WO2009031912A1

WO2009031912A1 - On-line payment system

Info

Publication number: WO2009031912A1
Application number: PCT/RO2007/000020
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mircea Pantelie
Original assignee: Mircea Pantelie
Priority date: 2007-09-04
Filing date: 2007-10-10
Publication date: 2009-03-12

Abstract

An on-line payment system which is based on an non-personalized financial instrument under the form of a ticket protected by security codes and a software program that allows transaction between buyers and vendors through a system of permanent and temporary accounts.

Description

DESCRIPTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION.This invention relates to a new way of paying for the goods and the services purchased on-line without a card,a bank account,a check or any other method that the inventor is aware to this day.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.The growth of the Internet was supposed to allow both clients and vendors to get in touch more easily.Many have rushed to predict that virtual money will soon replace real paper money. To this day,this has proved to be a highly optimistic vision since it is quite clear that,despite a constant growth over the last decade,e-commerce is still way behind conventional retail practices. Among the causes for this delay many studies have identified credit card forgery, signature forgery, identity theft and other potential on-line frauds.Not to mention that since the Internet is only about 10 years old many people are computer illiterate(though not in a pejorative sens).But still they prove easy to trick by those who take advantage of their lack of knowledge. All of this have contributed to the general idea that on-line transactions are essentially vulnerable and not to be trusted.The proposed system wants to demonstrate a new way of being able to allow and to protect on-line transactions by using other financial instrument then a personalized one such as a card, bank account and others. All this personalized financial instruments have in common the major disadvantage that they allow access to your private financial data.If someone gets access to your bank account or makes a clone of your card(very easy these days with modern technical means) you can loose both money and also privacy.For many,the fact that other people can track their shoppings on-line, is a good reason to stay away from modern e-commerce.Figure 1 illustrate the two inevitable vulnerabilities which occur in todays modern electronic payment systems.This are represented by the computer(which can be taken over) and the use of personalized financial instruments to make a payment to someone who you probably don't know and who can be thousands of miles away.

SUMMERY OF THE INVENTION.The proposed on-line payment system has two components:a software component and a technical one.The technical component is about the way in which real money will be deposited in virtual accounts(quite similar to e-mail accounts).The software component will insure the security of the money deposited in a manner that will allow nobody to identify the account owner(at least not through an on-line surveillance).The technical component takes the shape of a ticket(see figure 2) which will be used by the buyer to deposit a sum of money,equal to the value of the ticket, into an account opened by the software.The account can be a temporary or a permanent one for the buyer who will have the choice to remain completely anonymous since the procedure is similar to that of opening an e-mail account.For the vendor this choice will not be available.He will have only a permanent account which will be opened by filling a request in which he will have to make a number of specification in order to be allowed to have access to the system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS. Figure 1 illustrates the steps necessary to make a transaction today.

Figure 2 depicts the general shape and characteristics of a ticket used to transfer paper money into virtual accounts.

Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the steps necessary to perform a transaction accordingly to the proposed system.

DETAILD DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION.The novelty of the system resides in its capability of assuring the security of the transaction in a way that will guaranty that the buyer will pay(with its own money) and that the vendor will deliver the promised good or service.

First lets detail the technical component. As mentioned above it will take the form of a ticket which can be purchased like any another good from a shop or any other place where it is available.The ticket will have printed on the right side the value of the ticket(l 0,20,50, euro for example).The left side will contain three boxes covered by an erasable surface so that it will not be possible to see whats beneath it.Under the erasable surface the three boxes will have three security codes(12 to 16 digits or even more if necessary)The first two will be typed into a window opened by the software and in this way they will prove that the person who typed the codes has paid the value of the ticket.The third code will serve to prove that the person is indeed the owner of the ticket should there be a problem with the first two codes.In order to prevent a potential fraud the system will impose a limited number of tries for both the first two codes and also the third(3 tries is a reasonable number).This measure of protection is necessary in order to prevent someone from using a software program to run random combination hoping to guess the first two codes. Since there is a limited number of tries the security codes will be visible(when typed) to the user in order to eliminate the risk of typing a wrong code(like when you type a password to an e-mail account).This system of transferring money from the real world into the virtual one has the benefit of being universal because the software will have incorporated also an exchange rate application so that with a single click you can exchange the value of your ticket that you might have bought in euro into any other currency in the world and shop on-line worldwide.Also you risk even in the worst case scenario(someone finds out the security codes before you can type them) only the money from a single ticket and not exposing the rest of you finances like in the case of using a card or bank account.lt is practically like paying cash.

The software program will have specific instructions so that it will be able to guard the transactions.One specification has already be mentioned and regards the number of tries allowed for the confirmation of the security codes.

Another specification regards the fact that all participants must have opened accounts,permanent ones or temporary ones,available for a single transaction.As mentioned before the buyer will have the choice of a temporary or a permanent account and vendors will only have permanent one.The permanent status of the vendor account will be guaranteed by the fact that the vendor will have to make a deposit when he will be granted the right to open an account.The size of the deposit will depend on certain factors such as reputation, net income etc.Also the deposit will serve to refund those who will prove that they did not received the good or the service that they have ordered.

Other important specification will be the banning of any tranfer between buyers accounts or between vendors accounts.Only transactions between a buyer account and a vendor account will be allowed.This will be very useful in forbidding that someone who can have access to other account to be able to transfer the money.If he will make a purchase that will be eadily traceable.To complete this instruction another instruction of the program will prevent the retrieval of cash from the system.If a client has money deposited into an account he will have to make a future payment to benefit from his money.He can ,for example, to pay in advance his utility or phone bill. Other instruction from the program will allow the owner of an account to impose temporary or permanent upper limits on the amount of a single transaction^ single day or a week so to have more assurance that no one can play with his m,oney

Lets imagine an example.

A person wants to buy on-line music,make a reservation or to pay his bills. For that he will buy a ticket or more tickets to cover the price of the good or service. After that he will erase the surface above the security codes and by using a computer,a mobile phone or other device connected to the Internet he will open the vendors website.There he will make the order and when he will be asked to pay he will click on the window of the on-line payment system..A window will appear who will give him the chance to open his account or ,if he does not have one,will give him the opportunity to open a temporary one(available for a single transaction).He will type the two security code and the system will confirm that he has the money necessary for the transaction.So,now,he can make the transfer and the system will confirm the transaction.All these procedures can take place in less then five minute unlike when using a card or a bank account for which you have to go to a bank and lose a lot of time only to expose yourself to the risk of someone finding your password.

The proposed system will only operate virtual payments.The real,cash,payments will be operated by the banking system since that was his duty ever since it was created.The on-line payment system will only inform the banking system about the transactions that it intermediated and then the banks will operate the actual transfers.The on-line payment system will operate like an externalized on-line banking system.

Claims

What is claimed:

IA method of transferring money from the real world into the virtual one through a ticket system protected by security codes and which acts as a non-personalized financial instrument.

2.A method to operate an on-line payment system which will insure the security of the transactions by operating a temporary and permanent accounts.

3.A method of protecting the money deposited into the accounts by forbidding their transfer from one account to another unless it is from a buyer account to a vendor account.

4.A method of protecting the money by banning their withdrawing as cash unless a purchase has occurred.

5.A method of protecting the money deposited into the accounts by allowing the owner to impose temporary or permanent upper limits on the amount of a single transaction,a single day or a week.