WO2007038936A1

WO2007038936A1 - Method for real-time distributing of benefits in an electronic system

Info

Publication number: WO2007038936A1
Application number: PCT/EE2006/000006
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peep PÕLDSAMM
Original assignee: Evi Consult Oü
Priority date: 2005-10-04
Filing date: 2006-10-04
Publication date: 2007-04-12
Also published as: EE00603U1

Abstract

Method for real-time distributing of benefits in an electronic system, the system comprising a cash terminal of a merchant, a communication network, an identifier administration system, and a customer management system of a benefit provider. According to the method, the cash terminal is used to enter in the electronic system the identifier enabling identification of the person and the code corresponding to the benefit distributed, the user account number corresponding to the identifier is determined at the benefit provider, and billing units corresponding to the code are added to the user account. This method is particularly suitable for the sale or distribution of pre-paid mobile telephony services through the retail trade network.

Description

Method for real-time distributing of benefits in an electronic system

Technical Field

This invention relates to the field of methods for real-time distribution of billing units, enabling to use personalised (individually distributed) benefits, to a previously identified person, namely to methods for distributing the mobile communication billing units by utilising the cash terminals and cash register systems commonly used in commercial trade.

For the purposes of this invention, a personalised or individually distributed benefit means a product or service, which is offered by the provider to a particular person (or group of persons) due to technical or business reasons. Such benefits could include, for instance, telephony and utility services, ID-tickets or -passes, press subscriptions, life and property insurances. A typical benefit within the scope of this invention is mobile communication service; it means that the invention is particularly useful for electronic sale or distribution of the mobile communication service to the individuals through retail trade or other commercial sales and distribution channels if the user of the mobile communication service is a previously identified person (hereinafter referred to as the 'person').

Mobile communication service means calling time (call minute, call second or similar billing unit), Short Messaging Service (SMS₅ short message or short messaging service in mobile networks, enabling to transmit text messages over the mobile network), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS, multimedia message or multimedia messaging service enabling to transmit messages that include text, still or moving images, audio clips and other similar content), circuit switched data service (using minutes, seconds or other similar billing units for calls to the data server), packet switched data service (such as General Packet Radio System, or GPRS, data communication protocol in mobile networks enabling to establish continuous connection within a call channel, using call time (month, minute, second, etc.) and/or amount of data loaded (kilobyte, megabyte, etc.) as billing units) and other mobile communication services, including mobile content services.

The invention can be used by the providers of personalised services, such as telephony and mobile network operators, virtual mobile network operators and other mobile service providers, to provide mobile communication services, and by the providers of consumer products and services to sell or distribute mobile communication services, as well as by other businesses that enable sale or distribution of mobile communication services to mobile network operators, virtual mobile network operators, mobile communication service providers and providers of consumer products and services.

State of the art

Known are post-paid and pre-paid methods of sale of telephony and mobile communication services. In the case of post-paid method of sale, the user of the service uses the service first and then pays for the service on the basis of an invoice from the service provider. This method does not require sale or distribution of the service through retail trade or other commercial sale and distribution channels.

In the case of pre-paid method of sale, the user of the service first has to pay for the service, for example, he or she should transfer funds and/or mobile communication service billing units to the corresponding mobile account before he or she could use the service. One known option is the transfer of billing units (e.g., calling time) and/or money from the bank account to the mobile account of the user of the mobile communication service by using, for example, a regular payment order, including regular payment order in the bank office, through Internet or phone banking, or cash dispensing or payment machine, as well as by transferring the money from the bank account to the mobile communication service user account through SMS, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol, a standard enabling creation of Internet-based services for mobile phones) or USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Services Data, messages transmitted in a signalling channel between a mobile network and terminal) or by calling a corresponding service or short number.

Other known methods include adding billing units to the mobile account with prepaid cards, which can be implemented by the sale or distribution of coupons or other media containing a hidden Authentication Number (AN, a code (series of symbols) identifying (authorising) a certain activity or the executor of the activity; sometimes the term Personal Identification Number, or PIN, is used in the same meaning) (hereinafter referred to as 'prepaid cards') through retail trade or other commercial sale and distribution channels.

Known is a distribution system of prepaid cards, where the Authentication Number for using the pre-paid mobile communication service is generated in the vending machine located at the point of sale and printed on the prepaid card inside the vending machine (see WO 03/107240, applicant LDC Direct Ltd, Co, published 24.12.2003). Also known is a method of storing Authentication Numbers in a central computer (or alternatively, generating in the central computer at the moment of sale) and communicating to the sale terminal through a secure data channel after the payment, with a printout on the receipt given to the buyer (see WO 00/79492, applicant Dean KEIL, published 28.12.2000).

Also known is electronically distributing of a pre-paid benefit, such as mobile telephony call time, to the buyer in a system consisting of a sale terminal, administration system, independent financial institution, service provider and data network that enables secure connection between the administration system and other elements, whereas the sale terminal is used to enter the order of purchase (distribution) for a specific benefit, then the order is forwarded to the administration system, the payment is made, the payment data are forwarded to the administration system for crediting the account, and the buyer receives a reference number relating to the pre-paid benefit (see WO 98/47112, applicants Statex/Paradigm (UK), published 22.10.1998). This method requires the presence of an independent financial institution that is used to identify the buyer, pay for the benefit and carry out settlements between the parties. The person is identified by the financial institution for the purposes of processing the payment, and not by the provider of the benefit distributed.

Therefore, a system and a method is required where the person is identified to the provider of the benefit without the assistance of an independent financial institution, because this would make irrelevant the method of payment for the benefit.

Subject matter of the invention

The objective of the invention is a system and a method for selling or distributing a benefit, incl. mobile communication service, associated with the previously identified person through retail trade or other commercial sale or distribution channels, where the benefit, such as billing units for a mobile communication service (e.g., call time and/or prepaid funds), would be transferred to the person's user account (e.g. mobile account) automatically, without using AN or PIN codes.

For the purposes of this invention, retail trade and other commercial sale or distribution channels mean any points of sale or distribution that carry out the sale and/or distribution of consumer products and/or services to the persons in exchange for cash or electronic payment either with the assistance of a salesperson (cashier) or automatically, including (but not limited to) stores, supermarkets, kiosks, petrol (gas) stations (incl. automated stations) and cash dispensing and payment machines of the banks.

The invention enables, for example, electronic sale of pre-paid mobile communication services, e.g., calling time, Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), circuit switched and packet switched services and other mobile communication services, including mobile content services (hereinafter referred to as the 'mobile content services') through the manned (e.g., with a salesperson, cashier) or unmanned (e.g., banking machine, automated petrol station terminal) sales points of retail trade and other commercial sale or distribution channels, whereas there is no need to use AN codes, because the billing units of the mobile communication service (such as call time) and/or money are transferred to the person's mobile account automatically. This improves the security of the system by preventing unauthorised subjects from acquiring possession of AN codes or prepaid cards containing such codes.

The method developed by this invention is used in a system comprising the following components (see the flowchart on Fig. 1):

a billing and customer management system (hereinafter customer management system);

an identifier administration system;

a cash terminal; a cash register system of the point of sale (store's sales system on FIGS. 1 and 2);

a communication network.

Customer management system, for the purposes of this invention, is an information technology (IT) system comprising (a) a database of user accounts of the personalised benefit (product or service) (e.g., a database of the mobile accounts of the users of mobile communication services, including data on the users of the mobile communication service, the mobile communication services available to them, billing units and/or prepaid amounts for pre-paid mobile communication service, the amount of service used in terms of the billing units and/or monetary value, and other information); (b) a database of services provided (e.g., mobile communication services), corresponding service prices and applicable tariff structure, and (c) a billing system for storing and managing information concerning the services and amounts of service that the user of a service (e.g., mobile communication service) has used and/or is using, as well as for settling accounts with the user of the service. A customer management system may also include business support systems required for system administration, management and integration with other systems.

Identifier administration system, for the purposes of this invention, is an IT system comprising an identifier association element and a database of identifiers.

Identifier association element enables receiving from cash terminals and sending to cash terminals messages in predetermined format and with predetermined content (hereinafter agreed messages) through the communication network and exchanging messages and queries between the table of identifiers and the customer management system. The database of identifiers comprises interlinked tables of user account (e.g., table of mobile account in FIGS. 1 and 2) codes and identifiers. The identifier administration system may also comprise business support systems required for system administration, management and integration with other systems.

Cash terminal for the purposes of this invention, is a terminal at the point of sale, enabling manual or automated entering of the quantity of billing units of the service (incl. mobile communication service) purchased by or distributed (incl. as a bonus) to the person or the amount transferred to the user account (incl. mobile account), entering of the personal identification details (e.g., reading a customer card), create and send queries and receive and output messages forwarded from the identifier administration system. A cash terminal may be an independent terminal device produced for the specific purpose or a cash register system at the point of sale adapted for the said functions, card payment terminal (which may be integrated with the cash register system), payment terminal of an automated petrol station, cash dispensing or payment machine (ATM) of a bank, or another system at the point of sale, having the functions of the cash terminal.

Cash register system of the point of sale, for the purposes of this invention, is an IT system at the point of sale, enabling to create an invoice (or receipt) for the products and/or services purchased from the point of sale and output the invoice (or receipt) on paper or another medium, as well as to carry out settlements with the person in cash and/or by another method of payment.

Communication network, for the purposes of the invention, is a permanently connected or switched communication network between the cash terminal and the identifier administration system, enabling real-time transmission of the messages generated by these systems. A communication network may be a leased line, data channel, public mobile or telephony network, wireless link or another recognised communication network. If necessary, the communication network may convert the queries received from the cash terminal and identifier administration system to a format accepted by the identifier administration system or cash terminal, as well as perform other relevant operations.

Previously identified person, for the purposes of this invention, is a person whose details enabling identification of that person (identifiers) are prior to the start of the service (e.g., mobile communication service) sale process available in the customer management system database of the provider (service provider) and in the database of the cash register system of the point of sale, and who has been issued a means of identification (e.g., customer card, ID card, etc.) and who, while making the purchase, presents the means of identification or is otherwise identified in a manner accepted by the customer management system and the cash register system of the point of sale.

The electronic sale of a mobile communication service to a previously identified person through the points of sale in a retail trade or other commercial sale or distribution channel requires the following:

- The personal details enabling identification of the person (identifiers) have been entered in the customer management database of the mobile service provider and in the database of the cash register system of the point of sale, and the databases have been interlinked;

The person has been issued a means of identification (e.g., a customer card or an ID card);

The person has expressed at the point of sale (e.g., cash register) the intent to purchase certain amount of mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time) or load a specific amount of money to the mobile account (in conjunction with the purchase of other products/services or separately);

- The person has presented the means of identification (e.g., customer card) at the point of sale (e.g., cash register) and the identification details on that means have been entered in the cash terminal;

The cash register system of the point of sale has created an invoice (or receipt), which also includes the desired amount of mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time) or the amount of money to be loaded on to the mobile account; and

The person has completed the payment according to the invoice (receipt) amount in cash or by another method of payment (e.g., credit card) and the payment is successful.

The electronic sale of a mobile communication service to a previously identified person through the points of sale in a retail trade or other commercial sale or distribution channel takes place as follows (see the flowchart on FIG. 1):

1. The cash terminal creates a message comprising information on the cash terminal identification code, the amount of mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the amount of money to be loaded onto the mobile account, and the identifier of the person (such as the customer card number), and transmits the message over the communication network to the identifier association element of the identifier administration system. Creation of this message entails generation of a sequence of symbols on the basis of a prescribed algorithm (encoding) to represent the cash terminal identification code, amount of mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) or amount of money to be loaded onto the mobile account, and the identification details of the person. In addition to said data, the message may contain further information, such as identification code of the point of sale, type of transaction (purchase and sale, test, booking, validity check, etc.), number of the transaction, time stamp, etc.

2. The communication network transmits the message from the cash terminal to the identifier association element of the identifier administration system. If necessary, the communication network converts the message to a format accepted by the identifier administration system, and performs other required operations.

3. The identifier association element of the identifier administration system receives the message transmitted by the cash terminal over the communication network. Reception entails decoding of the message into a sequence of symbols accepted by the identifier administration system. Then it queries the database of identifiers for the person's identifier and for a mobile account code, associated with the person's identifier.

4. Having received the query from the identifier association element, the database of identifiers verifies the existence of the transmitted identifier, determines the mobile account code corresponding to the identifier, and creates and transmits to the identifier association element a message comprising the mobile account code corresponding to the identifier. 5. Having received from the database of identifiers the message with the mobile account code, the identifier association element performs the following actions (either simultaneously or nearly simultaneously):

5.1. It creates a message comprising the mobile account code and the amount of mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) or the amount of money to be loaded onto the mobile account, and transmits this message to the customer management system together with a command to credit this mobile account with the mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the appropriate amount of money (adds the purchased amount of mobile communication service billing units or the amount of money to this mobile account);

5.1.1. The customer management system credits the mobile account identified by the mobile account code received from the identifier association element with the mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the amount of money (adds the purchased amount of mobile communication service billing units or the amount of money to this mobile account) and sends to the identifier association element a confirmation of completion of the operation.

5.2. It creates a message comprising the confirmation that the mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the amount of money have been loaded to the mobile account, and transmits the message to the cash terminal over the communication network.

6. Having received from the identifier association element over the communication network a confirmation that the mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the amount of money have been loaded to the mobile account, the cash terminal receives the message by decoding the said query and issues a confirmation with the agreed content and in an agreed format.

The identifier association element may further create and transmit to the number of the mobile communication device specified in the mobile account corresponding to the mobile account code a message confirming successful loading of the mobile communication service billing units (e.g., call time minutes) purchased or the amount of money to the mobile account . The message may be transmitted to the mobile communication device in SMS, WAP or USSD message format, or as a voice call.

In addition to the sale of a benefit (product or service), the method developed in this invention may be used to distribute a benefit in real time as a bonus to a person previously identified at the merchant. In this case, certain products (services) offered are linked in the cash register system with a certain benefit, i.e., upon purchase of such product or service, the user account of the person is credited in real time with the specified quantity of the billing units enabling to use the benefit (e.g., mobile communication service).

List of drawings

Figure 1 depicts a flowchart describing the nature of the invention and the sequence of operations.

Figure 2 depicts a flowchart describing the nature of the example for carrying out the invention and the sequence of operations.

Examples for carrying out the invention

The example for carrying out the invention describes a sale of an undifferentiated call minute for domestic mobile calls (defined as a call within the network of one operator, or a call to the network of another operator, or a call to fixed line network) through a store cash register to a previously identified person (see the flowchart for the example for carrying out the invention on FIG 2). This person has been issued a customer card of the store, a mobile account has been created in the billing and/or customer management system of the mobile service provider (hereinafter the customer management system), the person's customer card code (indicated on the drawing as the Person's ID; for example, 123456789012) and the mobile account code (indicated on the drawing as the Mobile Account ID; for example, 098765432109) have been entered in the database of identifiers and the two codes have been associated with each other (the customer card code 123456789012 corresponds to the mobile account code 098765432109). The functions of the cash terminal are fulfilled by a cash register, which is a part of the cash register system of the store and is integrated with a payment terminal of the card payment system of the banks. The card payment system of the banks (interbank card payment system) is used as the communication network (incl. the card payment server, communication network between the points of sale, etc.), whereas the central server of card payments has a permanent or circuit switched connection to the cash register or the cash register system of the store, and a permanent connection to the identifier administration system of the service provider.

The person informs the cashier of the store of his or her intent to purchase a certain amount of call time (also called airtime), for instance, 10 minutes. Call time has been entered in the cash register system of the store as a separate product (incl. name of the product and unit (minute) price). The person presents to the cashier his or her customer card. The cashier enters the data from the customer card (for example, pulls the card through a card reader, uses a barcode reader to read the barcode on the customer card or other medium, etc.) before, after or during entering details on the amount of product (the Operation has been indicated on FIG. 2 with number 1 ; in subsequent description it is referred to as Operation 1). The cashier enters in the cash register the product (minute) code (using a barcode, for example) and quantity (10 minutes). The cash register calculates, creates and prints an invoice (receipt), indicating the name of the product (call time), quantity (10 minutes), unit price and total invoice amount (Operation 2). The person pays the amount shown on the invoice with cash or using a payment card (Operation 3). The cash register system creates a message complying with the format used in the card payment system of the banks (protocol ISO8583), comprising the code of the trader (mobile service provider), quantity of the call time purchased (10), person's customer card code or ID number (123456789012), cash register code, type of transaction (purchase and sale), number of transaction, time of operation and other information specified in the above protocol, and transmits the message over the communication network of the card payment system of the banks to the card payments server of the banks (Operation 4). The card payments server uses the code of the trader included in the message to determine that this is a transaction of the mobile service provider (sale of call time) and forwards a query over a continuously connected communication network to the identifier association element of the mobile service provider without altering the format (protocol) of the message (Operation 5).

The identifier association element receives the message transmitted over card payment system of the banks, decodes the messages and queries the database of identifiers to check, whether the customer card code (Person's ID) in the message sent from the cash register of the store exists in the database of identifiers and which mobile account code (Mobile Account ID) is associated with that identifier (Operation 6).

Having received the query from the identifier association element, the database of identifiers verifies the existence of the transmitted customer card code, determines the mobile account code corresponding to the customer card code, and creates and transmits to the identifier association element a message comprising the mobile account code corresponding to the customer card code (Operation 7).

Having received from the database of identifiers the message with the mobile account code, the identifier association element creates a message comprising the mobile account code and the amount of mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes), and transmits this message to the customer management system together with a command to credit the mobile account corresponding to the code with the mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes) purchased (add 10 minutes to the mobile account) (Operation 8). The customer management system credits the mobile account identified by the mobile account code transmitted by the identifier association element with the mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes) (adds the purchased number of units to this mobile account) and sends to the identifier association element a confirmation of completion of the operation (Operation 9). Next, the identifier association element creates a message comprising a confirmation of successful loading to the mobile account of the purchased mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes) and transmits the message to the cash register over the card payment system of the banks (Operation 10).

Having received from the identifier association element over the communication network the confirmation that the mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes) purchased have been successfully loaded to the mobile account, the cash register of the store receives the message by decoding the query and issues a confirmation with the agreed content and in an agreed format (Operation 11), for example:

Customer Card No. **** **** χo34

Call time loaded: 10 minutes Cash register No. ****

Time **:**

The identifier association element may then create and transmit to the number of the mobile phone specified in the mobile account corresponding to the mobile account code (the mobile phone of the person) a message confirming successful loading of the purchased mobile communication service billing units (10 minutes) to the mobile account (Operation 12). The message may be sent to the mobile phone as a SMS, WAP or USSD message, or a voice call.

The invention enables to utilise in the sale of mobile communication services through retail trade or other commercial sale or distribution channels a large part of the infrastructure and systems used for the provision of mobile communication services (settlement and customer management system, cash register systems of the sale points, card payment terminals, etc.), which could be supplemented by appropriate software and/or interconnected for combined operation.

The specific method developed according to the invention may to certain extent differ from the described example for carrying out the invention while still remaining within the legal boundaries of the method presented in the claim. Therefore, description is not restricted to the example for carrying out the invention.

Claims

1. Method for real-time distributing of benefits in an electronic system, the system comprising a cash terminal and a computer system for administrating the benefits distribution process, said computer system connected to the terminal over a communication network, whereas the method comprises the following stages:

- using the cash terminal, entering data required to identify a person, and determining an user account of the person in a customer management system of a benefit provider, and

- using the cash terminal, entering data of billing units of the benefit, and transferring said benefit automatically and in real time to the user account of the person,

characterised in that

- in the computer system administrating the distribution process, creating an identifier administration system and a database of identifiers, and associating the identifier corresponding to the person in the database of identifiers with the user account code in the customer management system of the benefit provider;

- using the cash terminal, entering the identifier corresponding to the person and the code corresponding to the benefit distributed;

- forwarding a message, comprising the identifier corresponding to the person and the code corresponding to the benefit distributed, from the cash terminal over the communication network to the computer administrating the distribution process;

- in the identifier administration system, determining the user account code corresponding to the identifier included in the message and creating a message comprising the user account code and the code corresponding to the benefit distributed;

- transmitting the message from the identifier administration system to the customer management system of the benefit provider; and

- in a customer management system, crediting the benefit user account with the billing units corresponding to the code.

2. Method as in claim 1 characterised in that the benefit distributed is a telephony service.

3. Method as in claim 1 characterised in that the benefit distributed is a mobile telephony service.

4. Method as in claim 3 characterised in that the merchant's customer card is used to identify the person.

5. Method as in claim 4 characterised in that the cash terminal issues the person a confirmation of the completion and content of the transaction.

6. Method as in claim 5 characterised in that the person's identifier is associated with the address of a technical device specified by the person so that a confirmation of the completion and content of the transaction is sent to the device after the transaction.

7. Method as in claim 6 characterised in that the technical device is a mobile phone and the confirmation is transmitted as a SMS, WAP or USSD message, or a voice call.

8. Method as in claim 1 characterised in that the cash terminal is connected to a cash register system used to maintain a database of the products and services sold at the store and each product and service sold has a specific corresponding code, whereas at least one product or service is associated with a bonus in the form of the billing units of the benefit, so that after entering the code of this product or service in the cash terminal, the terminal automatically transmits a message ordering distribution of a corresponding specified quantity of the benefit to the user account of the previously identified person.