Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
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TITLE:
System and method for electronic payment using separated timing and interface
FIELD
The present invention relates to an electronic payment system where one
individual
makes payment on behalf of another.
BACKGROUND
The present invention generally relates to an electronic settlement system and
a
method thereof, and more specifically, to an electronic settlement system and
a method
thereof capable of processing product information inquiry, order, and
settlement through
dualization, by performing a process of inquiring about and ordering
information of a
product to be purchased and a process of settling accounts of an ordered
product among E-
commerce processes, for at least separate time or in separate spaces.
In the past, a method of paying for and settling accounts of a product was
used while a
purchaser and a seller directly confronted each other during product
transactions.
However, as communication technology such as the Internet and terminal
technology have
been developed, various E-commerce services for paying for and settling
accounts of
products as inquiring about and ordering product information have been
provided with no
need for purchasers to confront sellers. Specially, in case of such an E-
commerce service,
a purchaser can use the service even without directly visiting a store or an
office of a seller
or without using a determined terminal(ATM in case of banking) in any place
where the
purchaser can connect to a network such as the Internet, thus there are no
restrictions on
space. Furthermore, as an automatic electronic coping system is introduced,
the service
can be used without the temporal limit. As a result, the E-commerce service
has been
developed and spread at high speed thanks to the economical advantages of
store
procurement and reduction in distribution cost. In addition, along with
development of
security aspects and speed of wireless Internet technology as well as mobile
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communication terminal technology including portable phones, a method of
providing
such a prior E-commerce service by interworking the E-commerce service with
mobile
connnunication terminals has been suggested and is currently developing fast.
The prior E-commerce service consists of inquiry, order, and settlement
processes of
product information. First, if a purchaser uses contents provided by an
affiliated store
system or inquires about and selects information on a marketing product to
order the
product while he or she is connected with the affiliated store system(seller)
through a
network, a process for settling accounts of the product is mainly carried out
on a screen of
the same apparatus in a continuous way. The settlement process is executed by
a
PG(Payment Gateway) interworking with the affiliated store system or a system
which
conducts a similar task, and more specifically, it is performed by an
electronic wallet
module of the system which conducts the similar task or the PG(Payment
Gateway)
installed in an APP or ActiveX type within a web server of the affiliated
store system. If
the purchaser inquires about product information and orders a product, the PG
interworking with the affiliated store system or the system that performs the
similar task,
and the electronic wallet module are driven to directly connect the purchaser
with the PG
or the system that performs the similar task, then settlement is conducted
after the
purchaser is authenticated by using an electronic certificate or another
authentication unit.
If the purchaser inputs a lot of settlement-related information such as credit
card, bank
account, and prepaid card data, the PG or the system that performs the similar
task
receives settlement information, and transmits or demands settlement
authentication-
related settlement information for the corresponding settlement to an
equivalent fmancial
institution such as a bank or a credit card company capable of being linked,
then receives
approval to send settlement results to a customer as approving the settlement
for the
affiliated store system.
At least order and settlement processes among product information inquiry,
order, and
settlement processes of the above E-commerce service are continuously handled,
and the
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processes are characteristic from a point of view that a subject for handling
the product
information inquiry, order, and settlement processes becomes the purchaser.
Even though
the affiliated store system provides a service of temporarily storing product
information
selected by the purchaser through a storage process such as a market basket,
it just
executes an operation of temporarily keeping the information for a procedure
of
continuously progressing product information inquiry, order, and settlement.
Therefore, in the prior E-commerce service, at least order and settlement
processes are
not fully separated from each other in terms of space and time and should be
continuously
performed, thus the prior service is hampered by restrictions that the
purchaser has to
directly handle most of product information inquiry, order, and settlement.
So, it is
impossible to lead various transformations of the service, which the purchaser
can only
pay for a product after entrusting product information inquiry and order to a
third party or
the purchaser can only pay for the product by using another apparatus of the
purchaser
later after the purchaser himself or herself inquires about product
information and orders
the product. In a concrete way, services capable of purchasing products or
services for
modem people who are busy are being recently popularized. However, in order
for a third
party(proxy) to purchase or pay for a product, the purchaser should offer
settlement
information such as a credit card number to the third party(proxy) owing to
restrictions on
the E-commerce service where the order and settlement processes are
continuously
performed as mentioned above. And, this produces a serious security problem.
Also, when
order and settlement processes cannot help being separated from each other by
time and
space like a product is paid at home after the purchaser inquires about
product information
and orders the product in an office or like a product ordered by a family
member is paid
through another apparatus at separate time or in separate space, the
settlement process
itself cannot be conducted apart from the order process. Consequently, it
causes the user's
inconvenience of conducting the order process again.
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SUMMARY
According there is provided An electronic payment system for conducting
account
settlement of products and services, by interworking with an online/offline
affiliated store
system that provides the products and the services. The system is used with a
fiust client
that inquires about product information which is information on the products
and the
services supplied by the affiliated store system and a second client that
receives the
product information from the affiliated store system to select and order a
product and a
service to be purchased and that settles accounts of the product and the
service to be
purchased. The electronic payment system includes a receiver for receiving
order
information which includes order numbers and the settlement accounts for the
product and
the service ordered by either the first client or the second client, from the
affiliated store
system. A first transmitter is provided for transmitting settlement request
information
which includes settlement accounts for the ordered product and service to the
second
client. A settlement processor is provided for settlement processing of the
settlement
accounts through a settlement unit selected by the second client by
interworking with the
second client. A second transmitter is provided for transmitting settlement
processing
results to the second client and the affiliated store system.
BRIEF DESCRII'TION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the
following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the
drawings are
for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit
the scope of the
invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a format diagram of a first embodiment of an E-commerce system
applied
with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a shopping mall database in
accordance
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
with the present invention;
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a settlement database in
accordance with
the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a format diagram of a second embodiment of an E-commerce system
applied
5 with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present
invention;
Fig. 5 is a format diagram of a third embodiment of an E-commerce system
applied
with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 6 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of an E-commerce process applied
with an
electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of an E-commerce process applied
with
an electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention; and
Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of an E-commerce process applied
with an
electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The preferred embodiment, an electronic payment system will now be described
with
reference to FIG. 1 through 8.
Electronic payrnentsystem in accordance with the present invention conducts
account
settlement of products and services by interworking with an online/offline
affiliated store
system that provides products and services, a first client that inquires about
product
information which is information on the products and services supplied by the
affiliated
store system, and a second client that receives the product information from
the affiliated
store system to select and order a product and a service to be purchased and
that settles
accounts of the product and the service to be purchased, comprising: a
receiver for
receiving order information which includes order numbers and settlement
accounts for the
product and the service ordered by the second client, from the affiliated
store system; a
first transmitter for transmitting settlement request information which
includes the
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settlement accounts for the ordered product and service to the second client;
a settlement
processor for settlement processing of the settlement accounts through a
settlement unit
selected by the second client by interworking with the second client; and a
second
transmitter for transmitting settlement processing results to the second
client and the
affiliated store system
In another embodiment of an electronic settlement system in accordance with
the
present invention, the electronic settlement system settles accounts of
products and
services by interworking with an online/offline affiliated store system that
provides
products and services, a first client group that inquires about product
information which is
information on the products and the services provided by the affiliated store
system and
that selects and orders a product and a service to be purchased, and a second
client that
receives settlement request information which includes settlement accounts for
the ordered
product and service and that processes the settlement accounts, comprising: a
receiver for
receiving order information which includes order numbers and settlement
accounts for the
product and the service ordered by the first client group, from the affiliated
store system; a
first transmitter for transmitting the settlement request information to the
second client; a
settlement processor for settlement processing of the settlement accounts
through a
settlement unit selected by the second client by interworking with the second
client; and a
second transmitter for transmitting settlement processing results to the
second client and
the affiliated store system.
Desirably, the first client group comprises a third client that inquires about
the product
information which is information on the product and the service supplied by
the affiliated
store system, and a fourth client that receives the product information from
the affiliated
store system to select and order a product and a service to be purchased. One
of credit card
settlement, transferring settlement, electronic cash, a prepaid card, e-mail
based
payment(ex, PayPal), cellular phone number based payment, and micro portable
phone
payment can be used as the settlement unit. The order information further
contains first
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access information which is an intrinsic value assigned to the second client
to access the
second client, and the settlement request information further contains second
access
information for making the second client access the electronic settlement
system. The first
transmitter transmits the settlement request information to the second client
by using the
first access information. One of a portable phone number, an apparatus number,
a chip
serial number, an ID assigned to identify the second client from the
affiliated store system,
an e-mail address, and a messenger ID can be used as the first access
information.
In an e-commerce system that includes an online/offline affiliated store
system that
provides products and services, a first client that inquires about product
information which
is information on the products and services supplied by the affiliated store
system, a
second client that receives the product information from the affiliated store
system to
select and order a product and a service to be purchased and that settles
accounts of the
product and the service to be purchased, and an electronic settlement system
for
conducting account settlement of the products and the services by interworking
with the
affiliated store system and the second client, an electronic settlement method
in
accordance with the present invention comprises the steps of: a product
information
inquiry step of the first client inquiring about the product information from
the affiliated
store system; a product information transmission step of transmitting the
product
information that the affiliated store system inquires about to the second
client; an order
step of the second client ordering a product and a service; and a settlement
step of the
electronic settlement system conducting account settlement by interworking
with the
second client; and wherein the settlement step comprises the steps of: a first
step of
receiving order information which includes order numbers and settlement
accounts of a
product and a service ordered by the second client, from the affiliated store
system; a
second step of transmitting settlement request information which includes
settlement
accounts for the ordered product and service to the second client; a third
step of
conducting settlement processing of the settlement accounts through a
settlement unit
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selected by the second client by interworking with the second client; and a
fourth step of
transmitting settlement processing results to the second client and the
affiliated store
system.
In addition, in an e-commerce system that includes an online/offline
affiliated store
system that provides products and services, a first client group that inquires
about product
information which is information on the products and the services supplied by
the
affiliated store system and that selects and orders a product and a service to
be purchased,
a second client that receives settlement request information which includes
settlement
accounts of the ordered product and service and that processes the settlement
accounts,
and an electronic settlement system that conducts processing of the settlement
accounts by
interworking with the affiliated store system and the second client, another
embodiment of
the electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention
comprises the
steps of: a product information inquiry step of the first client group
inquiring about the
product information from the affiliated store system; an order step of the
first client group
ordering the product and the service; and a settlement step of the electronic
settlement
system conducting account settlement by interworking with the second client;
and wherein
the settlement step comprises the steps of: a first step of receiving order
information which
includes an order number and settlement accounts of the product and the
service ordered
by the second client, from the affiliated store system; a second step of
transmitting the
settlement request information to the second client; a third step of
conducting settlement
processing of the settlement accounts through a settlement unit selected by
the second
client by interworking with the second client; and a fourth step of
transmitting settlement
processing results to the second client and the affiliated store system.
If communication is directly performed in various ways such as Bluetooth or
RF, and
NFC without using an Internet online system between an apparatus and an
apparatus or
between an apparatus and a bar code, the user himself or herself carries out
inquiry and
order under substantial circumstances between a person and a person, a
personal and an
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apparatus, and between an information delivery medium(ex, bar code, RFID) and
a
person. And, if the user's own apparatus is connected for settlement, the
apparatus
receives order information and conducts a settlement process, thereby
functioning as a
second client.
Desirably, the first client group is composed of a third client that inquires
about
product information which is information on the products and the services
supplied by the
affiliated store system, and a fourth client that receives the product
information from the
affiliated store system to select and order a product and a service to be
purchased.
Furthermore, the order information received in the first step further contains
first access
information which is an intrinsic value assigned to the second client to
access the second
client, and the settlement request information transmitted in the second step
further
contains second access information for accessing the electronic settlement
system. One of
a portable phone number, an apparatus number, a chip serial number, an ID
assigned to
identify the second client from the affiliated store system, an e-mail
address, and a
messenger ID can be used as the first access information. It is desirable that
the third step
consists of a 3-1 step of starting a new session for the second client which
is connected
through communication, a 3-2 step of conducting settlement processing of the
settlement
accounts with a settlement unit selected by the second client, and a 3-3 step
of terminating
the session for the second client. In this case, after the 3-1 step, it is
desirable to farther
comprise a 3-4 step of transmitting validity confirm request data that demands
to confirm
whether the order information is currently valid by including the order
number, to the
affiliated store system, and a 3-5 step of receiving validity confirm results
of the order
information from the affiliated store system, or to further comprise a 3-6
step of the
affiliated store system accessing an order information table of a shopping
mall database
where the order information is stored, and a 3-7 step of confirming validity
of the order
information by loading a valid flag value indicating whether each piece of the
order
information is currently valid, from the order information table by setting
the order
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
information to keys.
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with
reference to
the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are
shown.
5
Fig. 1 is a format diagram of a first embodiment of an e-commerce system
applied
with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present invention.
Also, Fig. 2
is a diagram illustrating a structure of a shopping mall database in
accordance with the
present invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a
settlement database
10 in accordance with the present invention. Fields which become keys of each
table are
marked in bold strokes and underlines in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. By referring to
Fig. 1 to Fig. 3,
configurations of the first embodiment of the e-commerce system in accordance
with the
present invention will be described as follows.
The first embodiment of the e-commerce system in accordance with the present
invention comprises an affiliated store system(30) that sells products and
services(hereinafter, commonly called `products'), a first client(10) that
inquires about
product information from the affiliated store system, a second client(20) that
selects and
orders a product to be purchased from the product information that the first
client inquires
about and that pays the product, an electronic settlement system(40) that
conducts
settlement processing of settlement accounts of the ordered product by
interworking with
the second client, and a financial institution system(50) that provides a
settlement unit to
the second client. In the first embodiment of the e-commerce system in
accordance with
the present invention, the first client(10) accesses the affiliated store
system(30) to inquire
about the product information, and the second client(20) selects the product
to be
purchased from the product information that the first client inquires about
and orders the
selected product as paying the ordered product. Accordingly, product
information inquiry,
order, and settlement processes among e-commerce processes are discontinuously
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handled, thereby individually handling product information inquiry and
order/settlement
by different subjects. It is also possible that the product information
inquiry and the
order/settlement can be separately carried out by the same subject.
The first client(10) is supplied with the product information from the
online/offline
affiliated store system(30), and inquires about the information. The product
information
includes a serial code(product code) provided/sold by the affiliated store
system(30),
names, a selling price, and detailed information. The detailed information
contains
detailed explanations like images of each product, features, and usage. The
product
information inquired about and selected by the first client(10) is transmitted
to the second
client(20), and at this time, the transmission of the product information is
carried out by
the first client or the affiliated store system(30). Besides, the first
client(10) provides first
access information for accessing the second client(20) that will order and pay
a product, to
the affiliated store system(30). The first access information is an intrinsic
value assigned
to the second client in order to access the second client, including a
portable phone
number of the second client, an apparatus number, a chip serial number, an
ID(login ID of
the affiliated store system) assigned to the second client from the affiliated
store system,
an e-mail address of the second client, and a messenger ID. In case the
affiliated store
system(30) is an online affiliated store system such as an Internet shopping
mall, a session
initiated by accessing of the first client is terminated when the first client
terminates
accessing to the affiliated store system after inquiring about the product
information and
inputting the first access information.
The second client(20) receives the product information inquired about by the
first
client(10), selects a product to be purchased through the received product
information, and
orders the product by accessing the affiliated store system(30). Likewise, the
second
client(20) settles accounts of the product by using a settlement unit provided
by the
financial institution system(50). The settlement unit can be used in various
types such as
credit card, transferring, electronic cash, prepaid card, e-mail based
payment(ex, PayPal),
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cellular phone number based payment, and micro portable phone payment types.
Order
and settlement processes of the second client(20) are executed by being
temporally and
spatially separated from a product information inquiry process of the first
client(10). That
is to say, in case the affiliated store system is an online affiliated store
system such as an
Internet shopping mall, a new session is initiated when the second client
accesses, then the
order and settlement processes are progressed. The first client(10) and the
second
client(20) are discriminated in Fig. 1 for just conceptual discrimination so
as to clearly
describe the present invention, thus it is also possible that the first client
and the second
client may be the same client on a substantial embodiment. Namely, it is
available that one
customer client accesses the affiliated store system(30) to inquire about
product
information and terminates the accessing to the affiliated store system, and
that the client
accesses the affiliated store system again to order and pay a product to be
purchased. In
this case, product information inquiry and order/settlement processes are
performed in
different sessions, and are carried out while being temporally or spatially
separated from
each other by the same subject.
The affiliated store system(30) sells products to the first client(10) and the
second
client(20), and embraces all of online/offline affiliated store systems. The
affiliated store
system(30) consists of a shopping mall server(3 1) which conducts various
processes for
selling products, and a shopping mall database(32) which stores data required
for selling
the products.
The shopping mall server(3 1) loads product information from the shopping mall
database(32) to provide the loaded information to the first client(10), and
receives first
access information of the second client from the first client to transmit
product
information inquired about and selected by the first client to the second
client. The product
information includes serial codes(product codes) of each product sold by the
affiliated
store system(30), names, a selling price, and detailed information. Also, when
the second
client(20) accesses to select and order a product, the shopping mall server(3
1) generates
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order information of the ordered product to transmit the generated information
to an
electronic settlement system(40), then demands settlement processing. The
order
information contains an order number, ID information of the affiliated store
system, the
first access information of the second client, a product code, and settlement
accounts. The
order number is an intrinsic value generated by the shopping mall server(3 1)
during
product ordering of the second client(20), being used for identifying the
corresponding
order and the order information. The settlement accounts are money that the
second client
has to pay, and are calculated by adding sale proceeds of the ordered product.
The shopping mall database(32) comprises a product information table for
storing data
required for product information, and an order information table for storing
data required
for order information. The product information table individually stores
product codes of
each product, names, a selling price, and detailed information, while an order
number, first
access information of the second client, a product code of an ordered product,
settlement
accounts, and a valid flag are stored in the order information table. The
valid flag is a
value indicating whether the order information is valid, showing whether an
order can be
validly processed, for instance, whether the corresponding order information
is maintained
without being cancelled by the second client or whether the stock of an
ordered product
exists or is obtainable.
The electronic settlement system(40) receives the order information from the
affiliated
store system(30), and processes settlement of product accounts by interworking
with the
second customer client(20). The electronic settlement system(40) comprises a
receiver(41)
for receiving the order information from the affiliated store system(30), a
first
transmitter(42) for transmitting settlement request information to the second
client(20), a
settlement processor(43) for processing the settlement of the product accounts
by
interworking with the second client, a second transmitter(44) for transmitting
settlement
processing results to the second client and the affiliated store system, and a
settlement
database(45) for storing data required for the settlement processing results
and the
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
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settlement request information.
The receiver(4 1) receives order information of a product ordered by the
second
client(20) from the affiliated store system(30). Like shown above, the order
information
contains an order number, ID information of the affiliated store system, first
access
information of the second client, a product code, and settlement accounts. The
received
order information is stored in the settlement database(45).
The first transmitter(42) transmits the settlement request information that
requests
settlement to the second client(20). The settlement request information is
transmitted by
using the first access information of the second client, and includes an ID
number of the
settlement request information, ID information of the affiliated store system,
settlement
accounts that the second client has to pay, and second access information for
accessing the
electronic settlement system. Values included in the order information are
used for the
settlement accounts and the ID information of the affiliated store system. The
second
access information is information for enabling the second client(20) to access
the
electronic settlement system(40), containing an IP address and a URL of the
electronic
settlement system. It is desirable that the second access information is
provided in a type
linked with the electronic settlement system. The settlement request
information can
further comprise product details which are lists of products ordered by the
second client.
The settlement processor(43) conducts settlement processing for the settlement
accounts by interworking with the second client(20). When the second
client(20) accesses
the electronic settlement system(40) through the second access information of
the
settlement request information, the settlement processor(43) receives
selection for a
settlement unit for processing the settlement accounts by interworking with
the second
client, and authenticates the second client through a used method among
various
authentication methods. The settlement unit embraces credit card,
transferring, electronic
cash, prepaid card, e-mail based payment(ex, PayPal), and micro portable phone
payment
types. Furthermore, the settlement processor(43) demands settlement to the
financial
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
institution system(50) which provides the selected settlement unit, and
completes the
settlement by receiving approval from the financial institution system. The
settlement
processor(43) stores results of the approval of the financial institution
system(50) in the
settlement database(45).
5 Meanwhile, it is desirable that the settlement processor(43) confirms
whether order
information on the corresponding settlement is valid before the second
client(20) accesses
to conduct the settlement. Validity confirmation of the order information is
executed when
the settlement processor(43) transmits validity confirm request data which
contains an
order number to the affiliated store system(30) and receives validity confirm
results from
10 the affiliated store system. Order information validity confirmation of the
affiliated store
system(30) is conducted by confirming a valid flag of the order information
table of the
shopping mall database(32). At this moment, if the order information is not
valid, the
settlement processor(43) terminates the settlement processing after
transmitting a message
indicative of invalidity of the order information to the second client. In the
meantime,
15 when the settlement processor(43) interworks by installing a separate
module in the
affiliated store system(30) such as an electronic wallet, the settlement
processor can
confirm validity of the order information by directly accessing the order
information table
of the shopping mall database of the affiliated store system to load a valid
flag.
The second transmitter(44) transmits the settlement processing results to the
second
client(20) and the affiliated store system(30). The settlement processing
results contain an
ID number of the settlement processing results, settlement accounts, and
approval results.
The settlement processing results transmitted to the second client(20) include
ID
information of the affiliated store system, while the settlement processing
results
transmitted to the affiliated store system(30) include an order number.
The settlement database(45) is composed of an order information table for
storing
order information, a settlement request information table for storing data
essential for
generation and transmission of the settlement request information, and a
settlement
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
16
processing result table for storing data necessary for generation and
transmission of the
settlement processing results. The order information table stores the order
information
received from the affiliated store system(30), and specifically, it stores an
order number,
ID information of the affiliated store system, first access information, a
product code, and
settlement accounts. The settlement request information table stores the data
required for
generation and transmission of the settlement request information, and
specifically, it
stores a settlement request information ID number, an order number, and second
access
information. The settlement request information table loads the affiliated
store system ID
information and the settlement accounts from the order information table to
include the
loaded information in the settlement request information, in reference to the
order
information table by setting the order number to a reference key, and loads
the first access
information so that the settlement request information is transmitted to the
second client.
Moreover, in case the settlement request information is included in product
details, the
product code can be loaded from the order information table and be included in
the
settlement request information. The settlement processing result table stores
the data
required for generation and transmission of the settlement processing results,
and
specifically, it stores a settlement processing result ID number, an order
number, and
approval results of the financial institution system(50). The settlement
processing result
table can also load the affiliated store system ID information, the first
access information,
and the settlement accounts, in reference to the order information table by
setting the order
number to a reference key.
The financial institution system(50) provides a settlement unit to the second
client(20),
and conducts settlement processing of the settlement accounts according to a
settlement
request of the settlement processor(43) of the electronic settlement
system(40). A credit
card company, a bank, a mobile communication company, and an electronic cash
provider
can be included in the financial institution system(50).
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
17
Fig. 4 is a format diagram of a second embodiment of an e-commerce system
applied
with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present invention.
Like shown
in Fig. 4, the second embodiment of the e-commerce system in accordance with
the
present invention is an embodiment where product information inquiry, order,
and
settlement processes are discontinuously carried out by different clients, and
wherein a
first client group(15) accesses an affiliated store system(30) to inquire
about product
information and selects and orders a product to be purchased, while a second
client(20)
conducts processing only of settlement accounts for the ordered product. That
is, the
second client(20) immediately receives settlement request information from an
electronic
settlement system(40), and processes settlement only of the product ordered by
the first
client group. At this point, first access information of the second client is
inputted from the
first client group. Therefore, product information inquiry/order and
settlement processes
among e-commerce processes are executed by being temporally and spatially
separated by
different subjects. The first client group(15) and the second client(20) are
discriminated in
Fig. 4 for just conceptual discrimination so as to clearly describe the
present invention,
thus it is also possible that the first client group and the second client may
be the same
client on a substantial embodiment. Namely, it is available that one customer
client
accesses the affiliated store system(30) to inquire about and order product
information and
terminates the accessing to the affiliated store system, and that the client
processes
settlement accounts of an ordered product by using settlement request
information
transmitted from the electronic settlement system(40). In this case, product
information
inquiry/order and settlement processes are performed by being temporally and
spatially
separated by the same subject. Since another configuration of the second
embodiment of
the e-commerce system is the same as shown above, detailed explanations will
be omitted.
Fig. 5 is a format diagram of a third embodiment of an e-commerce system
applied
with an electronic settlement system in accordance with the present invention.
Like shown
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
18
in Fig. 5, the third embodiment of the e-commerce system in accordance with
the present
invention is an embodiment where all of product information inquiry, order,
and
settlement processes are individually executed by different clients, and
wherein a first
client group(15) includes a third client(16) and a fourth client(17), and the
third client
accesses an affiliated store system(30) to inquire about product information
while the
fourth client selects a product to be purchased from the product information
inquired about
by the third client, and orders the selected product. The product information
inquiry
process of the third client and the order process of the fourth client are
carried out in
separate sessions. A second client(20) receives settlement request information
from an
electronic settlement system(40), and processes settlement of the product
ordered by the
fourth client(17). At this time, first access information of the second client
is inputted
from the fourth client. So, all of product information inquiry, order, and
settlement
processes among e-commerce processes are conducted in different sessions by
separate
subjects. On the other hand, the third client(16), the fourth client(17), and
the second
client(20) are discriminated in Fig. 5 for just conceptual discrimination so
as to clearly
describe the present invention, thus it is also possible that the third
client, the fourth client,
and the second client can be the same client on a substantial embodiment. In
other words,
it is available that one customer client accesses the affiliated store
system(30) to inquire
about product information and terminates the accessing to the affiliated store
system, and
the client accesses the affiliated store system again to select and order a
product to be
purchased from the inquired product information and terminates the accessing
again, and
that the client processes settlement accounts of the ordered product by using
settlement
request information transmitted from the electronic settlement system(40)
later on. In this
case, product information inquiry, order and settlement processes are
performed in
different sessions, and are carried out by being spatio-temporally separated
from each
other by the same subject. Since another configuration of the third embodiment
of the e-
commerce system is the same as shown above, detailed explanations will be
omitted.
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
19
Fig. 6 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of an e-commerce process applied
with an
electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention. By
referring to Fig.
6, the first embodiment of the e-commerce process applied with the electronic
settlement
method in accordance with the present invention will be described as follows.
The first client(10) accesses the affiliated store system(30) to inquire about
product
information provided by the shopping mall server(3 1)(ST600). The product
information
contains product codes of each product, names, a selling price, and detailed
information,
and is provided by being loaded from the product information table of the
shopping mall
database(32). Also, the first client(10) inputs the first access information
of the second
client(20) to the shopping mall server(3 1), and the shopping mall server
transmits the
product information inquired about by the first client to the second client by
using the first
access information(ST605,ST610). The first access information contains a
portable phone
number, an apparatus number, a chip serial number, an ID(login ID of the
affiliated store
system) of the affiliated system, an e-mail address, and a messenger ID. The
steps `ST600'
and `ST605' are performed in one session initiated when the first client(10)
accesses the
affiliated store system(30), and the corresponding session is also terminated
if the first
client terminates the accessing to the affiliated store system.
The second client(20) accesses the affiliated store system(30), and selects a
product to
be purchased from the product information inquired about by the first
client(10) to order
the selected product(ST61 5). The step `ST615' is also conducted in a new
session initiated
when the second client(20) accesses the affiliated store system(30), and at
this moment, it
is needless to say that the new session is different from the session where
the steps
`ST600' and 'ST605' are carried out.
The shopping mall server(3 1) transmits order information to the electronic
settlement
system(40), and the receiver(41) receives the order information to store the
received
information in the order information table of the settlement
database(45)(ST620). The
order information includes an order number, ID information of the affiliated
store system,
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
first access information of the second client, a product code, and settlement
accounts. The
order number is an intrinsic serial code generated by the shopping mall
server(3 1) when
the second client(20) orders a product, and the affiliated store system and
the electronic
settlement system can distinguish each order and order information.
5 The first transmitter(42) includes details to be settled, and transmits
settlement request
information which demands settlement to the second client(20)(ST625). The
settlement
request information is transmitted to the second client by using the first
access information
included in the order information, and contains ID information of the
aff'iliated store
system, settlement accounts that the second client has to pay, and the second
access
10 information. It is also possible to further comprise details of the product
ordered by the
second client in the settlement request information. It is desirable that the
second access
information is provided in a type linked by access information such as a URL
or an IP
address for enabling the second client(20) to access the electronic settlement
system(40).
When the second client(20) accesses the electronic settlement system(40) by
using the
15 second access information to demand settlement processing, the settlement
processor(43)
confirms validity of order information on settlement prior to the
settlement(ST630).
Validity confirmation of the order information is to confirm whether an order
through
which the settlement is to be conducted is a currently valid order, confirming
whether the
corresponding order can be validly processed, for instance, whether the
corresponding
20 order information is maintained without being cancelled or whether the
stock of the
ordered product exists or is obtainable. In order to confirm the validity of
the order
information, the settlement processor(43) transmits validity confirm request
data which
includes an order number to the affiliated store system(30), and the shopping
mall
server(3 1) loads the order information from the shopping mall database(32) by
using the
order number, then confirms a valid flag value of the loaded order information
to send the
results. In case a separate module of the electronic settlement system(40)
such as an
electronic wallet is installed in and interworked with the affiliated store
system(30), the
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
21
settlement processor(43) can directly access the shopping mall database(32) by
using the
order number, and can load and confirm a valid flag of the corresponding order
information.
As validity confirm results, if the order information is not currently valid,
the
settlement processor(43) transmits a message indicating that the order
information is
invalid to the second client(20), and terminates the settlement
processing(ST635,ST640).
As the validity confirm results, if the order information is valid, the
settlement
processor(43) receives selection for the settlement unit for settlement
processing from the
second client(20), authenticates the second client, and demands settlement to
the financial
institution system(50) which provides the selected settlement
unit(ST635,ST645). Various
settlement units such as credit card, transferring, electronic cash, prepaid
card, e-mail
based payment(ex, PayPal), portable phone number based payment, and micro
portable
phone payment types can be used as the settlement unit without any
restrictions.
If the settlement request is approved from the financial institution
system(50), the
settlement processor(43) approves the settlement of the corresponding order
information(ST650,ST655). On the contrary, if the settlement request is
rejected from the
financial institution system(50), the settlement processor(43) rejects the
settlement of the
corresponding order information(ST650,ST660). The second transmitter(44)
transmits
settlement processing results to the second client(20) and the affiliated
store
system(30)(ST665). The settlement processing results include the settlement
accounts and
approval results, then ID information of the affiliated store system is
included in the
settlement processing results transmitted to the second client(20) while the
settlement
processing results transmitted to the affiliated store system(30) contain the
order number.
Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of an e-commerce process applied
with
an electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention. By
referring to
Fig. 7, the second embodiment of the e-commerce process applied with the
electronic
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
22
settlement method in accordance with the present invention will be described
as follows.
The first client group(15) accesses the affiliated store system(30), and
inquires about
product information provided by the shopping mall server(31)(ST700). And, the
fnst
client group(l5) selects and orders a product to be purchased from the
inquired product
information, and inputs first access information of the second
client(20)(ST705,ST7 10).
The steps `ST700' to `ST710' are performed in one session initiated when the
first client
group(15) accesses the affiliated store system(30), and the session is also
terminated if the
first client terminates the accessing to the affiliated store system.
The receiver(41) receives order information from the shopping mall server(3
1), and
stores the received information in the order information table of the
settlement
database(45), then the first transmitter(42) transmits settlement request
information to the
second client(20)(ST715,ST720).
When the second client(20) accesses the electronic settlement system(40) by
using
second access information, the settlement processor(43) confirms validity of
order
information to be settled(ST725). Validity confirmation of the order
information is
conducted by confirming a valid flag value of the order information table of
the shopping
mall database(32), and is carried out by transmitting validity confirm request
data to the
shopping mall server(31) and receiving validity confirm results or when the
settlement
processor(43) confirms the value by accessing the shopping mall database(32).
As validity confirm results, if the order information is not currently valid,
the
settlement processor(43) transmits a message to the second client(20), and
terminates
settlement processing(ST730,ST735).
As the validity confirm results, if the order information is valid, the
settlement
processor(43) receives selection for the settlement unit from the second
client(20), and
demands settlement to the fmancial institution system(50)(ST730,ST740). If the
settlement request is approved from the financial institution system(50), the
settlement
processor(43) approves the settlement of the corresponding order information,
and if the
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
23
settlement request is rejected, the settlement of the corresponding order
information is
rejected(ST745 to ST755). The second transmitter(44) transmits settlement
processing
results to the second client(20) and the affiliated store system(30)(ST760).
Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of an e-commerce process applied
with an
electronic settlement method in accordance with the present invention. By
referring to Fig.
8, the third embodiment of the e-commerce process applied with the electronic
settlement
method in accordance with the present invention will be described as follows.
The third client(16) accesses the affiliated store system(30), and inquires
about
product information provided by the shopping mall server(31)(ST800). The
product
information inquired about by the third client(16) is transmitted to the
fourth client(17),
and the fourth client accesses the affiliated store system(30), and selects a
product to be
purchased from the product information to order the selected product(ST805,ST8
10).
Likewise, the fourth client(17) inputs first access information of the second
client(20) to
the affiliated store system(30)(ST815). The step `ST800' is performed in a
session
maintained while the third client(16) accesses the affiliated store
system(30), and the step
`ST810' is carried out in a new session maintained while the third client(16)
accesses the
affiliated store system(30). In other words, the steps `ST800' and `ST810' are
executed in
different sessions.
The shopping mall server(3 1) transmits order information to the electronic
settlement
system(40), and the receiver(41) receives the order information to store the
received
information in the order information table of the settlement
database(45)(ST820). The first
transmitter(42) transmits settlement request information to the second
client(20) by using
first access information included in the order information(ST825).
When the second client(20) accesses the electronic settlement system(40) by
using
second access information included in the settlement request information, the
settlement
processor(43) confirms validity of the order information on settlement prior
the
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
24
settlement(ST830). As validity confirm results, if the order information is
not currently
valid, the settlement processor(43) transmits a message indicating that the
order
information is invalid to the second client(20), and terminates settlement
processing(ST835,ST840).
As the validity confirm results, if the order information is valid, the
settlement
processor(43) receives selection for the settlement unit from the second
client(20),
authenticates the second client, and demands settlement to the financial
institution
system(50)(ST835,ST845).
If the financial institution system(50) approves the settlement request, the
settlement
processor(43) approves the settlement of the corresponding order information,
and if the
settlement request is rejected, the settlement processor rejects the
settlement of the
corresponding order information, then the second transmitter(44) transmits
settlement
processing results to the second client(20) and the affiliated store
system(30)(ST850 to
ST865).
Effect of the Invention
Like stated so far, an electronic settlement system and a method thereof in
accordance
with the present invention dualize order and settlement processes by
discontinuously
conducting the at least order and settlement processes in different sessions
among e-
2 0 commerce processes consisting of product information inquiry, order, and
settlement
processes, so that the product information inquiry, order, and settlement
processes can be
separately carried out by different clients, and wherein the same client also
does not have
to continuously execute the product information inquiry, order, and settlement
processes,
thereby temporally and spatially separating each process when necessary to
freely handle
the respective processes.
In accordance with the provisions of the patent statues, the present invention
has been
CA 02593297 2007-07-06
described in what is considered to represent its preferred embodiment.
However, it should
be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically
illustrated and
described without departing from its spirit or scope.
5 Reference List
10 : first client 15 : first client group
16 : third client 17 : fourth client
20 : second client 30 : affiliated store system
31 : shopping mall server 32 : shopping mall database
10 40 : system for electronic settlement 41 : receiver
42 : first transmitter 43 : settlement processor
44 : second transmitter 45 : settlement database
50 : financial institution system
In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-limiting
sense to
mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically
mentioned are not
excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not
exclude the
possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context
clearly requires that
there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made
to the
illustrated embodiment without departing from the Claims.
