Abstract:
A method for conducting an e-commerce transaction between a user and a merchant is disclosed. The user has a customer account with a communication provider operating a first communication network. The customer account includes personal information about the user. The method includes the steps of: a) establishing communication between the user and the communication provider over the first communication network; b) authenticating the user to the communication provider; c) selecting a product from the merchant for the e-commerce transaction; d) retrieving the personal information about the user from the customer account; and e) completing the e-commerce transaction.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims priority from Canadian Patent Application No. 2,413,340, filed on Nov. 29, 2002, and also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/430,370, filed on Dec. 3, 2002. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The invention relates to electronic commerce, and in particular, to a system and method for conducting and electronic commerce transaction.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The Internet has created tremendous growth in electronic commerce (i.e. the purchase of goods and services on-line). Electronic commerce is also referred to as “e-commerce”. To complete an e-commerce transaction, the user is typically required to provide information to the merchant web site, which typically includes the user&#39;s name, address, and financial information (usually credit card information). This information may be entered manually by the user. Alternatively, there are a number of well known ways in which the input of information may be automated, such as form filling tools, and digital wallets. However, these alternatives still require the user to submit certain information to the merchant web site, increasing the time required to complete the e-commerce transaction and inconvenience to user.  
           [0004]    In order to avoid fraudulent transactions, the merchant web site may also wish to authenticate the user. A number of authentication methods, such as user names and passwords, digital certificates, hardware tokens, or the like are well known. Depending on the authentication method used, the user may be required to enter additional information, such as a user name and password, further inconveniencing the user.  
           [0005]    Recently, more users are accessing the Internet using mobile devices (such as digital phones, pagers and personal digital assistants (PDAs)). These mobile devices generally have a smaller screen and constrained input capabilities than the personal computers currently in widespread use. Consequently, entering or providing information required by merchant web sites is an even greater inconvenience for users of mobile devices.  
           [0006]    Accordingly there is a need for a method of conducting an e-commerce transaction which reduces the amount of information required to be provided by a user of a mobile device and facilitates authentication of the user to the merchant.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    According to a first aspect of the invention, a method for conducting an e-commerce transaction between a user and a merchant is provided. The user has a customer account with a communication provider operating a first communication network. The customer account includes personal information about the user therein. The method comprises: a) establishing communication between the user and the communication provider over the first communication network; b) authenticating the user to the communication provider; c) selecting a product from the merchant for the e-commerce transaction; d) retrieving the personal information about the user from the customer account; and e) completing the e-commerce transaction.  
           [0008]    According to a second aspect of the invention, a system for conducting an e-commerce transaction is provided. The system comprises:  
           [0009]    a mobile device adapted for operation by a user;  
           [0010]    a wireless network adapted for communication with the mobile device, the wireless network being operated by a communication provider, the user having a customer account with the communication provider, the customer account comprising personal information about the user;  
           [0011]    a credential verification server adapted for access to the personal information; and  
           [0012]    a merchant server adapted for communication with the credential verification server via the Internet;  
           [0013]    wherein, upon request from the merchant server, the credential verification server is adapted to provide the personal information from the customer account to the merchant server to complete the e-commerce transaction.  
           [0014]    According to a third aspect of the invention, a computer readable medium including a computer program that conducts an e-commerce transaction between a user and a merchant is provided. The user has a customer account with a communication provider operating a first communication network. The customer account includes personal information about the user therein. The computer program causes the computer to perform the steps of: a) establishing communication between the user and the communication provider over the first communication network; b) authenticating the user to the communication provider; c) selecting a product from the merchant for the e-commerce transaction; d) retrieving the personal information about the user from the customer account; and e) completing the e-commerce transaction. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following figures, in which:  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an e-commerce system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 is a block diagram providing additional detail on the system shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a number of steps in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]    As used in herein, a “product” includes any goods or services, and a “transaction” is any transfer of a product, including without limitation sales, leases, auctions or the like.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 shows a first communication network  10 , which is in communication with a mobile device  12 . Although for clarity, only one mobile device is shown in FIG. 1, it will be understood that any number of mobile devices may be simultaneously connected to the first communication network  10 . The mobile device  12  may be any device such as mobile phone, PDA, or the like which is capable of sending and receiving communications via the first communication network  10 .  
         [0021]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, the first communication network  10  is preferably in communication with a second communication network  14 . The second communication network  14  is in communication with a merchant server  16  operated by a merchant offering goods and/or services. The merchant server  16  may be an application server, a web server or any other type of server capable of offering e-commerce services over the second communication network  14 . However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the merchant server  16  may be part of the first communication network  10 , and may be operated by the communication provider. In this case, the method of conducting an e-commerce transaction according to the present invention may be carried out on the first communication network  10 , and use of the second communication network  14  is not required.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the first communication network is preferably a wireless network  20  and the second communication network is preferably the Internet  22 . The wireless network  20  is operated by a communication provider, such as a commercial wireless service operator. The mobile device  12  is operated by a user who is a customer of the communication provider. The user has a customer account with the communication provider. The account includes personal information about the user, which is stored on a database or the like. The personal information may include the user&#39;s name, address, financial instrument information, and any other information about the user required to authenticate the user or provide goods and services to the user.  
         [0023]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the wireless network  20  may be a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network which supports the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) for transmission of data. It will be understood by those skilled the art that the wireless network may be any other type of network, such as CDMA, Mobitex, DataTac, PDC, CMDA2000, UMTS, or the like.  
         [0024]    Referring to FIG. 2, the wireless network  20  preferably comprises a cellular radio network, which comprises any suitable number of base stations  24 , mobile switching centers  26 , and network management equipment and other equipment used to support connectivity to other fixed or mobile communicating devices or to offer specific services (not shown). The wireless network  20  may also include a home location register (HLR)  32  and a billing system  34 . The HLR  32  is a database containing personal information and other information about users who are customers of the communication provider. The billing system  34  generates the user&#39;s bill. The components of the wireless network  20  describe above are well known in the art and will not be described further.  
         [0025]    Referring to FIG. 2, the mobile device  12  is preferably a wireless device, with its own power source supporting a radio transmitter and receiver. The mobile device  12  and base stations  24  communicate over predefined radio frequencies obeying a set of protocols used to establish a connection and transfer information via that connection. Within the set of protocols executed between the mobile device  12  and base stations  24 , there exists at least two generic types of information that can be categorized as control (or signaling) information and traffic information. Control information is typically, but not exclusively, transmitted from the base stations  24  to the mobile device  12 . The mobile device  12  upon receiving and correctly interpreting the control information may derive the method for obtaining the traffic information. This method, for example, may be the radio frequency and coding scheme used to transfer the traffic information. The traffic information may be human audible voice, data, images or any combination of multi-media transmissions that could be usable for conveying information to a human or machine.  
         [0026]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, GPRS support in the wireless network  20  is provided by the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)  28  and the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)  30 , which permit communication of data traffic via the Internet  22  to an external device, such the merchant server  16  (shown in FIG. 1). The SGSN  28  tracks the location of the mobile device  12 , performs user authentication for wireless network access using information in the HLR  32 , and ensures security of information transmitted over radio frequencies by encrypting/decrypting the transmitted information. The GGSN  30  provides interoperability with external packet switched networks such as the Internet  22 .  
         [0027]    Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a credential verification server  40  is provided to receive requests relating to personal information of the user, as described in more detail below. According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the credential verification server  40  is operated by a third party and is in communication with the wireless network  20  and the Internet  22 . Preferably, the credential verification server  40  is implemented on a standalone computer. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the credential verification server  40  may be implemented as several software programs running on different computers, or as one or more software programs running on a single computer.  
         [0028]    In an alternative embodiment, the credential verification server  40  may be owned by the communication provider and be part of the wireless network  20 . In such an embodiment, the credential verification server  40  is preferably a standalone server, but may also be implemented as software running on one or more of the other components of the wireless network  20 .  
         [0029]    The method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.  1 - 3 . When the user&#39;s mobile device  12  is on, and the mobile device  12  and base station  24  are able to transmit radio signals therebetween, the wireless network  20  authenticates the user as a customer of the communication provider. To authenticate the user to the communication provider on a GSM network, the mobile device  12  transmits a unique identifier called an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). The IMSI is matched to the user&#39;s customer profile stored in the SGSN  28  and/or the HLR  32 . If the IMSI from the mobile device  12  is matched to a corresponding IMSI in a valid user account, the mobile device  12  is permitted to connect to the wireless network  20 .  
         [0030]    The user sends a request for the e-commerce transaction to the merchant server  16  using the mobile device  12 . The user may enter the merchant&#39;s web site URL (Universal Resource Locator), select the merchant&#39;s URL from a menu on the mobile device  12 , enter the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the merchant server  16 , or in some other well known manner. The mobile device  12  sends the request to the wireless network  20  using a wireless protocol, such as GPRS over GSM. The communication is routed to the Internet  22  via the SSGN  28  and GGSN  30 , which may translate the request to HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol).  
         [0031]    In addition to information required to select a product from the merchant server  16 , the request sent from the mobile device  12  includes identification information, such as the user&#39;s telephone number and the identity of the communication provider which operates the wireless network  20  of which the user is a customer. This additional information is provided using an application level protocol, such as an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based protocol. When the merchant server  16 , detects the identification information in the request, the merchant server  16  launches an application which recognizes that the personal information about the user may be obtained from the credential verification server  40 .  
         [0032]    The user may browse the merchant&#39;s web site and select the desired item. When the merchant server  16  requires any personal information from the user, such as name, address, financial instrument information, credit history, the merchant server  16  preferably requests this information from the credential verification server  40  using the application described above. The credential verification server  40  obtains the personal information required from the user&#39;s customer account and returns the information to the merchant server  16 . If the merchant server  16  requires authentication of the user, the merchant server  16  sends a request to the credential verification server  40 . The credential verification server  40  verifies that the user has been authenticated by the wireless network  20  by for, example, retrieving authentication confirmation from the HLR  32 . This authentication confirmation is included in the user personal information.  
         [0033]    The credential verification server  40  may cache the personal information, or alternatively, it may retrieve the information from the HLR  32 , billing system  34 , or other communication provider equipment.  
         [0034]    After receiving all required personal information from the credential verification server  40 , the merchant server  16  then completes the e-commerce transaction. For payment, the merchant server  16  may debit the financial instrument received from the credential verification server  40 , as part of the user&#39;s personal information.  
         [0035]    Alternatively, the merchant server may, after the transaction is complete, submit a purchase record to the communication provider, who will then add the amount owed to the merchant to the user&#39;s account and bill the user together with amounts owing for use of the communications&#39; provider wireless services. This embodiment provides the merchant with cost savings by avoiding transaction fees charged by financial institutions, such as credit card fees, and by not having to generate its own invoices for purchases on its web site. Although the communication provider may charge a fee for its services, the fee may be less than that of a credit card transaction, as the communication provider is exploiting information and functionality it has already implemented in its network infrastructure for its business. The communication provider may set a ceiling on the amount a user can purchase during a billing period, similar to a credit limit.  
         [0036]    The method according to the present invention reduces or eliminates the need for users of mobile devices to enter personal information. In addition, merchants and communication providers can use the personal information to ensure the users approved for transactions have a good payment history and their customer accounts are in good standing, thus minimizing the risk of the merchant not receiving payment.  
         [0037]    In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the merchant server  16  may require that the user enter the personal information. The merchant server  16  may then request the same personal information from the credential verification server  40  to confirm the information it has received from the user. Alternatively, the merchant server  16  may request that the user provide some personal information, such as authentication information (e.g. user name and password), but may request some other personal information, such as the user&#39;s address from the credential verification server  40  to eliminate the need for the user to enter or otherwise submit this information.  
         [0038]    In another alternative embodiment of the invention, a consolidation server (not shown) may be provided. The consolidation server communicates with a plurality of credential verification servers  40 , each of which is operated by one of a plurality of communication providers of different wireless networks  20 . When obtaining a user&#39;s personal information, the merchant server  16  communicates with the consolidation server, regardless of the wireless network  20  of which the user is a customer. The consolidation server would then contact the credential verification server  40  for the appropriate communication provider to obtain the user&#39;s personal information. As above, the merchant may debit a user&#39;s financial instrument directly or may debit the user&#39;s customer account with the communication provider. In this case, the merchant server  16  send the payment to the consolidation server, which would redirect it to the appropriate communication provider so that the user&#39;s customer account is debited for the payment.  
         [0039]    While the present invention as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above-described objects of the invention, it is to be understood that it is the presently preferred embodiment of the present invention and thus, is representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present invention, that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention, for it is to be encompassed by the present claims.