WO2003079247A2

WO2003079247A2 - A method of enabling a network user to access information or to purchase goods for services over the network

Info

Publication number: WO2003079247A2
Application number: PCT/IB2003/001009
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raymond Lawrence Val-Jean Merton
Original assignee: Merton Raymond Lawrence Val-Je
Priority date: 2002-03-19
Filing date: 2003-03-19
Publication date: 2003-09-25
Also published as: GB0423226D0; GB2404057A; AU2003212560A1

Description

A METHOD OF ENABLING A NETWORK USER TO ACCESS INFORMATION OR TO PURCHASE GOODS OR SERVICES OVER THE

NETWORK

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

THIS invention relates to a method of enabling a network user to access information or to purchase goods or services over the network.

The present invention is typically for use within the Internet environment. A problem often encountered by vendors in this environment is how to charge users for information or for the purchases of goods and/or services.

The payment method needs to be fast, easy to use and needs to be secure. Furthermore, it has been found that Internet users are often reluctant to place financial and personal information onto the Internet. The payment method therefore needs to assure the users that the payment information will not be misused.

The present invention therefore aims to facilitate collecting payment from a casual browser (subscriber) who wishes to view the contents of a particular web site or member/subscriber sections thereof or who wishes to purchase a product or service from an Internet merchant without the subscriber having to enter their identity, personal or credit card details etc.

In addition, if the subscriber is not concerned about entering some personal details on the Internet, then the subscriber will also be able to set-up a personal profile on the system which could include their name and / or address details for product delivery purposes and optional personal identification numbers (PINs) which can then be used as a purchase control device, parental control device or a further user access control device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a method of enabling a network user to access information or to purchase goods or services over the network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a user request via the network for information or to purchase goods or services;

checking via the network if the user has an electronic access coupon with access credits stored on a computer of the user;

if no electronic access coupon is present on the user's computer or it is invalid then:

i) transmitting an electronic message to the user to dial a premium rated telephone number;

ii) receiving an electronic message from a computer associated with a telephone network, the message indicating that the user has been billed for the premium rated telephone call;

iii) transmitting an electronic access coupon to the user and allowing the user access to the requested information via the network or confirming the purchase of the goods or services; and

iv) reducing the access credits in the electronic access coupon sent to the user; if an electronic access coupon is present on the user's computer which has access credits and is valid then:

i) allowing the user access to the requested information via the network or confirming the purchase of the goods or services; and

ii) reducing the access credits in the electronic access coupon.

The electronic access coupon may be encrypted.

Preferably, the method includes the steps of:

transmitting an access code to the user via the network and receiving the access code from the user, which access code has been entered by the user during the telephone call;

checking that the access code entered by the user matches the access code transmitted to the user; and

allowing the user to proceed if the access code received from the user is valid.

The electronic access coupon may have a PIN set, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of checking if the electronic access coupon has a PIN set, and if so prompting the user to enter the PIN and checking that the PIN is correct before allowing the user to access the requested information via the network or confirming the purchase of the goods or services.

The user may be allowed multiple access to the information after they have been billed for access to the information the first time by referencing the encrypted coupon on the user's computer. The computer associated with the telephone network may be instructed to request the user to enter a coupon identity and/or a purchase PIN.

Preferably, the method includes the step of prompting the user to enter a purchase PIN to allow the user to purchase an electronic access coupon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation of the method of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a simplified flow diagram of the method;

Figure 3 is a flow diagram showing the merchant registration procedure; and

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the subscriber registration procedure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Although the present invention could be applied to other networks, the present invention is particularly suitable for use in the Internet context.

Casual browsers on the Internet are often required to pay for information contained in a particular website or member/subscriber section thereof. Furthermore, casual browsers often wish to purchase a product or service from an Internet merchant and need to pay for these services.

With most current methods of payment, casual browsers often shy away from viewing the content through fear of identification or security issues in providing their personal and credit card details over the Internet. Premium rate telephone services are now common place within the domain of the public telephone network providers. They are mainly used to provide audio services to subscribers by the subscriber dialing a particular number advertised by a service provider using a standard telephone on a digital network or a cellular network. When the premium rate number is dialed, the telephone company which owns the premium rate number will bill the caller via their normal telephone billing mechanism and provide a commission to the service provider that has been allocated to the premium rate number by way of a service agreement, and the service provider will deliver the audio service to the caller, such as a horoscope prediction, for example.

Some premium rate telephone network providers allow the service provider to set a particular tariff to a particular number so as to allow for variable recoveries for different numbers dialed. The premium rate telephone network providers have standard commission structures that apply to the use of these numbers and the amount of call traffic generated.

This invention combines this standard infrastructure with the Internet into a homogenous solution which effectively allows a subscriber to purchase content, information, product or services from a merchant's web site and at the same time remain anonymous to the merchant unless they wish to divulge further information in reference to the delivery of a product, for example. Merchants on the Internet are able to gain payment for their content, information, product or services from unknown subscribers and repeat subscribers without having to enforce cumbersome subscriptions by alternative payment mechanisms such as credit cards for example.

Two prior art patents are cited which attempt to improve on credit card type subscriptions by using premium rate services but which fall short of an effective solution.

Patent application no. WO/0172001 requires that the information server establish a premium rate connection with the subscriber's station for the duration of content delivery or the initial contact server establishes a connection link to the information content provider via a premium rate link for which the charge thereof will be submitted to the subscriber for payment. This second method would then allow the information content provider to deliver the information via other means such as SMS or WAP etc. This relies upon the other servers to determine the connection and disconnection of the premium rate links and takes control away from the subscriber in knowing the actual time duration of the call connections and also, as has been the case in adoption, leaves the user at the mercy of unscrupulous service operators dialling higher rated lines than those indicated.

WO/0195591 relies on a computer using downloaded software at the subscriber station to dial a merchant via the Internet on a premium rate telephone number to effect access to the merchants products or services. The drawbacks of this prior art are the complexity of connections to be effected automatically via the downloaded software and the technology required to support this prior art. It will be noted that the description specifically makes mention of the need to have an ISDN type modem device or cell phone device to achieve its objective and therefore is very limited in its solution appeal.

ZA 98/1284 describes a method that may at first glance have some similarity to this present invention. For example, displaying a web form instructing a subscriber to dial a telephone number. However, the number the subscriber has to dial is a complex generated number which may contain secret or embedded codes to indicate the telephone prefix, the product identification, the purchase amount, the originating merchant and session identifier etc. which is therefore not a standard premium rate number. This cannot be implemented on a premium rate telephone numbering system because it would require the entire range of premium rate numbers to be allocated to this art which is not commercially viable and would indeed not be made available to one service provider to implement. Furthermore, in all probability, the complex generated numbers would exceed the maximum telephone number size standardised in this industry. In addition, this prior art relays the telephone ID number of the subscriber to the merchant, which is what this present invention specifically does not do in order to maintain the privacy of the subscriber which is very important.

In addition, none of the prior art facilitates a subscriber multiple access to the same merchants pages without incurring additional call charges to the subscriber, whereas this present invention specifically addresses this membership type of service where the subscriber can access merchants sites many times through normal access mechanisms and only requires them to dial a premium rate number when they no longer have access credit available.

As is apparent from the above deficiencies with prior art systems, a need still exists for an Internet micro billing system that is fast, simple, flexible, secure and where the subscriber can remain anonymous. Furthermore, the merchant should, with no intervention on their behalf, be able to effect payment before delivery of their content, product or service. Furthermore, the subscriber should not have to modify operating system settings, download or install complex software on their subscriber station or have to rely on the correctness of an automatic establishment and termination of premium rate call links to a merchant's server by other parties or processes. Furthermore, the subscriber should not have to go to a website, dial a premium rate number, listen to voice prompts on an IVR, write down an access code, go back to the website and key in the access code in order to get access to the content, product or service which process is lengthy, error prone and does not provide a seamless homogenous solution.

Referring to Figure 1 , according to the present invention, a subscriber station 0 is typically in the form of a computer which is used to connect to a merchant web server 30 to access one or more web pages hosted on the web server 30. The subscriber station 10 uses the Internet 20 and a standard browser and Internet connection to connect to web server 30. The subscriber then requests access to either a web page for a product, service, content or information which requires payment by clicking on a button, choice, form or link using their browser.

The registered merchant web server 30 attempts to deliver the required content page, which page has an embedded javascript and a Java applet that checks the subscribers computer for an electronic access coupon in the form of a 128-bit encrypted "micro billing cookie" which may contain access credits for the subscriber to have access to this page. If the micro billing cookie is present with valid credits, the subscriber will then be able to view the page or order a product or service or view further pages depending on what that merchant is providing. The access credits in the coupon are reduced accordingly. The subscriber client side micro billing cookie also allows the merchant to control whether the subscriber can come back multiple times based on a single purchase of a coupon and how long they may stay viewing the particular page or pages. The merchant sets these view options in their merchant profile on the billing web server 40 via a secure Internet access. This will be explained in more detail below.

The electronic access coupon is merchant specific so the subscriber could have a number of coupons on their subscriber station 10 at any one time. Furthermore, the coupon could be made specific to certain information of a merchant. This adds to security as if an encrypted coupon for one merchant is decrypted, the encryption on the other merchant coupon will remain intact.

The subscriber also has the option of setting up a personal profile on the system, and if they have entered an access PIN into their profile then the javascript / Java applet on the subscribers station 10 will prompt the subscriber to enter the access PIN and will verify its correctness before allowing access to the web page, irrespective of whether access credits exist. The system could include different levels of access PINs to allow parental control or spend control to be implemented for access to different levels of information. If the micro billing cookie is not present, not valid or it has expired and therefore has no active credits in place, the subscriber is automatically redirected to the billing web server 40 which will validate the credentials of the merchant, look up the merchant profile information and deliver a coupon purchase web page to the subscriber. This instructs the subscriber that they need to purchase credits to access the page requested and they can do so by dialing the premium rate telephone number displayed on the web page and then enter via the telephone keypad an access code in the form of a coupon id if shown to confirm their purchase request.

The coupon id is an optional entry set by a merchant in their merchant profile which when set will be displayed on the purchase coupon for entry by the subscriber as an additional security measure to authorise typically larger purchase amounts or to control accidental entry. In addition, if the subscriber has set-up a subscriber profile and they have entered a purchase PIN in their profile then the subscriber will be asked to prefix the coupon id entered with their purchase PIN. This allows the subscriber to control who can make purchases and can also act as a parental control device. If the coupon id is not set in the merchant profile but the purchase PIN is set in the subscriber profile then the subscriber will just enter the purchase PIN and vice versa. Once again, there could be various levels of purchase PINs to allow purchase control to be implemented for various levels of information.

The subscriber dials the premium rated number on their telephone or mobile phone and the call is routed to the premium rate telephone network provider (Telco 60) who will if instructed play a prompt informing the caller that this call will attract a premium rate tariff and should they wish to continue they should enter in the purchase PIN / coupon id to confirm the purchase. If the subscriber enters the valid coupon id (and/or purchase PIN) via their keypad using DTMF, for example, the call is then registered and the premium rate charge is made to their normal telephone account. If no coupon id or purchase PIN setting is applicable for this merchant or subscriber or for this premium rate number then the call will be registered as if the subscriber had entered a valid coupon id / purchase PIN and the premium rate charge is made to their normal telephone account.

A computer associated with the Telco 60 informs the billing server 50 that the caller was successfully billed. The billing server 50 is typically connected to the Telco 60 via a Wide Area Network (WAN) TCP/IP connection or a Local Area Network (LAN). The billing server 50 is typically connected to the premium rate telephone network providers IVR server. If the subscriber is given a purchase confirmation option and does not wish to confirm the purchase they can just terminate their call and no charge will be raised. However, they will not be able to access the merchants web page in this case.

Once the billing server 50 receives an instruction that the caller was billed, it sends a coupon payment update message to the billing web server 40 which will in turn deliver the purchase coupon to the merchant web server 30 which then delivers the new encrypted 'micro billing cookie' to the subscriber station 10 via the Internet 20, along with the web page requested. All of this happens in a seamless fashion. Generally, within a couple of seconds of making the call, the subscriber can view the merchant's billable web page(s).

The registered merchant's server is in control as to how it manages the transaction e.g. how long the subscriber will have access to further content, how the product should be delivered or downloaded, when the service should be executed etc. This is a further strength of the present invention in that a standard front-end is presented to both the subscriber and the merchant and thereby provides for the widest of solutions with the specific merchant providing their own unique back end solutions related to the unique delivery requirements of their product or service, once payment from the subscriber has been effected. This design also improves the efficiency of the system in that the processing load is shared by the merchant's server 30 and the client side Java applet running on the subscriber station 10, thus greatly reducing the load that would be placed on the billing web server 40 and the billing server 50 and thus reducing the response time required to authorise repeat viewing or ordering.

Furthermore, once the subscriber dials the premium rate telephone number and or enters in the pin/coupon id, the call processing, authorisation and call termination takes place automatically without any further intervention by the subscriber. Average duration of the call can be set to facilitate a minimum toll charge and can be for example anywhere from a second to minutes.

The registered merchant/vendor of the web site would receive payment from the subscribers (browsing public) by way of a commission paid by the telephone network provider or an intermediate billing company on the premium rate numbers dialled from their subscribers thereby giving the merchant immediate payment credit for the delivery of the product or service and giving the subscriber a very simple access or purchase ability without having to identify their personal details or other payment instrument details like a credit card number.

The micro billing cookie contains various information including the amount of time that the coupon is valid for, the number of times that the subscriber can re-visit the web pages, the merchant that the coupon is valid for, the subscriber's access PINs and other system control information. This data is encrypted using a strong 128-bit encryption algorithm and is very secure. Each coupon issued has its own unique set of private keys for each site and thus prevents any person from tampering with the validity of the coupon information. This encryption design would also in the very unlikely event that a person does successfully decrypt the coupon information, make it useless for application to any other coupon issued and therefore makes it unattractive for a person to take the time or expense to attempt the decryption of the micro billing cookie.

The above process is also shown in Figure 2 by way of a flow diagram. Referring to Figure 3, the merchant is required to register and to apply for a merchant profile to use the system of the present invention. This is done via a secure Internet access (or email). The merchant can update the profile at any time to reflect their merchant-specific information. Once the merchant profile has been defined, site profiles can be configured to include access-related information like the duration (specified down to a resolution of seconds) and maximum number of times that a subscriber may view the content and whether or not a coupon id should be presented to the subscriber. Once the site profiles have been configured, the merchant would be emailed for each site, an "include" file and a "Java applet", which would contain the merchant profile id and a set of unique encryption keys.

To activate their site, the merchant simply adds the supplied include file and Java applet to their merchant site, and edits the html pages to reference these files. The whole process from applying for a merchant profile to protecting a site should take a matter of minutes. The present invention not only provides for a fast, easy and secure method for the subscriber, but also for the merchant.

Although the subscriber can remain anonymous, they also have the option of adding a subscriber profile with purchase and access PINs to further protect their purchase credits or to act as a parental control device. The subscriber may also in the profile enter purchasing budgets so that they can be warned if they exceed preset budgeted expenditure during the course of any month's activity.

Further, if the subscriber is not concerned about their personal details being transmitted over a secure Internet link they can optionally include their name and product delivery address in their profile if so desired to improve product purchase and delivery processing by the merchants. Thus it will be appreciated that the subscriber has access which is quick, easy and anonymous and they do not have to worry about disclosure of personal information or credit card details over the Internet. The subscriber also has the choice as to whether they wish to continue with the purchase or abandon the request and this leaves the subscriber in total control.

The present invention also enables all types of merchants to receive payment, who at this point in time have no way of gaining financial reward from a casual purveyor of their site content other than current credit card or other cumbersome subscription methods which take control away from them.

Furthermore, the present invention requires no intervention by the subscriber other than making a telephone call and entering a PIN / coupon id when instructed to do so. The subscriber is at all times in control of the premium rate call dialling and connections thereto. No permanent executable programs are downloaded onto the subscriber's computer, which defeats the 'sand box' design of all Internet technology and which would meet with strong user rejection.

It will be appreciated that although this present invention refers to specific current technologies like 'cookies', 128-bit encryption, javascript and Java applets, the present invention could be implemented on equivalent and alternative new technologies once they are developed and deployed on a wide scale by the industry, and thus maintaining the same methods and processes described here.

Claims

1. According to the present invention there is provided a method of enabling a network user to access information or to purchase goods or services over the network, the method comprising the steps of:

iv) reducing the access credits in the electronic access coupon sent to the user;

if an electronic access coupon is present on the user's computer which has access credits and is valid then: i) allowing the user access to the requested information via the network or confirming the purchase of the goods or services; and

ii) reducing the access credits in the electronic access coupon.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the electronic access coupon is encrypted.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2 including the steps of:

4. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the electronic access coupon has a PIN set, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of checking if the electronic access coupon has a PIN set, and if so prompting the user to enter the PIN and checking that the PIN is correct before allowing the user to access the requested information via the network or confirming the purchase of the goods or services.

5. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the steps of updating the electronic access coupon to indicate that the user has been billed for access to information.

6. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the user is allowed multiple access to the information after they have been billed for access to the information the first time by referencing the electronic access coupon on the user's computer.

7. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the steps of instructing the computer associated with the telephone network to request the user to enter a coupon identity and/or a purchase PIN.

8. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of prompting the user to enter a purchase PIN to allow the user to purchase an electronic access coupon.