DE102007053638B4 - Method and device for the controlled transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to a payee's account - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for the controlled transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to a payee's account, comprising the following procedural steps:
a) Generating, on a communication terminal (40, 70) of the payee, a data record which contains a money request, an identification code of the payer and an identification code of the payee;
b) Transmitting the data set from the communication terminal (40, 70) to an account management facility (20) in which at least the payer's prepaid account is stored;
c) Forwarding, by addressing the payer's identification code, at least part of the data record from the account management facility via a mobile network (55) to a mobile terminal (30) of the payer;
d) Transmission of an acceptance message from the mobile terminal (30) via the mobile network (55) to the account management unit (20);
e) Check that there is a sufficient amount of money in the prepaid account;
f) Taxes, upon receipt of the acceptance notification and, if sufficient funds are available, the transfer of funds from the payer's prepaid account to the payee's account; and
g) Submitting a transfer confirmation message from the account management facility in each case (20) to the communication terminal (40, 70) of the payee and/or to the mobile terminal (30) of the payer, characterized in that the payer's identification code is transmitted from the mobile terminal (30) to the communication terminal (40, 70) by means of a short-range wireless communication protocol.

Description

The invention relates to a method for the controlled transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to a payee's account.

Electronic payment systems for sales at a point of sale (POF) are well-known. For example, in the US patent application no. 2007/0203836 A1 A mobile payment system is described in which a mobile device acts as a pager for SMS messages. The electronic payment system comprises a computer server that can receive a text message from a payer's mobile device containing a payment request corresponding to a specific monetary amount. Upon receipt of the payment request, the payer's account is debited by the specified amount, and the funds are credited to a payee's account, which is independent of the computer server.

Out of DE 199 03 363 A1 is a financial transaction system and a method for carrying out cashless financial transactions with a mobile station of a mobile subscriber known, wherein a settlement center stores mobile subscriber identifications, payee station identifications and creditworthiness data of the mobile subscriber.

In DE 199 03 822 A1 A method for carrying out a cashless payment transaction is described using a merchant station identified by a merchant station identifier, a mobile phone with a SIM card identified by an identifier, and a matching device that includes a transaction data storage device, a merchant verification device for checking the identifiers of the authorized merchant stations, and a subscriber verification device for checking the identifiers of the authorized SIM cards, and which is connected to account-holding facilities.

Out of DE 10 2005 017 374 A1 Furthermore, a method for confirming a service request is known, wherein a service request is transmitted via a first communication network to a communication server of a service provider, for example a bank, and wherein the service, which consists, for example, of a money transaction, is only executed by the service provider when, for security purposes, the order is confirmed via a second communication network, wherein a message regarding an acceptance or rejection of the service is transmitted from the service recipient via the second communication network to the communication server of the service provider.

The invention is based on the objective of providing a method and a prepaid account management device that enables equal users to have simple, secure and convenient mobile payment behavior.

A key aspect of the invention is the transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to another account belonging to a payee, which is preferably also a prepaid account. Advantageously, the money transfer is confirmed immediately to the payer and/or the payee.

The invention solves the aforementioned technical problem using the process steps of claim 1.

The procedure described is for the controlled transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to a payee's account. A data record is generated on the payee's communication device, containing a money request, a payer identification code, and a payee identification code. The identification codes are preferably the mobile phone number of the payer's mobile device or the telephone number of the payee's communication device. The data record is transmitted from the payee's communication device, for example via the internet or a mobile network, to an account management system that stores at least the payer's prepaid account. This means that the payer's prepaid account is not managed on their mobile device, but in a separate system, namely the account management system. Using the payer's identification code, the data record is transmitted from the account management system to the payer's mobile device via a mobile network. An acceptance message is then transmitted from the mobile device to the account management system via the mobile network. Before or after the acceptance message is transmitted, the system checks whether sufficient funds are available in the payer's prepaid account. If sufficient funds are available, the system initiates a transfer of funds from the payer's prepaid account to the payee's account upon receiving the acceptance message. Ideally, the amount to be transferred is included in the payment request in the data record. Immediately after the transfer, a transfer confirmation message is sent by the Account management device transmitted to the communication terminal of the payee and/or to the mobile terminal of the payer.

It should be noted here that the sequence of process steps specified in claim 1 does not necessarily represent the actual chronological sequence. Depending on the implementation of the process, the process steps may be carried out in a different order.

The account management unit communicates with the payer's mobile terminal via the mobile network and with the payee's communication terminal via an IP-based communication network, preferably the Internet, the mobile network or another mobile network.

According to a preferred embodiment, the payee also has a prepaid account, which is managed by the account management system. It should be noted that the payer's prepaid account and the payee's prepaid account can be held at the same bank or at different banks. The account management system can, for example, have a distributed database system in which the prepaid accounts are stored.

If both the payee and the payer have a prepaid account managed by the account management institution, a so-called mobile peer-to-peer payment system is created—that is, a payment system among equals. This means that participants can act as both payers and payees. Advantageously, in this case, the communication device is also a mobile device. In this way, the method supports mobile payments for reciprocal sales, for example, between two private individuals, anytime and anywhere.

The payer's solvency is centrally monitored, as the payer's prepaid account is not managed on their mobile device but rather in an independent account management system. Furthermore, successful or failed payment transactions are immediately communicated to all parties involved on their respective communication devices.

The payer's identification code, which is preferably the mobile phone number of the mobile device, can be transmitted from the payer's mobile device to the payee's communication device using a short-range wireless communication protocol, such as Bluetooth. This way, the payer doesn't need to worry about how the payee obtains the identification code.

In the case of a purchase transaction, the data record generated on the communication terminal of the payee may also contain information about a purchase offer, in which case the amount of money requested may correspond to the purchase price.

According to an advantageous further development, the communication terminal of the payee, who in this example is the seller, can request the details of the purchase offer from a database in which goods, article numbers and the corresponding purchase prices are stored.

The aforementioned technical problem is also solved by a prepaid account management device.

The prepaid account management device is specifically designed to carry out the procedure described above. The prepaid account management device comprises a storage unit in which one prepaid account each for a first and a second customer is stored. Furthermore, a radio interface for wireless communication with a mobile terminal of the first customer and a communication interface for communication with a communication terminal of the second customer are provided. A forwarding device is also used to forward a data record from the communication terminal via a mobile network to the mobile terminal of the first customer, wherein the data record contains a payment request, an identification code of the first customer, and an identification code of the second customer. The identification codes can be the mobile phone number of the first customer's mobile terminal or the telephone number of the communication terminal. A verification device is used to check the account balances of the prepaid accounts of the first and second customers. Finally, a programmable control unit is provided which, upon receiving an acceptance message from the mobile terminal, controls the transfer of a sum of money from the prepaid account of the first customer to the prepaid account of the second customer or vice versa.

The storage device can contain a database in which the prepaid accounts are stored. Alternatively, the storage device can also have multiple interconnected databases in which different prepaid accounts are stored. In this case, the prepaid account ten-management device trained to carry out the desired money transfer even if the prepaid accounts of the first and second customers are located in different databases.

In order to be able to inform the customers involved about the transfer of the amount of money without delay, a device is provided for generating and transmitting a transfer confirmation message, which can be transmitted to the communication terminal of the second customer and/or to the mobile terminal of the first customer.

If the communication terminal is a mobile terminal, the communication interface is designed as a radio interface.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment in conjunction with an accompanying figure.

The single figure shows an example of a mobile peer-to-peer payment system 10, which includes a prepaid account management device 20. The prepaid account management device 20 has a first memory 21 in which a prepaid account of customer A is stored, and a second memory 22 in which the prepaid account of customer B is stored. The assignment of the prepaid accounts to customers A and B is carried out, for example, via PAN or the telephone number of the communication terminals assigned to customers A and B.
For example, customer A owns a mobile phone 30, while customer B owns a mobile phone 40 and/or an IP-based communication terminal 70.

The prepaid account management device 20 has a radio interface 23 through which it can communicate with customer A's mobile phone 30 via a mobile network 55. Furthermore, the prepaid account management device 20 may have a second radio interface 24 through which it can communicate with customer B's mobile phone 40 via the mobile network 40 or, as shown in the figure, via a separate mobile network 50. Additionally or optionally, the prepaid account management device 20 may have, for example, a DSL interface 25 through which it is connected to an IP-based communication network, such as the Internet 60, in order to communicate with the IP-based communication device 70. The prepaid account management device 20 also has a programmable control unit, such as a microprocessor 26, which manages and controls the functions of the prepaid account management device 20.

It should be noted that the mobile payment system depicted in the figure enables not only sales in the real world, but also on the internet.

The following section explains in more detail how the mobile payment system 10 shown in the figure works.

Before the mobile payment system 10 can be put into operation, a corresponding "mobile payment" application must be installed on the communication devices 30, 40, and 70, as well as on the prepaid account management device 20. Therefore, both mobile phones 30 and 40 use a UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) SIM card, which ensures secure and protected data transmission. Advantageously, the mobile network provider of network 55 installs the required mobile payment software on mobile phone 30 via an over-the-air server (not shown), while the mobile network provider of network 50 installs the corresponding mobile payment software on mobile phone 40 via network 50. The received software is installed on the SIM cards of mobile phones 30 and 40. Subsequently, the menu of both mobile phones is extended to include the corresponding "mobile payment" menu item.

The corresponding software component of the mobile payment system is also installed in the prepaid account management device 20.

Upon first accessing the "Mobile Payment" menu item, customers A and B are prompted to enter the PAN (Personal Account Number) of their respective prepaid accounts into mobile phone 30 or 40. This number is stored within the "Mobile Payment" application on the UICC card of the respective mobile phone. The PAN of customers A and B's prepaid accounts may also be stored in memory 21 or memory 22 of the prepaid account management device 20.

Let us first assume that customer A acts as the buyer and customer B as the seller in this example. Due to the peer-to-peer nature of the payment system 10, customer B could also act as the buyer and customer A as the seller. Furthermore, let us assume that both customers are private individuals and that customers A and B each have a mobile phone contract, which is paid for via the prepaid accounts stored in memory locations 21 and 22 of the prepaid account management device 20.

In a first scenario, customer A, assigned mobile phone number 30, and customer B, assigned mobile phone number 40, are in different locations. Customer A wants to buy a specific book from customer B, for example.

Before customer B can submit a sales offer to customer A, customer A provides customer B with the mobile phone number of their mobile phone 30. The mobile phone number can be provided to customer B via direct voice communication, or, in the case of distance selling, via a telephone connection or an online query field. If mobile phones 30 and 40 are located within the same short-range radio cell, the mobile phone number of mobile phone 30 can also be transmitted directly to mobile phone 40 using a short-range radio communication protocol. In the figure, such a short-range radio transmission of the mobile phone number of mobile phone 30 to the IP-based communication terminal 70 is represented by an arrow labeled with the reference symbol l.

An offer is now generated on the seller's mobile phone 40. For this purpose, a data record is created containing the mobile phone number 0165kkk of customer A's (buyer's) mobile phone 30, the mobile phone number 0171vvv of customer B (seller's) mobile phone 30, and the purchase amount. Optionally, the seller's order number, a transaction fee, and information about whether the purchase is for business or private use can be included in the data record. The contents of the data record and a prompt to send/not send are preferably displayed to customer B on the screen of mobile phone 40. The data record is then transferred to the prepaid account management device 20 in process step 2. The information required for generating the offer can also be automatically retrieved from a database (not shown) by mobile phone 40. This information can include, for example, the total price of the goods, an indication of whether the purchase is for private or business use, and the amount of VAT. By responding to the mobile phone number 0165kkk of mobile phone 30 received in the data set, the microprocessor 26 causes, for example, the mobile phone number 0171vvv of mobile phone 40 to be transmitted to mobile phone 30 of customer A in process step 3, in addition to the purchase amount. It should be mentioned at this point that the data exchanged between the prepaid account management device 20 and the mobile phones 30 and 40 can be transmitted in so-called service messages.

• Angebot von 0171vvv,
• Betrag: 25,00 €
• Mehrwertsteuer: 4,75 €
• Angebot annehmen: ja/nein.

After receiving the data from the prepaid account management device 20, the following display appears on the screen of customer A's mobile phone 30, for example:

• Offer from 0171vvv,
• Amount: €25.00
• VAT: €4.75
• Accept offer: yes/no.

If customer A enters "Accept offer: no" on mobile phone 30, the application terminates the purchase process. Simultaneously, mobile phone 30 sends a corresponding message to the prepaid account management device 20. The prepaid account management device 20 then sends a corresponding message to customer B's mobile phone 40 using the stored mobile phone number 0171vvv. This message informs customer B that the offer has been rejected by the buyer. If, however, customer A accepts the offer by pressing a corresponding button on their mobile phone 30, the application generates a corresponding acceptance message, which is then transmitted from mobile phone 30 to the prepaid account management device 20 via the mobile network 55 in step 4.

Before or after receiving the acceptance message, the programmable control unit 26 compares the purchase amount received by mobile phone 40 in step 2 with the amount of customer A's prepaid account stored in memory 21. If customer A's prepaid account has sufficient funds, the prepaid account management device 20 executes the money transfer by debiting customer A's prepaid account by the purchase amount and increasing customer B's prepaid account stored in memory 22 by the same amount. If the amount of money stored in memory 21 for customer A's prepaid account does not have sufficient funds, the prepaid account management device 20 generates, for example, a message stating that the purchase transaction failed due to insufficient funds. A corresponding message is then transmitted to mobile phone 30 or mobile phone 40 of customer B.

• 29,75 € wurden an 0171vvv überwiesen.
• Das Restguthaben auf Ihrem Prepaidkonto beträgt: xxx

Immediately after a money transfer, the prepaid account management device 20 generates a confirmation message, which is transmitted to mobile phone 30 in step 5 and to mobile phone 40 in step 6. Upon receiving the confirmation message, the "mobile payment" application stored on mobile phone 30 displays, for example, the following message on the mobile phone 30's screen:

• €29.75 was transferred to 0171vvv.
• The remaining balance on your prepaid account is: xxx

• Gutschrift 29,75 €
• auf Ihrem Prepaidkonto von 0165kkk,
• Belastung:
  • 3 € Ihres Prepaidkontos für
  • Transaktionsgebühr.

Similarly, the application generates the following example message on the mobile phone 40 display:

• Credit of €29.75
• on your prepaid account of 0165kkk,
• Burden:
  • €3 of your prepaid account for
  • Transaction fee.

The "mobile payment" application installed on mobile phones 30 and 40 also allows users to check their account balance on the prepaid account management device 20. Additionally, the application on mobile phones 30 and 40 can prompt the customer to enter a PIN (Personal Identification Number) if a PAN is to be stored in memory locations 21 and 22 to secure access to the respective prepaid account. If the purchase is a business transaction, the application can prompt the customer to enter the necessary information, such as a commercial register entry, VAT ID, and VAT rate, on their mobile phone.

In an alternative embodiment, customer B can use the IP-based communication terminal 70 instead of the mobile phone 40. The communication terminal 70 is connected to the prepaid account management device 20 via the internet 60. In this case, customer B's purchase offer, along with the IP address of the communication terminal 70 and the mobile phone number 0165kkk of the mobile phone 30, is transmitted in step 2' from the communication terminal 70 to the prepaid account management device 20 via the internet 60. The service message confirming a money transfer or indicating that a money transfer is not possible is then transmitted in step 6' from the prepaid account management device 20 to the communication terminal 70 via the internet 60 using the cached IP address.

Thanks to the mobile payment system 10, customers with a prepaid account and a mobile phone with the "mobile payment" application installed can easily and securely make purchases, i.e., transfer money from one prepaid account to another, anytime and anywhere. The system centrally manages the verification of sufficient funds in the prepaid accounts and provides immediate confirmation of whether a transfer has been successful or not.

Optionally, a so-called mobile payment system frontend (not shown) can be provided on the internet (60), which logs the transaction for each PAN (Personal Account Number) for a specific period. However, this task can also be performed by the prepaid account management device (20). Access to this log can be secured by a PIN, allowing each customer to protect their PAN's account activity from unauthorized access. It is not necessary to personalize the PAN, i.e., to store a name and address. If, for example, the prepaid account management device (20) detects that the annual transaction volume permitted under the money laundering laws of the country where the linked mobile phone number is registered in the mobile network's Home Location Register has been exceeded, the customer receives a corresponding notification on their mobile phone and, if applicable, online, requesting that they personalize their PAN. If the PAN is not personalized, the customer is blocked from the mobile payment service.

In professional retail outlets, as the figure shows, communication between customer B and the prepaid account management device 20 can preferably take place via an internet connection.

With the mobile payment system 10, not only private sales but also areas such as taxi fares or kiosk sales can be opened up extremely easily and securely for cashless sales.

The prepaid accounts of customers A and B, managed in the Prepaid Account Management Device 20, can be topped up, for example, by bank transfers or direct debits from a current account, by credit card charges, by billing on the telecommunications service invoice, or by other conventional money transfer methods. The system also supports the merging of balances from multiple PANs into a single PAN.

Thanks to the mobile payment system 10 according to the invention, in contrast to classic bank transfers, which take at least one working day, the credit or debit information is available immediately. This ensures that the process is comparable to conventional cash payments.

Since the "mobile payment" application is provided by the mobile network operator via its over-the-air server Since the data is specifically transferred to the customer's mobile phone and stored in the secure area of the UICC card, a high security standard is guaranteed. Furthermore, the Prepaid Account Management Device 20 can generate a monthly overview for a commercial seller of their paid transaction fees, including the VAT.

Claims (11)

A method for the controlled transfer of a sum of money from a payer's prepaid account to a payee's account, comprising the following steps: a) generating, on a communication terminal (40, 70) of the payee, a data record containing a money request, a payer's identification code, and a payee's identification code; b) transmitting the data record from the communication terminal (40, 70) to an account management unit (20) in which at least the payer's prepaid account is stored; c) forwarding, by referencing the payer's identification code, at least part of the data record from the account management unit via a mobile network (55) to a mobile terminal (30) of the payer; d) transmitting an acceptance message from the mobile terminal (30) via the mobile network (55) to the account management unit (20); e) checking whether a sufficient sum of money is available in the prepaid account; f) Taxes, upon responding to the acceptance message and, if a sufficient amount of money is available, the transfer of a sum of money from the payer's prepaid account to the payee's account; and g) transmitting a transfer confirmation message from the account management unit (20) to the payee's communication terminal (40, 70) and/or to the payer's mobile terminal (30), characterized in that the payer's identification code is transmitted from the mobile terminal (30) to the communication terminal (40, 70) using a short-range wireless communication protocol. Procedure according to Claim 1 , characterized in that the account management unit (20) and the communication terminal (40, 70) of the payee communicate via an IP-based communication network (60), the mobile network (55) or another mobile network (50). Procedure according to Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the payee's account is a prepaid account which is stored in the account management facility (20). Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the communication terminal is a mobile terminal (40). Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the payer's identification code is the mobile phone number of his mobile terminal equipment and the payee's identification code is the telephone number of his communication terminal equipment. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the data record contains information on a purchase offer and the money request corresponds to the purchase price, and that the purchase offer is displayed on the mobile terminal device (30) by responding to the received data record. Procedure according to Claim 6 , characterized in that the communication terminal device (40, 70) requests the information on the purchase offer from a database. Payment system, in particular for carrying out a method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising a prepaid account management device (20), a mobile terminal device (30) of a first customer and a communication terminal device (50, 70) of a second customer, wherein the prepaid account management device (20) comprises a storage device (21, 22) in which a prepaid account of at least the first and second customer is stored, a radio interface (23) for wireless communication with the mobile terminal device (30) of the first customer, a communication interface (24, 25) for communication with the communication terminal device (50, 70) of the second customer, a device for at least partially forwarding a data record coming from the communication terminal device via a mobile network to the mobile terminal device (30) of the first customer, wherein the data record contains a payment request, an identification code of the first customer and an identification code of the second customer, a verification device (26) for checking the prepaid account balances of the first and second customers, and a programmable control device (26) for Taxes, responding to an acceptance message received from the mobile terminal equipment (30), include the transfer of a sum of money from the prepaid account of the first customer to the prepaid account of the second customer, and wherein the mobile The terminal equipment (30) and the communication terminal (40, 70) are configured to transmit the first customer's identification code from the mobile terminal equipment (30) to the communication terminal (40, 70) using a short-range wireless communication protocol. Payment system according to Claim 8 , characterized in that the storage device (21, 22) of the prepaid account management device comprises several interconnected databases. Payment system according to Claim 8 or 9 , characterized in that the prepaid account management device has a device for generating and transmitting a transfer confirmation message to the communication terminal (40, 70) of the second customer and/or to the mobile terminal (30) of the first customer. Payment system according to one of the Claims 8 until 10 , characterized in that the communication interface of the prepaid account management device is a radio interface (24) and the communication terminal is a mobile terminal (40).