WO2008128604A1

WO2008128604A1 - Method for making a payment of products and/or services selectable from an electronic apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2008128604A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/001926
Authority: WO
Inventors: Guido Chiappini
Original assignee: Bitlevel S.R.L.
Priority date: 2007-04-20
Filing date: 2008-03-11
Publication date: 2008-10-30
Also published as: ITMI20070825A1

Abstract

Method (30) for making a payment of products and/or services (5) comprising the following steps: - providing a management system (20) wherein one or more servers (6) of said products and/ or services (5) and a plurality of unique code (3) and anonymous payment cards (2) are registered, the payment cards (2) corresponding to at least one predetermined value; - selecting one or more products and/ or services (5) through an electronic apparatus (8); - sending the unique code number (3), a cost of selected products and/ or services (5) and an identification of the server of the selected products/ services (5) to the management system (20) for authorising the payment.

Description

Title: "Method for making a payment of products and/ or services selectable from an electronic apparatus"

DESCRIPTION

Field of application The present invention relates to a method for making a payment of products and/ or services selectable from an electronic apparatus suitable for receiving a unique code and sending it to a management system for a payment authorisation.

The present invention further relates to a payment card for making a payment according to the method mentioned above.

Prior art

As is well known, the methods for making payments of the type mentioned above envisage that a user selects one or more products and/or services associated to a respective server or vendor, through an electronic apparatus.

In particular, the user knows beforehand the cost of the products and/or services selected or looks it over during the selection and inputs a unique code into the electronic apparatus for making a payment of the selected products and/or services. The unique code is generally associated to a debit account of the user while each server is associated to a credit account so that during an execution of the payment, the cost of the selected products and/ or services is credited to the credit account of the corresponding server and cut down from the user's debit account. Payment methods of the type mentioned above are commonly used for buying products and /or services over the Internet.

For example, a personal computer connected to the Internet allows a user to connect to a site of the server, select one or more products and/or services, view their cost and input a credit card number for making the payment.

These payment methods envisage that the server has an arrangement with a management system, for example a banking institution enabled to check the credit card, that is, to check that the unique code is valid and that the card is covered by a sufficient credit for making the payment.

Once the payment has been authorised, the management system provides for transferring the cost of the selected products and /or services to the corresponding server.

While they are advantageous for some aspects thereof, these payment methods exhibit several disadvantages among which the need of being holders of a bank checking account in order to request a credit card or in any case of being holders of a credit card associated to a bank checking account.

A user generally avoids the use of a credit card associated to a bank checking account since he/she does not trust the safety of the method and fears that his/her unique code may be intercepted or that the cut of his/her account may not match the actual cost of services and /or products selected and his/her checking account is corrupted.

The mistrust in the use of a credit card is even more felt for low value purchases for which the user is unwilling to expose his/her unique code to potential risks.

The advantages mentioned above are partly solved by prepaid credit cards, uniquely associated to the user and corresponding to a limited credit.

However, the payment methods based on prepaid credit cards are disadvantageous because the distribution network of such cards is not widespread and requires the user to go to a bank or post office or authorised institution for the purchase thereof. Moreover, such offices or institutions require the user to undergo a registration procedure that requires personal data, associating the prepaid credit card to a bank checking account and making the card purchase not just laborious but also not anonymous.

Moreover, while the credit associated to such credit cards is limited and substantially less than the amount of the bank checking account, it is not less than a predetermined threshold, generally in the range of few hundred Euros. In fact, the issue of prepaid credit cards associated to a credit below such threshold would make the issue thereof totally disadvantageous for the bank or authorised institution.

Prepaid credit cards that can be purchased without the user providing personal data are also known. For example, prepaid phone cards bought at a predetermined amount, for recharging a mobile phone.

However, such prepaid cards exhibit further disadvantages since they are limited to a single use, that is, to the purchase of a single product and/or service, for example for making the payment of a telephone recharge. Moreover, the server that makes the telephone recharge is capable of associating the unique code of the prepaid card through which the payment has been made to a mobile phone number, actually making the prepaid card not anonymous.

Finally, methods that allow making payments by a prepaid or conventional card are known, for example a Visa or Mastercard, without providing the data to the server. These methods allow registering the data on one's own credit card to a system also known as PayPal, that acts as an intermediary between the user holder of the credit card and the servers, preventing the user from having to input his/her card number to a specific server every time he/she wants to make a payment.

However, also these methods are not anonymous since they require the user to register the data of his/her credit card on the PayPal system. Moreover, since the credit associated to the cards registered on PayPal is high, such system is exposed to the risk of computer attacks.

The user's mistrust in providing a code associated to his/her personal data, the fear of suffering a fraud, the complexity of the procedure for issuing a credit card prevents the development of sales activities, both by large companies and by small entrepreneurs, of low cost products and/ or services, especially of information contents and intangible assets directly usable through the electronic apparatus 8.

The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is to devise a method of payment of products and/ or services of the type mentioned above which should allow using a single payment card for making payments for different products and/ or services, that is, for multi- type purchases, which should be capable of quickly distributing the payment card, without requiring the identification of a user, through a widespread distribution network, facilitating and stimulating payments through electronic apparatus, even for low purchase values, and overcoming the disadvantages that still trouble the solutions constructed according to the prior art.

Summary of the invention

The solution idea at the basis of the present invention is to provide the use of a unique code but anonymous payment card to access through an electronic apparatus to a code management system to be authorised to make single purchases of goods or services among a plurality of goods or services sold by multiple server institutions.

On the basis of such solution idea, the technical problem is solved by a method for making a payment for products and/ or services characterised in that it comprises the following steps:

- providing a management system wherein one or more servers of the products and/or services and a plurality of unique code and anonymous payment cards are registered, the payment cards corresponding to at least one predetermined value;

- selecting one or more products and/ or services through an electronic apparatus (8);

- sending the unique code number, a cost of products and/or services selected and an identification of the selected product/ service server to the management system for authorising the payment.

Further features and advantages of the method according to the present invention will appear even more clearly from the following description of an embodiment thereof, made by way of an indicative non- limiting example with reference to the annexed drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

In such drawings:

- figure 1 schematically shows an electronic apparatus, two servers and a management system for making a payment according to the method of the present invention.

- figure 2 schematically shows the management system and a distribution network of payment cards for making the payment according to the method of the present invention.

Detailed description With reference to the annexed figures, reference numeral 30 schematically and globally illustrates a method for making a payment of products and/ or services 5 selectable from an electronic apparatus 8 suitable for receiving a unique code 3 and sending it to a management system 20 for a payment authorisation.

In the following description, by products and/ or services it is meant tangible assets associable to a physical address for a delivery or intangible assets such as information or multimedia contents, software, articles, publications, authorisations to access an Internet service, music song for audio devices in different formats and anything that may be selected, specified, types or ordered through an electronic apparatus 8.

Products and/ or services 5 are provided by a server or vendor 6 suitable for communicating with the electronic equipment 8 through an in se known connection, for example through the Internet or through a GSM, GPRS, UMTS and similar telephone network. By way of an example and without limiting the scope of protection of the present invention, the electronic apparatus 8 may be a personal computer connected to the Internet 15, comprising an Internet browser for displaying a site or virtual shop of server 6. Server 6 displays a plurality of products and /or services 5 and for each of them it specifies a corresponding cost so that the user of the electronic apparatus 8 can select one or more products and/ or services 5, viewing the relevant price.

The electronic apparatus 8 may also be a portable device, for example a PDA, a mobile phone and similar devices, suitable for selecting a product and /or a service 5. It is noted that according to the payment method of the present invention, product and/ or service 5 is not necessarily displayed before being selected but it may for example be referred or selected typing an alphanumerical code associated to product and/or service 5. In that case, product and/or service 5 is already known to the user, for example because it is advertised at a respective cost and order code.

A plurality of servers 6, 6' associated to a plurality of differentiated products and/ or services 5, 5', have an arrangement or are registered on a management system 20 suitable for managing and checking the payments made through the electronic apparatus 8 on behalf of servers 6, 6'. In accordance with the present invention, the management system 20 stores a plurality of payment cards 2, with unique code 3, anonymous and corresponding to at least one predetermined purchase value.

The unique codes 3 of payment cards 2 are generated using a secure algorithm, suitable for preventing the counterfeit reproduction thereof and for supporting an authenticity check of the unique code 3, upon the execution of payment, as will be better understood from the following description.

Payment cards 2 are provided by the user, directly through the management system 20 or through a widespread network 21 of distributors connected or that have an agreement with the management system 20, for example ATM, receiving offices installed in public places such as tobacconist's shops, newsagents' and the like.

In particular, the user buys one or more payment cards 2 at an amount 4 substantially corresponding to a predetermined purchase value

9, set by the management system 20. Advantageously, multiple predetermined purchase values 9 may be provided in the management system 20 for dispensing cards 2 with a different purchasing power.

Amount 4 may be equal to the predetermined purchase value 9 or higher, the difference between amount 4 and value 9 being managed by the management system 20.

After selecting one or more products and/ or services 5, the user provided with a payment card 2, inputs the unique code 3 to the electronic apparatus 8 and sends a payment request.

More in particular, the user sends the unique code 3, cost $(5) of product and/ or service 5 selected and an identification of a respective server 6. The above information, except for the unique code 3, may be sent implicitly or explicitly by the user, since by purchasing a specific product and /or service 5, also the respective cost and the respective server 6 are implicitly specified.

The payment request is sent by the electronic apparatus 8 to the management system 20, optionally through server 6, via in se known connections between electronic apparatus 8, server 6 and management system 20.

The management system 20 authorises the payment for product and/ or service 5 if the unique code 3 of the prepaid card 2 respects a syntax check, performed by the management system 20 that has generated the unique codes 3 through the secure algorithm.

Without limiting the scope of protection of the invention, the unique code 3 may be generated through a secure algorithm that links a predetermined number of alphanumerical characters to a current date, in year month day format. For instance, such algorithm with 10 alphanumerical linking characters is capable of generating on a daily basis (26+10)¹⁰ unique codes 3; in this way, if 1 million payment cards 2 were bought every day, 100 million attempts would be required to find a unique code 3.

Of course, unique codes 3 may be generated externally to the management system 20 by a specific generation instrument and stored to the management system 20.

The management system 20 checks amount 4 of the unique code 3 received from the electronic apparatus 8, without authorising the payment if the amount thereof is less than cost $(5) of the selected product and /or service 5.

On the other hand, if the management system 20 authorises the payment, amount 4 is decreased by at least cost $(5) of the selected product and/ or service 5. By authorising the payment, the management system 20 confirms to server 6 that unique code 3 is enabled to purchase product and/ or service 5 so that the server supplies product and/ or service 5. The user receives a purchase confirmation through the electronic apparatus 8 in a substantially conventional manner. More in particular, the management system 20 comprises a management account and a plurality of credit accounts, associated to respective servers 6 that are registered or have an agreement with the management system 20.

When a payment card 2 is sold to a user, or at intervals agreed with the distribution network suppliers of card 2, amount 4 paid by a user, substantially corresponding to the predetermined purchase value 9 set by the management system 20 is credited to the management account.

The management system 20 transfers, substantially after making a payment or at intervals agreed with server 6, cost $(5) of product and/ or service 5 purchased from the management account to the credit account of the respective server 6. A percentage, substantially less than cost $(5), may be provided as withheld as commission cost of the payment and managed by the management system 20.

Advantageously, the payment card 2 is anonymous and is associable also to low purchase values 9.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, payment card 2 is a unique code 3 printed on a paper support as a slip and of the disposable type. Upon every payment made through payment card 2, the management system 20 deducts amount 4 therefrom until such amount 4 has finished and the payment card 2 is invalidated by the management system 20. Advantageously, the method according to the present invention allows paying for differentiated products and/or services using a single payment card 2, quickly purchaseable, without requiring the user identification, through a widespread distribution network, facilitating and stimulating payments through electronic apparatus, even for low purchase values.

In an embodiment of the present invention, server 6 is the website of a newspaper that sells articles, reviews, publications at a predetermined cost, even if very low per page or per reading time, let's suppose at the cost of 0.1 Eurocents per electronic page. According to the method of the present invention, a user provided with payment card 2 at a predetermined purchase value, for example of 5 Euros, can read a plurality of electronic pages. Moreover, the prepaid card on paper support may also be contained in a wallet and always brought along. Even if the user mistrusts the safety of the payment method according to the present invention, he/she knows that amount 4 paid for payment card 2 is small and is more stimulated to try the payment method using service 5 offered by the newspaper.

In such embodiment, that is, associating payment card 2 to a small amount 4, any attempts at counterfeits or reproduction is uneconomical.

Advantageously, to distribute the payment card 2 the management system 20 can use existing computer networks greatly widespread on the territory, for example licensed receiving offices, P.O. S, ATM, bank counters, newsagents' and filling stations.

While the description provided was mainly illustrated with reference to personal computer as electronic apparatus 8 to a man skilled in the art it will be apparent that the method of the present invention is substantially valid for making payments through a number of pieces of apparatus 8 and electronic devices 8.

For example, a user provided with mobile phone may send a text comprising the unique code 3 of payment card 2 to a phone number corresponding to a service 5. Server 6 of service 5 receives the unique code and requests the authorisation to the management system 20 that checks unique code 3, substantially as described above.

If the payment is authorised, the management system 20 or server 6 sends a text of payment made to the mobile phone that has requested the service and server 6 supplies service 5.

According to a further embodiment, the unique code 3 is sent by email, through a personal computer or similar electronic apparatus, entering the unique code 3 of the payment card 2 in the subject field or in the message body of the email. In this example of embodiment, service 5 of a specific server 6 may be associated to the recipient field of the email message. Server 6, after receiving the email message, requests the authorisation to the management system 20.

The management system 20 checks the unique code 3 and if the payment is authorised, enables server 6 to supply service 5; server 6 sends an email message of payment made to the mailbox of the user that has requested service 5.

Advantageously, the method for making a payment according to the present invention solves the technical problem and achieves considerable advantages, allowing paying for different products and/ or services, provided by respective servers, using a single payment card, quickly purchaseable, without requiring the user identification, through a widespread and existing distribution network, facilitating and stimulating payments through electronic apparatus, even for low purchase values.

Claims

1. Method (30) for making a payment of products and/ or services (5) characterised in that it comprises the following steps:

- providing a management system (20) wherein one or more servers (6) of said products and/ or services (5) and a plurality of unique code (3) and anonymous payment cards (2) are registered, said payment cards (2) corresponding to at least one predetermined value;

- selecting one or more products and/ or services (5) through an electronic apparatus (8); - sending the unique code number (3), a cost of selected products and/ or services (5) and an identification of the server of said selected products/ services (5) to the management system (20) for authorising said payment.

2. Method (30) according to claim 1 characterised in that said management system (20) distributes said payment cards (2) at an amount

(4) substantially corresponding to said predetermined value.

3. Method (30) according to claim 2 characterised in that said amount (4) is decreased upon the execution of said payment by at least said cost.

4. Method (30) according to claim 3 characterised in that said management system (20) authorises said payment if said unique code (3) respects a syntax check.

5. Method (30) according to claim 3 characterised in that said management system (20) authorises said payment if said amount (4) is at least equal to said cost.

6. Method (30) according to claim 5 characterised in that said management system (20) comprises a management cost and a plurality of credit accounts, associated to respective servers.

7. Method (30) according to claim 6 characterised in that said management system (20), distributing said payment card (2), credits said amount (4) to said management account.

8. Method (30) according to claim 7 characterised in that said management system (20) substantially transfers said cost from said management account to said credit account after an execution of said payment.

9. Method (30) according to claim 1 characterised in that said payment card (2) is disposable.

10. Method (30) according to claim 9 characterised in that said payment card (2) is distributed on a paper support.

11. Method (30) according to claim 10 characterised in that said management system invalidates said payment card (2) when said amount

(4) has finished.