WO2011161698A1

WO2011161698A1 - Mobile topup tag

Info

Publication number: WO2011161698A1
Application number: PCT/IN2011/000424
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arjunamurthy Ra; Anand V. Sunder
Original assignee: Yeldi Infracom Pvt Ltd
Priority date: 2010-06-24
Filing date: 2011-06-24
Publication date: 2011-12-29

Abstract

A method for replenishing a balance in an account associated with a contact information of a user (102) using a top-up server (110) is provided. The top-up server (110) includes a database (202) that stores the contact information of the user, a registration module (212) registers the contact information of the user (102) to a top-up service, and a format generation module (210) generates at least one format on the contact information being registered. The format is communicated to the user. The format includes at least one encoded tag. The method includes receiving the contact information of the user from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal (106) associated with a merchant, verifying that the contact information of the user is registered for a top-up service, and replenishing the balance to the account of the user upon the contact information being verified.

Description

MOBILE TOPUP TAG

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments herein generally relate to mobile communication devices, and more particularly, to provide mobile top up services to mobile

communication devices using code formats for top up automation.

Description of the Related Art

[0002] Mobile top up is a great enabler for mobile payment and remittance services, particularly for services that need to start with cash in, rather than being linked to a bank account or a credit card. Mobile top up mechanism is well understood and trusted, and is the primary charging mechanism for the majority of customer. Mobile top up is a business of replenishing talk time of a mobile service customer for a given monetary value. Top up is also done for other services like DTH services.

[0003] During a typical top up transaction the customer mobile number is entered at a Point of Sale (POS) terminal and the request is sent to the mobile network operator for replenishment. Typically, the POS terminals are mobile communication devices. But during top up, mobile number is first voiced out by the customer and then it is entered in the merchant mobile communication device. During the course of this transaction there is significant amount of time spent in interpreting the customer mobile number.

Sometimes the customer mobile number is wrongly interpreted and finally resulting in top up of a wrong number. Accordingly, there remains a need of new approach to mobile top up in order to reduce the time and avoid top up to a wrong mobile number. SUMMARY

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide accurate and convenient way of replenishing a balance in an account associated with contact information of a user.

[0005] It is another object of the invention to provide a secure transaction for a top-up service between a user and a merchant.

[0006] It is another object of the invention to eliminate error in top-up due to incorrect entry of the reference number specific to a user account.

[0007] In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a method for replenishing a balance in an account associated with a contact information of a user using a top-up server. The top-up server includes a database that stores the contact information of the user, a registration module that registers the contact information of the user to a top-up service, and a format generation module that generates at least one format on the contact information being registered. The format is communicated to the user. The format includes at least one encoded tag. The method includes receiving the contact information of the user from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal associated with a merchant, verifying that the contact information of the user is registered for a top-up service, and replenishing the balance to the account of the user upon the contact information being verified.

[0008] The POS terminal of the merchant includes at least one of a built-in camera, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) application. The POS terminal decodes the contact information from the format using the built-in camera, or the NFC application. The contact information is matched with a contact information stored in the database. The encoded tag is any of a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, or a smart card encoded code. The smart card encoded code is in the form of a label format. [0009] In another aspect, a point of sale (POS) terminal device to provide a top up recharge service to a mobile communication device associated with a user is provided. The user is subscribed to the top up recharge service having a user subscription database on an top-up server. The POS terminal device is configured to execute a set of instructions that includes reading, at the POS terminal device, at least one format associated with the mobile communication device, decoding a contact information associated with the user from the format, and communicating a request to a mobile service operator to replenish a balance in an account associated with the contact information of the mobile communication device of the user on the format being decoded. The formats are read using a built-in camera or Near Field Communication application associated with the POS terminal device. The POS terminal device is a mobile communication device associated with a merchant.

[0010] A confirmation message associated with the top up recharge service may be communicated based on the request, and the confirmation message is communicated to the merchant device, or to the mobile communication device of the user. The POS terminal device includes at least one of a built-in camera, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) application that decodes the contact information from at least one format.

[0011] In yet another aspect, a top-up server to provide at least one format for a top up recharge service to a contact information associated with a user is provided. The user is subscribed to the top up recharge service having a user subscription database on the top-up server. The top-up server includes a registration module that registers a contact information associated with the user, a format generation module that generates the format for the user upon receiving the contact information of the user from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal associated with a merchant, and a communication module that communicates the encoded tag to said user. The format includes at least one encoded tag that includes at least one of a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, or a smart card encoded code. A transaction service module includes at least one of a details of a transactions associated with the user and said merchant that occurs in real time, and a business logic module includes a credit or debit information of the user and the merchant on the top up recharge service being provided to the user. A persistence module retrieves the merchant and the user information from a database for processing the transactions between the merchant and the user. The database includes merchant details, an account details associated with the merchant, at least one of a user contact information, or a transaction details associated with the merchant and the user.

[0012] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates the block diagram of mobile top up service application according to the embodiment herein; [0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the top-up server of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein;

[0016] FIG. 3 A through FIG. 3C illustrates an example of user personalization according to the embodiment herein;

[0017] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the encoded formats of the tags generated by the top-up server of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein; and

[0018] FIG. 5 A through 5C illustrates a set of examples including the three encoded formats which are on the customer's mobile communication device of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein; and

[0019] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for replenishing a balance in an account associated with a contact information of a user using the top-up server of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description.

Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the

embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein. [0021] As mentioned, there remains a need of new approach mobile top up in order to reduce the time and avoid top up to a wrong mobile number. The embodiments herein achieve this by generating encoded format of tags for mobile communication devices. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through FIG 6, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferred embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates the block diagram of mobile top up service application according to the embodiment herein. The block diagram 100 includes a customer 102 102, a customer 102s mobile communication device 104, a merchant point of sale terminal 106, a network 108, an top-up server 110, and an intelligent network top-up server 112. The mobile communication device 102 is associated with the customer 102 (e.g., a user) who may need the top up service to replenish his/her talk time for a given monetary value. The merchant's point of sale terminal 106 is used to top up with a monetary value to the customer 102's mobile communication device 104 based on his/her demand.

[0023] The point of sale terminal 106 includes a built-in camera, and a Near Field Communication (NFC) application (not shown in FIG. 1). The built-in camera and the NFC application enable the point of sale terminal 106 to read a number of data and or information from the customer 102's mobile communication device 104. The top-up server 110 provides top up services to the customer 102's mobile communication device 104 through the point of sale terminal 106. The intelligent network top-up server 1 12 may be a telecommunication network that resides at a remote location to manage top up services.

[0024] The merchant enters customers contact information (e.g., mobile number) associated with the customer's mobile communication device 104 and send to the top-up server 110 via the network 108 along with the additional data and/or information read by the built-in camera or the NFC application. The top-up server 110 generates and provides three formats of encoded tags. In one embodiment, the three formats of encoded tags are a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, and a smart card encoded code which is in the form of label format. The encoded tags are then delivered to the customer 102 in the form of SMS or by hand.

[0025] In one embodiment, the encoded tags may be delivered to the merchant and the merchant may deliver to the customer 102. The customer 102 may choose any one of the format and allows the merchant's point of sale terminal 106 (POS terminal) to read/scan the format (using the built-in camera and/or the NFC application associated with the merchant point of sale terminal 106). The merchant's point of sale terminal 106 sends the request to a mobile service operator to replenish the customer 102 mobile balance after decoding the particular mobile number from the coded format.

[0026] The request is then directed to an top-up server 110 using the network operator's existing messaging infrastructure. After validating the customer 102 and the merchant accounts, the top-up server 110 debits funds from the merchant account. A confirmation message associated with the mobile top up service may be generated and sent to the merchant point of sale terminal 106 and to the customer's mobile

communication device 104.

[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the top-up server 110 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein. The top-up server 110 includes a mobile top-up server 202, a transaction server module 204, a persistence module 206, a database 208, a format generation module 210, and a registration module 212. The mobile top-up server 202 includes a SMSC interface 202A and a web service interface 202B. The transaction service module 204 includes a business logic module 204A and an intelligent network server interface 204B.

[0028] The SMSC interface 202A is a short message service center interface which provides SMS channel to the top-up server 110 to communicate with the intelligent network top-up server 108. Similarly, the web service interface 202B provides a MMS channel or a GPRS channel to the top-up server 110 for communicating with the intelligent network top-up server 108. The transaction server module 204 includes the transaction details associated with the customer 102 and merchant that occurs in real time. The transaction server module 204 includes the business logic module 204A and the intelligent network server interface 204B.

[0029] The business logic module 204A includes the debit/credit information of the customer 102 and the merchant after recharging. The persistence module 206 retrieves the merchant and the customer 102 information from the database 208 for processing further transactions between the merchant and the customer 102s. The database 208 includes the merchant details, account details associated with the merchants, customer's contact information, transaction details associated with the merchant and the customer 102. The format generation module 210 generates one or more formats

(including encoded tags) upon receiving the contact information of the customer 102 from the merchant point of sale terminal 106. The top-up server 110 verifies the contact information of the user (that is received from the POS terminal) is registered for a top-up service, wherein said contact information is matched with a contact information stored in said database The registration module 212 registers the contact information of the user 102 for top-up recharge service.

[0030] FIG. 3A through FIG. 3C illustrates an example of user personalization according to the embodiment herein. In step 302, a top up service is provided by tapping the mobile communication device 104 associated with the customer 102 with value added services to assist the service providers to enter the customer's contact information (e.g., mobile number) without any error (as shown in FIG. 3A). In step 304, the customer's mobile number is entered (e.g., 9090112356) as shown in FIG. 3B. The point of sale terminal 106 may include a personalize key to personalize. The merchant then receives on his/her mobile communication device a confirmation of the customer's mobile communication device on being personalized (as shown in FIG. 3C).

[0031] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the encoded formats of the tags generated by the top-up server 110 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein. The block diagram includes a MSISDN 402, the top-up server 110 and formats 404A, 404B and 406C. The MSISDN is integrated services digital network number which is uniquely identifying a subscription in a GSM (global system for mobile communication) or a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunication system) mobile network. The top-up server 110 generates the three formats the printed QR code 404A, the QR code SMS 404B, and the label 404C on receiving the customer's mobile number from the point of sale terminal 106. The top-up server 110 sends the encoded formats to the point of sale terminal 106. In one embodiment, the formats may be delivered via SMS or by hand.

[0032] With reference to FIG. 4, FIG. 5 A through 5C illustrates a set of examples including the three encoded formats which are on the customer's mobile communication device 104 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein. FIG. 5 A illustrates the point of sale terminal 106 that includes a QR reader 502. In one embodiment, the top-up server 110 provides the merchant a mobile communication device with a built-in QR reader application that has capability of reading the printed QR code on the customer's mobile communication device 104.

[0033] The customer 102 may paste the printed QR code 404 A on back side of his/her mobile communication device 104. In one embodiment, the QR reader 502 is a built-in camera application, that will scan the printed QR code 404A or the QR code SMS 404B, and reads the format and converts to a format which is understood by the top-up server 110. The NFC Reader 504 (a built-in application in the merchant mobile communication device 104) scans and reads the label 404C which is pasted on top of the customer's mobile battery.

[0034] In one embodiment, the label 404C may be pasted on any other part of the customer's mobile communication device 104 where the label 404C can be easily scanned and read when it is the NFC zone. In one embodiment, the customer's mobile communication device 104 is brought near to the merchant's point of sale terminal 106 to identify the customer's mobile communication device 104 and scan and read the label. In one embodiment, the top-up service may also include top-up service for DTH operators, and/or other billing applications, etc.

[0035] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for replenishing a balance in an account associated with a contact information of a user using the top-up server 110 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment herein. The top-up server 110 includes the database 208 that stores the contact information of the user. The registration module 212 registers the contact information of the user to a top-up service. The format generation module 210 generates at least one format on the contact information being registered. The format is communicated to the user 102. The format include one or more encoded tags. In step 602, the contact information of the user is received by the top-up server 110 from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal 106 associated with a merchant. The POS terminal 106 includes at least one of a built-in camera, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) application. The POS terminal 106 decodes the contact information from the format using said built-in camera, or said NFC application. In step 604, the contact information of the user is verified such that the contact information is registered for a top-up service. In one embodiment, the contact information is matched with a contact information stored in the database 208. In step 606, The balance is replenished to the account of the user upon the contact information being verified. The encoded tag is any of a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, or a smart card encoded code. The smart card encoded code is in the form of a label format.

[0036] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS I claim:

1. A method for replenishing a balance in an account associated with a contact information of a user using a top-up server, wherein said top-up server comprising a database that stores said contact information of said user, a registration module that registers said contact information of said user to a top-up service, and a format generation module that generates at least one format on said contact information being registered, wherein said format is communicated to said user, wherein said format comprising at least one encoded tag, said method comprising:

receiving said contact information of said user from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal associated with a merchant, wherein said POS terminal of said merchant comprises at least one of a built-in camera, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) application, wherein said POS terminal decodes said contact information from said format using said built-in camera, or said NFC application;

verifying that said contact information of said user is registered for a top-up service, wherein said contact information is matched with a contact information stored in said database; and

replenishing said balance to said account of said user upon said contact information being verified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said encoded tag is any of a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, or a smart card encoded code.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said smart card encoded code is in the form of a label format.

4. A point of sale (POS) terminal device to provide a top up recharge service to a mobile communication device associated with a user, wherein said user is subscribed to said top up recharge service having a user subscription database on an top-up server, wherein said point of sale (POS) terminal device is configured to execute a set of instructions comprising:

reading, at said POS terminal device, at least one of a format associated with said mobile communication device, wherein said formats are read using a built-in camera or Near Field Communication application associated with said POS terminal device, wherein said POS terminal device is a mobile communication device associated with a merchant;

decoding a contact information associated with said user from said format; and communicating a request to a mobile service operator to replenish a balance in an account associated with said contact information of said mobile communication device of said user on said format being decoded.

5. The POS terminal device of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a confirmation message associated with said top up recharge service based on said request; and

communicating said confirmation message to said merchant device, or to said mobile communication device of said user.

6. The POS terminal device of claim 4, wherein said POS terminal device comprises of at least one of a built-in camera, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) application that decodes said contact information from at least one of said format.

7. A top-up server to provide at least one format for a top up recharge service to a contact information associated with a user, wherein said user is subscribed to said top up recharge service having a user subscription database on said top-up server, said top-up server comprising:

a registration module that registers a contact information associated with said user; a format generation module that generates said format for said user upon receiving said contact information of said user from a Point of Sale (POS) terminal associated with a merchant, wherein said format comprising at least one encoded tag that comprises at least one of a printed Quick Response (QR) code, a QR code SMS, or a smart card encoded code; and

a communication module that communicates said encoded tag to said user.

8. The top-up server of claim 7, further comprises:

a transaction service module that comprises at least one of a details of a transactions associated with said user and said merchant that occurs in real time; and

a business logic module that comprises a credit or debit information of said user and said merchant on said top up recharge service being provided to said user.

9. The top-up server of claim 7, further comprises a persistence module that retrieves said merchant and said user information from a database for processing said transactions between said merchant and said user.

10. The top-up server of claim 9, wherein said database comprises at least one of a merchant details, an account details associated with said merchant, at least one of a user contact information, or a transaction details associated with said merchant and said user.