CN1529878A - Mobile electronic funds transfer system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A mobile virtual e-purse micro-payment method and system is provided. The consumer keys in a formatted SMS instruction and sends this to a specified telephone number to effect micro-payment from a monetary funds account which may includes a stored-value virtual electronic purse account or an issuing bank account from which funds may be directly debited to his selected merchant. A security feature is provided in which the unique MSISDN phone number identifier and the USERID serve to identify the consumer. For added security the consumer gets a formatted voice call asking him to confirm the payment instructions and to key in his PIN (Person Identification Number). The invention also provides for simple, effective multi-model return paths via simple fax, e-mail or phone confirmation giving physical records to the merchant that payment has been made.

Description

Mobile electronic funds transfer system and method

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of electronic commerce and in particular to the transfer of electronic funds from mobile devices.

Background technique

The emergence of electronic commerce provides consumers with a more efficient way to pay for the goods and services they purchase. In electronic commerce, payment for goods and services can be realized electronically. Many modern establishments provide for the payment of electronic funds from a consumer's electronic wallet to an account of a provider of goods or services, whether by credit card, telephone banking or by more direct payment methods.

Recent developments have allowed consumers to transfer funds electronically through mobile terminals. In particular, consumers are able to electronically transfer funds via mobile phones using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology. This requires a user to log into a network via a wireless device, initiate a funds transfer request, receive confirmation and confirmation data, and perform a typical funds transfer transaction online. As convenient as this is, there are a number of drawbacks to this approach. First, such transactions incur substantial fees due to being online during the transaction. Second, online session connections often time out and disconnect. Also, for a user to be able to take advantage of this service, the user must have a mobile phone that allows WAP operation. Currently, this only covers a small percentage of mobile phone users.

Further, recent developments only focus on purely virtual transactions, such as Internet transactions, WAP transactions or mobile Internet transactions, and non-mobile virtual payments for actual transactions between consumers and paid merchants.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that would allow more users to conduct electronic funds transfers via mobile terminals, and reduce the cost of performing such transactions, whether mobile virtual transactions or actual transactions.

Contents of the invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for electronically transferring funds from a payer to a payee, the system comprising: a mobile communication device capable of sending Short Message Service (SMS) messages, communicating with a payer and receiving SMS messages The financial funds account associated with the central payment gateway server, and the link performed at the payment infrastructure provider in response to the message allowing authorized access to the payment transaction control center.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of electronically transferring funds from a payer to a payee, the method comprising: receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) message containing instructions for sending transfer funds in the financial fund account of the recipient, and automatically execute the transfer from the financial fund account to the special payee according to the instruction.

Preferably, the financial funding account is an electronic wallet account, or an issuing bank account.

Preferably, upon receipt of the SMS message, a request is sent to the sender of the SMS message to confirm the payment instruction. Preferably, the request also requires the user to send a personal identification number (PIN). Still preferably, the confirmation request is in the form of a voice call programmed using TTS technology.

Preferably, a payment record of a multi-modal return route is provided to the payee during the actual transaction. Still preferably, the payment record is in the form of fax, email, fixed line FVR or mobile SMS or FVR.

Description of drawings

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows the different components of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 1.1 shows the different components of an embodiment of the invention for a mobile e-wallet to communicate with, for example, government or public services, telecommunication companies, Internet service providers, and others where there is no risk of being unable to repay erroneous payments or overpaying The case for fully virtual micropayment transactions.

Figure 1.2 shows the different components of an embodiment of the invention for the case of mobile direct debit virtual micropayments for actual transactions with point-of-sale (POS) merchants such as gas stations, specialty stores, salons, florist , hotels, etc., and when making payment transactions, POS merchants need confirmation and payment records.

Figure 1.3 shows the different components of an embodiment of the invention for the case of mobile direct debit virtual micropayments for a P2P transaction, whether such a transaction is purely virtual or it involves actual transactions.

Figure 2 shows the main components of the system in Figure 1 in more detail.

Figure 3 shows an example showing the format of the SMS message sent; and

Figure 4 shows an example of displaying SMS message acknowledgments.

Detailed ways

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown various components of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Users of the system wishing to effectuate electronic fund transfers to merchants, for example from their electronic wallets, will have mobile communication devices such as SMS enabled mobile phones. Of course, the electronic communication device may be a portable computer or any other device capable of sending and receiving SMS messages. The device 1 is connected to a telecommunications network managed by the telecommunications company to which the user subscribes.

A feature of the present invention is to allow different telecommunications companies to implement a loyalty/personalization platform with different merchants registered as participating merchants. The loyalty/personalization platform operates through Box 2, which provides differentiated or customized payment items and services to telcos with the ability to manage merchants and consumers through a personalized interface with individual consumers. This allows suppliers to subscribe to specific loyalty schemes, such as offering SingTel subscribers a 10% discount on items or services purchased from merchants that have joined the SingTel loyalty scheme.

Box 3 involves one (or any) of the currently existing loyalty platforms/engines for a particular telco. There are many transactions that could form part of the loyalty platforms/engines that currently exist for telcos, such as fixed line voice and data (including broadband) transactions and mobile voice and data transactions unrelated to mobile micropayment transactions, so these transactions are not of concern in the present system within the scope and components of the transaction. The loyalty/personalization platform of Box 2 provides the system of the present invention and each telco with a mobile micropayment-related loyalty program and its participating merchants, as well as connections to and integration with the telco's existing loyalty platforms/engines Contact and merchant logic. Likewise, the loyalty/personalization platform of Box 2 provides the system of the invention and each telco with its own blacklist from micropayment-related transactions, and its participating merchants and banks, and connects to and integrates with The contact and merchant logic of the blacklist platform/engine that resides in the telco at box 4. The loyalty/personalization platform of box 2 interfaces with the merchant web server 5 which allows the interface between the telecommunications company and the merchant terminal 6 . A specific merchant can sign a contract with one or more telecommunications companies through the merchant web server 5, and provide details about the account number of the acquiring bank to which it will pay, or provide information about the account number of the acquiring bank to which it will pay if the merchant chooses P2P micropayment. personal acquiring bank account. Supplying the Merchant with a Merchant Code which is linked to the provided bank account details, or in the case of the Merchant opting for P2P Micropayments, providing him with his unique mobile phone MSISDN number and which will be linked to the provided personal acquiring bank account details merchant code. Merchants may also specify a preference for receiving payment transaction records via fax, email, landline FVR, mobile FVR or SMS. Merchants can also specify offers, promotions and discounts for items and services, and if the consumer has pre-selected the option to be notified of any special offers via such SMS messages, the above provisions will be provided in the consumer preference server 7 and passed Send an SMS message to the customer's phone to notify the customer. Merchants can also use details about user behavior and user profiles to more effectively target their special offers and promotions.

The customer preference web server 7 contains details of each customer registered to the mobile payment service of the present invention, including phone numbers, details about issuing bank account numbers from which payments can be debited, including virtual e-wallet accounts. For example, when a consumer pays a bill for a merchant, such as a telecommunications company, an Internet service provider or a gas company, the consumer can link his issuing bank account number and virtual e-wallet account number to the merchant. At the consumer preference web server 7, the consumer may also choose to be notified of relevant merchant promotions and discounts via SMS messages, and if the consumer chooses to wish to be the payee for peer-to-peer transactions, in which case the consumer will also The acquiring bank account specified for payment. In fact, where the consumer is the payer, funds can be debited from the same bank account previously specified.

In the case of mobile e-wallet micropayments to merchants, which involve purely virtual transactions and there is a low risk of inability to repay erroneous payments or overpayments, the consumer can also specify whether he wishes to have an increased security to confirm transaction details. If so specified, the consumer will receive an FVR voice message requiring confirmation of the transaction order and enter a personal identification number (PIN) for authentication. In the case of mobile direct debit micropayments to POS merchants for actual transactions, FVR transactions and PIN confirmation are the default, and consumers will at risk need to disable or ignore the requirement if accepted by the consumer's issuing bank.

The entire system is controlled by a payment gateway 8 which interfaces the merchant web server 5 , consumer preference web server 7 , telco loyalty/personalization platform 2 and payment provider gateway 9 . The payment provider gateway 9 controls the actual electronic funds transfer and can be accomplished by any known means known to those of ordinary skill in the art. In short anyway, the gateway 9 facilitates various transactions between the issuing bank 12 and the acquiring bank 13, where the issuing bank holds the customer's dedicated bank account (specified by the customer on the customer preference web server 7 ), and the acquiring bank 13 has the bank account number specified by the payee on the web server 5 of the merchant. After completion of the electronic funds transfer, payment will be made to various items and various service providers, regardless of whether they are traditional POS merchants6 in the case of actual transaction payments through mobile virtual means, or bill payments in the case of purely virtual transactions Merchants11.

Referring now to Figures 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, there are shown various components of embodiments of the present invention as they are applied in the following situations, (a) for communication with, for example, government or public service agencies, telecommunications companies, Internet service providers mobile e-wallets for purely virtual micropayment transactions with merchants, and other institutions with a small risk of non-repayable error characters or overpayments; (b) mobile direct debit virtual micropayments for use with point-of-sale (POS) merchants such as Gas stations, specialty stores, salons, florists, hotels, etc. conduct actual transactions. When making payment transactions, POS merchants need confirmation and payment records; (c) mobile direct debit virtual micropayments for P2P transactions, and Whether such a transaction is purely virtual or it involves an actual transaction between the payer and the payee. The recognition process is described above with reference to FIG. 1 unless the process is provided separately for simplified reference.

Referring now to Figure 2, the payment gateway 8 interfacing with the payment provider gateway 9 is shown in more detail.

The payment gateway 8 includes an SMS engine 81 that receives SMS messages from the mobile communication device 1 through SMSCs of various telecommunication companies. The SMS engine 81 sifts through the message format of the SMS message, which includes phone number, time stamp and formatted message fields, and stores it in the configuration file directory. The receiver module 82 receives SMS messages from the incoming queue of the SMS engine 81 and forwards these messages to the SMS router module 83 . The sender module 86 and the receiver module 82 encapsulate the processing logic of the SMS engine 81 from the remaining components of the payment gateway. The advantage of this is that the SMS engine 81 can be changed without affecting the processing of other modules. The SMS router 83 analyzes and separates the time stamp from the message field, performs syntax checks, generates corresponding error messages and executes merchant logic functions for each message field. SMS router 83 checks the destination of each message. The SMS Router 83 forwards the message to the Message Queue 84 for the Message Broker 85 if it is for payment, or to the Merchant Server 5 if the goods and services request is valid. The message queue 84 performs buffering functions between the SMS router 83 and the merchant server 5 , and between the SMS router 83 and the message broker 85 .

Payment gateway 8 also includes data mining 87 , management control module 88 , audit logic 89 and message broker 85 .

The message broker 85 also converts SMS command messages to binary format messages specified by the given service infrastructure provider according to the message conversion rules agreed upon between the system of the present invention and the administrators of the various payment providers.

The payment gateway 8 interfaces with the merchant server and the consumer preference server 7 . The POS merchant, for example, a hair salon, signs up on the merchant server 5 and provides his company name, acquiring bank account, preferred return route for payment records, and the fax number, fixed line number or mobile number where he wants to receive these records. The merchant server 5 interfaces with payment provider backend systems 9 connected to various participating banks, identifies acquiring bank accounts and assigns merchant codes displayed by merchants at their location and marketed to consumers. Information such as merchant codes, preferences, fax numbers, etc. is interfaced with a database module 89 which is linked to an SMS router containing merchant logic to identify the merchant and keep track of the merchant's preferences.

The payment gateway 8 also interfaces to the customer preference server 7 . The consumer signs up on the consumer preference server 7 and provides his name, mobile number, user ID, PIN, issuing bank account or virtual e-wallet account, whether his preference requires FVR return confirmation and PIN authentication, payment records Preferred return route and whether he wants to receive FVR or SMS payment records. The consumer preference server 7 interfaces with the payment provider backend system 9 connected to the various participating banks and identifies the issuing bank account. Some information such as user ID, mobile number, and preferences, etc. are interfaced with the database module 89 linked to the SMS router containing the business logic to identify the customer's preferences, etc.

The message broker 85 converts the message text into the payment infrastructure provider's message format to allow instructions to be provided to the payment provider gateway 9 for the electronic funds transfer to be initiated next.

The SMS engine 81 handles all communications between the payment gateway 8 and the SMSCs of the various telcos the customer subscribes to. The sender module 86 sends SMS messages to the outgoing queue of the SMS engine 81 .

The message router 83 will check the syntax of the received SMS message and if any syntax errors are detected, the message router 83 will send back an SMS error message. The message router 83 will also read a message from the merchant server 5 via the message queue 84, which may advise the customer that a particular item ordered may not be available, and can reply directly to the customer via SMS. If the item is available, the SMS router 83 forwarding the payment message to the message queue 84 for the message broker module 85 can initiate payment. SMS router 83 also reads a message from message broker 85 via message queue 84 for subsequent forwarding to message sender module 86 .

Merchant server 5 receives consumer request from message queue 84, checks the availability of goods and services provided by merchants connected to the system, and if unavailable, will send an "unavailable" SMS message to consumers through message router 83. Otherwise, the merchant server 5 will send an acknowledgment back to the message router 83 via the message queue 84 to initiate the payment request.

The message queue box 84 provides for storing messages alive, synchronously accessing the buffer area of the queue, and providing a method for sending stored messages from the queue and obtaining messages from the queue.

The database module 89 contains inspection log tables. The inspection log records all SMS messages received by the SMS router 83 based on TCP/IP sockets, records all SMS messages sent by the SMS router 83 based on TCP/IP sockets, and records all binary messages received from the payment infrastructure provider 9. The message records all the messages sent to the merchant through the merchant server 5 and all the messages received from the merchant through the merchant server 5 .

The data mining module 87 will collate traffic statistics, estimate average system response times, provide error tracking, provide details about how often customers use services, estimate system peak times, and estimate customer purchasing preferences.

The gateway management and control module 88 implements the SMS payment gateway server, records the server IP and port number on the GUI display, turns on and off the server, displays transaction statistics, queries and displays consumer information, activates consumer accounts, freezes consumer accounts, Terminate customer accounts, manage customer PIN details, renew customer trust levels and log all system administration and control activities.

Figure 3 shows an example of a telecommunications mobile communication device 1 used in the system of the invention. The SMS message sent by the user consists of the instructions shown in Figure 3. The SMS message sent will include instructions to pay a specific merchant (i.e. merchant code), the consumer's user ID, the payment amount, and the transaction code for a specific transaction, such as a notification number in the case of a parking fine, paid by a telco or ISP or using Account number in case of billing etc. The Merchant Code will be for example ST for SingTel in the case of bill payment, or M1234 for hair salons in the case of POS merchants, these will display this Merchant Code and show any telcos that are used to accept and facilitate consumers A loyalty program for mobile micropayments.

In Fig. 4, an example of a message that may be displayed on the communication device 1 is shown, such as a confirmation that an audited funds transfer has been effected. Displayed information may include the date and time the funds were received and from which bank, the original recurring instruction, and the balance of the consumer's e-wallet or account. Of course, it should be understood that other suitable details may also be displayed.

The invention is especially used for mobile micro-payments that can regularly issue monthly bills, such as telephone bills, utility bills, city council, rehabilitation charges and ISP charges. The system can equally be used to pay for goods and services of goods and service providers, such as gas stations, specialty stores, salons, florists, hotels.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it can be "plugged in" into an already established electronic funds transfer network. The system of the present invention provides an interface between a mobile communication device with SMS functionality and a user establishing an electronic funds transfer network. The system also has other additional features, including a loyalty program that allows merchants, consumers and telcos to benefit from the system.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an alternative to existing electronic funds transfer methods, including the advantages of allowing a greater number of consumers to use mobile electronic funds transfer and reducing the cost of using services on existing systems.

Although the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that many variations and modifications which will be understood by those skilled in the art are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims (11)

1. An electronic funds transfer system for electronically transferring funds from a payer to a payee, the system comprising, a mobile communication device capable of sending Short Message Service (SMS) messages, and a payer and a central payment center for receiving SMS messages The financial funds account associated with the gateway server, and the connection between the financial funds account and the payee at the payment infrastructure provider in response to the message to allow authorized access to the payment transaction control center. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the payment infrastructure provider is connected to participating financial institutions. 3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the financial funds account is an electronic wallet account. 4. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the financial funding account is a designated issuing bank account. 5. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the payer receives a response to the sent SMS message. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the response is a Formatted Voice Response (FVR) voice call requesting the payer to confirm a transaction instruction and enter a PIN. 7. The system of claim 4, wherein said financial transaction is a transaction between a payer's direct debit account at said nominated issuing bank and a merchant's nominated acquiring bank account. 8. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein confirmation that the funds transfer has been effected is sent to the payer and/or the payee. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein said confirmation is by fax, email, FVR or SMS. 10. A method for electronically transferring funds from a payer to a payee, the method comprising receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) message containing instructions for debiting financial funds from a financial funds account associated with the sender of the SMS message Transfer of funds, and automatic execution of the transfer from the financial funds account to the special payee according to the instruction. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the financial funds account is an electronic wallet account.

Images