Short message service (SMS) e-commerce

• US 7,437,331 B1
• Filed: 08/02/2000
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vodafone Holding GmbH (Vodafone Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: Vodafone Holding GmbH (Vodafone Group PLC)
• Inventors: Rosenberger, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil; Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US10/048,855
• Time in Patent Office: 2,995 Days
• Field of Search: 705 30- 42, 705 75- 77
• US Class Current: 705/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3255 using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity

Abstract

A method for making a purchase of products or services via the Internet by a customer from a vendor includes transmitting, by the customer, a purchase request and mobile subscriber identification data representing the mobile subscriber identification number to the vendor via a mobile radio network. The vendor forwards the purchase request and the mobile subscriber identification data to a security device. A transaction number for the purchase present in the mobile radio network is then transmitted to the security device and the customer. The customer sends the transaction number it receives to the vendor and this transaction number received by the vendor is checked for validity. If the transaction number is valid, billing for the purchase is initiated.

Claims

1. A method for effecting a purchase requested by a customer from a vendor via the Internet and billing for the purchase, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting, by the customer, a purchase request and mobile subscriber identification data representing a mobile subscriber identification number of the customer to the vendor via a mobile radio network;

(b) forwarding, by the vendor, the mobile subscriber identification data to a security device;

(c) transmitting, by the security device, at least the mobile subscriber identification number related to the mobile subscriber identification data received from the vendor to the mobile radio network;

(d) in response to receiving the at least the mobile subscriber identification number from the security device, generating, by the mobile radio network, a transaction number for the purchase and transmitting the transaction number from the mobile radio network to the customer and the security device;

(e) forwarding, by the customer, the transaction number to the vendor;

(f) checking, by the security device or the vendor, whether the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer in said step (e) is valid by determining whether the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer matches the transaction number transmitted to the security device by the mobile radio network in said step (d); and

(g) initiating billing of the purchase if the transaction number checked in said step (f) is valid.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (a) of transmitting the purchase request and the mobile subscriber identification data to the vendor includes transmitting the purchase request and the mobile subscriber identification data using Wireless Application Protocol via the mobile radio network and the Internet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (a) of transmitting the purchase request and the mobile subscriber identification data to the vendor includes using a fixed network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile subscriber identification data includes the telephone number of the customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction number forwarded by the customer in said step (e) is determined to be valid in said step (f) if the transaction number transmitted by the mobile radio network in said step (c) and the transaction number forwarded by the customer in said step (e) are identical.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (a) of transmitting the mobile subscriber identification data includes transmitting the mobile subscriber identification data using the mobile radio network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said step (a) of transmitting the mobile subscriber identification data includes using one of a clip transmission for transmitting a caller ID and a Wireless Application Protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of transmitting a transaction number includes transmitting the transaction number to the customer using Short Message Service.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of forwarding, by the vendor, the transaction number that was forwarded to the vendor by the customer in said step (e) to the security device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of checking whether the customer is unblocked for making the purchase before said step (g) of initiating the billing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of checking whether the customer is unblocked is performed before said step of forwarding the transaction number to said security device and said step of forwarding the transaction number to said security device is performed if the customer is unblocked for making the purchase.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said step (f) of checking comprises comparing the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer in said step (e) to the transaction number forwarded to the security device by the mobile radio network in said step (c).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (f) of checking comprises comparing the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer in said step (e) to the transaction number forwarded to the security device by the mobile radio network in said step (c).

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction number is valid for a period of time, and if said step (f) of checking is performed after this time period the result of the step of checking is negative.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of checking whether the customer is unblocked for making the purchase before said step (g) of initiating the billing.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of checking whether the customer is unblocked is performed before said step (d) of transmitting the transaction number to the customer and said step (d) of transmitting the transaction number to the customer is performed if the customer is unblocked for making the purchase.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of checking, by said mobile radio network and a bank, a credit rating of the customer before said step (c).

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of checking, by said mobile radio network and a bank, a credit rating of the customer before said step (c).

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of billing the customer via a telephone bill of the customer, by an operator of the mobile radio network used during the purchase.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of billing the customer by the security device by transmitting an instruction for debiting an account of the customer at a bank and crediting an account of the vendor at the bank.

21. A vendor device for effecting a purchase by a customer from a vendor, the vendor device comprising:

means for receiving a purchase request and mobile subscriber identification data from a customer via a mobile radio network;

means for transmitting the mobile subscriber identification data and information describing the purchase request to a security device;

means for receiving a transaction number for the purchase from the security device;

means for receiving another transaction number for the purchase from the customer via the mobile radio network; and

means for transmitting instructions for effecting the purchase to the security device if the transaction number received from the security device matches the another transaction number received from the customer.

22. The vendor device of claim 21, further comprising means for receiving the results of a credit check and a customer unblocked check from the security device.

23. A system for effecting a purchase of a customer from a vendor via the Internet and billing for the purchase, the system comprising:

a security device;

a vendor device;

a customer device;

means for transmitting a purchase request and mobile subscriber identification data representing a mobile subscriber identification number of the customer from said customer device to said vendor device via a mobile radio network;

means for forwarding the purchase request and the mobile subscriber identification data from said vendor device to said security device;

means for transmitting, by the security device, at least the mobile subscriber identification number related to the mobile subscriber identification data received from the vendor to the mobile radio network;

means for generating a transaction number and transmitting the transaction number for the purchase from the mobile radio network to said customer device and said security device in response to receiving the at least the mobile subscriber identification number from the security device;

means for forwarding the transaction number from said customer device to said vendor device;

means for checking, by the security device, whether the transaction number forwarded to said vendor device by said customer device is valid by determining whether the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer matches the transaction number transmitted to the security device by the mobile radio network; and

means for initiating billing of the purchase at said security device if the transaction number forwarded to the vendor by the customer is valid.