WO2011073527A1

WO2011073527A1 - System, method and service for adding funds into a pre-paid service

Info

Publication number: WO2011073527A1
Application number: PCT/FI2010/051045
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ari Ekman; Maija Jokisaari-Karateke; Tiina Uutela
Original assignee: Itella Oyj
Priority date: 2009-12-18
Filing date: 2010-12-16
Publication date: 2011-06-23
Also published as: EP2513849A1; FI20096359A; FI124437B; RU2012127882A; FI20096359A0

Abstract

The invention is concerned with a payment system in a telecommunication network for adding funds into a pre-paid service. The payment system includes a payment service (3) provided by a first service provider. The system comprises a device (1) with means for performing the pre-paid service by using the added funds paid in accordance with status information held by the device (1). A user terminal (4) in the system has first means for accessing the payment service (3) of the first service provider and second means for accessing and using a banking service provided by a bank (7) in which the user has a user bank account. The user terminal (4) further has means to transfer funds via the payment service (3) to the device (1) that uses the pre-paid service from means that holds status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service. A payment service (3) in the system provided by the first service provider is connected to said bank (7) and has means to handle a sum paid via the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service used by the user via said device (1). The system furthermore has means for holding status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service. A banking service is connected to the user terminal (4) and to the payment system (3). The invention is furthermore concerned with a method and a payment service for adding funds into a pre-paid service performed by a device using the funds.

Description

SYSTEM, METHOD AND SERVICE FOR ADDING FUNDS INTO A PRE-PAID SERVICE TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is concerned with a payment system in a telecommunications network for adding funds into a pre-paid service, the payment system including a payment service provided by a service provider. The invention is also concerned with a method and a payment service in a telecommunications network for adding funds into a pre-paid service, which is performed by a device that uses funds paid.

BACKGROUND The term franking includes any and all devices or markings such as postage stamps (printed or embossed on postal stationery), printed or stamped impressions, codings, labels, manuscript writings (including "priviledge" signatures), and/or any other authorized form of markings affixed or applied to mails to qualify them to be postally serviced.

Postage franking is the physical application and presence of postage stamps, or any other markings recognized and accepted by the postal system or systems providing service, which indicate the payment of sufficient fees for the class of service which the item of mail is to be or had been afforded.

In addition to stamps, postage franking can be in the form of printed or stamped impressions made in an authorized format and applied directly by a franking machine, postage meter, computer generated franking labels or other similar methods.

A postage meter, or a franking machine, is a mechanical device used to create and apply physical evidence of postage (or franking) to mailed matter. Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation and a dated postmark all in one. The meter serves as a proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps. A franking machine thus automatically stamps letters or packages passing through it and computes the total charge.

Postage meters have evolved from purely mechanical devices to today's Internet-based postage dispensing services. The evolution of the postage meter is covered in the following sections.

The postage meter normally consists of a keyboard for entering the postage, seals, and a stamping mechanism. A seal can be a wax seal bearing an impressed figure, an embossed figure in paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document, or any device for making such impressions or embossments. Years ago, when users used mechanical postage meters, they needed to bring their meter to a postal office in order to add additional postage (sometimes called a "reset" or "refill"). Today, users can add to their postage balance by telephone, prepaid cards, via the web or through a direct connection over the Internet. The postage meter usually shows the remaining balance, the total postage of the franked consignments and the amount of prints for e.g. statistic purposes.

Thus, postal sendings, postal mails, letters and postal packages can be paid by a postage meter or a franking machine. It is a form of a pre-paid service, with which a marking on a sending is produced. As postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority, such authority or postal company usually owns and manages the bank accounts, the device (i.e. the postage meter or the franking machine) information and the status (balance) information of the payments to the device. The importers of the device are service providers that sell or rent such devices to customers.

As was mentioned above, modern system solutions make it possible for the users to increase their postage balance through e.g. a direct connection over the Internet or other network solution.

Elements in such a system include a company account to which the pre-payments are paid, a loading center that forwards information to a postage meter device and said device for producing the payments markings and a counter for holding information of the funds used and the funds left for use.

In the prior art systems, the customers pay money to a bank account of the postal company or authority by means of a device wise reference transfer for funding the particular device. When the postal company has received the money on the account, which is transferred by the customer's bank in 1 - 3 days depending on which bank the customer has used, the transaction can be handled by the postal company, usually the following day after the receipt of the money. On the following day, the information of the transaction is sent to the loading center of the importer, from which it is manually transferred to be used for funding the postage meter devices. The customers can then download funds individually for each device.

A problem with the prior art solutions is that money paid by the customer on a pre-paid account can not immediately be seen as funds in the system and there is a delay between the time of paying the money until the customer can use the money paid for the service. Another problem with prior art solutions is that authorization is required for security reasons and with extensive communication as a result making the methods complicated and time consuming.

EP applications 0700021 and 0390731 are mentioned as examples of prior art solutions for transmitting data between a data control centre and a franking machine when funding already has been paid.

EP application 0952560 is another solution for funding an electronic franking machine when the money has been paid. The customer's personal computer is connected to the franking machine and to internet. The services of the franking machine are accessed via internet from a server that in turn is connected to data centre that manages the funds. The function for funding is thus selected via internet and information including verification data and residual value data is exchanged and a value is added to the franking machine.

GB patent 2396583 presents a system that includes a money transfer system coupled to the franking machine and adapted to allow a user to transfer funds from the postal security device to the money transfer system and vice versa. The money transfer system works with a smart card reader to which a smart card that is an electronic wallet can be inserted. Money has previously been inserted to the smart card. The postal franking arrangement of GB patent 2188870 has a postage meter in which postage value is placed by a central station which is also in communication with a remote resetting center for accounting for funds earlier transferred to the accounting unit. The only communication path between the secure accounting unit and the resetting centre is via the central station.

US patent application 2003071 1 15 presents a data transfer method for topping up a prepaid electronic credit associated with a service user over a data and telecommunication network, essentially in real time. The money that is transferred has, however, earlier been paid to an electronic wallet.

US patent application 2008010211 presents a solution for backup, refund and restore of postal device funds.

The object of the invention is a solution for funding a pre-paid service in real-time so that the prior art delay between the payment by the customer and the time when the sum paid can be used is avoided.

A more special object is a solution for funding such a pre-paid service in real-time that is used by a franking machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is concerned with a payment system in a telecommunication network for adding funds into a pre-paid service. The payment system includes a payment service provided by a first service provider. The system comprises a device with means for performing the pre-paid service by using the added funds paid in accordance with status information held by the device. A user terminal in the system has first means for accessing the payment service of the first service provider and second means for accessing and using a banking service provided by a bank in which the user has a user bank account. The user terminal further has means to transfer funds via the payment service to the device that uses the pre-paid service from means that holds status information of said pre- paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service. A payment service in the system provided by the first service provider is connected to said bank and has means to handle a sum paid via the user terminal to be used for funding a pre-paid service used by the user via said device. The system furthermore has means for holding status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service. A banking service connected to the user terminal and to the payment system.

The invention is also concerned with a method in a telecommunication network for adding funds into a pre-paid service. The pre-paid service is performed by a device that uses funds paid in accordance with status information held by the device. The method is performed by means of a payment service that is provided by a first service provider. The method comprises the steps in which a user accesses, via a user terminal, the payment service provided by the first service provider and selects a sum to be paid for a pre-paid service performed by a particular device. The first service provider directs the user terminal to a banking service. The user terminal accesses a banking service provided by a bank and pays the selected sum for said given pre-paid service from the bank into a bank account of the first service provider. The first service provider gets a confirmation of the payment performed by the user terminal from the bank. The first service provider adds said sum to a pre-paid account of the user and updates the status information of funds added by the user. The added fund is then transferred to the device performing the prepaid service.

The invention is furthermore concerned with a payment service for adding funds into a prepaid service performed by a device using the funds. The payment service is connected in a telecommunication network to a user terminal and a bank providing banking services. The payment service comprises a link page with access to information and means for managing data and applications offered by and belonging to the payment service. Means in the payment service redirects the user terminal to a banking service, and other means handle a sum paid via the user terminal to be used for funding a pre-paid service performed by a particular device. There are also means in the payment service for holding status information of said pre-paid service performed by the device and of funds added.

Diifferent embodiments of the invention are presented in the subclaims.

In the following, the invention is described by means of some detailed embodiments examples by referring to figures. The scope of the invention is described by the claims and is not restricted to the details of these embodiments.

DRAWINGS Figure 1 is an architecture view of the system of the invention

Figure 2 is an architecture view of the system of the invention, wherein an example of the payment service of the first service provider is presented more in detail

Figure 3 is a signal diagram of an embodiment of the method of the invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 is an architecture view of the system of the invention. The system comprises a device 1 , which in this example is a franking machine 1 of a prepaid service and with which postal sendings, postal mails, letters and postal packages etc. can be franked. It can, however, be any form of a pre-paid service, with which a marking on a sending is produced by e.g. printing. The franking machine 1 can show on a display the remaining balance, the total postage of the franked consignments and the amount of prints for e.g. statistic purposes. Even if figure 1 shows for clarity reasons only one franking machine, one user might use several franking machines, which might be form different vendors. Preferably, said device has a counter and means for holding information of the funds used and the funds left for use. When there are no funds left in the device, the device can not be used (it is locked) for using the pre-paid service.

The system of the invention provides a solution for how the users can in real-time increase their postage balance via a network by means of a payment service provided by the postal company, which is the first service provider in this solution.

So that a user (or a user company) could use the payment service 3 provided by the postal company, the user has to make a contract in advance with the postal company for the use of the service 3. When the user logs in to the payment service 3, the payment service 3 checks the user's right to use the payment service 3. The user needs to have a user terminal 4, which can be a personal computer PC 4 or any terminal with which the payment service 3 can be accessed. The interactivity between the user terminal 4 and the payment service 3 is controlled by the user, and the actions performed by the user are performed via the user terminal, which communicates with the payment service 3. So, when this text talks about actions performed by the user, it implicitly means that the user uses the user terminal 4 for performing the actions.

Other elements in the system of the invention include a postal company bank account to which the pre-payments are paid.

In this example, the postal company owns and manages its bank account involved in the payment of the service. The importers of the devices (here franking machines) are service providers (here called second service providers) that sell or rent such devices to customers (users).

The payment service 3 has a web (network) portal in the form of a gateway for access to information and for managing data and applications offered by the payment service and belonging to the payment service 3. It can be an extranet web portal being the postal company's private network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and when necessary also the public telecommunication system to securely share part of the information or operations with the vendor of the franking machine. The extranet can be viewed as part of the postal company's intranet that is extended to users outside the company, via the Internet. The extranet web portal of the payment service 3 works as a link page for presenting information used by the payment service and provides access and procedures for the applications and databases that otherwise would be different entities and components. Alternatively, the payment service 3 could be designed to be accessed directly as an internet service or a service in another kind of a network.

When the user intends to use the payment service 3 for adding funds to his pre-paid account for using his franking machine(s), the payment service is accessed via the user terminal 4. After having checked the user's right to the service, the payment service 3 shows a list for the user of those franking machines the user uses and displays the list on the payment service link page. The payment service 3 holds information, e.g., about which franking machines are used by a given user. Additionally, it has device information, user information, the physical address of each device, as well as information about prepayments, event information of the use of the pre-paid service (the franking events) and the funding events (the events when money has been added for the pre-paid service). The pre-payment information is also stored therein, as well as the status (balance) information of each device.

The balance (status) information is stored in a pre-paid account for a user and includes balance information for each franking machine used by the user. The balance (status) information is also stored in the franking machine. The pre-paid service of a given franking machine can be used as long as there are enough funds for that franking machine. The information about funds left is informed from the franking machine to the payment service.

The user selects a franking machine or several franking machines to add funds to by informing the sums and the identification information of the devices to be funded and with which sum each device should be funded. When the user has selected and approved the sums to be paid for the different devices, the information in question is stored by the payment service 3 and the payment service 3 then opens the connection to the user's bank 7 or other corresponding instance offering banking services. The user has an own banking service contract with the bank 7 or the like and has thus access to a banking service provided by the bank 7, in which the user has a user bank account. This banking service is typically an internet service, whereby the user terminal 4 is connected to the bank 7 via internet. After the user has selected and approved the sums to be paid for the different devices, the user terminal accesses the banking service provided by the bank 7, in which the user has a user bank account and pays the selected sum for said given service from the user's bank account into a bank account of the first service provider, which can be in a different bank.

The technical control is at the bank 7 from the moment that the user terminal is directed to the banking service. The user then starts paying the pre-payment from the selected bank. When the pre-payment has been performed, the bank 7 forms a confirmation message (i.e. a receipt), which is received by the payment service 3 (there is also a message about an unsuccessful payment) and the user terminal is again returned to the payment service 3 via user interaction or the user terminal 3 is directed to the payment service automatically. Now the technical control is again at the payment service 3 of the postal company (the first service provider).

The payment service 3 stores the pre-payments, which will increase the balance of a given franking machine. Optionally, the payment service 3 can send a receipt to the user. The user accounts are pre-paid accounts, wherein the balance of each franking machine 1 of the user can be seen. Of course there could be separate user accounts for each franking machine as well.

When the payment service has added the money to the user account of the user's franking machine 1 or franking machines, the user can see the new balance of the franking machines funded on the link page, on which this information is presented by the payment service 3. The user then uses his user terminal and the payment service to transfer the fund added to the franking machine(s), which follows use of the pre-paid service. The pre-paid service of a given franking machine can be used as long as there are enough funds for that franking machine. Figure 1 is a general presentation about the system and method of the invention. The system and method of the invention could be constructed as a separate system but can also be implemented in a company's network, whereby components taking care of other functions for the company could perform the functions needed to carry out the method of the invention. In practice, there are therefore a lot of different other ways of implementing the invention, since it might be beneficial for a company to build up the inventive functionality by making use of existing architecture and implement the inventions in a way inventive in itself. For a postal company, there is a technical challenge in how the invention could be implemented in such an existing architecture. In such implementations, the payment system advantageously makes use of applications that perform the actions needed in the method of the invention. Such applications might be implemented as modules within the payment system interacting with each other.

Figure 2 describes one example of such an implementation. Naturally, the functions to be performed and the applications used might be designed in another way than that of figure 2 that is only presented as a possible example.

Figure 2 is an architecture view of the whole system of the invention, wherein the payment service of the first service provider is presented in more detail with respect to a specific implementation.

The franking machine 1 , the user terminal 4 and the bank 7 are presented as in figure 1. One application used by the payment service 3 in this example is the manager module 3.1. that calls for the functions performed by other modules in the payment service and in order to realize the method of the invention. The user accesses the manager module 3.1. when he accesses the payment service for funding his pre-paid account for one or more franking machines. When the user has requested the payment service and has accessed it, the manager module 3.1. fetches a list for the user of those franking machines the user uses and displays it on the service link page. This list is fetched from a device status component 5, which in this example is a separate component outside the payment service 3 but naturally, if desired, it could be build in as a module within the payment service 3. The device status component 5 holds information, e.g., about which franking machines are used by a given user. Additionally, the device status component 5 has device information, user information, the physical address of each device, as well as information about prepayments, event information of the use of the pre-paid service (the franking events) and the funding events (the events when money has been added for the pre-paid service). The pre-payment information is stored in the device status component 5 as well as the status (balance) information of each device. The balance information is stored in a pre-paid account for a user and includes balance information for each franking machine used by the user. Postal companies often co-operate with the vendors of the franking machines. The vendors are service providers (here called second service providers) that sell or rent such devices (franking machines) to customers and in this examples the vendors are involved in the method and system of the invention performing a part of the actions of the method.

Therefore, there might be an additional element in the system of the invention, i.e. a loading centre 2 that holds information about pre-payments performed for the pre-paid service used by the franking machines. Information can be transferred between the loading centre 2 and the payment service 3 back and forth. Such a loading centre might perform a part of the steps of the method of the invention, such as communicating with the franking machine about funds left and the use of the franking machine. Given that a loading centre would exist 2, the device status component 5 has a connection to the franking machine vendor's loading centre 2. The loading centre 2 has copies of user accounts showing the balance and information of each franking machine 1.

The loading centre 2 gets information about the pre-payments performed by the users from the device status information component 5. In turn, the device status information component 5 can fetch information about the user's loading events and information about the franking machine (like price and product information from sendings that the user has franked with the franking machine, e.g. letters inside the country, letters within the European Union, etc.) from the loading centre 2. The information between the loading centre 2 and the device status information component 5 can be performed as e.g. batch runs through a mailing system 3.4., which is a component of the payment service 3.

When the user has selected and approved the sums to be paid for the different devices, the information is stored by the payment service 3 in a transaction module 3.2., which forwards the information to a payment module 3.3. The payment module opens the connection to the user's bank 7 (the one selected by the user) and manages the connections to the user bank 7, e.g., receives the confirmation message from the bank 7 about the payment. The information about successful payment is then forwarded to the transaction module 3.2., which in turn forwards the information to the manager module 3.1. The manager module 3.1. sends the pre-payments, which will increase the balance of a given franking machine, to a mailing system component 3.4., which forwards them to the device status component 5. Technically, the mailing system consists of software with the intention to forward business messages between applications. Optionally, the transaction module 3.2. can send a receipt to the user. Thereafter, the manager module 3.1. again calls the payment module 3.3. and gives it the information needed for a recording message. The payment module forwards the message to the mailing system 3.4., which forwards the message to a financial management system 6. Thus, every payment from and to the bank account of the postal company is stored in the financial management system 6. When the loading centre has received information about the pre-payments performed by the users, this information can also be seen by the user on the link page of the payment service 3, which was described above and then the fund(s) can be transferred to the franking machine(s).

Figure 3 describes an example of an embodiment of the method of the invention in the form of a signal diagram to further illustrate the invention in a way easy to understand. Therefore, all the components that consist of applications and databases and are part of the payment service to perform the procedures of the payment events are called with the common name of payment service. Such applications and databases might, e.g., be like those in figure 2, i.e. the manager module, the transaction module, the payment module and the mailing system or they can likewise be implemented differently.

So that a user (or a user company) could use the payment service provided by the postal company, the user has to make a contract in advance with the postal company for the use of the service and here it is assumed that such a contract already has been done. The user needs to have a user terminal for accessing the payment service and in this example it is assumed that the connection to the bank takes place via internet and the connection to the payment service takes place via an extranet link.

A funding event starts with that the user logs in to the payment service from his user terminal, which is shown as signal 1 in figure 3.

The payment service first checks the user's right to use the payment service and then shows a list of those franking machines the user uses and the list is displayed on the service link page to be seen by the user by signal 2.

The user selects a given franking machine's pre-paid service (or the pre-paid services of several given franking machines) to fund by informing the sums and the identification information of the devices in question, respectively, to be funded by means of the user terminal on the screen of which the functions can be selected. Thus, the user gives a device identification number for each sum, so that the payment system would know with which sum a given franking machine should be funded. This is step 3 in figure 3. When the user has selected and approved the sums to be paid for the different devices, and the payment service has got the information by signal 4, the payment service stores, in step 5, the transaction information (containing the information of the sums and which franking machines they are concerned with and usually a transaction number and a control number). The payment service now, in signal 6, opens a view for the user, wherein the user can select a bank, from which payment can take place and gets a link to that bank. There is a cooperation contract with one or several banks for the payment service. The view shows links to those banks, with which there is a cooperation contract. In signal 7, the user terminal accesses a bank payment service provided by the bank selected and pays the selected sum for said given service into a bank account of the first service provider. (Signals between the user terminal and the bank in connection with the payment are not described as they are not relevant for the method itself)

In signal 8, the first service provider gets a confirmation of the payment performed by the user terminal from the bank as an immediate reply.

The payment service has a pre-paid account for each user and this account contains all the franking machines used by the user. When the payment service has received signal 8 about the pre-payments performed by the users, it adds, in step 9, the money (sum paid) to the pre-paid account directing the sum to the franking machine or those franking machines that were selected by the user in step 3. When the payment service has added said sum(s) to the pre-paid account of the user, it updates the status information of the pre-paid account information on the link page to be seen by the user marked as signal 10.

In signal 1 1 , the user uses the payment service to transfer funds from the user account to the franking machine(s), which is shown by signal 12.

Claims

1. Payment system in a telecommunication network for adding funds into a pre-paid service, the payment system including a payment service (3) provided by a first service provider, and the system comprising

a device (1) with means for performing the pre-paid service by using the added funds paid, in accordance with status information held by the device (1),

a user terminal (4) with first means for accessing the payment service (3) of the first service provider and with second means for accessing and using a banking service provided by a bank (7) in which the user has a user bank account, the user terminal (4) further having means to transfer funds via the payment service (3) to the device (1) that uses the pre-paid service from means that holds status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service ,

a payment service (3) provided by the first service provider and being connected to said bank (7) and having means to handle a sum selected and paid via the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service used by the user via said device (1 ),

means for holding status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service, and

a banking service connected to the user terminal (4) and to the payment system (3).

2. System of claim 1, cha racte ri zed in that said device (1) has a counter for holding information of the funds used and the funds left for use.

3. System of claim 1 or 2, characterized by further devices performing the pre-paid service, whereby said means for holding status information holds additional status information of said pre-paid services used by said further devices.

4. System of claim 12, or 3, characterized in that the means for holding the status information of said pre-paid service and of funds added by service users for said pre-paid service consist of a user account, whereby the user account shows individual status information of each device used by the user.

5. System of claims 1 , 2, 3, or 4, characterized in that the means to handle a sum paid by the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service consist of means to receive confirmation from the bank (7) of performed payments.

6. System of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the telecommunication network is the internet and said payment service (3) and said banking service is accessed via the internet.

7. System of claims 1 , 2, 3, 4, or 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said payment service is accessed via an extranet or intranet of the first service provider and said banking service is accessed via the internet.

8. System of claim 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the payment service (3) is accessed via a link page to use information and to manage data, applications, components and databases of different modules belonging to the payment service.

9. System of claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the payment service (3) comprises a manager module (3.1.) calling such functions of different applications and databases that belong to the payment service and are situated in other modules (3.1. , 3.2., 3.3., 3.4.) of the payment service (3).

10. System of claim 9, characterized in that the manager module (3.1.) is accessed when the user logs in, whereby the manager module (3.1.) has means to fetch a list of devices used by the user from a device status component (5), which is a module in the payment service or connected to the payment service (3) as a separate entity, and means to display the list on said link page.

11. System of claim 10, characterized in that the device status component (5) also holds status information of said pre-paid service and information of funds added to the pre- paid account.

12. System of claim 9, 10, or 1 1 , c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the payment service (3) comprises a transaction module (3.2.) with means to store and forward transaction information to a payment module (3.3.), the transaction information consisting of prepayments comprising the sum(s) paid via the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service used by the user.

13. System of claim 9, 10, 1 1 , or 12, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the payment service (3) comprises a payment module (3.3.) with means to open the connection to the bank (7), means for redirecting the user terminal (4) to the bank (7), and means to manage the connections to the bank (7).

14. System of claim 9, 10, 1 1 , 12, or 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that one of the modules of the payment service comprises a mailing system (3.4.) through which the information about performed prepayments to the device status component (5) can be performed.

15. System of claim 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1 1 , 12, 13, or 14, c h a r ac t e r i z e d in that said device (1 ) has means for marking the use of the pre-paid service.

16. Method in a telecommunication network for adding funds into a pre-paid service, which pre-paid service is performed by a device (1 ) that uses funds paid in accordance with status information held by the device (1 ), the method being performed by means of a payment service (3) that is provided by a first service provider, the method comprising a) a user accessing, via a user terminal (4), the payment service (3) provided by the first service provider and selecting a sum to be paid for a pre-paid service performed by a particular device (1 ),

b) the first service provider directing the user terminal (4) to a banking service,

c) the user terminal (4) accessing a banking service provided by a bank (7) and paying the selected sum for said given pre-paid service from the bank (7) into a bank account of the first service provider,

d) the first service provider getting a confirmation of the payment performed by the user terminal from the bank (7),

e) the first service provider adding said sum to a pre-paid account of the user and updating the status information of funds added by the user, f) the added fund is transferred to the device (1) performing the pre-paid service.

17. Method of claim 16, characterized in that when in step a), the user terminal (4) accesses the payment service (3), the payment service (3) first checks the user's right to use the payment service (3) and then shows a list of those devices (1) the user has rights to use and displays the list on link page of the payment service (3) to be seen by the user.

18. Method of claim 16 or 17, characterized in that in step a), the user terminal (4) selects one or more pre-paid services to fund by informing the sums and the identification information of the devices (1) to be funded, whereby each device (1) is funded with the selected sum for that particular device in step f).

19. Method of claim 16, 17 or 18, cha racte ri zed in that when the user in step a) has selected the sum to be paid for one or more given pre-paid services performed by a particular device (1), the first service provider stores the information of the sum(s) to be paid for said given pre-paid services.

20. Method of claim 16, 17, 18, or 19, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the confirmation received in step d) is sent as an immediate reply form the bank (7) to the first service provider.

21. Method of claim 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20, characterized in that the payment service provides access to information via the link page of the payment service (3) and via which link page the payment service (3) is used for managing data and applications offered by and belonging to the payment service (3).

22. Method of claim 21, characterized in that when the information about pre-paid account information has been updated in step e), it is presented for the user on the link page of the payment service (3).

23. Payment service (3) for adding funds into a pre-paid service performed by a device (1 ) using the funds, the payment service (3) being connected in a telecommunication network to a user terminal (4) and a bank (7) providing banking services, and the payment service (3) comprising

a link page with access to information and means for managing data and applications offered by and belonging to the payment service (3),

means for redirecting the user terminal (4) to a banking service,

means to handle a sum paid via the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service performed by a particular device (1 ),

means for holding status information of said pre-paid service performed by the device (1 ) and of funds added.

24. Payment service of claim 23, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the means for holding status information holds additional status information of two or more pre-paid services performed by said further devices.

25. Payment service of claim 23 or 24, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the means to handle a sum paid by the user terminal (4) to be used for funding a pre-paid service consist of means to receive confirmation from the bank (7) of performed payments.

26. Payment service of claim 23, 24, or 25, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the telecommunication network is the internet and said payment service (3) is an internet service.

27. Payment service of claim 23, 24, or 25, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the payment service (3) is connected to a bank (7) via the internet and to the user terminal (4) via an extranet or intranet network.

28. Payment service of claim 23, 24, 25, 26, or 27, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the link page provides access to use information and to manage data, applications, components and databases of different modules (3.1. , 3.2., 3.3., 3.4.) offered by and belonging to the payment service (3).