WO2003105031A1

WO2003105031A1 - A method and system of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services

Info

Publication number: WO2003105031A1
Application number: PCT/AU2003/000720
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hans Pandeya
Original assignee: Interline Networks Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2002-06-07
Filing date: 2003-06-10
Publication date: 2003-12-18

Abstract

A system for obtaining payment from a buyer in exchange for goods and/or services. The system includes receiving means for receiving a telephone call from a buyer in the form of voice over IP (VOIP) gateway (12). Determining means for determining the sale price, debiting means for debiting the telephony account of the buyer and crediting means for crediting a financial account of the seller are all embodied in software in server (14).

Description

TITLE: A METHOD AND SYSTEM OF TRANSFERRING PAYMENT

FROM A BUYER TO A SELLER IN EXCHANGE FOR GOODS OR SERVICES FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and system of transferring payment and in particular to a method and system of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services.

The invention has been developed primarily for facilitating internet based sales of goods and/or services and will be described hereinafter with reference to that application. However, the invention is not limited to that particular field of use and is suitable for facilitating the sale of goods and/or services through other trade channels. BACKGROUND

Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.

Payment for goods and/or services is routinely obtained from a buyer by them handing over cash to a seller. Sometimes, the buyer does not have sufficient cash to hand, or is located remotely from the seller so cash cannot be handed over. More recently, electronic transactions have enabled payment to be made by using, for instance, a credit card or other bankcard. Such transactions make use of computer systems operated by banking organisations. It is necessary for the buyer to have an existing financial account to make these transactions and transaction fees usually apply.

Particularly for on-line transactions, there is still considerable unease by consumers to providing credit card details due to security concerns.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', 'include', 'including' and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to". SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services including the steps of the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number; determining the sale price of the goods or services; debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price; allowing the buyer to access the goods or services.

In the above method, the buyer does not need to have established a financial banking account. Payment is deducted from their existing telephony account.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of providing the buyer with a password; the buyer presents the password to the seller; the presented password is subjected to a validation check; and the buyer is given access to the goods or services only if the validation check is successful. This provides a convenient mechanism for the buyer to access the goods or services some time after they have made payment.

Preferably, the buyer places the telephone call using an electronic messaging enabled telephony device; and the password is provided to the buyer in an electronic message sent to the telephony device. In this way, the buyer does not have to write down their password.

Preferably, the telephony device is a mobile telephone and the electronic message is an SMS message. Preferably, the telephone number identifying the buyer's telephony device is obtained from caller line identification information. This eliminates the need for the buyer to provide their telephone number manually and reduces the length of the telephone call needed.

Preferably, the buyer presents the password at a user interface displayed by a computing device.

Preferably, the services provided to the buyer are online services available over the internet.

Preferably, the particular telephone number is a premium rate telephone number. According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a system for transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services including receiving means for receiving a telephone call from a buyer; determining means for determining the sale price of the goods or services; debiting means for charging the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; crediting means for crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price; and allowing means for allowing the buyer to access the goods or services.

Preferably, the system further includes providing means for providing the buyer with a password; presenting means enabling the buyer to present the password to the seller; validation means for subjecting the presented password to a validation check; and the allowing means is configured to allow the buyer to access the goods or services only if the validation check is successful.

Preferably, the providing means is arranged to provide the password to the buyer in an electronic message sent to the telephony device.

Preferably, the electronic message is an SMS message.

Preferably, the system further includes obtaining means for obtaining the telephone number identifying the buyer's telephony device from caller line identification information, Preferably, the system further includes a user interface displayed by a computing device which is arranged to facilitate presentation of the password by the buyer.

Preferably, the particular telephone number is a premium rate telephone number. According to a third aspect the invention there is provided a computer program arranged to instruct a computer system to operate to implement a system in accordance with the second aspect of the invention.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a computer readable medium carrying a computer program according to the third aspect of the invention.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a method of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for the seller supplying the buyer with goods and/or services, the method including: nominating the goods and/or services; determining a sale price for the goods and/or services; being responsive to the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number for debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; and crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price.

Preferably, the seller hosts a web page containing data indicative of the goods and/or services and the buyer accesses the web page to nominate the goods and/or services. More preferably, the buyer uses a telephone having a predetermined telephone number to place the telephone call and, when accessing the web page, provides the predetermined telephone number to the seller. Even more preferably, the method includes the step of being responsive to the crediting of the financial account of the seller for supplying the goods and/or services to the buyer.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention there is provided a system of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for the seller supplying the buyer with goods and/or services, the system including: a buyer interface for allowing with buyer to nominate the goods and/or services and for determining a sale price for the goods and/or services; a telephone interface that is responsive to the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number for debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; and an account interface for crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price.

Preferably, the buyer interface is a web page hosted by the seller and which contains data indicative of the goods and/or services, whereby the buyer accesses the web page to nominate the goods and/or services. More preferably, the buyer uses a telephone having a predetermined telephone number to place the telephone call and, when accessing the web page, provides the predetermined telephone number to the seller. Even more preferably, the system is responsive to the account interface crediting of the financial account of the seller for supplying the goods and/or services to the buyer.

The term "mobile telephone" or "mobile phone" encompass a cellular telephone and other handheld or portable telephone transmitters, regardless of the transmission protocol being used or whether the telephone is incorporated into another device such as a PDA, laptop, or the like.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', 'include', 'including', and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic view of a system for obtaining payment from a buyer in exchange for goods or services according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of obtaining payment from a buyer in exchange for goods or services according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to Figure 1 there is illustrated a system for obtaining payment from a buyer in exchange for goods and/or services. The system includes receiving means for receiving a telephone call from a buyer in the form of voice over IP (VOP) gateway 12. Determining means for determining the sale price, debiting means for debiting the telephony account of the buyer and crediting means for crediting a financial account of the seller are all embodied in software in server 14.

A buyer 16 has a computing device in the form of personal computer 18 which is connected to the internet 20. The buyer has a mobile phone 22 which is used to dial in to mobile phone service centre 24 via base station antenna 26. The mobile phone service centre 26 can connect a telephone call through to VOIP gateway 12. In this embodiment, the buyer is desirous of accessing online services hosted on website server 28. The provider of these services makes a charge for accessing these services. It could, for instance, be a website providing financial information.

The system will now be described by reference to a method of operating the system and with reference to Figure 2.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the buyer 16 wishes to view a website on personal computer 18 at step 40. Information is displayed at the title page of the website infonning the buyer that if they wish to enter the site they must provide payment. The buyer is informed that payment can be made by dialling a particular premium rate telephone number with a mobile telephone and this number is provided to the buyer.

At step 42 the buyer dials the premium rate telephone number. The call is routed to VOIP gateway 12 which obtains the telephone number of the buyer from caller line identification information. Details of the received call, including the number dialled by the buyer and the telephone number of the buyer, are passed to server 14 which is in communication with VOIP gateway via TCP/IP protocol.

The telephone number dialled by the user is of the type known as a "premium rate" telephone number. When dialled, these numbers attract charges different from the regular charges levied by the telephone service provider. Such numbers may attract a one off charge or be charged on a time basis. The one off charge pricing scheme is best suited to operating this method and system.

At step 44 computer server 14 determines the sale price for accessing the website. To do this, it looks up a table of telephone numbers. The particular telephone number which the buyer was instructed to ring attracts a particular charge from their telephony service provider and corresponds with a particular sale price.

The telephony account of the buyer is then debited by that amount and a financial account of the seller is credited with this amount. The telephony account may be credited with an amount in excess of the amount transferred to the seller. This means that the telephony service provider earns a commission on the transaction.

Server 14 creates an SMS message containing a password. The SMS message is sent at step 46 to the telephone number of the buyer that was obtained from caller identification information. The password contained in the SMS message can be obtained in either of two ways. The operator of the website server 28 may provide the operator of server 14 with a group of passwords. Alternatively, server 14 may create a password and either forward it to website server 28 or store it locally.

After receiving the password, the buyer presents the password at the website to which they desire access at step 48. The presented password is sent to server 14 for validation. Server 14 holds a list of valid passwords. These are passwords that have been previously provided by server and have not yet expired. The presented password is compared to the valid passwords. If the presented password matches a valid password then the validation check is successful and the server sends an instruction to allow the buyer access to the website at step 52. If the validation check is not successful then server 14 sends an instruction to this effect and allows the buyer to try to validate their password again.

After password validation a cookie is set on the buyers personal computer. The website 28 can only be accessed if this cookie is present.

The step of sending the password to the buyer may be carried out by instructions in software associated with the website 28 which the buyer is desirous to view. The seller may pre-arrange a group of passwords with the operator of server 14 and perform their own validation check. Similarly, a computer system of the seller may carry out other functions that are described above as being performed by server 14.

In an alternative embodiment, the buyer makes a telephone call to the particular telephone number using a traditional telephone with no electronic messaging function. The buyer is provided with a password by listening to an

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The buyer may then present the password in the manner described above.

A further alternative embodiment of the invention is useful where the goods or services are to be delivered to the buyer by email. The user selects the goods or services they wish to receive, which may for instance be a financial report, by clicking on a link displayed on a web site. The user is then presented with information indicating the price of the item. The user is prompted to enter the email address to which they want the goods or services to be delivered. Following entry of the email address, the user is presented with a password and a telephone number. They are instructed to dial the telephone number and enter the password by following prompts issued by an IVR system.

The telephone number they are given is a premium rate telephone number. The number they are given corresponds to a cost price of the goods or services they wish to obtain. The IVR system looks up the password provided by the buyer in a database to retrieve the corresponding email address. An email message is then produced containing the financial report and addressed to the email address that was provided by the buyer.

The financial account of the seller is credited in the same manner as in the previously described embodiment.

As well as having application to website access, and paying to receive information by email, the invention has application to direct transfer of files between networked computers, including computers connected to the internet. In other embodiments, the buyer, upon nominating the goods and/or services on the website, provides to the buyer, via that same website, the unique pre-assigned telephone number of the telephone that is to be used to dial the premium rate number supplied by the seller. This telephone number is entered in a field on the web page by the buyer and is delivered to the seller. Once that telephone is used to dial the premium rate number the VOIP obtains the pre-assigned number via CLID, and the relevant financial transactions are completed. A voice message is delivered to the buyer, while on that call, to confirm that the payments have or have not been authorized. Once authorization has been obtained, the buyer is able to access the website and once again enter the telephone number, albeit in a different field, such that they are served with the information or other services for which payment has been made.

It will be appreciated that the invention has application beyond the particular embodiments described herein. The invention may be used to transfer payment in exchange for other services and may be used in respect of goods. Where goods are concerned, the buyer will need to provide a delivery address.

It will be appreciated that the method and system of the invention may be implemented in software running on a suitably configured computing system.

Finally, it is to be appreciated that various alterations or additions may be made to the parts previously described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the present invention.

Claims

CLABVIS

1. A method of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services including the steps of: the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number; determining the sale price of the goods or services; debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price; allowing the buyer to access the goods or services.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein goods and services are exchanged.

3. A method according to claim 1 further including the steps of: providing the buyer with a password; the buyer presents the password to the seller; the presented password is subjected to a validation check; and the buyer is given access to the goods or services only if the validation check is successful.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the buyer places the telephone call using an electronic messaging enabled telephony device and the password is provided to the buyer in an electronic message sent to the telephony device.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the telephony device is a mobile telephone and the electronic message is an SMS message.

6. A method according to either claim 3 or claim 4 wherein the telephone number identifying the buyer's telephony device is obtained from caller line identification information.

7. A method according to any of claims 2 to 6 wherein the buyer presents the password at a user interface displayed by a computing device.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the services provided to the buyer are online services available over the internet.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the particular telephone number is a premium rate telephone number.

10. A system for transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for goods or services, the system including: receiving means for receiving a telephone call from a buyer; determining means for determining the sale price of the goods or services; debiting means for charging the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; crediting means for crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price; and allowing means for allowing the buyer to access the goods or services.

11. A system according to claim 10 further including: providing means for providing the buyer with a password; presenting means enabling the buyer to present the password to the seller; validating means for subjecting the presented password to a validation check; and the allowing means is configured to allow the buyer to access the goods or services only if the validation check is successful.

12. A system according to claim 11 wherein the providing means is arranged to provide the password to the buyer in an electronic message sent to the telephony device.

13. A system according to claim 12 wherein the electronic message is an SMS message.

14. A system according to either claim 12 or claim 13 further including obtaining means for obtaining the telephone number identifying the buyer's telephony device from caller line identification information.

15. A system according to any one of claims 12 to 14 further including a user interface displayed by a computing device which is arranged to facilitate presentation of the password by the buyer.

16. A system according to any of claims 10 to 15 wherein the particular telephone number is a premium rate telephone number.

17. A system according to claim 10 wherein goods and services are exchanged.

18. A method of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for the seller supplying the buyer with goods and/or services, the method including: nominating the goods and/or services; determining a sale price for the goods and/or services; being responsive to the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number for debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; and crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price.

19. A method according to claim 18 where the seller hosts a web page containing data indicative of the goods and/or services and the buyer accesses the web page to nominate the goods and/or services.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein the buyer uses a telephone having a predetermined telephone number to place the telephone call and, when accessing the web page, provides the predetermined telephone number to the seller.

21. A method according to claim 18 including the step of being responsive to the crediting of the financial account of the seller for supplying the goods and/or services to the buyer.

22. A system of transferring payment from a buyer to a seller in exchange for the seller supplying the buyer with goods and/or services, the system including: a buyer interface for allowing with buyer to nominate the goods and/or services and for determining a sale price for the goods and/or services; a telephone interface that is responsive to the buyer placing a telephone call to a particular telephone number for debiting the telephony account of the buyer by an amount equal to or greater than the sale price; and an account interface for crediting a financial account of the seller with the sale price.

23. A system according to claim 22 wherein the buyer interface is a web page hosted by the seller and which contains data indicative of the goods and/or services, whereby the buyer accesses the web page to nominate the goods and/or services.

24. A system according to claim 23 wherein the buyer uses a telephone having a predetermined telephone number to place the telephone call and, when accessing the web page, provides the predetermined telephone number to the seller.

25. A system according to claim 22 that is responsive to the account interface crediting of the financial account of the seller for supplying the goods and/or services to the buyer.