WO2002031612A2

WO2002031612A2 - Method for carrying out a commercial transaction over a network

Info

Publication number: WO2002031612A2
Application number: PCT/IB2001/001869
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian Guion
Original assignee: Schlumberger Systemes; Schlumberger Malco, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-10-12
Filing date: 2001-10-08
Publication date: 2002-04-18
Also published as: WO2002031612A3; FR2815439A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for carrying out a commercial transaction over a communication network, such as Internet, between a server (3) marketing goods and/or services of a provider and a connection device such as a personal computer (1) enabling a buyer to access said commercial server (3). The invention is characterised in that the provider and the buyer are registered with a common telecommunication operator and it is said telecommunication operator who authorises the transaction from joint requests transmitted by the provider and the buyer and who triggers, once the transaction has been authorised, the payment of the provider, said payment being then re-billed to the buyer by said telecommunication operator.

Description

METHOD FOR PERFORMING A COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION ON A NETWORK

The present invention relates to a method for carrying out commercial transactions and in particular electronic transactions carried out on the Internet.

The present invention relates more particularly to transactions involving fairly small amounts, for example of the order of a few francs. The development of the Internet is accompanied by a corresponding development of the possibilities of trading between buyers using the Web and the Internet, and suppliers of goods and services managing merchant sites.

Currently the main way to pay and therefore to carry out a commercial transaction on the Internet, is today to communicate the number of a payment card.

The term "payment card" is used to designate any bank card with deferred or immediate debit, any credit card, etc., issued by a bank or a specialized establishment. A payment card mainly offers the following service: the card holder is able to pay for a product or service from an approved supplier by simple signature of an invoice and this, according to conditions determined in particular as to the amounts of the transactions (amounts per transaction and / or cumulative amounts per week, etc.). This signature can be handwritten or electronic, in the latter case it is a question of entering a secret code called PIN code (Personal Identification Number), such as for example a series of four digits, or even an alphanumeric series of length any. The supplier paid by means of a payment card then obtains the money from the establishment issuing the card, which transfers the corresponding money to the supplier's bank account. The card issuer pays, in fact, the signed invoices of the card holder presented to him by accredited suppliers - this payment being guaranteed up to a certain amount - and then turns towards the holder to be reimbursed according to more or less complex terms: immediate or deferred debit from a bank account, credit, revolving credit, etc. However, the issuing institution only pays the invoices presented to it to the extent that the corresponding bank card is authentic and valid, that is to say that it has not expired or that it has not yet expired. is not opposed. The issuing establishment may also only pay invoices associated with an authorization number supplied by itself to suppliers who requested it during the transaction.

Payment cards are therefore issued at the request of their customers by financial institutions for a period, generally one to two years renewable, and for well-defined payment conditions. These cards are payable both for their owners (entry fee, subscription ...) and for accredited suppliers who pay a percentage of their turnover invoiced using bank cards.

The advantages presented by payment cards both for their cardholders (no more need in particular to manage cash, possibility of paying on credit, etc.) and for suppliers (risk of non-payment almost zero) mean that today, transactions settled by means of payment cards are becoming widespread. The development of card payment, however, finds these limits with regard to transactions whose amounts are small, that is to say of the order of a few francs. Indeed, the complexity of the payment card system which allows the aforementioned level of security has a prj_x, and this price charged to the suppliers becomes too important when the amounts at stake are low.

Furthermore, this security offered by card payment is no longer as perfect when the card holder and the supplier are far from each other and as the use of a card reader payment terminal in particular for testing the secret code of the card is not possible.

Indeed, to operate a transaction when the card holder and the supplier are far from each other, for example during a mail order purchase, a reservation by phone or an electronic transaction on the Internet, the card holder must now openly communicate information on his card such as the number of his payment card and the expiry date of the latter. The transmission of this information alone is sufficient to validate an invoice which the supplier is then able to present for collection at the establishment issuing the card.

The simplicity of the current payment card acknowledgment mechanism for transactions carried out remotely is the source of a large number of frauds, since anyone with knowledge of a payment card number and the date of expiration of the latter can use this information illegally to buy goods or services, as long as the real owner of the card does not realize the misappropriation of which he is a victim and does not make opposition to the establishment card issuer. In addition, this system allows abusive denials on the part unscrupulous buyers who refuse to have their accounts debited on the false pretext that the transactions were carried out without their knowledge.

This is particularly true for electronic transactions carried out on the Internet since, on such an open communication network, it is particularly easy to intercept the information exchanged there. This insecurity is today a major obstacle to Internet commerce.

Solutions to secure payment on the Internet have been developed such as SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) or SSL (Secure Socket Layer), however these solutions are still marginal because they are complex to implement (they require specific means such as readers smart cards for computers, means of cryptology in computers or in readers, and standardization of the protocols chosen by the different operators).

As a result, transactions on the Internet using small amounts, on the order of a few francs, cannot today fully develop, owing to the fact that the only remote payment tools on the Internet, that are credit cards. payment, are not suitable either for such transactions or for such a network.

The object of the present invention is therefore to propose a new way of carrying out commercial transactions between a supplier and a buyer on a network such as the Internet, which is simple and safe to implement.

The object of the method according to the invention is therefore to carry out a commercial transaction on a communication network, such as the Internet, between a server marketing the goods and / or services of a supplier and a connection device such as a personal computer allowing a buyer to access the commercial server.

According to the invention, the method is characterized in that the supplier and the buyer are registered with the same telecommunications operator and in that it is the telecommunications operator which authorizes the transaction on the basis of joint requests issued by the supplier and the buyer and which triggers, the transaction having been authorized, the payment of the supplier, this payment then being rebilled to the buyer by the telecommunications operator.

According to another characteristic of the process which is the subject of the present invention, the authorization is given by the telecommunications operator after the completion of the following operations: i) the supplier communicates to the telecommunications operator the data of the transaction and in particular its amount; ii) the telecommunications operator communicates back to the supplier, after verifying its identity, a secret code associated with said transaction; iii) the supplier transfers to the buyer the secret code associated with the transaction in progress; iv) the buyer then calls the telecommunications operator for authorization of the transaction and provides the required information and in particular the corresponding secret code; v) the telecommunications operator, after having ascertained the identity of the purchaser and the conformity of the information received, then authorizes the transaction. According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, the telecommunications operator has a transaction processing server, this server being able to communicate with the supplier's server by a secure link and being able to communicate with the buyer through the operator's telecommunications network.

According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, the operator's telecommunications network is a cellular radio telecommunications network. According to another characteristic of the process which is the subject of the present invention, the identification of the buyer is determined by the number of the SIM card of his mobile phone.

According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, the buyer's mobile phone includes an automatic call program of the telecommunications operator in order to obtain an authorization, the buyer only having to enter certain information such as the corresponding secret code.

According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, the rebilling of the cost of the transaction is included in the invoice issued periodically by the telecommunications operator to the buyer.

According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, the re-invoicing of the cost of the transaction is debited from the account which said buyer has with the telecommunications operator.

According to another characteristic of the method which is the subject of the present invention, only transactions lower than a predetermined amount can be authorized by the telecommunications operator. The aims, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the description given below of an embodiment of the invention, presented by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the system necessary for the implementation of a transaction according to the invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart specifying the different stages of a transaction according to the invention.

Referring to the figures, only the elements useful for understanding the invention have been shown.

The examples chosen to illustrate the method and its implementation device according to the invention relate to an electronic transaction carried out on the Internet. Obviously, the invention is not limited to electronic transactions only but relates to all transactions paid using the same method.

Referring to FIG. 1, the system necessary for the implementation of an electronic transaction is as follows: a user is installed in front of a station which is for example a personal computer referenced 1. This computer 1 is connected to the Internet network 2 and provides access to a merchant website 3, hereinafter referred to as a supplier of goods or services.

This user also has access via his mobile or mobile phone 5 to a transaction server 4 managed by the operator of the user's radio-telecommunications network, this transaction server 4 being also accessible via the website 3 through the Internet 2 or any other form of specialized network. The link between the server 4 and the website 3 is preferably secure, for example of the SSL type. The user therefore consults on his computer 1 a page of the Web server 3 on which he is offered to buy an article or a service such as downloading a file (text, image, sound, etc.) for a amount ranging from a few francs to a few tens of francs.

Having decided to acquire this item or service from the Web server 3, the purchasing user then operates the transaction according to the process in FIG. 2.

The buyer chooses from a corresponding menu offered by the website 3, the payment through a telephone operator, he then selects his operator from the operators offered.

The web server 3 then launches a request to the transaction server 4 of the operator chosen by the buyer. The web server 3 communicates to the transaction server 4 the data of the transaction in progress and in particular the amount. In return and after identification of the supplier, the transaction server 4 communicates a secret code, also called transaction ticket.

The supplier who wishes to use the transaction server 4 of the telecommunications operator chosen by the buyer must have previously been accredited to the latter.

The secret code issued by the transaction server 4 to the web server 3 is specific to the transaction in progress and is only valid for a given period, for example of the order of a few minutes.

The Web server 3 having received this code, in turn communicates it to the buyer who sees it displayed on the screen of his computer 1. The buyer then calls the transaction server 4 by means of his telephone 5 to obtain authorization from the latter for the transaction. To do this, the buyer communicates to the server 4 his identity as well as the characteristics of the transaction in progress and in particular the secret code and the amount of the transaction.

If the buyer is accredited with this telecommunications operator, either that he has an account (prepaid or not) or that he is a subscriber, and that the data transmitted in relation to the transaction in progress such as the secret code are correct, the transaction server 4 then authorizes the transaction by sending an acknowledgment message to the website 3. Website 3 then confirms to the buyer that the transaction has been accepted and then delivers the requested good or service.

The telephony operator managing the transaction server 4 then triggers payment to the supplier of the transaction amount (with or without commission) and subsequently re-invoices this amount to the buyer (with or without commission), for example on the telephone bill. or by debiting the buyer's account.

Preferably, the communication between the buyer and the server 4 is automated and secure by means of a specific program loaded in the microcontroller fitted to the SIM card (Securit Identity Module) of the mobile phone 5. The purpose of this program is to facilitate the entry of the transaction by transmitting by SMS (Short Message Service) type the code number, the amount of the transaction and the identity of the user, this identity being generated automatically and being none other than the number of the SIM card. Furthermore, such an SMS-type communication makes it possible to achieve a better level of security than a simple voice communication. It is also possible to integrate into this specific program requesting authorization of a transaction electronic, an encryption algorithm which further strengthens the security of communication between the user and the transaction server 4.

Thus, thanks to the invention, it is possible to pay in a simple manner small sums not justifying the payment by means of a payment card.

Obviously, the illustrated embodiment has been given by way of example and is in no way limitative of all of the solutions that can be implemented thanks to the present invention.

Thus, the telecommunications operator is not necessarily a mobile radio operator, it can also be an operator using the public telephone switching network PSTN (Public Switching Telephone Network), or even any other telecommunications network.

Claims

[1] Method for carrying out a commercial transaction on a communications network, such as the Internet, between a server (3) marketing the goods and/or services of a supplier and a connection device such as a personal computer (1) allowing a buyer to access said commercial server (3), characterized in that the supplier and the buyer are registered with the same telecommunications operator and in that said telecommunications operator authorizes the transaction from joint requests issued by the supplier and the buyer and triggers, the transaction having been authorized, the payment of the supplier, said payment then being re-invoiced to the buyer by said telecommunications operator.

[2] Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said authorization is given by the telecommunications operator after the completion of the following operations: i) the supplier communicates to the telecommunications operator the data of the transaction and in particular its Rising; ii) the telecommunications operator communicates in return to the supplier, after ensuring its identity, a secret code associated with said transaction; (iii) the supplier transfers to the buyer the secret code associated with the current transaction; iv) the buyer then calls the telecommunications operator to authorize the transaction and provides the required information, in particular the corresponding secret code; v) the telecommunications operator, after ensuring the identity of the buyer and the conformity of the information received, then authorizes the transaction.

[3] Method according to one _' - any of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the telecommunications operator has a transaction processing server (4), said server (4) being able to communicate with the server (3) of the supplier via a secure connection and being able to communicate with the buyer via the operator's telecommunications network.

[4] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said telecommunications network of the operator is a cellular radio telecommunications network.

[5] Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the identification of the buyer is determined by the number of the SIM card of his mobile telephone (5).

[6] Method according to claim 5, characterized in that said mobile telephone includes an automatic call program from said telecommunications operator with a view to obtaining authorization, the buyer only having to enter certain information such as the code corresponding secret.

[7] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said re-invoicing of the cost of the transaction is included in the invoice issued periodically by said telecommunications operator to the buyer.

[8] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said re-invoicing of the cost of the transaction is debited from the account held by said buyer with said telecommunications operator.

[9] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that only transactions lower than a predetermined amount can be authorized by said telecommunications operator.