DYNAMIC PAYMENT METHODS AND DEVICES

• US 20110145111A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Smith, Ola, Ljunggren, Andreas, Lind, Mikael, Lind, Helena
• Granted Patent: US 9,098,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods according to these exemplary embodiments provide techniques for facilitating the selection of a billing gateway (120, 504) by an end user device (10, 20, 30) when an end user (10, 20, 30) orders content for the end user device or another device as desired.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a billing gateway comprising:

transmitting, by an end user device, a message which includes at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with user introduced billing gateways;

receiving, at an end user device a list of billing gateways, wherein said list of billing gateways is based upon said at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with said user introduced billing gateways;

selecting one of said billing gateways from said list, and

transmitting, by said end user device, a message which identifies said selected one of said billing gateways from said list for use in completing transactions with said end user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by said end user device, content; and

receiving, at said end user device, a charging request associated with said requested content prior to said step of receiving a list of billing gateways.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, at said end user device, a message including redirection information to said selected said one of said billing gateways;

receiving, at said end user device, a contract associated with said requested content from said selected billing gateway;

receiving, at said end user device, a second message including information for redirecting message traffic to a content provider of said requested content;

requesting, by said end user device, at least one of said content and a receipt associated with said content; and

receiving, at said end user device, at least one of said content and said receipt.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said list of billing gateways includes operator billing gateways and domain name server resolved billing gateways.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by said end user device, payment alternatives.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by said end user device, a billing gateway for content to be received at another end user device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at a communication node associated with a service provider, said at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with user introduced billing gateways, and

selecting, by said communication node, billing gateways to include in said list based, at least in part, on said at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with user introduced billing gateways.

8. A device comprising:

a user agent for requesting content and transmitting end user choices based upon received messages;

a communications interface for transmitting and receiving messages associated with billing information associated with said requested content, including receipt of a list of billing gateways and transmission of selection of one of said billing gateways in said list;

a memory for storing information related to said billing information associated with said requested content; and

a processor in communication with said memory and said communications interface upon which said user agent operates, wherein said processor transmits, via said communications interface, a message which includes at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with user introduced billing gateways, wherein said list of billing gateways is based upon said at least one of user introduced billing gateways and information associated with said user introduced billing gateways.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein said user agent maintains at least one of:

an end user'"'"'s preferred list of billing gateways, operational metadata associated with payments and payment transactions, and information associated with a billing chain of trust.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein said list of billing gateways includes operator billing gateways and domain name server resolved billing gateways.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein said device is one of:

a mobile phone, a computer, and a set top box.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein said processor transmits, via said communication interface OA, a message which identifies a billing gateway for content to be received at another end user device.

13. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer or processor, performs the steps of:

storing information associated with at least one payment method which is available to an end user device, said information including said end user'"'"'s preferred list of billing gateways; and

transmitting said information to a merchant as one of a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) header and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein:

said step of storing further comprises storing said information in a memory device disposed within said end user device; and

said step of transmitting further comprises transmitting said information as said hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) header.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein:

said step of storing further comprises storing said information in a server, external to said end user device; and

said step of transmitting further comprises transmitting said information as said Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which points toward said server.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said step of transmitting is performed in response to:

receiving a trigger from said merchant to transmit said information.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said information includes metadata associated with payment transactions.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein said metadata includes at least one of currency conversion, contractual details, and pre-authorization details.