Patent Application
20100223187
The present invention relates to a system and method for electronic payment and a payment server, a communication terminal, and a program used therein and more particularly, to a mobile electronic payment system using a mobile communication terminal.
In a conventional mobile payment system, an example described in Patent Document 1 is known. This conventional mobile payment system, as shown in
The conventional mobile payment system having the above configuration operates as described below. More specifically, the trader M transmits data for regulating service provision with total amount to be paid by a customer to the gateway P, and identification data of the trader is added to the data. The gateway P authenticates a trader, converts the provided data into a message matched with the performance of the mobile device of the customer C, and transmits the message to the customer C together with authentication data of the gateway P.
The customer C authenticates the gateway P and returns an agreement message to the gateway together with information which makes it possible that the bank can settle an aggregate payment. The gateway P authenticates the customer C, verifies that the payment is possible, and transmits a message which contracts that the aggregate payment can be completely settled to the trader M.
Referring to Patent Document 2, there is proposed a system performs communication between a mobile terminal and an automatic vending machine by using a local interface such as short-range communication (infrared communication or short-range wireless communication) to transmit ID (identification) information of a mobile terminal, article price information, and the like from the automatic vending machine to a communication carrier together with the ID information of a distributor, and on the communication carrier side, on the basis of the information transmitted from the automatic vending machine, makes payment by using an accounting process for communication with the communication carrier.
Referring to Patent Document 3, there is proposed a system in which a user accesses a shopping mall by using a mobile terminal to purchase an article, and a shopping agent mediates to account the price on an accounting server for charge a communication network of the communication carrier, so that payment is made by using an accounting process for communication.
Furthermore, referring to Patent Document 4, there is proposed a system in which a group purchase management server is arranged, and it is possible to select whether primary payment (article delivery in advance) or payment in advance when an article is purchased by a group, and, when delivery in advance is selected, a purchaser is notified of a primary payment number, and a group purchase management server requests a payment institution to make secondary payment when the purchaser requests the secondary payment by the primary payment number.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application National Publication No. 2002-537618
[Patent Document 2] JP-A No. 2001-134684
[Patent Document 3] JP-A No. 2001-290944
[Patent Document 4] JP-A No. 2002-288484
In a mobile payment system between distant places disclosed in Patent Document 1 shown in
Since an expensive payment terminal is required to make payment, a place and time at which payment can be made are limited, high cost is required to construct and operate a payment system, and long time is disadvantageously required to popularize the payment system. In addition, since information such as a telephone number or an electronic mail address for mutual communication is shared by a seller and a buyer, privacy cannot be easily secured.
Although various payment methods such as prepaid payment, debit payment, and credit payment can be used, one of the payment methods must be determined in payment, a plurality of payment methods cannot be combined to each other, and a payment method cannot be changed afterward.
In the system in Patent Document 2, between a mobile terminal and an automatic vending machine, communication is performed by using a local interface for short-range communication. For this reason, a seller and a buyer must be at the same place. In this system, as a payment system for purchasing an article, a communication accounting account (for communication fee) of a communication carrier is also used. However, although as the payment method, various payment methods such as prepaid payment, debit payment, and credit payment can be used, the charge is added to a communication charge and requested. As a result, diversity of payment is poor.
In the system in Patent Document 3, an intermediation role called a shopping agent must be disadvantageously arranged. In a payment method for purchasing an article, as in Patent Document 1, an account is also used for communication charge of a communication carrier. For this reason, the payment method disadvantageously has a low degree of freedom. Furthermore, in the system in Patent Document 4, when a purchaser selects primary payment, an article is delivered in advance. After the delivery in advance, secondary payment for paying a price is made. This payment is made through a financial institution as in a conventional system, and a group purchase management server and a mail server are disadvantageously necessary.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a secure, inexpensive system and method for electronic payment in which a payment server is arranged as equipment for a communication carrier to secure security and reliability, a general-purpose system which can use an existing communication terminal is achieved to make an expensive payment terminal unnecessary, payment is divided into two steps consisting of primary payment and secondary payment to increase an apparent speed of a payment process, a local interface is made unnecessary to make it possible that a seller and a buyer use the system, and closed-loop type electronic money is used to make it possible to make payment on delivery, a payment server, a communication terminal, and a program used in the system and the method.
An electronic payment system according to the present invention is an electronic payment system which performs an electronic payment process between users through a communication network, including a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users; and a payment server which performs a payment process between the users, and wherein the payment server has primary payment means which, when the payment server receives a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network, refers to the accounts of the database to perform an electronic money payment process as primary payment between the users.
An electronic payment method according to the present invention is an electronic payment method which performs an electronic payment process between users through a communication network, a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users and a payment server which performs a payment process between the users being arranged, including the step of, in the payment server, receiving a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network; and the primary payment step which performs an electronic money payment process as primary payment between the users in response to receiving of the payment request with reference to the accounts of the database.
A payment server according to the present invention is a payment server in an electronic payment system which performs an electronic payment process between users through a communication network, including primary payment means which, when the payment server receives a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network, refers to accounts of a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users to perform an electronic money payment process as primary payment between the users.
A communication terminal according to the present invention is a user communication terminal in a payment system which, when a payment server which makes electronic payment between users receives a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network, refers to accounts of a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users to perform an electronic money payment process as primary payment between the users, including means for transmitting a payment request including user identification information or payment amount information to the payment server through the communication network.
A program according to the present invention is a program to cause a computer to execute an operation of a payment server in an electronic payment system which performs an electronic payment process between users through a communication network, includes a process which, when the payment server receives a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network, refers to accounts of a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users, and a primary payment process constituting an electronic money payment process serving as primary payment between users.
Another program according to the present invention is a program to cause a computer to execute an operation of a communication terminal in a payment system in which, when a payment server which makes electronic payment between users receives a payment request from a communication terminal of the user through the communication network, refers accounts of a database which manages accounts for deposit/withdrawal information of the users to perform an electronic money payment process serving as primary payment between the users, including a process which transmits a payment request including user identification information or payment amount information to the payment server through the communication network.
It is a first effect according to the present invention that payment can be made at a high speed with high reliability. This is because a payment process is divided into a primary payment process and a secondary payment process through an account database and constituted such that operations of a seller and a buyer are completed by execution of the primary payment process.
It is a second effect according to the present invention that payment can be securely made. This is because an unsecured communication network such as the Internet is not present between a communication terminal and a payment server, an unreliable trader or the like is not allowed to stand between the communication terminal and the payment server except for a communication carrier, a seller, and a buyer.
It is a third effect according to the present invention that payment methods can be flexibly changed. This is because a payment process is divided into a primary payment process and a secondary payment process through an account database to make it possible to make secondary payment at a timing different from that of first payment.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to
The seller terminal 11 and the buyer terminal 12 are mobile communication terminals having communication functions. The terminals 11 and 12, the authentication server 1, the credit server 2, the primary payment server 3, and the secondary payment server 4 are operated by program control and connected to each other through the communication network 10 such as a mobile communication network.
The seller terminal 11, as shown in
The buyer terminal 12, as shown in
The authentication server 1 has an authentication unit which receives authentication request from the communication terminals 11 and 12 of the seller and the buyer to authenticate the seller and the buyer. The credit server 2 has a credit unit which receives a credit request from the primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device to credit the buyer. The account database 6 manages accounts of the seller and the buyer for primary payment in the communication carrier.
The primary payment server 3, as shown in
The secondary payment server 4, as shown in
An operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the flow charts in
If the authentication is succeeded, the communication terminal 11 of the seller notifies the primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device of a payment request (step S04). The primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device notifies the buyer terminal 12 of a primary payment request in response to a payment request from the communication terminal 11 of the seller (step S05). At this time, private information of the seller is minimized. For example, the communication carrier device is notified of only an identification name such as a company name of the seller and information for proving that the identification name is the true name of the seller.
The communication terminal 12 of the buyer requests the authentication server 1 of the communication carrier device to authenticate the buyer (step S06). The authentication server 1 of the communication carrier device authenticates the buyer (step S07). The authentication server 1 notifies the communication terminal 12 of the buyer of an authentication result obtained at this time. If the authentication is not succeeded, the communication terminal 12 of the buyer requests authentication again (step S08 and 506).
When the authentication succeeded, the communication terminal 12 of the buyer notifies the primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device of a payment request (step S09). In response to the payment request notification, the primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device requests the credit server 2 to credit the buyer (step S10). the credit server 2 of the communication carrier device credit the buyer (step S11) and performs a primary payment transaction to the account database 6 of the communication carrier device (step S12).
The primary payment server 3 of the communication carrier device notifies the communication terminal 12 of a primary payment result by the primary payment transaction (step S13) and notifies the communication terminal 11 of the seller of the primary payment result (step S14).
After the primary payment process consisting of the above steps are repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times, the secondary payment server 4 of the communication carrier device requests the financial institution 13 to make secondary payment (step S21). The financial institution 13 makes secondary payment (step S22) and notifies the secondary payment server 4 of the communication carrier device of the secondary payment result. The secondary payment server 4 notifies the communication terminal 12 of the buyer of the secondary payment result (step S23). Finally, the secondary payment server 4 of the communication carrier device notifies the communication terminal 11 of the seller of the secondary payment result (step S24).
As the terminals 11 and 12 of the seller and buyer in the above embodiment, mobile communication terminals typified by mobile telephones can be used. When the mobile telephone is used, a mobile telephone using an SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) can be used (merits obtained by using the SIP will be described later). As the communication terminal 11 of the seller, a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal, an automatic vending machine, and the like can be used. Furthermore, a Web site on the Internet can also be used. As an example of an authentication method in an authentication server, a terminal device authentication, customer ID authentication, password authentication, private certification authentication, biometric identification, or the like can be conceived.
In the operation sequence diagram shown in
In the embodiment, the system is designed to be operated by an existing communication terminal without an expensive payment terminal for making payment except for a case in which a communication terminal of a seller is a POS terminal. For this reason, a place and time at which payment can be made are not easily limited, and the payment system can operate at low cost. A problem of long time required for popularizing a payment system can be solved. In particular, when a popularized mobile telephone is used as a communication terminal, the effect is conspicuous.
In the embodiment, a payment transaction is divided into a primary payment transaction and a secondary payment transaction through an account database in a communication carrier, so that operations of a seller and a buyer are completed by executing only the primary payment transaction in the communication carrier. For this reason, the transaction performance of payment viewed from the seller or the buyer can be improved, and the availability of the payment system can be improved.
In the embodiment, as the communication carrier equipment 7 of a single communication carrier, equipment includes the authentication server 1, the credit server 2, the payment server 5, and the account database 6. For this reason, an unsecured communication network such as the Internet is not present between a communication terminal and a payment server, an unreliable trader or the like is not allowed to stand between the communication terminal and the payment server except for the communication carrier, the seller, and the buyer. Therefore, the security of payment can be improved with respect to danger such as information leakage, spoofing, falsification of data, and denegation.
In the embodiment, a seller and a buyer authenticated by the communication carrier must communicate with each other through only the payment server 5, and the payment server does not excessively transmit private information of the seller or the buyer. For this reason, privacy is protected in the payment.
In the embodiment, since the payment method of secondary payment can be changed upon completion of a primary payment transaction, the convenience of the entire payment system can be improved.
In the embodiment, in order to preferably understand the invention, the details of an operation of the primary payment server 3 in
As basic information, for each user, “account number”, “customer number (ID)”, “account state”, “account opening date”, “account balance”, “designated balance”, “identification information”, “maximum credit limit”, and the like are used. In addition, as customer information (indicated by 61 in
When the user of the buyer terminal 12 wants to purchase an article from the user of the seller terminal 11, buyer identification information for specifying the buyer and a money amount a of an article (may include article information) are transmitted from the buyer terminal 12 to at least the primary payment server 3 of the payment server 5 to request payment (step a). At this time, it is assumed that authentications of the buyer and the seller are completed. The primary payment server 3 requests the credit server 2 to perform credit request for crediting the buyer (corresponding to step S10 in
Thereafter, primary payment shown in step S12 in
It is assumed that account balances of both the accounts 62 and 63 are 0 (zero). At this time, the money amount a of the article is withdrawn from the buyer account 62 to set the balance as “−α”, and the money amount a is added to the seller account 63 to set the balance as “+α” (step e). The process in the step e, electrical numerical (amount) information of the account merely moves between the accounts, i.e., real-time payment is achieved by so-called closed-loop type electronic money. Therefore, the primary payment unit 33 notifies both the seller terminal 11 and the buyer terminal 12 of a primary payment result to notify the seller terminal 11 and the buyer terminal 12 that the primary payment is ended (steps f and g). The steps correspond to steps S13 and S14 in
Also in a case in which a user of the buyer terminal 12 purchases another article from a user of the seller terminal, the processes are performed by the same procedure as described above, and a balance of the account of the buyer terminal 12 is “−α−β (β is a money amount of the other article), and a balance of the account of the other seller terminal is obtained by adding “β” to a current balance. Furthermore, since the terminal is a mobile communication terminal, the seller terminal 11 in
The above primary payment is continued for a predetermined period of time, for example, one month without secondary payment. When one month has passed, the secondary payment server in the payment server 5 is started.
It is assumed that a balance of the buyer account 62 at this time is given by “−γ” and that a balance of the seller account 63 is given by “+δ”. The secondary payment server 4 refers to the customer information 61, the buyer account 62, and the seller account 63 in the account database 6 to read information required for secondary payment in the financial institution server 13 (steps h and i), and requests the financial institution server 13 to make payment through a leased line 20 (steps j and k corresponding to step S21 in
In the financial institution server 13, on the basis of the information sent from the secondary payment server 4 through a leased line 14, the money amount “γ” is subtracted from a buyer bank account 131, and the money amount “δ” is added to the seller bank account 132, so that a payment process is substantially initially performed by real money (corresponding to S22 in
As methods of the secondary payments, for example, (1) payment which is periodically, e.g., monthly, between a communication carrier and a designated correspondent financial institution (bank, post office, or the like), (2) payment including debit payment performed between a user and a financial institution designated by the user, (3) payment performed between a user of a buyer and a credit company designated by the user, (4) payment performed by prepaid electronic money designated by a user of a buyer, and the like are conceived. As the payment (3), finally, payment must be periodically, e.g., monthly, made between a credit company and a financial institution. As the payment (4), finally, payment must be periodically, e.g., monthly, made between a communication carrier and an electronic money company.
In this manner, as the methods of secondary payment serving as after-the-fact payment, various types are conceived. For this reason, a method of secondary payment can be arbitrarily selected, and the method of secondary payment can be changed after the fact depending on states of the user. Therefore, the convenience of the user is considerably improved.
When a buyer terminal accesses the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a Web page of the Web server 14 to designate an article and a money amount so as to make payment, after a buyer authentication process shown in steps S31 to S33, a primary payment request notification from the primary payment server 3 arrives at the Web server 14 (steps S34 and S35), and a primary payment request notification from the Web server 14 arrives at the seller terminal 11 (step S37).
At this time, it is assumed that the Web server 14 asks the seller terminal 11 about information of an article and a money amount thereof by the buyer (asking about inventory check of the article and asking whether the money amount of the article by the buyer is good). Authentication of the seller at this time is performed in the Web server 14 (steps S37 to S39). The authentication in the Web server in this example is personal authentication but equipment authentication, and an existing Web site can be effectively used.
Upon completion of the authentication, a primary payment request including the information of the article and the money amount thereof is sent from the seller terminal 11 to the Web server 14 (step S40), and the primary payment request is sent from the Web server 14 to the primary payment server 3 (step S41). A subsequent primary payment process and a subsequent secondary payment process (
The authentication server 1 is caused to function as an SIP server, and terminals 11 and 12 are designed to have SIP functions, so that arbitrary identification information can be used as user identification information in place of information such as a telephone number or an electronic mail address to assure privacy. Not only one-to-one communication between a buyer and a seller, but also one-to-many communication or many-to-many communication can be performed. The system can also be applied to payment in sales of a so-called on-line auction type or the like.
In the embodiments described above, it is assumed that the authentication server 1 is caused to function as the SIP server and that mobile terminals having SIP functions are used as the terminals 11 and 12. In this case, the SIP server is caused to register the mobile terminals 11 and 12, and secret keys are given to the terminals to make it possible to encrypt information exchanged between the terminals and the server. As an encrypting method, for example, a secure communication channel conforming to, for example, an IPsec (IP security protocol) tunneling technique can be used. Also in an exchange of information between the terminals 11 and 12 (when information related to the article is exchanged before a payment request is performed), the same secure communication channel as described above can be formed between the terminals by the function of the SIP server.
As another modification, detachable IC chips are mounted on the terminals 11 and 12, identification information, and a personal certification, or authentication information of a user are stored in the IC chips, so that an authentication process can be easily performed by using the information. In this case, not only a holder (identical person), but also a person who borrows the terminal (with consent of the identical person) can make payment by using this terminal. Furthermore, when prepaid payment is selected as secondary payment, so-called open-loop type electronic money stored in the IC chip may be used in payment. The detachable IC chip mounted on the terminal is not limited to the above IC chip. Another detachable memory having a storing function may be used.
As still another embodiment of the present invention, an example which uses an automatic vending machine as a device on a seller terminal side will be described below.
In the automatic vending machine 16, a card reader 161 which reads various cards such as a bar-code (including two-dimensional bar-code) printed card, a magnetic card, and an IC card is arranged. The card is held by a buyer. The card may be set in a buyer terminal 12. The other configuration is the same as that in
Payment request in step S04 is performed in response to a purchase desire button operation of the buyer after the card of the buyer is read by the card reader. In place of the card, identification information (for example, an electronic mail address) of the buyer may be caused to be input. As in
As a modification of the embodiment, a case in which no card reader 161 is arranged in the automatic vending machine 16 can be conceived. The example in
After the processes in steps S01 to S03, when authentication is requested by the buyer terminal 12 (step S06), an authentication process is performed (steps S07 and S08). Thereafter, payment is requested by the buyer terminal (step S09). In this case, an address of the automatic vending machine is acquired and transmitted together with the payment request. Thereafter, steps S05 to S04 are executed to perform the processes in step S10 and subsequent steps. The payment request from the automatic vending machine in step S04 is possible such that a money amount is fixed by operating an article button by the buyer. A secondary payment process is performed by the same procedure as that of the operation in
Furthermore, as still another embodiment, as shown in
As a matter of course, the operations of the terminals and the servers described above can be constructed such that the operation procedure of the operation is stored in a recording medium such as a ROM as a program and executed by causing a CPU serving as a computer to read the operation procedure.
As described above, payment is divided into primary payment performed by closed-loop type electronic money in only a communication carrier and actual secondary payment by a financial institution to make it possible to expect that convenience of users and earnings of the communication carrier are improved. As advantages of a user, a user need not care a balance of electronic money which is a payment account, and can make payment even though she/he does not have cash or a credit card on hand. Furthermore, since a trading partner is credited by the communication carrier, a user is advantageously free from risk such as a fraud, and a balance of an electronic money account for payment can be advantageously checked on real time. Furthermore, since a payment process is performed on real time, so-called losing out does not occur.
As advantages of the communication carrier, since existing equipment can be used, new business investment is small, and commission incomes can be expected by providing an authentication function and a credit function for payment, and demand for terminals of the communication carrier increases to expect incomes obtained by an increase in the sale of terminals. Furthermore, new users can be acquired due to enhancement of service, and incomes can be increased by enclosing users.
As application fields of the present invention, an application to payment (prepaid payment, debit payment, or credit payment) of an arbitrary commercial transaction performed when a trading partner can be specified by a communication carrier or an application in which a certain user sends money to another user is conceived. This case corresponds to a case in which, in response to a transfer request (money sending request) from a communication terminal of a certain user to another user, a payment server performs a primary payment process between both the users, and, thereafter, secondary payment is made.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-227591 | Aug 2005 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2006/315398 | 8/3/2006 | WO | 00 | 1/31/2008 |
