Method and arrangement for electronically transferring an amount of money from a credit account memory

Method for transferring an electronic sum of money from a credit memory associated with a money sender to an account or to a credit memory associated with a money receiver via a telecommunications and data network in real time.

The labeling in the figures makes them fundamentally self-explanatory, so that no detailed description of the figures is given below. It should be pointed out that, in FIG. 1 , the assumption is made that the prepaid shopping application, runs on the same server as that on which prepaid accounts of the money receiver and money sender are managed. By contrast, FIG. 2 shows the situation in which prepaid accounts of the money sender and money receiver are managed on a different server than that on which the prepaid shopping application is running. A fundamental feature of the proposed method is the availability of a special transaction call number for any desired telecommunications terminal associated with any desired operator (conventional telephone or telephone with a prepaid card in a mobile radio network or in the landline network) for the money receiver. The call number is allocated specifically for money transfers and cannot be used for normal detailed telephone calls. It is assigned to the money receiver within the context of a subscription to a money transfer service offered by a service provider. The call number is stored in a transaction database SHOPPING DB as a specific money receiver call number. (In FIG. 1 , the references B1 to B4 indicate that the money receiver can hold a plurality of transactions or prepaid call numbers with various operators.) The money transfer operation is initiated by the money sender calling the transaction call number of the money receiver. In this case, for example following the call number—separated therefrom by a star (*)—the sum of money to be transferred in the relevant currency is input as an unstructured digit sequence on the money sender's terminal. This is done using its keypad, in particular; in principle, voice input is also possible within the context of appropriately designed menu guidance, however. It is also possible for the sum of money to be input not by the caller, but rather—at a suitable point in the overall procedure at which there is an appropriate connection to the transaction server—by the respective party to the transaction. When the money sender terminal is in the form of a mobile telephone, as assumed in the present case, a trigger in the HLR in the mobile radio network is used to make a request to the server—especially implemented in a SCP in the mobile radio network—regarding the form of the call which has been initiated. The server uses the money receiver's transaction call number to access the shopping database and looks for an entry corresponding to the call number. If an entry is found, the call has been specified as a call for processing a money transfer, and appropriate checks and subsequent actions are initiated. When the data have been transmitted, which means that the money transfer procedure has been started, a checking process is first carried out to determine whether the data medium is valid and whether the sum in the money sender's prepaid account is sufficient for the envisaged transfer process. If both are the case, the money sender is asked to input his PIN in order to authorize the debit operation on the sum of money to be transferred. The checking process involves the prepaid shopping application accessing the shopping database and reading the money receiver data record and the money sender data record with the information contained therein regarding which server or which servers (and which operator or which operators) hold the accounts of the money receiver and the money sender. The server belonging to the money sender is identified and, if it is a server other than that on which the prepaid shopping application is running, a real time connection to a prepaid shopping application running on this foreign server is set up. The prepaid shopping application on the money sender's server is sent a request to check whether the electronic credit in the money sender's prepaid account is sufficient for the envisaged money transfer. If this is not the case, the transfer is terminated with a corresponding advice signal to the terminal of the money sender and/or money receiver. If the sum of money to be transferred is covered, it is reserved in the money sender's prepaid account. The aforementioned authorization is then given by virtue of the money sender inputting the PIN on his terminal, possibly using SMS or the like. The PIN which is input is compared with the PIN stored in the money sender data record. If it is valid, the debiting process is initiated. If it is not valid, the transaction is terminated at this point and a corresponding advice signal is again transmitted. The sum of money to be transferred is then debited from the money sender's prepaid account. This process is time critical and is performed in real time. If the money sender's prepaid account is on the same server as the prepaid shopping application, the credit can immediately (in real time) be reduced by the sum of money to be transferred. If the account is on a foreign server, the debit request needs to be made to the prepaid shopping application on that server, and the debit operation is performed under that application's regime. In each case, a log record is produced for the debiting process, and the money receiver is informed about the debit operation having been performed by means of the cash register system or a call or by SMS or the like. The sum of money to be transferred is then credited to the money receiver's account, which can be a prepaid account, a real time account or a normal bank current account. This process is not time critical but needs to take place with the utmost reliability. In this case too, a distinction needs to be made between the aforementioned variants for debiting—according to whether or not the account is managed on a foreign server. A log record is also produced for the crediting process, and the money receiver and money sender can be informed immediately after this has been done. The implementation of the invention is not limited to the aforementioned examples, variants and aspects; rather, the claims likewise permit a large number of modifications for it which are within the scope of action of a person skilled in the art. In particular, the method steps described above are also possible in a different order.