Method and apparatus for ordering goods, services and content over an internetwork

• US 7,669,762 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2005
• Issued: 03/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SertintyONE Corp.
• Original Assignee: eCharge Corporation
• Inventors: Huang, Jun, Dominguez, Roberto, Hagman, Darren W., Begg, Iain M., Linkletter, P. Carl, Heinrichs, Denis N., Fleming, George A., Maydaniuk, Michael T. G., Hutchison, Robin B.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US11/266,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/14, 235/379, 235/383, 709/219, 709/223
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1421 Indication of expected costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1439 time-based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1446 inter-operator billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1453 Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1457 using an account
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1471 : splitting of costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1482 : involving use of telephony infrastructure for billing for the transport of data, e.g. call detail record [CDR] or intelligent network infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 : wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 : for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• 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 15/68 : Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8207 : Time based data metric aspects, e.g. VoIP or circuit switched packet data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0176 : Billing arrangements using internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0196 : Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 : Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7813 : Time based data, e.g. VoIP or circuit switched packet data

Abstract

A billing system that allows a consumer to order products from computers connected to the Internet, wherein the consumer is automatically billed for the ordered good or service by its telephone service provider. When a consumer orders a product over the Internet, a plug-in component of the consumer'"'"'s computer establishes an Internet connection to a billing server. A billing server component transfers an encrypted version of the product to the plug-in component. The plug-in component then disconnects from the Internet and establishes a point-to-point (PPP) connection with the billing server. During the PPP connection, the billing server component transfers an access key assigned to the order to the plug-in component so that the plug-in component may decrypt the product. The consumer is charged a unit rate or “drop-charge” for the product by the telephone service provider when the PPP connection is established using a premium-rate telephone number assigned and administered by the telephone service provider.

Claims

1. An apparatus for ordering a product via an internetwork formed by a plurality of computers and servers, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a consumer'"'"'s computer comprising a network interface for connecting to the internetwork, a processing unit coupled to the network interface, and a storage medium coupled to the processing unit, the storage medium containing program code executed by the processing unit for placing an order for the product by sequentially;

(i) establishing a connection to a billing server via an internetwork communication link;

(ii) transferring the order to the billing server via the internetwork communication link;

(iii) terminating the connection to the billing server via the internetwork communication link after a transaction identifier has been received from the billing server;

(iv) establishing a connection to the billing server via a premium-rate telephone communication link; and

(v) transferring the transaction identifier back to the billing server via the premium-rate telephone communication link; and

(b) a billing server comprising a network interface for connecting to the internetwork, a processing unit coupled to the network interface, and a storage medium coupled to the processing unit, the storage medium containing program code executed by the processing unit for processing the order for the product placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by transferring the transaction identifier to the consumer'"'"'s computer via the internetwork communication link, which identifies the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code executed by the processing unit of the billing server further processes the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by transferring an access key assigned to the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer after the billing server receives the transaction identification identifying the order placed from the consumer'"'"'s computer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the program code executed by the processing unit of the billing server further processes the order for the product placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by transferring an encrypted version of the product to the consumer'"'"'s computer via the internetwork communication link before the consumer'"'"'s computer terminates the connection to the billing server via the internetwork communication link.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the program code executed by the processing unit of the consumer'"'"'s computer further places the order by decrypting the encrypted version of the product using the access key transferred to the consumer'"'"'s computer by the billing server via the premium-rate telephone communication link.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the program code executed by the processing unit of the billing server further processes the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by terminating the connection between the consumer'"'"'s computer and the billing server via the premium-rate telephone communication link before the access key is transferred to the consumer'"'"'s computer if orders placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer are to be denied.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the consumer is automatically billed for the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by the premium communication service provider of the premium-rate telephone communication link.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the consumer'"'"'s computer dials a 900 telephone number to establish the premium-rate telephone communication link.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code executed by the processing unit of the billing server further processes the order placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer by terminating the connection between the computer and the server via the internetwork communication link before the transaction identification is transferred to the consumer'"'"'s computer if orders placed by the consumer'"'"'s computer are to be denied.