WO2004084115A1

WO2004084115A1 - Method for managing lottery of trade commission

Info

Publication number: WO2004084115A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/000617
Authority: WO
Inventors: Young-Hyun Seo; Moo-Sung Ko
Original assignee: Young-Hyun Seo; Moo-Sung Ko
Priority date: 2003-03-19
Filing date: 2004-03-19
Publication date: 2004-09-30
Also published as: KR20050099648A

Abstract

Disclosed is a commission transaction lottery/management method for use in a commission transaction lottery/management server accessing a plurality of commission income companies over the Internet. The method includes the steps of: a) registering a specific commission income company requesting a commission transaction lottery/management service from among the commission income companies as a service commission income company in the server; b) acquiring member-customer commission commodity transaction information, for example, commission company information, member customer information, a transaction commission fee of the member customer, and the number of transaction commodities, when the registered service commission income company conducts a commission transaction with the member customer; c) accumulating a transaction commission fee and the number of transactions of commission commodities according to lottery references for every commission commodity determined by a corresponding commission income company; and d) drawing a lucky member from a plurality of member users purchasing the corresponding commission commodity when the transaction commission fee or the number of accumulated transactions of the corresponding commission commodity satisfies a commission commodity lottery reference of the service commission income company, and transmitting lottery result information to at least one of a corresponding service commission income company and a homepage of the management server.

Description

METHOD FOR MANAGING LOTTERY OF TRADE COMMISSION

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a commission management system, and more particularly to a method for drawing/managing a trade commission.

Background Art

In recent times, stocks or bonds have greatly affected the world economy. Variation in stocks or bonds has directly affected enterprises or countries. Most people have been greatly interested in the variation in stock prices throughout the world. The enterprises have acquired their necessary funds using stock trading, or have purchased necessary stocks from a stock market to maintain management rights of their companies. People capable of performing stock trading, and a variety of subjects capable of conducting stock and bond transactions, for example, ITCs (Investment Trust Companies) , various funds, and security corporations, etc., may check variation in stock prices of individual items, such that they may acquire long-term or short-term marginal profits in the market prices. Active stock trading associated with a specific technology field may also function as index information indicative of future variation of the global or national economy. With the increasing development of the Internet and the increasing enthusiasm for stock investments, current people or enterprises can sell or buy desired stocks from anywhere they can access the Internet via wired/wireless terminals, for example, computers, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) , and mobile phones, whereas they have typically conducted stock transactions using either a window clerk working for the stock market or direct phone calls. Therefore, the stock investments can be freely carried out by not only specific people but also the general public.

Individual security corporations have attracted a variety of customers, and have allowed them to carry out desired stock transactions, such that they have made financial profits by taking commissions generable in stock and bond transactions. Individual security corporations have made great efforts either to attract many more customers or to actively expedite stock transactions. For example, individual security corporations have provided customers with a variety of loans, fluctuation in stock prices, and active-stock recommendations, etc. The security corporations have determined specific customers to be VIP (Very Important Person) customers, and have provided the specific customers with a variety of premium services. Also, most security corporations have also provided the customers with a variety of trading services such as a reduction in stock trading commission, etc. For example, some security corporations may determine such a stock trading commission to be a fixed-rate commission during a prescribed time, or other security corporations may determine the number of free stock transactions during an initial stock transaction time to be a predetermined number of transaction times, such that no commission is assessed to customers during the free stock transactions .

Financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, etc., have mainly made profits through cash transactions. For example, banks have made financial profits by taking a variety of commissions from customers using a variety of financial transaction services, for example, telebanking or Internet-banking services, deposit/withdrawal-, transfer-, and remittance-services using an ATM acting as an ATM. Insurance companies have made commission profits using a variety of loan services available for customers. Most brokerage companies have taken commissions from customers through the intermediation of transactions of a variety of commodities (e.g., energy, farm/livestock products, precious metals, and nonferrous metals, etc.).

The aforementioned economic activity using stock-, financial-, and commodity-transactions takes charge of the most important field of the international economy. Provided that some parts of commission incomes earned from the aforementioned transactions are paid to customers using a specific lottery system, the customers may have expectations and fortunes associated with the prize, and companies for acquiring commission incomes may attract many more customers by inducing the customers to aggressively participate in such transactions.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for drawing/managing a trade commission, which allows a customer to be more intimate with a company for acquiring commission incomes from the customer such that it can expedite a commission transaction between the customer and the commission income company.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for drawing/managing a trade commission, which applies professional lottery management services to a commission transaction method between online/offline commission income companies and their member customers.

It is yet object of the present invention to provide a method for drawing/managing a trade commission, which provides business acquaintances dealing with commission transactions with a variety of transaction information, for example, individual transaction item names (i.e., code, and price category, etc.), prices (e.g., the price of a unit commission, and the commodity price, etc.), the number of transactions (e.g., a fixed unit amount of money, the number of commodities, and the number of stocks, etc.), and date information, etc., such that it can enable a lottery process for drawing a variety of items, for example, prize money, stocks, and gifts, etc., to be automatically carried out.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a commission transaction lottery/management method for use in a commission transaction lottery/management server in a system including a plurality of commission income companies and the commission transaction lottery/management server communicating with the commission income companies over Internet to provide a user with a commission income lottery/management service, comprising the steps of: a) registering a specific commission income company requesting a commission transaction lottery/management service from among the commission income companies as a service commission income company in the commission transaction lottery/management server; b) storing lottery references for every commission commodity provided from individual registered service commission income companies and member customer information in a database (DB) of the commission transaction lottery/management server; c) determining whether member-customer commission commodity transaction information acquired when the registered service commission income company conducts a commission transaction with the member customer, for example, commission company information, member customer information, a transaction commission fee of the member customer, and the number of transaction commodities, is provided from the service commission income company; d) upon receiving member-customer commission commodity transaction information, reading the lottery references for every commission commodity of a corresponding service commission income company from the DB, and selectively accumulating a transaction commission fee and the number of transaction commodities contained in the member- customer commission commodity transaction information in the DB according to the read lottery references for every commission commodity; e) reading information indicative of not only the transaction commission fee but also the number of transaction commodities of the corresponding commission commodity from the DB, and determining whether the read information satisfies a predetermined commission commodity lottery reference of the service commission income company; and f) drawing a lucky member from a plurality of member users purchasing the corresponding commission commodity if it is determined that the commission commodity lottery reference is satisfied, and transmitting lottery result information to at least one of a corresponding service commission income company and a homepage of the management server. A specific term "Commission Income Company" of the present invention is determined to be a company capable of acquiring commission profits from customers by conducting online and/or offline cash transactions performed by stock or bond transactions, financial institutions, and brokerage companies, etc., and various commodity transactions. In this case, the financial institution indicates a band, a credit card company, and an insurance company, and the brokerage company indicates all the companies capable of acquiring commission profits from customers by conducting commodity transaction intermediary services.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for drawing/managing trade commission incomes in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a commission transaction lottery/management server shown in Fig. 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in a commission income company in accordance with the present invention; Figs. 4A~4B are flow charts illustrating control processes for use in the commission transaction lottery/management server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a detailed control process of the step 206 of Fig. 4B in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in a member customer homepage administered by a Website of the commission transaction lottery/management server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in a dedicated homepage administered by a commission income company in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Figs. 8~10 are exemplary configurations illustrating transaction information formats associated with commission commodities of member customers.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings. In the drawings, the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals even though they are depicted in different drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The present invention can be applied to all kinds of commission income companies. Particularly, the present invention continuously accumulates some parts of the total commission incomes of individual • commission income companies, and determines whether an accumulated commission of a specific member is higher than a target accumulated amount of money or a predetermined number of target accumulated transactions. If it is determined that the accumulated commission of the specific member is higher than the target accumulated amount of money or the predetermined number of target accumulated transactions, the present invention provides the specific member with a lottery service, and repays a predetermined amount of money from among the total commission incomes of the companies to a prizewinner member determined by the lottery service. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for drawing/managing trade commission incomes in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In more detail, Fig. 1 depicts a system for drawing/managing commission incomes (hereinafter referred to as a commission transaction lottery/management system) for providing offline and online commission income companies with a professional transaction commission income lottery/management service such that it enables the companies to easily carry out lottery/management services associated with their commission incomes . Referring to Fig. 1, in the case where a specific commission income company from among offline and online commission income companies transmits a commission income lottery/management request signal to a commission transaction lottery/management server 6 so as to implement customer services, an administrator of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 registers the specific commission income company as a qualified commission income company for the commission income lottery/management consignment service in a database (DB) of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6. In this case, the database (DB) of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 classifies the commission income company into an individual service commission income company 7 and an affiliated service commission income company 10, and registers the classified commission income companies therein. A commission income company registered as the individual service commission income company 7 separately requires a customer service in association with its commission incomes, such that it is registered as the individual service commission income company 7. A commission income company registered as the affiliated service commission income company 10 is composed of a variety of online/offline commission income companies affiliated with each other, for example, a brokerage company 12, a security corporation 14, and a financial institution 16, etc., such that it can provide customers with a commission income lottery service. If a commission income company to be registered is considered to be a large-scale commission income company, it is desirable that the commission income company is registered as an individual service commission income company 8. If a commission income company to be registered is determined to be one of offline and/or online commission income companies capable of providing customers with the same lottery services even though the customers conduct different commission transactions using different commission income companies, it is desirable that the commission income company is registered as an affiliated service commission income company 10. In the case where a specific commission income company is registered as the individual service commission income company 8 or the affiliated service commission income company 10, the specific commission income company must determine its lottery references for every commission commodity. For example, in the case of using stock transactions, stocks of the Samsung electronics Co. Ltd. from among a plurality of stock items may be determined to be one of commission commodities. In the case of using remittance services, a remittance transaction for sending an amount of money less than 100,000 won, or other remittance transaction for sending an amount of money between 100,000 won and 1,000,000 won, etc., may be adapted as one exemplary commission commodity. In the case of commodity transactions, fruit such as melons may be adapted as one exemplary commission commodity.

The lottery reference for every commission commodity of individual commission income companies according to the present invention is comprised of a transaction commission amount of money of a corresponding commission commodity, the number of commission transactions of the corresponding commission commodity, and a transaction period of the corresponding commission commodity. For example, the commission income company may select a lottery reference of a desired commission commodity as a transaction commission amount of money, and may arbitrarily select a commission amount of money to function as such a lottery reference. The commission income company selects a lottery reference of a corresponding commission commodity as specific information indicative of the number of commission commodity transactions, and may arbitrarily determine the number of transaction commodities. In this way, the commission income company may also select a lottery reference of a corresponding commission commodity as a commission commodity transaction term, and may determine the commission commodity transaction period acting as a lottery reference to be a predetermined transaction term. For example, in association with the lottery reference of the corresponding commission commodity, a commission income company may determine a desired commission commodity name to be specific fruit such as melons, may determine a lottery reference of the determined commission commodity to be a transaction commission amount of money, and may also determine the transaction commission amount of money acting as the lottery reference to be a specific amount of money such as 1,000,000 won. In the case where the affiliated service commission income company 10 determines lottery references for every commission commodity, it is desirable that affiliated service commission income companies 12, 14 and 16 determine the same lottery reference by an affiliated service administrator who manages an overall affiliated-service commission income lottery service, instead of determining different lottery references using different determination methods . Commission income companies 8 and 10 gain access to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4 functioning as a representative packet-based network. The lottery references for every commission commodity of individual commission income companies are determined when the commission income companies 8 and 10 are registered as service members, are transmitted over the Internet 4, are stored in the DB of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 or are directly entered by the administrator of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 in such a way that they are stored in the DB of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6. The commission income companies 8 and 10 transmit member customer's commission commodity transaction information including at least member customer information to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4 on the condition that a transaction associated with their commission commodities has been conducted. Referring to Figs. 8~10, the member customer*^' s commission commodity transaction information includes name information of a corresponding commission commodity transacted by individual member customers, a transaction commission fee of the corresponding commission commodity, the number of transactions of the corresponding commission commodity, commission income company information, and member customer information such as a member ID and a member name, etc.

The commission income companies 8 and 10 of Fig. 1 may be determined to be offline commission income companies, or may also be determined to be online commission income companies on the Internet. The online commission income company can be classified into an individual commission income company and an affiliated commission income company, such that it can be registered as one of the individual commission income company and the affiliated commission income company in the server.

The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 gains access to the Internet 4, and is entrusted with a lottery/management service associated with member customer commission commodities of online/offline commission income companies, such that it can provide the online/offline commission income companies with the professional lottery/management service. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 stores individual commission commodity lottery references for every commission income company having been stored in an internal DB during the service registration time of the commission income companies 8 and 10, and also stores member customer information having been received from the commission income companies 8 and 10. Upon receiving member customer commission commodity transaction information including at least member customer information from the commission commodity income companies 8 and 10 over the Internet 4, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 accumulates a corresponding commission transaction value on the basis of a corresponding commission commodity lottery reference. In the case where the accumulated transaction value of the corresponding commission commodity satisfies the corresponding commission commodity lottery references for every commission income company, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 draws at least one prizewinner from among a plurality of member customers associated with the corresponding commission commodity, and displays the lottery result on a homepage or informs associated commission income companies of the lottery result.

A client terminal 2 gains access to the Internet 4, and can be adapted by a member customer or a non-member customer. A client terminal 2 of the member customer can gain access to a homepage provided from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4, and can also gain access to either an individual commission income company homepage controlled by a management server of the individual service commission company 8 or an affiliated commission income company homepage.

A user may enter an ID (Identifier) or a password, may enter a commission income company name (e.g., code and ID information of the commission income company) , or may click on the commission income company name displayed on the homepage, such that the user can log in as a member of a homepage of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 using the client terminal 2. In the case where the user logs in as a member of the homepage of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 by entering the commission income company name or clicking on the commission income company name displayed on the homepage, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 transmits a log-in authentication request to a corresponding commission income company in order to enable the user to view commission transaction information and other information.

A reference for classifying member registrations is mainly divided into first to third references. The first reference indicates that members are registered/managed while being classified according to individual commission income companies. The second reference indicates that members are registered/managed while being classified according to affiliated commission income companies. The third reference indicates that members are registered/managed by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6.

In more detail, in order to authenticate a member user registered/managed for every individual commission income company using the first reference, the member user enters ID information of the individual commission income company in a log-in entry field of the homepage administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6, and also enters member ID and password information registered in the commission income company. Upon receipt of the ID information of the individual commission income company or the registered member ID and password information, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 transmits a member authentication request to a corresponding individual commission income company 8. If the corresponding individual commission income company 8 authenticates the member user, the member user can view his or her commission commodity transaction information and processing steps on the homepage administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 in such a way that member authentication can be established.

In accordance with the second reference ^' indicating that members are registered/managed while being classified according to affiliated commission income companies, in the case where a member user enters ID information of a corresponding affiliated commission income company in a login entry field, and also his or her ID and password information registered in the affiliated commission income company, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 transmits a member authentication request to a corresponding affiliated commission income company 10. Upon receiving a member authentication message from the affiliated commission income company 10, the member user can view his or her commission commodity transaction information and processing steps on a homepage administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 in such a way that member authentication can be established. In accordance with the third reference indicating that members are registered/managed by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6, each member can view his or her associated information upon receiving an authentication message from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6. As stated above, the homepage of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 can provide even members who are independently administered by either individual commission income companies or affiliated commission income companies with a lottery/management service associated with individual and affiliated commission income companies .

Preferably, it is desirable that individual pages of commission income company homepages are associated with the commission transaction lottery/management server 6, such that a member user can log in as a member of a homepage of either the individual commission income company or the affiliated commission income company using the client terminal 2, and can view commission commodity transaction information and other information on the homepage. Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 shown in Fig. 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 2, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 includes a control manager 20, a homepage 22, a user interface 25, and a DB (Database) 26.

Referring to Fig. 2, the control manager 20 includes an operating system (OS) , a micro-code, an internal memory, and an interface unit communicating with the Internet 4, and conducts overall operations to provide a professional commission transaction lottery/management service. The homepage 22 is indicative of a homepage of a commission transaction lottery/management homepage. In the case where a member customer gains access to the homepage 22 over the Internet 4 by means of the client terminal 2, the homepage 22 includes contents data capable of providing a lottery service associated with commission commodity transactions, such that the user can view a variety of information associated with the lottery service, for example, a lottery result, currently- drawing commission commodity information, drawing-target commission commodity information, individual processing rates for every commission commodity, and commission commodity transaction details, etc. The homepage 22 also includes contents data where a non-member customer can be registered as a member customer. The user interface 24 acts as an interface associated with an administrator, and includes an output device such as a monitor and a printer, and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse.

As shown in Fig. 2, the DB 26 is controlled by the control manager 20, and includes a variety of memories associated with the commission commodity transaction lottery/management service. In more detail, the DB 26 includes a service registration commission income company management storage unit 28, a member customer commission commodity management storage unit 30, a lottery reference storage unit 32 for every commission commodity, an accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34, and a lottery process situation management storage unit 36 for every commission commodity.

The service registration commission income company management storage unit 28 stores service-registered commission income companies while being classified into individual commission income companies and affiliated commission income companies. For example, the commission income company 8 of Fig. 1 is indicative of an individual commission income company, and is registered in the service registration commission income company management storage unit 28. The reference numerals 12, 14, and 16 are each indicative of the affiliated commission income company 10, and is registered in the service registration commission income company management storage unit 28.

The member customer commission commodity management storage unit 30 stores commission commodity transaction information associated with a commission transaction member customer received from the commission income companies 8 and 10. Referring to Figs. 8 to 10, the member customer's commission commodity transaction information includes name information of a corresponding commission commodity transacted by individual member customers, a transaction commission fee of the corresponding commission commodity, the number of transactions of the corresponding commission commodity, commission income company information, and member customer information such as a member ID and a member name, etc. Although the member customer registration is mainly performed by the commission income companies 8 and 10, a user may manually register himself or herself as a member of the homepage 22 administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server, such that member customer information received from the homepage 22 is also stored in the member customer commission commodity management storage unit 30 (also called a member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit) . The member customer commission commodity management storage unit 30 further stores lottery information for every member customer, commission commodity transaction details for every member customer, and lottery result details.

The lottery reference storage unit 32 for every commission commodity in the DB 26 stores a lottery reference commission fee for every commission commodity of individual commission income companies, the number of lottery reference commission transactions for every commission commodity, and lottery reference commission transaction period information for every commission commodity, etc. The aforementioned information stored in the lottery reference storage unit 32 for every commission commodity has been determined at individual service registration times of the commission income companies 8 and 10.

The accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34 acts as a storage unit for accumulating transaction values for every commission commodity of individual commission income companies 8 and 10. The lottery process situation management storage unit 36 for every commission commodity acts as a storage unit for updating a lottery process situation for every commission commodity of individual commission income companies and at the same time storing the updated lottery process situation.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in the commission income companies 8 and 10 in accordance with the present invention. Figs. 4A~4B are flow charts illustrating control processes for use in the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a detailed control process of the step 206 of Fig. 4A in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in a member customer homepage administered by a Website of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a control process for use in a dedicated homepage administered by the commission income companies 8 and 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figs. 8~10 are exemplary configurations illustrating transaction information formats associated with commission commodities of member customers. Prior to describing operations of the present invention with reference to Figs. 3 to 10, basic concepts and principles for use in the commission income lottery/management system of the present invention will hereinafter be described.

A method for determining commission commodity, the number of transactions of the commission commodity, and the transaction commission fee of the commission commodity in the case of performing a corresponding commission transaction will hereinafter be described in detail.

For example, if a commission transaction is determined to be a stock transaction, the number of unit-classification stocks is equal to a value of 1, the transaction commission fee is indicative of a commission fee paid for a stock transaction of a corresponding commission commodity, and is denoted by "the number of transaction commodities x unit commission fee". In this case, the prize money is determined to be some costs contributed by security corporations from among all the commission profits generated during a commission transaction time of a corresponding commission commodity (e.g., stocks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) For another example, provided that a corresponding commission transaction is determined to be a remittance service of a specific bank, a commission for a remittance transaction of less than 100,000 won is set to 300 won, a commission for a remittance transaction of less than 1,000,000 won is set to 1,000 won, and a commission for remittance transaction of less than 10,000,000 won is set to 2,000 won, a specific item indicative of "Remittance Transaction of less than 100,000 won" shown in Fig. 9 is determined to be one commission commodity, and a unit commission fee is determined to be 300 won. In this way, a specific item indicative of "Remittance Transaction associated with 100,000 won to 1,000,000 won" shown in Fig. 9 is determined to be one commission commodity, and a unit commission fee is determined to be 1,000 won. Therefore, if one transaction of a commission commodity classified according to various amounts of money is conducted, the number of transaction commodities is determined to be a value of 1, and a transaction commission fee is calculated by "the number of transaction commodities x unit commission fee". For yet another example, the number of commodities is determined to be the number of unit-classification commodities on the condition that a commission transaction is determined to be a commodity brokerage. Referring to Fig. 10, a commission commodity is determined to be fruit such as melons. A transaction commission fee is a commission fee generated during a brokerage transaction of a corresponding commission commodity, and is calculated by "the number of transaction commodities x unit commission fee".

The aforementioned commission transaction can be applied to stocks, bonds, and financial institutions (e.g., banks, credit card companies, and insurance companies, etc.). It is understood that various other modifications of financial transaction services provided from the financial institutions, for example, telebanking services, Internet- banking services, deposit/withdrawal-, transfer-, and remittance-services using an ATM, various loan services of insurance companies, and services associated with credit card companies, for example, cash advance services, card installment services, affiliated-store sale services, and loan services, will be apparent to and can be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. The aforementioned commission transactions can also be applied to other commodities (e.g., energy, farm/livestock products, precious metals, and nonferrous metals, etc. conducted by brokerage companies for commodity transactions) .

A reference of the prize money according to the present invention is determined by either the individual commission income company or the affiliated commission income company. It is preferable for the prize-money determination reference to be determined before conducting a lottery process. However, it should be noted that the prize- money determination reference may also be changed to another reference upon deliberation between concerned parties until reaching the start of the lottery.

In the case where a predetermined period of time (i.e., a predetermined term) is determined to conduct the lottery process and a predetermined lottery situation is satisfied within a predetermined lottery effective term, the present invention immediately draws a lucky number. Otherwise, if a lottery effective period elapses, the present invention draws a lucky number on the basis of acquired commission profits. However, in the case where the accumulated commission profits do not reach a minimum accumulated commission transaction value proposed by either the individual commission income company or the affiliated commission income company even though the lottery effective period has elapsed, the present invention may cancel the lottery process if needed, because it is desirable that the lottery process is conducted after a corresponding commission income company begins to acquire financial profits.

Commission transaction lottery/management service operations for use in the commission income companies 8 and 10 according to the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 7. The commission income companies 8 and 10 can acquire member customer information when conducting commission transactions with customers. The acquired member customer information is stored in the member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30 contained in the DB 26 of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4. Member customer information entered by a user on the homepage- 22 managed by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 is also stored in member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30.

The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 periodically transmits member customer information updated to the member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30 to associated commission income companies over the Internet 4 at step 214 of Fig. 4A. For example, in the case where the financial institution 16 contained in the affiliated commission income company 10 of Fig. 1 conducts a member-customer registration process, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 transmits member customer information to individual companies 12, 14, and 16 contained in the affiliated commission income company 10 over the Internet 4.

Operations of the commission income companies 8 and 10 will hereinafter be described with reference to Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 3, the commission income companies 8 and 10 periodically download updated member customer and lottery information from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 at step 100, and store the downloaded information in their internal memories, such that they can immediately conduct member authentication or inform a member customer of the lottery result when the member customer conducts a corresponding commission transaction.

In the case where the member customer conducts a commission transaction using corresponding commission income companies 8 and 10 at step 102 of Fig. 3, the commission income companies 8 and 10 compare the member customer information acquired at the commission transaction time with the other member customer information stored in the internal memories at step 104 of Fig. 3 in such a way that they can determine whether a current commission transaction customer is a member customer or not.

If it is determined that the current commission transaction customer is not equal to the member customer at step 104, the commission income companies 8 and 10 conduct other transactions at step 106 of Fig. 3. Otherwise, if it is determined that the current commission transaction customer is equal to the member customer at step 104, the commission income companies 8 and 10 temporarily store member customer commission commodity transaction information, for example, a commission commodity name, a transaction commission fee, and the number of transaction commodities, in their internal memories at step 108, and go to step 110. The commission income companies 8 and 10 determine whether updated lottery management information (e.g., a lottery result, and a lottery process situation) corresponding to a member customer is detected from the internal memories at step 110. If the updated lottery management information of the member customer is found at step 110, the commission income companies 8 and 10 display lottery management information of the member customer at step 112 of Fig. 3. For example, either a lottery result message indicating that the member customer is determined to be a prizewinner, or a lottery process situation message indicating that a lottery result will be determined a few days later is displayed on a predetermined display. In the meantime, if there is no lottery management information at step 110 of Fig.3, the commission income companies 8 and 10 determine whether another task is selected at step 114. If it is determined that other task has been selected at step 114, the commission income companies 8 and 10 conduct necessary operations associated with the selected operations. Representative examples of the necessary operations may be comprised of a detailed confirmation operation associated with the lottery result upon receiving a request message from a member customer, a currently- drawing commodity confirmation operation of the member customer, and a gift presentation service and a discount- price service (e.g., a refund service of a predetermined amount of money) when the member customer is determined to be a prizewinner, etc.

After performing step 112 of Fig. 3, the commission income companies 8 and 10 go to step 118 of Fig. 3, such that they determine whether there is a commission income company management server at step 118. If it is determined that there is no commission income company management server, the corresponding commission income company transmits commission commodity transaction information for every member customer, for example, commission company information, member customer information, corresponding transaction commission fee information, and the number of transaction commodities, to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4 at step 120. If each commission income company determines the presence of its own commission income company management server at step 118 of Fig. 3, it determines commission commodity transaction information transmission options for use in its commission income company management server at step 122 of Fig. 3. There are a variety of commission commodity transaction information transmission options, for example, an immediate transmission service, a transmission service for every setup period (e.g., a minute, an hour, a day, and a week, etc.), and a transmission service upon receiving a request from a commission income company management server administrator. Thereafter, the commission income companies 8 and 10 transmit member customer commission commodity transaction information, for example, commission income company information, member customer information, and corresponding transaction commission fee information, and the number of transaction commodities, to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet 4, and store the same information in DBs of individual management servers of the commission income companies 8 and 10 according to predetermined transmission option information at step 124 of Fig. 3.

After performing step 124 of Fig. 3, the commission income companies 8 and 10 determine whether the more recent update information request signal has been received from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 at step 126 of Fig. 3. In more detail, the commission income companies 8 and 10 transmit commission commodity transaction information for every member customer according to a predetermined transmission option on the condition that they include their management servers, and therefore the member customer commission transaction information stored in the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 may not be determined to be the most recent update information, so that the commission income companies 8 and 10 must determine the presence or absence of the most recent update information request. Upon receiving an information request signal from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6, management servers of the commission income companies 8 and 10 transmit corresponding information to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 over the Internet . In the meantime, in the case where the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 receives the member customer commission commodity transaction information over the Internet 4 at steps 120, 124, and 128 of Fig. 3, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 performs operations shown in Figs. 4A-4B.

Referring to Fig. 4A, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether it receives member customer commission commodity transaction information at step 200 of Fig. 4A. If it is determined that the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 receives member customer commission commodity transaction information, it goes to step 202 of Fig. 4A. The member customer commission commodity transaction information may include commission company information, member customer information, corresponding transaction commission fee information, and the number of transaction commodities as shown in Fig. 8 to 10. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether a commission income company received using commission company information contained in member customer commission commodity transaction information is registered as an individual commission income company or an affiliated commission income company using the registration commission income company management storage unit 28 at step 202 of Fig. 4A. Thereafter, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 goes to step 204 of Fig. 4A. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 reads lottery reference information for every commission commodity of a corresponding commission income company from the commission commodity lottery reference storage unit 32 of the DB 26 at step 204 of Fig. 4A, and accumulates an accumulated commission transaction value based on a corresponding commission commodity lottery reference in the accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34. Furthermore, commission commodity transaction-associated information of the member customer is also stored in the member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30.

Thereafter, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether a corresponding accumulated commission transaction value stored in the accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34 satisfies a corresponding commission commodity lottery process situation at step 206 of Fig. 4A. A detailed control process of the above step 206 of Fig. 5a is shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 5, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 gains access to the lottery reference storage unit 32 for every commission commodity of the DB 26, and reads a corresponding commission commodity lottery reference from the lottery reference storage unit 32 for every commission commodity at step 250. In the case where a lottery reference of the corresponding commission commodity is determined to be a transaction commission fee, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether an accumulated transaction commission fee of the corresponding commission commodity is the same or higher than a lottery reference fee at step 252. If it is determined that the accumulated transaction commission fee of the corresponding commission commodity is the same or higher than the lottery reference fee at step 252, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 draws a lucky number at step 210 of Fig. 4A. If it is determined that the lottery reference of the corresponding commission commodity is equal to the number of transaction commodities, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether the number of accumulated transactions of the corresponding commission commodity is the same or higher than a lottery reference number at step 254. If it is determined that the number of accumulated transactions of the corresponding commission commodity is the same or higher than the lottery reference number at step 254, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 draws a lucky number at step 210 of Fig. 4A. If it is determined that the lottery reference of the corresponding commission commodity is determined to be a commission transaction term, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether a transaction period of the corresponding commission commodity is longer than a lottery reference period at step 256 of Fig. 5. If it is determined that the transaction period of the corresponding commission commodity is longer than the lottery reference period at step 256, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 draws a lucky number at step 210 of Fig. 4A.

However, if it is determined that the accumulated commission transaction value stored in the accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34 does not satisfy a lottery situation of the corresponding commission commodity at steps 252, 254, and 256 of Fig. 5, the commission transaction management server 6 goes to step 208 of Fig. 4A, such that it updates a lottery situation for every commission commodity to reflect newly-received commission commodity transaction information in the accumulated commission transaction value. The lottery situation for every commission commodity is updated to the lottery process situation management storage unit 36 for every commission commodity in the DB 26. After performing the above step 208 of Fig. 4A, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 goes to step 216 of Fig. 4A, such that it determines whether a lottery effective time has expired. In this case, the lottery effective time is determined to prevent the lottery operation from being disabled during a long period of time when a transaction of the corresponding commission commodity is abnormally conducted. If the lottery effective time has not expired, the commission transaction lottery management server 6 returns to step 200 of Fig. 4A, such that it repeats the processing from S200. Otherwise, if the lottery effective time has expired at step 216 of Fig. 4A, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether an accumulated transaction value of the corresponding commission commodity is equal to a minimum of an accumulated commission commodity transaction value at step 218, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 draws a prizewinner from a plurality of member customers associated with the corresponding commission transaction at step 210. However, if it is determined that the accumulated transaction value of the corresponding commission commodity is not equal to a minimum of the accumulated commission commodity transaction value at step 218, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 invalids the lottery process associated with the corresponding commission commodity at step 220. In the case where a corresponding commission commodity' s accumulated transaction value stored in the accumulated commission transaction value storage unit 34 using detailed determination steps shown in Fig. 5 at step 206 of Fig. 4A, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 goes to step 210 of Fig. 4A. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 conducts a lottery operation for some profits separated from overall commission profits of the commission income companies in association with member customers associated with the corresponding commission commodity at step 210 of Fig. 4A. The lottery result message is transmitted to the homepage 22 administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 and an associated commission income company at step 212 of Fig. 4A. Provided that a Website directly administered by the associated commission income company is found, a specific message indicative of the presence of such Website is transmitted to a corresponding commission income company Website.

The lottery execution process according to the commission commodity conduction implements mutual profits between the following customer and the commission income companies . The conventional art allows a customer to pay the commission income company for a variety of commissions, however, the present invention enables a customer to readily conduct a commission-associated transaction when the customer conducts the commission-associated transaction. Also, the lottery operation is also readily executed, such that the customer can also acquire financial profits. The commission income companies determine some parts of overall commission profits to be prize money, and contribute the determined profits as the prize money, such that they are scarcely affected by financial problems, and customers may more actively communicate with commission income companies. In this way, the present invention can provide mutual profits between a customer and a commission income company when conducting transactions of active commodities in the international economy, for example, stocks, bonds, financial transactions of financial institutions, and commissions generated at individual commodity transaction times of brokerage companies.

The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 periodically transmits member customer information updated to the member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30, a lottery result, or lottery information associated with a lottery situation to its associated commission income company over the Internet 4 at step 214 of Fig. 4A. Therefore, in the case where member customers of the associated commission income companies 8 and 10 deal with the next commission commodity, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 immediately performs member authentication or provides the member customers with lottery result information even though the member customers gain access to the commission transaction lottery/management server 6.

In the meantime, in the case where member customer commission commodity transaction information is not received at step 200 of Fig. 4A, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 goes to step 216 of Fig. 4B. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether a member registration request is received at step 216. Although this member registration request transaction is mainly conducted by commission income companies 8 and 10, a user may directly register himself or herself as a member of the homepage 22 administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6. Upon receiving a member registration request signal from the user, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 registers the received member registration request signal in the member customer commission commodity transaction information management storage unit 30 contained in the DB 26.

In the case where the member registration request is not received at step 216, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines whether an administrator logs in at step 220. If it is determined that the administrator logs in at step 220, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 performs necessary operations associated with tasks selected by the administrator at step 222. Representative commands selected by the administrator may be a command for transmitting a predetermined gift to a prizewinner member, a discount-price command (e.g., a refund service of a predetermined amount of money) , a command for inquiring commission commodity transaction details of individual members, an event notification command, and an official announcement transmission command, etc. Therefore, if the administrator logs off, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines that the administrator logs off at step 224, and terminates all the steps shown in Figs. 4A~4B.

In the meantime, the member customer gains access to the homepage 22 administrated by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 using the client terminal 2, such that he or she can receive a variety of services associated with the commission transaction lottery process. Referring to Fig. 6, the member customer gains access to the homepage 22 using the client terminal 2, logs in as a member of the homepage 22 at step 300 of Fig. 6, such that he or she can select desired tasks at step 302. Therefore, the member customer can receive a lottery service associated with his or her selected commission commodity transaction from the homepage 22 at steps 304 to 310. In more detail, the homepage 22 provides the member customer with a lottery result view service at step 304. The member customer queries the homepage 22 for a currently-drawing commission commodity and a drawing-target commission commodity at step 306, queries the homepage 22 for transaction processing rates for every commission commodity at step 308, and queries the homepage 22 for his or her transaction commission commodity details at step 310. Furthermore, the homepage 22 can provide the member customer with other operation services such as a receipt demand and an E-mail transmission service at step 312. In the case of querying the transaction processing rates for every commission commodity at step 308 of Fig. 6, the member customer can query the homepage 22 for brief or detailed information indicating how much a transaction commission fee or a transaction commodity quantity in association with his or her current transaction commission commodity must be further guaranteed in future to carry out the lottery process. Even a non-member customer can gain access to the homepage 22 and register himself or herself as a member of the homepage even though the non-member customer is not shown in Fig. 6. If the member customer logs off, the homepage 22 determines whether the member customer logs off at step 314 of Fig. 6, and terminates its overall operations .

In the case where a current user is determined to be a member of dedicated sites administered by individual commission income companies, the user can gain access to the homepage 22 administered by the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 using the client terminal 2, and can also log in as a member of the dedicated site of the commission income company registered as a service company in the server. For example, in the case where the user records ID information of the commission income company in a predetermined log-in entry field, and enters member ID and password information registered in the commission income company, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines that the user has logged in as a member of the service-registered commission income company dedicated site at step 316 of Fig. 6, and goes to step 318. The commission transaction lottery/management server 6 transmits a member authentication request to the dedicated site of the service-registered commission income company at step 318. Upon receiving a member authentication signal from the corresponding commission income company, the commission transaction lottery/management server 6 determines that member authentication has been completed. Thereafter, the user can view his or her commission commodity transaction information and its processing state at steps 303 to 312 of Fig. 6 on the homepage 22 of the commission transaction lottery/management server 6.

A member user of the dedicated site administered by individual commission income companies 8 and 10 gains access to the homepage administered by his or her commission income companies 8 and 10 using the client terminal 2, such that he or she can receive a desired commission transaction lottery service from the homepage 22.

Referring to Fig. 7, a member user gains access the dedicated homepage of the commission income company site administered by the individual commission income company management server or the affiliated commission income company management server, logs in as a member of the homepage of the commission income company at step 400, and selects a desired commission commodity transaction lottery/management service at step 402. Therefore, upon receiving periodically-updated member customer information and/or lottery information of a corresponding commission income company management server from the commission transaction lottery/management server 6, the dedicated homepage of the commission income company site can provide the member user with operations associated with a commission commodity lottery process, (i.e., a variety of commission commodity transaction lottery services) . In more detail, the dedicated homepage provides the member customer with a lottery result view service at step 404. The member customer queries the homepage for a currently-drawing commission commodity and a drawing-target commission commodity at step 406, queries the homepage for transaction processing rates for every commission commodity at step 408, and queries the homepage for his or her transaction commission commodity details at step 410. Furthermore, the homepage can provide the member customer with other operation services such as a receipt demand and an E-mail transmission service at step 412. In the case of querying the transaction processing rates for every commission commodity at step 408 of Fig. 7, the member customer can query the homepage for brief or detailed information indicating how much a transaction commission fee or a transaction commodity quantity in association with his or her current transaction commission commodity must be further guaranteed in future to carry out the lottery process. In conclusion, in the case where all the commission commodities capable of performing commission transactions with others satisfy predetermined situations, for example, a commission more than a specific commission fee, commodities more than the number of specific commodities, and a prescribed period of time (e.g., a few days, a few weeks, and a few months, etc.), the present invention automatically draws a lucky customer from among a plurality of member customers who conduct a corresponding commission commodity, resulting in the creation of many more lottery times for such member customers. Also, the present invention can allow a commission income company to conduct many more commission transactions, resulting in increased commission profits.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, the present invention can be applied to companies capable of acquiring commissions from customers who use a variety of commission transactions, for example, online and/or offline cash transactions performed by stock or bond transactions, financial institutions, and brokerage companies.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims :

1. A commission transaction lottery/management method for use in a commission transaction lottery/management server in a system including a plurality of commission income companies and the commission transaction lottery/management server communicating with the commission income companies over an Internet to provide a user with a commission income lottery/management service, comprising the steps of: a) registering a specific commission income company requesting a commission transaction lottery/management service from among the commission income companies as a service commission income company in the commission transaction lottery/management server; b) storing lottery references for every commission commodity provided from individual registered service commission income companies and member customer information in a database (DB) of the commission transaction lottery/management server; c) determining whether member-customer commission commodity transaction information acquired when the registered service commission income company conducts a commission transaction with the member customer, for example, commission company information, member customer information, a transaction commission fee of the member customer, and the number of transaction commodities, is provided from the service commission income company; d) upon receiving member-customer commission commodity transaction information, reading the lottery references for every commission commodity of a corresponding service commission income company from the DB, and selectively accumulating a transaction commission fee and the number of transaction commodities contained in the member-customer commission commodity transaction information in the DB according to the read lottery references for every commission commodity; e) reading information indicative of not only the transaction commission fee but also the number of transaction commodities of the corresponding commission commodity from the DB, and determining whether the read information satisfies a predetermined commission commodity lottery reference of the service commission income company; and f) drawing a lucky member from a plurality of member users purchasing the corresponding commission commodity if it is determined that the commission commodity lottery reference is satisfied, and transmitting lottery result information to at least one of a corresponding service commission income company and a homepage of the management server.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lottery references for every commission commodity provided from the registered service commission income companies are determined to be either one of a transaction commission fee of the corresponding commission commodity and a number of transaction commodities of the corresponding commission commodity by means of a corresponding service commission income company.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the registered service commission income company includes: an individual service commission income company for enabling one commission income company to provide a member customer with an independent lottery service; and an affiliated-service commission income company in which a plurality of commission income companies are affiliated with each other so that a memlDer customer can receive a lottery service from the affiliated commission income companies.

4. A commission transaction lottery/management method for use in a plurality of commission income companies in a system including the commission income companies and a commission transaction lottery/management server communicating with the commission income companies over an Internet to provide a user with a lottery/management service associated with a commission transaction, comprising the steps of: a) requesting a commission transaction lottery/management service, and registering a specific commission income company as a commission income company for a commission lottery service in the commission transaction lottery/management server; b) transmitting lottery references of individual commission commodities to the commission transaction lottery/management server; c) acquiring member-customer commission commodity transaction information comprised of commission company information associated with a member customer, member customer information, a transaction commission fee of the member customer, and the number of transaction commodities when conducting a commission transaction with the member customer; d) transmitting the acquired member-customer commission commodity transaction information to the commission transaction lottery/management server over the Internet, and controlling the commission transaction lottery/management server to manage a lottery service using the lottery references of individual commission commodities; e) downloading lottery information associated with lottery service management information from the commission transaction lottery/management server over the Internet, and storing the downloaded lottery information in an internal memory; and f) providing the member customer with the lottery information stored in the internal memory.

5. The method as set forth in claim 4, further comprising the step of: g) transmitting the lottery information to the member customer using a dedicated homepage of the commission income company site or directly informing the member customer of the lottery information at a commission transaction time.

6. The method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the registered commission income company for commission lottery service includes: an individual service commission income company for enabling one commission income company to provide a member customer with an independent lottery service; and an affiliated-service commission income company in which a plurality of commission income companies are affiliated with each other so that a member customer can receive a lottery service from the affiliated commission income companies.

7. The method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the registered commission income company for commission lottery service is determined to be a company capable of acquiring commissions from customers who use a variety of commission transactions, for example, online and/or offline cash transactions performed by stock or bond transactions, financial institutions, and brokerage companies.