Information home electric appliance

• US 7,467,099 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2001
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Access Company Limited, Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos Company Limited (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Access Company Limited, Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos Company Limited (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kamada, Tomihisa, Tanaka, Shun, Narukawa, Ryusuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith; Jeffrey A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESHPANDE, KALYAN K
• Application Number:
  US10/181,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20040015406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,892 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 27
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3823 combining multiple encryption tools for a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication

Abstract

By performing initial user registration via an SSL-compliant browser in an information home electric appliance 100, user'"'"'s private key, digital certificate, and member information are downloaded (b2) into the storage device in the information home electric appliance. At card use time, when the user selects products on a merchant'"'"'s SSL-compliant server and issues a purchase instruction (c1), the user is identified locally in the information home electric appliance based on a personal identification number. Subsequently, the information home electric appliance accesses an SSL-compliant settlement server 220 (C4) and sends a digital certificate and member information stored in the appliance. Then, mutual authentication is performed between the user and the settlement server and, based on the member information, an authorization gateway 241 authorizes the account settlement (c5). This allows even an information home electric appliance with a relatively small capacity memory device to conduct relatively secure transactions over the Internet using a credit card.

Claims

1. An information home electric appliance for electronic account settlement of products purchased via a credit card at a virtual store on a communication medium, said information home electric appliance having an Internet accessing capability, comprising:

storing means storing a browser for browsing documents described in a markup language;

a browser stored in said storing means, said browser being compliant with an encryption communication protocol; and

input means for causing a user to input characters,

wherein said browser comprises;

first and second computer readable codes for registering an initial user registration for shopping at a virtual store by a card member who is the user of the information home electric appliance,

said first computer readable code operating the information home electric appliance to communicate with a card issuer'"'"'s server, which is compliant with the encryption communication protocol, in response to an instruction from the user to receive web information defining a form from the server and to input with said form to the server a card number, personal information for identifying the card member, and password information for electronic account settlement decided by the card member, said password information also being stored in an area of a non-volatile storage device in said information home electric appliance, said area being accessible by said browser but inaccessible by the user;

said second computer readable code, receiving from the card issuer'"'"'s server, information for authenticating the card member in accordance with the encryption communication protocol and personal information on the card member and stores the received information into said non-volatile storage device in said information home electric appliance; and

third to seventh computer readable codes for purchasing products at the virtual store,

said third computer readable code operating the information home electric appliance to communicate with a site of the virtual store in response to an instruction from the user;

said fourth computer readable code requesting the user to input said password information for electronic account settlement and comparing the entered password information with password information stored in said non-volatile storage device to confirm that the user is the card member who requested the initial user registration via said information home electric appliance;

said fifth computer readable code sending order information to a server of the virtual store in response to an instruction from the user;

said sixth computer readable code accessing a settlement server of said card issuer via the Internet in response to an instruction from the server of the virtual store that received the order information; and

said seventh computer readable code authenticating the card member with the settlement server using the information for authenticating the card member and then sending the personal information stored in said non-volatile storage device to the settlement server.

2. The information home electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the information for authenticating the card member includes a private key in a public key cryptosystem and a digital certificate of the card member sent from the card issuer'"'"'s server and wherein said authentication of the card member with the settlement server is performed using the private key and the digital certificate of the card member.

3. The information home electric appliance according to any one of claim 1, wherein the personal information that said information home electric appliance receives from the card issuer'"'"'s server includes at least the card number and a card expiration date.

4. The information home electric appliance according to any one of claim 1, wherein said browser further comprises:

a computer readable code that receives secret information from the card issuer'"'"'s server during the initial user registration; and

a computer readable code that causes the user to input said secret information and said password information in response to an instruction from the server before receiving from the card issuer'"'"'s server the information for authenticating the card member in accordance with the encryption communication protocol and the personal information on the card member.

5. The information home electric appliance according to any one of claim 1, wherein said browser does not initially comprise said first to seventh computer readable codes but comprises an eighth computer readable code that downloads a computer program implementing said first to seventh computer readable codes.