and in which the order or corresponding transaction confirmed by the customer with his secret code and client identifier is stored until a confirmation of a successful remittance of payment is received from the payment system 6.
• a transac- tion confirmation is sent to the customer e.g. by letter 5 or in an electric form using the message transmission properties of the telephone network 7.
• the payment system also comprises a database 4 used as a conversion database, from which the ac- count information for the customer is retrieved on the basis of the client identifier.
• the conversion database is a database managed by the bank and used by the bank in generating a direct debiting bill.
• the entire payment system 6 is preferably under con- trol of the bank, so that the bank can guarantee and rely on the security of the system.
• the subscriber or customer is sent a per- sonal secret code together with direct marketing material, step 10.
• the secret code is associated with a piece of information in the transaction database, such as a telephone number and/or client identifier, which is individual to the customer and which will be used later for the confirmation of the business transaction.
• the salesperson does not know the customer's secret code, so this makes it possible to check that the teleperson cannot perpetrate a so-called ghost bargain.
• the teleperson phones the customer, step 11, and a bargain is agreed on between the customer and the salesperson during the call, step 12. If no agreement can be reached, the procedure is stopped.
• the salesperson transfers the call to the automatic telephone service system, step 13, which asks the customer to give the secret code, step 14.
• the code is checked for correctness, step 15, and if it is not correct, then the procedure returns to step 14 and the customer is asked to give the code again. This can be repeated e.g. three times, after which the system concludes that the customer has no right to order the product, whereupon the call is disconnected.
• the automatic telephone service system asks the customer to give his/her client identifier, which is a customer-specific identi- fier that the customer has received e.g. from his/her bank.
• the buyer's (payer's) bank can retrieve the corresponding account number for direct debiting.
• step 17 the authenticity of the client identifier is verified, and this verification can be repeated in the same as was done before in conjunction with the secret code.
• the client identifier Once the client identifier has been established to be correct, information regarding the order is transmitted to the transaction database 3 (Fig. 1) and to the bank's con- version database 4 (Fig. 1) .
• the customer Once the customer has entered his/her client identifier and secret code, the customer can be regarded as having accepted the conditions of the bargain (expression of will) .
• a direct debiting transaction is generated in the bank on the basis of the conversion database 4, step 19, and this transaction is further dispatched to the customer.
• a notice is given via the automatic telephone service system to the transaction database, indicating that the direct debiting transaction has been generated and that an order confirmation can be sent to the customer, step 20.
• the system checks whether the customer reacts to the order con- firmation, and if the customer does react, i.e. denies or cancels the order, then the procedure is stopped. If the customer does not respond to the order confir- mation in any way, then the customer is regarded as having ultimately accepted the bargain and the purchase is debited to the customer' s account and the product is delivered.
• the transac- tions entered in the conversion database 4 can only be received from sources controlled by banks, in this example from an automatic telephone service system.

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• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Financial Or Insurance-Related Operations Such As Payment And Settlement (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=8552622

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Citations (5)

• 1998
  • 1998-10-01 FI FI982132A patent/FI107362B/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1999
  • 1999-10-01 AU AU59877/99A patent/AU5987799A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-10-01 WO PCT/FI1999/000814 patent/WO2000021266A2/fi active Application Filing

Patent Citations (5)

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