WO2002075626A1

WO2002075626A1 - On-line ticket transaction system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2002075626A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/002012
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sang-Woock Lee
Original assignee: Sang-Woock Lee
Priority date: 2001-02-06
Filing date: 2001-11-22
Publication date: 2002-09-26
Also published as: KR20010035346A

Abstract

An online ticket transaction system includes a plurality of service providing servers providing online charge service, a plurality of member stores selling the ticket to an end user, and a transaction management server for intermediating transaction between them through a network, in which the transaction management server includes a code management unit for acquiring a serial code of a ticket from the service providing server and forwarding the serial code to a member store when required, a store management unit for determining whether the transaction of the member store requesting the serial code is possible and allowing to forward the serial code only when possible, and a settlement unit for settling the price of the ticket when the transaction of the member store is allowed.

Description

ON-LINE TICKET TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to system and method for online

ticket transaction, and more particularly to online ticket transaction

system and method for intermediating transaction between a service

provider which provides charged online service by a ticket through

Internet and a member store which sells the ticket to end users so as to

ensure safe and efficient transaction.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, Internet users abruptly increases with the propagation

of superhigh-speed communications and service providers are

accordingly created to provide service through Internet. These Internet

service providers are taking great pains to create profit models by

various ways.

Among such profit models, there are some ways of charging a

commission on the intermediate of Electronic Commerce or an

advertising profit through such as banner advertisement. In recent

years, the way of charging for a part or all of service, which was offered

free, tends to be greatly spread for the purpose of guaranteeing fixed

profit from service users. This trend is more prominent among game service providers.

Most game service providers build a system for many users to enjoy

games simultaneously in real time and then request the users to pay

fees for the ga e service in a way of, for example, fixed charging or

hourly specific charging.

The fixed charging is a way of charging a user a fixed amount by

each month, while the hourly specific charging is a way of charging a

user a fee corresponding to hours that the user actually enjoys the

game service. Such fixed charging or hourly specific charging generally

needs a credit card number of the user or to automatic settlement so

that the service fee is automatically transferred from an account of the

user by month, in order to ensure safe transaction. However,

customers of the Internet service such as online game are distributed in

young ages who are not allowed to possess a credit card, so the

payment by a credit card has no effectiveness. In addition, the

customers in those ages who are mostly students are usually reluctant

to use the bank, so the payment by the automatic transfer is also

ineffective. Furthermore, such conventional ways of payment are often

a cause of trouble between a user and a service provider due to an

outstanding fee.

To solve such problems, there is recently introduced a manner of

using a ticket or coupon on which a serial code is printed. This ticket or coupon is sold to an Internet user so that the user may use a

corresponding Internet service for a time or term corresponding to the

price of the ticket or coupon by using the serial number. The user who

purchased the ticket is commonly able to use the corresponding service

as rrruch as the time or term defined to a serial code of the ticket.

This manner using a ticket is actively used among the online

game service providers. Recently, the game service providers started to

sell game service tickets in a package together with a storage medium

containing a game program, a service connecting program and so on.

This package-type transaction method is useful to those who use

the service for the first time, however a user who has already used the

service should purchase the ticket again for further service by using the

conventional inconvenient transaction manners. In other words, if a

time or term of the ticket purchased in the package expires, the user

should purchase another ticket from the service provider with using a

credit card or money transfer through a bank or card company.

In addition, in case the service ticket is sold in stores in a

package, a manager of each store should purchase a large amount of

tickets in advance. Thus, cost increase due to stocks of the tickets is

inevitable and this is a factor of a rise of the ticket price. Even more, in

the traditional transaction, the price of the ticket should be fixed in

advance and sold according to the fixed price. Thus, it is unable for the user to purchase the right of use as desired at a desired price.

One of important aims of the charged Internet service providers

including online game service providers is to attract more users to use

their own service. In that aspect, how easily and conveniently the user

purchases the service ticket and uses the service has a great effect on

success of the service.

Therefore, there is still pressingly needed a transaction method

for the users to easily purchase tickets with ensuring safe transaction

and reducing factors of cost increase.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention is designed to overcome the above problems

of the prior art, and an object of the invention is to provide an online

ticket transaction system which intermediates transaction between

service providing servers which provide charged service by tickets and

member stores which directly sell the tickets to users in order to ensure

safe and activated transaction at the same time.

Another object of the invention is to provide an online ticket

transaction method which is capable of working the above online ticket

transaction system.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention

provides an online ticket transaction system includes a plurality of service providing servers for providing online charged service with

tickets, a plurality of member store terminals installed in member

stores selling the tickets to end users, and a transaction management

server for intermediating transaction between the service providing

servers and the member stores through a network, in which the

transaction management server includes a code management means for

acquiring serial codes of the tickets from the service providing servers

and forwarding a requested serial code to the allowable member store

terminal; a member store management means for determining whether

the transaction of the member store requesting the serial code is

available and allowing the code management means to forward the

serial code only when the transaction is available; and a settlement

means for settling the price of the ticket when the member store

management means allows the transaction with the member store.

the code management means may include a serial code acquiring

module for acquiring serial codes of the tickets from a plurality of the

service providing servers; a serial code DB for storing the serial codes

acquired by the serial code acquiring module; and a code sending

module for sending serial codes to the corresponding member store

terminal when the member store management means allows to forward

the serial codes to the corresponding member store.

Preferably, the serial code DB stores information about providers 02/075626

of each service providing server, serial codes and total amount of tickets

allocated from each service providing server and residual amount of

tickets remaining after transaction of each service providing server, and

the serial code acquiring module preferably acquires additional serial

codes of the ticket from the corresponding service providing server when

the residual amount of the ticket stored in the serial code DB is lower

than a criterion.

The member store management means may include a code

request receiving module for receiving the request for a serial code of

the ticket corresponding to a service providing server from the member

store terminal; and a deposit check module for checking the balance in

an external banking server of the corresponding member store, in which

the member store management means allows the code management

means to forward the. serial codes only - when the balance of- the

corresponding member store is not less than the price of the ticket.

The member store management means may also include a

member store DB for storing general information, business information

and credit limit cf each, member store; and a credit rating management

module for determining, based on the credit limit of the corresponding

member store stored in the member store DB, whether the transaction

requested by the member store is available within the credit limit when

the balance of the member store is less than the criterion, and allowing the code management means to forward the serial code when the

transaction is available.

The settlement means may also include a settlement module for,

when the member store management means allows the transaction with

a member store, withdrawing the deposit of the corresponding member

store as much as the price of the ticket from the external banking server

and remitting the money except a predetermined commission to the

corresponding service providing server.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is

provided an online ticket transaction method in an online ticket

transaction system, which includes a plurality of service providing

servers for providing online charged service with tickets, a plurality of

member store terminals installed in member stores selling the tickets to

end users, and a transaction management server for intermediating

transaction between the service providing servers and the member

stores through a network, which includes the steps of (a) acquiring and

storing serial codes of the tickets from a plurality of the service

providing servers; (b) determining whether the transaction with the

member store is available when a serial code is requested from the

corresponding member store terminal; (c) forwarding the serial code to

the member store terminal when the transaction is available; and (d)

settling the price of the ticket. Preferably, the step (b) includes the steps of determining whether

the deposit of the corresponding member store is not less than the price

of the ticket; and allowing forwarding the serial code when the deposit

of the corresponding member store is not less than the price of the

ticket.

The step (b) may further include the steps of determining whether

the price of the ticket is less than the sum of the deposit and a credit

limit of the corresponding member store, when the deposit is less than

the price of the ticket; and allowing to forward the serial code when the

sum of the deposit and the credit limit is not less than the price of the

ticket.

There may be also added the steps of checking residual amount of

serial codes of the ticket corresponding to the service providing server

after the transaction; and acquiring additional serial codes of the ticket

from the corresponding service providing server when the residual

amount is lower than a criterion.

Preferably, the step (d) includes the step of withdrawing the

deposit of the corresponding member store as much as the price of the

ticket when the transaction with the member store is allowed; and

remitting the money except a predetermined commission to the

corresponding service providing server. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of preferred

embodiments of the present invention will be more fully described in the

following detailed description, taken accompanying drawings. In the

drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing overall configuration of an

online ticket transaction system according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is for illustrating a function of a code management unit in a

transaction management server in the system of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 shows data structure of a serial code DB shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is for illustrating a function of a member store management

unit in the transaction management server;

Fig. 5 shows data structure of a member store DB shown in Fig.

4;

Fig. 6 is for illustrating a function of a settlement unit in the

transaction management server; and

Fig. .7 is a flowchart for illustrating a method of purchasing a

ticket by the purchase management server of the system forwarding a

serial code according to the present invention.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows overall configuration of an online ticket transaction

system according to the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1 , the

online ticket transaction system of the present invention includes a

plurality service providing servers 200 which provide charged online

service to users with using tickets, a plurality of member store

terminals 500 installed in member stores acting for selling the tickets

for the online service, and a transaction management server 300 for

intermediating transaction between the service providing servers 200

and the member stores having the member store terminals 500 through

network 100 such as Internet.

The service providing server 200 can be any server worked by

service providers which provide charged service on Internet.

Representatively, the service providing server 200 can be a game server

operated by a game service provider of online graphic MUD game, for

example, a game server of Origin co. in U.S.A. providing a game "Ultima

Online", a game server of Sony in Japan providing a game "Everquest",

a game server of Taewool co. in Korea providing an online RPG (Role

Playing Game) "The Lord of Heroes" and so on.

The term "ticket" used for the service providing server 200 to

provide charged service is distributed to users by sale or contribution.

A user uses the ticket when desiring to use the charged online service. And, a predetermined serial code is printed or endowed to each ticket

for identification. The ticket is generally made by printing the serial

code on a medium such as paper or plastic together with designs for

advertisement or prevention of duplicate. At this time, the designs

except the serial code are not essential, and just the serial code is

essential to use the ticket. Thus, it should be understood that selling

"ticket" really means selling "serial code".

Generally, a user possessing a ticket for a specific charged service

accesses a side for the charged service and then inputs the serial code

recoded on the corresponding ticket to use the service. And, a

corresponding service providing server manages the ticket with the

serial code by analyzing the serial code to check availability of the ticket

and the right to use the ticket (hour or term) .

The member store terminal 200 is a terminal installed in a

member store which sells end users tickets, distributed by service

providers operating the service providing servers 200, as described

above. The term "member store" can be any store which sells the ticket

for online charged service. Representatively, Internet cafes can be

applicable to the member store. There are spread more than 20,000

Internet cafes in the whole country. In addition, banks, manless

banking machines such as cash dispenser vicariously used for bank

business for 24 hours a day, various stores and shops selling various computer-related products and convenience stores working for 24 hours

a day can be applicable for the member store.

The member store however should have the member store

terminal 500 for connecting to the transaction management server 300

of the present invention to exchange data. In addition, the member

store terminal 500 should be connected to an input device such as

keyboard or mouse to input required data, a display for recognition of

the data and so on. Preferably, an output device for printing the serial

code on the ticket is additionally installed to the member store terminal

500.

In the present invention, it is defined that the ticket is sold in the

member store by cash transaction. In fact, young people are main

customers of the charged online service such as computer game and

they are usually accustomed to cash transaction, not to bank

transaction. But, it is just a representative example, and the member

store can additionally utilize deposit without banknote or credit card on

consideration of circumstance of the member store, and the transaction

type of the member store is not specially limited.

And, it is also preferred that each member store deposits a certain

amount of money for the purpose of safe transaction. This deposit can

be diverted into the charge of the ticket sold by the member stored.

The deposit is preferably kept in a banking server 400 connected to the member store terminal 500 and the transaction management server 300

through the network 100. The banking server 400 is preferably a third

party entrusted for safe transaction, and particularly can be a server for

online transaction built by a banking agency such as a bank.

The transaction management server 300 intermediates

transaction between the service providing server 200 and the member

store where the member store terminal 500 is installed. The

transaction management server 300 broadly includes a code

management unit 310 for acquiring and managing serial codes of

tickets, a member store management unit 320 for receiving a request of

a serial code from the member store terminal 500 and allowing to

forward the serial code after determining transaction availability of the

member store, and a settlement unit 380 for settling the price of the

ticket sold in the member store.

Fig. 2 shows the code management unit 310 of the transaction

management server 300 in detail. Referring to Fig. 2, the code

management unit 310 includes a serial code acquiring module 312, a

code sending module 314 and a serial code database (DB) 320.

The serial code acquiring module 312 plays a role of acquiring

serial codes of tickets from a plurality of service providing servers 200.

The serial code of each ticket acquired in the serial code acquiring

module 312 is stored and kept in the serial code DB 320. If the member store 500 requests a serial code, the serial code stored in the

serial code DB 320 is forwarded to the corresponding member store

terminal 500 only when the corresponding member store is available for

the transaction, namely only when the member store management unit

330 allows to forward the serial code.

The serial code DB 320 stores information of acquired serial codes,

and its data structure is well shown in Fig. 3.

. Referring to Fig. 3, the serial code DB 320 includes a provider

section 322 for storing a name of a service provider which operates each

service providing server, a serial code section 324 for showing currently

stored serial codes among serial codes allocated from each service

providing server, a total amount section 326 for storing a total amount

of serial coded allocated from each service providing server, and a

residual amount section 328 for storing a residual amount of serial

codes remaining after latest transaction for a ticket provided from each

service providing server.

Among them, the serial codes stored in the serial code section

324 can be arranged in a certain order according to the service

providing server. The serial codes arranged as above are preferably

sold from the lowest number, and a sold serial code is erased from the

serial code section 324. But, various modifications are also possible,

not limited to that case. The serial code acquiring module 312 checks the residual amount

of serial codes from each service providing server stored in the serial

code DB 320, and is capable of acquiring additional serial codes of the

corresponding ticket from the corresponding service providing server

when the residual amount is less than a certain criterion. Here, the

term "criterion" means the allowable minimum residual amount defined

to each ticket, and can be determined on consideration of transaction

amount of the ticket. For example, the criterion can be calculated as a

ratio of the residual amount to the total amount of the serial codes

allocated from each service providing server. If the criterion of the

minimum residual amount is set to 20% of the total amount and the

total amount of serial codes for a ticket from a specific service providing

server is 1 ,000, the serial code acquiring module 312 acquires

additional serial codes from the corresponding service providing server

when the residual amount of the corresponding serial codes is lowered

under 200.

Fig.- 4 shows the member store management unit 330 of the

transaction management server 300 in detail. Referring to Fig. 4, the

member store management unit 330 includes a code request receiving

module 332, a deposit check module 334, a credit rating management

module 336 and a member store DB 340.

The member store DB 340 is a storage means for storing member store-related data, transaction information, credit limit and so on and

will be described later in detail.

The code request receiving module 332 receives a request for a

serial code of a ticket for online service from a specific service providing

server. At this time, the code request receiving module 332 also

receives information about a provider name of the service providing

server corresponding to the requested ticket and the price of the

corresponding ticket. Though the ticket may be sold in the same price,

it is preferably that the price is freely determined as the end user

desires. In other words, if the end user presents a payable price, the

suitable right as much as the price is endowed to the serial code of the

ticket. For example, assuming that 20,000 won is allotted to a ticket

with a right of using service for 10 hours and an end user wants to buy

a ticket worth 10, 000 won, only 5 hour right corresponding to 10,000

won is endowed to the serial code sold to the end user.

If the code request receiving module 332 receives a code request

from a member store terminal, the deposit check module 334 checks a

deposit of the corresponding member store. Assuming that the

member store keeps the deposit in the external banking server 400, the

deposit check module 334 checks the current deposit of the

corresponding member store from the banking server 400.

If the checked deposit of the member store is more than the price of the request serial code, the member store management unit 330

determines that the transaction with the member store is available and

then allows the code sending module 314 to forward the serial code to

the corresponding member store terminal. However, if the deposit of

the member store is less than the price of the requested serial code, the

member store management unit^' 330 checks a credit limit of the

corresponding member store and then determines again whether the

transaction is available within the credit limit. The credit limit of the

member store is stored in the member store DB 340 and to manage and

check the credit limit is a role of the credit rating management module

336.

Fig. 5 shows an example of such a member store DB 340 in detail.

Referring to Fig. 5, data structure of the member store DB 340 and

roles of the credit rating management module 336 are described as

follows.

Fist, the member store DB 340 is briefly classified into three

areas: a) a member store list storing area 350, b) a transaction list

storing area for each member store 360, and c) a credit rating storing

area 370, as shown in the figure.

The member store list storing area 350 stores general information

about each member store, which includes a name of member store 352,

a representative of member store 354, an address of member store 356, a contact number of member store 358 and so on. The data stored in

the member store list storing area 350 are created when a new member

store is registered and updated when information about an existing

member store is changed or deleted. Of course, more information

related to the member store can be recorded for efficient operation of

the server.

The transaction list storing area for each member store 360 stores

detailed transaction lists with each member store. The transaction list

storing area 360 stores a name of member store 361 , a business day of

each transaction with the member store 362, a service provider for the

sold serial code 364, a sold serial code 366, a transaction money 368

and so on. The data stored in the transaction list storing area 360 are

updated whenever new transaction is generated. In other words, if a

transaction of a serial code with a specific member store is successfully

conducted, the transaction list storing area for the corresponding

member store adds information about the business day of the

transaction, the service provider of the sold serial code, the sold serial

code, the transaction money and so on.

The credit rating storing area 370 stores information related to

credit rating of each member store. This credit rating storing area 370

has a close relation with the credit rating management module 336.

The credit rating storing area 370 generally stores a name of each member store 372, a total transaction money of each member store 374,

a deposit or current deposit balance of each member store 375, credit

rating of each member store 376, a credit limit of each member store

378 and so on. Among the information stored in the credit rating

storing area 370, the data related to the total transaction money and

the current deposit balance are updated at every transaction, while the

data related to the deposit, the credit rating and the credit limit are

updated just when there is any change.

The credit rating management module 370 determines the credit

rating and the credit limit of a member store on consideration of the

total transaction money, the deposit or other various factors of the

corresponding member store. For example, the credit rating

management module 370 may classify member stores having a total

transaction money of 50- 100 million won into "C" grade, member stores

having a total transaction money of 100-300 million won into "B" grade,

and member stores having a total transaction money over 300 million

won into- "A" grade, and may award 100,000 won to member stores of

"C" grade, 300,000 won to member stores of "B" grade and 1 million

won to member stores of "A" grade. The method of determining the

credit rating and the credit limit can be realized in various ways, and

not limited to a specific case.

If the transaction money of the serial code requested by the member store exceeds a current deposit balance of the member store,

the credit rating management module 370 check the credit rating 378 of

the corresponding member store stored in the member store DB 340 to

determine whether the sum of the deposit and the credit limit of the

member store exceeds the transaction money. At this time, if the sum

of the deposit and the credit limit is over the transaction money, the

credit rating management module 370 determines that the transaction

is available and then allows the code sending module 314 to forward the

serial code. However, if the sum is less than the transaction money,

the credit rating management module 370 determines that the

transaction is not available and then disallows forwarding of the serial

code.

At this time, if the transaction is unavailable due to the lack of

the deposit and the credit limit of the member store, the transaction

management server 300 may send a warning message informing the

corresponding member store of the lack of the deposit.

Fig. 6 shows the settlement unit 380 of the transaction

management server 300. Referring to Fig. 6, the settlement unit 380

includes a settlement module 382 which is connected to both of the

banking server 400 and the service providing server 200 to settle the

price of the ticket purchased by the member store.

If the member store management unit 330 allows a transaction with a specific member store, the settlement module 382 withdraws

transaction money from the deposit of the member store in the banking

server 400. If the deposit of the member store is less than the

transaction money, the settlement module 382 withdraws all the

deposit and takes off the remainder from the credit limit of the

corresponding member store. Then, the settlement module 382 remits

the transaction money except a predetermined commission to the

corresponding service providing server 200, and then the settlement

process is completed. At this time, the commission is decided from an

agreement with a company operating the service providing server 200

and not limited to any specific ratio.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart for illustrating a transaction method executed

in the transaction management server 300 of the online ticket

transaction system according to the present invention. Referring to Fig.

7, the online ticket transaction method of the present invention is

described as follows.

First, the transaction management server 300 acquires serial

codes of tickets from a plurality of service providing servers 200 which

provide charged online service by using the serial code acquiring

module 312 of the code management 310 (S600). The acquired serial

codes are stored and kept in the serial code DB 320.

Then, if a purchaser requests a member store (e.g. Internet cafe) to sell a ticket for a specific charged online service, a clerk or manager

requests a serial code from the transaction management server 300 by

using the member store terminal 500. Then, the code request receiving

module 332 of the member store management unit 330 receives the

code request from the corresponding member store terminal 500 (S602) .

If the code request receiving module 332 of the member store

management unit 330 receives the code request, the deposit check

module 334 inquires the banking server 400 to check a current deposit

of the member store and then determine whether the deposit of the

member store is more than a transaction money (or, the price of the

serial code) (S604). At this time, if the deposit of the member store is

sufficient, the member store management unit 330 allows the code

sending module 314 of the code management unit 310 to forward the

serial code (S610). However, if the deposit of the corresponding

member store is insufficient, the credit rating management module 336

of the member store management unit 330 checks a credit limit of the

corresponding member store to determine whether the sum of the

deposit and the credit limit is over the transaction money (S606). At

this time, if the credit limit of the corresponding member store is

sufficient, it is determined that the transaction is available, proceeded

to the step S610 for allowance of forwarding the serial code. However,

if the credit limit is also insufficient, the member store management unit 330 determines that the transaction with the member store is

unavailable, so the member store management unit 330 interrupts the

transaction and sends a warning message informing the member store

terminal of the lack of the deposit (S608).

If the serial code is forwarded on the determination that the

transaction with the member store is available, the settlement module

382 of the settlement unit 380 withdraws the transaction money from

the deposit of the corresponding member store in the banking server400

(S612). At this time, if the deposit is insufficient and the transaction

money is partially diverted to the credit limit, the banking server 400

withdraws all the deposit of the corresponding member store, and then

the remainder is taken off from the credit limit. After that, the

settlement module 382 remits the transaction money except a

predetermined commission to the service providing server 200 (S614),

and the settlement for the serial code transaction is completed.

If the settlement for the serial code is settled, the code

management unit 310 deletes the sold serial code from the serial code

DB 320 (S616), and the member store unit 330 stores information

related to the sold serial code and its transaction into the member store

DB 340 (S618).

After that, the serial code acquiring module 312 determines

whether the residual amount of the ticket corresponding to the serial code sold and deleted from the serial code DB 320 is sufficient (S620).

As a result of the determination, if the residual amount is sufficient, all

processes are completed, while if the residual amount is insufficient,

the process is completed after acquiring additional serial code for the

corresponding ticket from the corresponding service providing server

200 (S622).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the online ticket transaction system and

method of the present invention help end users to easily purchase

tickets for charged online service in a simple way of cash transaction, so

is advantageous of promoting sale of tickets and therefore increasing

users of the charged service.

In addition, the transaction system and method give convenience

to users since the users may purchase the ticket at a desired price.

Moreover, since the transaction system and method intermediate

transaction between a service provider and a ticket seller through

network, physical distribution costs such as stock costs and wholesale

margin can be dramatically reduced. Furthermore, since the

transaction money is entrusted to a third party, the safe transaction is

ensured.

The present invention has been described in detail. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific

examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are

given by way of illustration only, since various changes and

modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become

apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An online ticket transaction system includes a plurality of

service providing servers for providing online charged service with

tickets, a plurality of member store terminals installed in member

stores selling the tickets to end users, and a transaction management

server for intermediating transaction between the service providing

servers and the member stores through a network, the transaction

management server comprising:

a code management means for acquiring serial codes of the

tickets from the service providing servers and forwarding a requested

serial code to the allowable member store terminal;

a member store management means for determining whether the

transaction of the member store requesting the serial code is available

and allowing the code management means to forward the serial code

only when the transaction is available; and

^•a settlement means for settling the price of the ticket when the

member store management means allows the transaction with the

member store.

2. The online ticket transaction system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the code management means includes: a serial code acquiring module for acquiring serial codes of the

tickets from a plurality of the service providing servers;

a serial code DB for storing the serial codes acquired by the serial

code acquiring module; and

a code sending module for sending serial codes to the

corresponding member store terminal when the member store

management means allows to forward the serial codes to the

corresponding member store.

3. The online ticket transaction system according to claim 2,

wherein the serial code DB stores information about providers of

each service providing server, serial codes and total amount of tickets

allocated from each service providing server and residual amount of

tickets remaining after transaction of each service providing server, and

wherein the serial code acquiring module acquires additional

serial codes of the ticket from the corresponding service providing server

when the residual amount of the ticket stored in the serial code DB is

lower than a criterion.

4. The online ticket transaction system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the member store management means includes:

a code request receiving module for receiving the request for a serial code of the ticket corresponding to a service providing server from

the member store terminal; and

a deposit check module for checking the balance in an external

banking server of the corresponding member store,

wherein the member store management means allows the code

management means to forward the serial codes only when the balance

of the corresponding member store is not less than the price of the

ticket.

5. The online ticket transaction system according to claim 4,

wherein the member store management means includes:

a member store DB for storing general information, business

information and credit limit of each member store; and

a credit rating management module for determining, based on the

credit limit of the corresponding member store stored in the member

store DB, whether the transaction requested by the member store is

available within the credit limit when the balance of the member store is

less than the criterion, and allowing the code management means to

forward the serial code when the transaction is available.

6. The online ticket transaction system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the settlement means includes: a settlement module for, when the member store management

means allows the transaction with a member store, withdrawing the

deposit of the corresponding member store as much as the price of the

ticket from the external banking server and remitting the money except

a predetermined commission to the corresponding service providing

server.

7. An online ticket transaction method in an online ticket

transaction system, which includes a plurality of service providing

servers for providing online charged service with tickets, a plurality of

member store terminals installed in member stores selling the tickets to

end users, and a transaction management server for intermediating

transaction between the service providing servers and the member

stores through a network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) acquiring and storing serial codes of the tickets from a

plurality of the service providing servers;

(b) determining whether the transaction with the member store is

available when a serial code is requested from the corresponding

member store terminal;

(c) forwarding the serial code to the member store terminal when

the transaction is available; and

(d) settling the price of the ticket.

8. The online ticket transaction method according to claim 7,

wherein the step (b) includes the steps of:

determining whether the deposit of the corresponding member

store is not less than the price of the ticket; and

allowing forwarding the serial code when the deposit of the

corresponding member store is not less than the price of the ticket.

9. The online ticket transaction method according to claim 8,

wherein the step (b) further includes the step of:

determining whether the price of the ticket is less than the sum of

the deposit and a credit limit of the corresponding member store, when

the deposit is less than the price of the ticket; and

allowing forwarding the serial code when the sum of the deposit

and the credit limit is not less than the price of the ticket.

10. The online ticket transaction method according to claim 7,

further comprising the steps of:

checking residual amount of serial codes of the ticket

corresponding to the service providing server after the transaction; and

acquiring additional serial codes of the ticket from the

corresponding service providing server when the residual amount is lower than a criterion.

1 1. The online ticket transaction method according to claim 7,

wherein the step (d) includes the step of:

withdrawing the deposit of the corresponding member store as

much as the price of the ticket when the transaction with the member

store is allowed; and

remitting the money except a predetermined commission to the

corresponding service providing server.