Method and system for billing and content delivery

• US 20060253350A1
• Filed: 03/05/2004
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke KPN NV
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke KPN NV
• Inventors: Falkenhain, Frank, Thierbach, Heiko
• Application Number:
  US10/546,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253350A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/82 Criteria or parameters used for performing billing operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/854 Available credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/78 Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/8166 Available credit

Abstract

Method and system for event-based billing and content delivery for event-based premium content requested from a terminal (100) by a terminal user delivered via a portal (200). It can be determined whether or not the content is already delivered but deliverable again based on the existence of a digital ticket and/or other criteria. A credit check can be speed up by checking a credit threshold variable outside the billing system.

Claims

1. Method for billing and content delivery for a content requested by a terminal (100) of a terminal user to a portal (200), the method comprising the steps of

receiving a request for content by a processor (2001) in the portal (200),

determining (1) by the processor (2001) in the portal (200) whether or not the content is already delivered to the terminal (100) but is deliverable again based (11) on the existence of a digital ticket stored in a memory (2002) in the portal (200), the digital ticket indicating a digital proof of payment of the content;

if the content is not already delivered or not is deliverable again,

fetching a credit-information data of the terminal user from a credit-information storage (400) arranged to communicate with the portal (200), the credit-information storage (400) located separately from a billing system (300), the billing system (300) being arranged to communicate with the portal (200), and verifying (2) the credit-information data by the processor (2001) in the portal (200);

validating (3) the request for content by the processor (2001) in the portal (200);

delivering (4) the content from the portal (200) to the terminal (100) via a network;

billing (5) the content;

if the content is already delivered but is deliverable again,

delivering (4) the content from the portal (200) to the terminal (100) via the network.

2. Method according to claim 1 in which the determining (1) whether or not the content is already delivered but is deliverable again is based on whether or not a time-out is reached (12), which is determined by the processor (2001) by reading a time-out value from the memory (2002) in the portal (200).

3. Method according to claim 2 in which the method further comprises the step of

deleting the digital ticket from the memory (2002) by the processor (2001) if the time-out is reached.

4. Method according to claim 3 in which the determining (1) whether or not the content is already delivered but is deliverable again is based on whether or not a predefined number of downloads is reached (13), which is determined by the processor (2001) by reading a number-of-downloads value from the memory (2002) in the portal (200).

5. Method according to claim 4 in which the method further comprises the step of

deleting the digital ticket from the memory (2002) by the processor (2001) if the predefined number of downloads is reached.

6. Method according to claim 1 in which the verifying (2) of the credit-information data comprises the steps of

extracting (21) from the credit-information data a credit threshold variable by the processor (2001);

checking (22) if the credit threshold variable is at a predetermined value by the processor (2001);

if the credit threshold variable is at the predetermined value,

requesting (23) a billing credit check by fetching a billing credit-information data of the terminal user from the billing system (300) connected to the portal (200);

verifying (24) by the processor (2001) if the billing credit of the terminal user is at a predetermined minimum level, stopping (6) the billing and content delivery if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level.

7. Method according to claim 1 in which the validating (3) of the request for content comprises the steps of

retrieving (31) in the portal (200) information about the content from an information database (500) connected to the portal (200), the information comprising a price for the content;

sending (32) an acceptation page from the portal (200) to the terminal (100) via the network, the acceptation page comprising the price for the content, the acceptation page also comprising means for returning an acceptation statement for the price of the content;

retrieving (33) in the portal (200) the acceptation statement from the terminal (100);

checking (34) in the portal the acceptation statement, stopping (6) the billing and content delivery if the acceptation statement is negative or invalid;

creating (35) the digital ticket in the memory (2002) by the processor (2001) if the acceptation statement is positive and valid.

8. Method according to claim 7 in which the acceptation statement includes a pin code.

9. Method according to claim 1 in which the delivering (4) of the content to the terminal (100) comprises the steps of

retrieving (41) in the portal (200) the content from a content provider (600) connected to the portal (200);

sending (43) the content from the portal (200) to the terminal (100) via the network.

10. Method according to claim 9 in which the delivering (4) of the content to the terminal (100) further comprises the step of

checking (42) by the processor (2001) whether or not the content is retrieved intact in the portal (200) from the content provider (600), stopping (6) the billing and content delivery if the content is not retrieved intact from the content provider (600).

11. Method according to claim 10 in which the delivering (4) of the content to the terminal further comprises the step of

changing the number-of-downloads variable in the memory (2002) by the processor (2001).

12. Method according to claim 6 in which the billing (5) of the content comprises the steps of

sending (51) a billing data to the billing system (300);

checking (52) whether or not the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level;

setting (53) in the credit-information storage (400) by the processor (2001) the credit threshold variable to the predetermined value if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level;

finishing (7) the billing and content delivery if the billing credit of the terminal user is not at the predetermined minimum level.

13. Portal for billing and content delivery for a content requested by a terminal (100) of a terminal user, the portal (200) being arranged to communicate with

the terminal (100),

a content provider (600) comprising said content,

a billing system (300),

a credit-information storage (400) located separately from said billing system (300), the credit-information storage (400) comprising credit-information, and

an information database (500) comprising information related to the content,

the portal (200) comprising

a processor (2001) for executing programs which are functional for the portal (200),

a memory (2002) connected to the processor (2001) for storing the executable programs and for storing variables, and

a network connection (2003), controllable by the processor (2001), for sending the content to the terminal (100),

whereby the processor (2001) is arranged to determine the existence of a digital ticket stored in the memory (2002) in the portal (200), the digital ticket indicating a digital proof of payment of the content;

the processor (2001) is arranged to fetch a credit-information data of the terminal user from the credit-information storage (400) and verify the credit-information data;

the processor (2001) is arranged to validate the request for content;

the portal (200) is arranged to deliver the content to the terminal (100);

the portal (200) is arranged to bill the content.

14. Portal according to claim 13 in which the portal (200) comprises a front-end part (201) and a back-end part (202), the front-end part (201) being connected to

the terminal (100) and

the content provider (600),

the back-end part (202) being connected to

the billing system (300),

the credit-information storage (400) and

the information database (500).

15. Portal according to claim 14 in which the processor (2001) is arranged to determine whether or not the content is already delivered but deliverable again based on whether or not a time-out is reached by reading a time-out value from the memory (2002).

16. Portal according to claim 15 in which the processor (2001) is arranged to delete the digital ticket from the memory (2002) if the time-out is reached.

17. Portal according to claim 16 in which the processor (2001) is arranged to determine whether or not the content is already delivered but deliverable again based on whether or not a predefined number of downloads is reached by reading a number-of-downloads value from the memory (2002).

18. Portal according to claim 17 in which the processor (2001) is arranged to delete the digital ticket from the memory (2002) if the predefined number of downloads is reached.

19. Portal according to claim 15 in which

the processor (2001) is arranged to extract from the credit-information data a credit threshold variable;

the processor (2001) is arranged to check if the credit threshold variable is at a predetermined value;

the processor (2001) is arranged to request a billing credit check by fetching a billing credit check data of the terminal user from the billing system (300);

the processor (2001) is arranged to verify if the billing credit of the terminal user is at a predetermined minimum level, and to stop the billing and content delivery if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level.

20. Portal according to claim 15 in which

the portal (200) is arranged to retrieve information about the content from the information database (500), the information comprising a price for the content;

the portal (200) being arranged to send an acceptation page to the terminal (100) via the network connection (2003), the acceptation page comprising the price for the content, the acceptation page also comprising means for returning an acceptation statement for the price of the content;

the portal (200) being arranged to retrieve the acceptation statement from the terminal (100);

the portal (200) being arranged to check the acceptation statement, and to stop the billing and content delivery if the acceptation statement is negative or invalid;

the processor (200) being arranged to create the digital ticket in the memory (2002) if the acceptation statement is positive and valid.

21. Portal according to claim 20 in which the acceptation statement includes a pin code.

22. Portal according to claim 15 in which

the portal (200) is arranged to retrieve the content from the content provider (600);

the portal (200) is arranged to send the content to the terminal (100) via the network connection (2003).

23. Portal according to claim 22 in which

the processor (2001) is arranged to check whether or not the content is retrieved correctly from the content provider (600), and to stop the billing and content delivery if the content is not retrieved correctly from the content provider (600).

24. Portal according to claim 23 in which the processor (2001) is arranged to change the number-of-downloads variable in the memory (2002).

25. Portal according to claim 21 in which

the processor (2001) is arranged to set in the credit-information storage (400) the credit threshold variable to the predetermined value if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level;

the portal (200) is arranged to finish the billing and content delivery if the billing credit of the terminal (100) is not at the predetermined minimum level.

26. System for billing and content delivery for a content requested by a terminal (100) of a terminal user, the system comprising a portal (200) and a credit-information storage (400), the portal (200) being arranged to communicate with

the terminal (100),

a content provider (600) comprising said content,

a billing system (300),

the credit-information storage (400) located separately from said billing system (300), the credit-information storage (400) comprising credit-information, and

an information database (500) comprising information related to the content,

the portal (200) comprising

a processor (2001) for executing programs which are functional for the portal (200),

a memory (2002) connected to the processor (2001) for storing the executable programs and for storing variables, and

a network connection (2003), controllable by the processor (2001), for sending the content to the terminal (100),

whereby the processor (2001) is arranged to determine the existence of a digital ticket stored in the memory (2002) in the portal (200), the digital ticket indicating a digital proof of payment of the content;

the processor (2001) is arranged to fetch a credit-information data of the terminal user from the credit-information storage (400) and verify the credit-information data;

the processor (2001) is arranged to validate the request for content;

the portal (200) is arranged to deliver the content to the terminal (100);

the portal (200) is arranged to bill the content.

27. Billing system arranged to communicate with a portal for billing and content delivery for a content requested by a terminal (100) of a terminal user, the portal (200) being arranged to communicate with

the terminal (100),

a content provider (600) comprising said content,

a credit-information storage (400) located separately from said billing system (300), the credit-information storage (400) comprising credit-information, and

an information database (500) comprising information related to the content,

the portal (200) comprising

a processor (2001) for executing programs which are functional for the portal (200),

a memory (2002) connected to the processor (2001) for storing the executable programs and for storing variables, and

a network connection (2003), controllable by the processor (2001), for sending the content to the terminal (100),

whereby the processor (2001) is arranged to determine the existence of a digital ticket stored in the memory (2002) in the portal (200), the digital ticket indicating a digital proof of payment of the content;

the processor (2001) is arranged to fetch a credit-information data of the terminal user from the credit-information storage (400) and verify the credit-information data;

the processor (2001) is arranged to validate the request for content;

the portal (200) is arranged to deliver the content to the terminal (100);

the portal (200) is arranged to bill the content.

28. Software for billing and content delivery for a content requested by a terminal (100) of a terminal user, the software running in a portal (200) being arranged to communicate with

the terminal (100),

a content provider (600) comprising said content,

a billing system (300),

a credit-information storage (400) located separately from said billing system (300), the credit-information storage (400) comprising credit-information, and

an information database (500) comprising information related to the content,

the portal (200) comprising

a processor (2001) for executing the software,

a memory (2002) connected to the processor (2001) for storing the software and for storing variables, and

a network connection (2003), controllable by the processor (2001), for sending the content to the terminal (100),

whereby the processor (2001) is arranged to determine the existence of a digital ticket stored in the memory (2002) in the portal (200), the digital ticket indicating a digital proof of payment of the content;

the processor (2001) is arranged to fetch a credit-information data of the terminal user from the credit-information storage (400) and verify the credit-information data;

the processor (2001) is arranged to validate the request for content;

the portal (200) is arranged to deliver the content to the terminal (100);

the portal (200) is arranged to bill the content.