Patent Publication Number: US-2006014518-A1

Title: Mobile phone payment method and system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a mobile phone payment method and system.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      In general, the most common means for paying for goods and services is with paper money or a check. However, at certain times, it may be inconvenient or even dangerous to carry paper money or a check. In order to solve this problem, credit cards and debit cards are commonly used, such that the paper money or a check does not have to be carried. However, there is also a problem in that, when the credit card is lost or stolen, the owner may suffer a great deal of damages from unauthorized use of the credit card.  
      In recent years, a mobile phone payment system has been developed in order to solve the problem of the credit card. The mobile phone payment system is mainly used for small-valued payments. Further, in the conventional mobile phone system, a signal transmitting device or a wireless Internet connection device is separately provided to the mobile phone. Therefore, there is a problem in that production costs of the mobile phone increase. In addition, there is another problem in that the mobile phone is complex and large.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to solve the above and other problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone payment system, which is implemented by updating software, without additional hardware modules.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone payment method by which a user of a mobile phone can make a payment by using the mobile phone.  
      According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile phone payment system using a light signal having payment-related information. The mobile phone payment system includes: a mobile phone; a photo receiver; and a control server. The photo receiver includes: a photo sensor for receiving the light signal from a mobile phone, and converting the light signal into an electrical signal; a data error determination unit for receiving the electrical signal of the photo sensor, and determining an error of the electrical signal; a control unit for transmitting the electrical signal of the photo sensor to the data error determination unit, outputting a control signal based on the result of the error determination by the data error determination unit, and outputting the electrical signal if the electrical signal has no error; a display unit for displaying presence or absence of the error of the light signal in response to the control signal; an encryption unit for encrypting the electrical signal transmitted from the control unit; and a first communication unit for transmitting the encrypted signal to the control server. The control server includes: a data storage unit for storing personal information of a subscribed user; a decoder for decoding the encrypted signal transmitted from the photo receiver; a comparator for comparing information decoded by the decoder with the associated information stored in the data storage unit; a payment authentication unit for authenticating the payment requested by the user if the information decoded by the decoder is identical to the associated information stored in the data storage unit; and a second communication unit for transmitting the result of the payment authentication to the mobile phone.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile phone payment method for use in a system including a mobile phone, a photo receiver, and a control server for storing payment-related information of a user of the mobile phone. The method includes steps of: downloading the payment-related information of the user from the control server to the mobile phone and storing the payment-related information in the mobile phone; converting the payment-related information into a binary code data in response to the user&#39;s request; generating a light signal having a series of pulses by turning on and off a backlight of the mobile phone based on the binary code data and transmitting the light signal to the photo receiver; receiving the light signal in the photo receiver, converting the received light signal into an electrical signal and transmitting the electrical signal from the photo receiver to the control server; receiving the electrical signal, comparing payment-related information contained in the electrical signal with the payment-related information of the user stored in the control server and determining if the transmitted payment-related information is correct; if the transmitted payment-related information is correct, authenticating the user&#39;s payment; and transmitting the result of the determining step from the control server to at least one of the mobile phone and the photo receiver.  
      According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photo receiver for receiving a light signal from a mobile phone, converting the light signal to an electrical signal, and transmitting the electrical signal to a control server. The photo receiver includes: a photo sensor for receiving a light signal from a mobile phone, and converting the light signal into an electrical signal; a data error determination unit for receiving the electrical signal of the photo sensor and determining an error of the electrical signal; a control unit for transmitting the electrical signal of the photo sensor to the data error determination unit, outputting a control signal based on the result of the error determination by data error determination unit, and outputting the electrical signal if the electrical signal has no error; a display unit for displaying an error status of the light signal in response to the control signal; and a communication unit for transmitting the electrical signal from the control unit to the control server.  
      According to further still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control server for use in a mobile phone payment system including a mobile phone for outputting a predetermined light signal, a photo receiver for converting the received light signal to an electrical signal, encrypting the electrical signal, and outputting the encrypted electrical signal as an output signal, and the control server for authenticating payment by using the output signal of the photo receiver. The control server includes: a data storage unit for storing personal information of a subscribed user; a decoder for decoding the signal transmitted from the photo receiver; a comparator for comparing information decoded by the decoder with the associated information stored in the data storage unit; a payment authentication unit for authenticating the payment if the information decoded by the decoder is identical to the associated information stored in the data storage unit; and a communication unit for transmitting the result of the payment authentication to the mobile phone.  
      According to further still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile phone payment method using a mobile phone. The method includes the steps of: accessing a server to download payment-related information of a subscribed user from the server to the mobile phone; converting the payment-related information to a binary code data in the mobile phone; generating a light signal having a series of pulses by turning on and off a backlight of the mobile phone based on the binary code data; and transmitting the light signal from the mobile phone to an control sever. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a mobile phone payment system according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a waveform diagram illustrating pulses of a light signal generated by a backlight of a mobile phone used for the mobile phone payment system illustrated in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a photo receiver as illustrated in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a control server as illustrated in  FIG. 1  in detail; and  
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a mobile phone payment method according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention and operational advantages thereof can be fully understood by referring to the accompanying drawings and explanations thereof.  
      Herein below, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings to explain the present invention in more detail. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same elements.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a mobile phone payment system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile phone payment system includes a mobile phone  111 , a photo receiver  121 , and a control server  131 . The mobile phone  111  has a display unit such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an EL (Electroluminescent), and an organic EL illuminated with a backlight. Some types of the mobile phone  111  may have a keypad illuminated with a keypad-dedicated backlight such as a blue LED (Light Emitting Diode). In the mobile phone payment system according to the present invention, a light signal is generated in a form of pulses by turning on and off the backlight of the mobile phone based on payment-related information. More specifically, the light signal includes the payment-related information. Therefore, the user of the mobile phone can make payments by using his or her mobile phone.  
      In order to use the mobile phone payment system  101 , a user accesses the control server  131  to subscribe to the mobile phone payment service by transmitting personal information to the control server  131 . The personal information includes, for example, identification (ID) information, a credit card number, an E-mail address, E-money information, and a phone number of the user. The control server  131  stores the personal information in a data storage unit. The user downloads a program used for the mobile phone payment service from the control server  131  and installs the program in the mobile phone  111 .  
      As a result, the user can pay a charge by using the mobile phone  111 . The charge may include, for example, a charge for a video game machine or a roller coaster, a charge for a gambling machine, an admission fee of a theater, a toll, a public vehicle fare, a parking fee, etc. In addition, the mobile phone  111  may be used to pay for gasoline or a vending-machine item. Further, the mobile phone  111  may also be used to transfer E-money in an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine).  
      Preferably, the mobile phone  111  includes a button or buttons for activating the program. Alternatively, the mobile phone  111  may set a button of the keypad to activate the program.  
      When the user pushes the button on the mobile phone  111 , payment-related information of the user is downloaded from the control server  131  to the mobile phone  111 . Alternatively, the payment-related information may be previously downloaded from the control server  131  and stored in a memory of the mobile phone, to be used if necessary. Herein, the payment-related information represents information used to make payments, which is transmitted from the mobile phone  111  to the photo receiver  121 . The payment-related information includes identification (ID) information, a credit card number, and associated passwords or PIN numbers of the user.  
      The payment-related information is converted in binary code data. The mobile phone  111  generates a light signal  141  having a series of pulses by turning on and off a backlight of the mobile phone  111  based on the binary code data. Accordingly, the mobile phone  111  transmits the light signal  141  to the photo receiver  121 .  
      Alternatively, before converted into the binary code data, the payment-related information may be encrypted in order to secure the payment-related information. The light signal is generated based on the encrypted binary code data and transmitted to the photo receiver  121 .  
      The photo receiver  121  preferably includes a photo sensor and a data error determination unit. The photo sensor of the photo receiver  121  receives the light signal  141  and converts the light signal into an electrical signal. The received light signal includes the payment-related information. The data error determination unit determines whether the light signal is transmitted without error from the mobile phone  111  to the photo receiver  121 . If the light signal is determined to be transmitted without error form the mobile phone  111  to the photo receiver  121 , the photo receiver  121  transmits the electrical signal from the photo sensor through a network NT to the control server  131 . If, however, the light signal is not determined to be transmitted without error form the mobile phone  111  to the photo receiver  121 , the photo receiver  121  displays a message (an error status message) indicating that there is an error in the transmitted payment-related information, such that the user may transmit the light signal corresponding the payment-related information again.  
      The control server  131  compares the transmitted payment-related information with the associated information stored in the control server  131 . If the transmitted payment-related information is identical to the associated information stored in the control server  131 , the control server  131  authenticates the user&#39;s payment by using the payment-related information, which includes credit card information or E-money information of the user, as described above.  
      The control server  131  sends a short text message indicating the result of payment to the user&#39;s mobile phone  111  through Short Message Service server. If the transmitted payment-related information is not identical to the associated information stored in the control server  131 , the control server  131  sends to the user&#39;s mobile phone  111  through Short Message Service server a short text message indicating that the transmitted payment-related information is incorrect. In addition, the control sever  131  transmits the result of the payment to the photo receiver  121  in order to inform a manager of the photo receiver of the result of the payment. If the payment is not authenticated, the user may transmit the payment-related information again to perform the aforementioned payment process.  
       FIG. 2  is a waveform diagram showing pulses of a light signal  141  generated by a backlight of a mobile phone  111  used for a mobile phone payment system of  FIG. 1 . The light signal  141  is partitioned into a starting frame t 1 , an information frame t 2 , and an ending frame t 3 . The starting frame t 1  includes a plurality of short pulses to indicate the starting point of the light signal  141 , the information frame t 2  includes a plurality of pulses generated based on the payment-related information, and the ending frame t 3  includes a plurality of pulses to indicate the ending point of the light signal  141 .  
      The information frame t 2  is constructed with a plurality of information bits t 11  and t 12 . In addition, the information bit t 11  is partitioned into a starting bit t 21 , a main bit t 22 , a parity bit t 23 , and a stop bit t 24 . The starting bit t 21  indicates the starting point of the information bit t 11 , the main bit t 22  represents real information with “1” or “0” bit, and the parity bit t 23  is used to determine whether or not the light signal  141  is transmitted without error. The stop bit t 24  indicates the ending point of the information bit t 11 .  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating the photo receiver  121  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The photo receiver  121  includes a photo sensor  311 , a data error determination unit  331 , a control unit  321 , a display unit  361 , an encryption unit  341 , and a communication unit  351 . The photo sensor  311  detects a light signal  141  transmitted from the mobile phone  111 , converts the light signal  141  to an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal as an output signal to the control unit  321 .  
      The data error determination unit  331  receives the output signal of the photo sensor  311  via the control unit  321 , determines if the light signal  141  is transmitted from the photo sensor  311  without error, and transmits a result of the determination to the control unit  321 .  
      The control unit  321  transmits the output signal of the photo sensor  311  to the data determination unit  331 , and transmits a control signal to the display unit  361  in response to the result of the determination of the data error determination unit  331 . If the light signal  141  is determined to be transmitted without error, the control unit  321  transmits the output signal of the photo sensor  311  to the encryption unit  341 .  
      The display unit  361  displays an error status of the light signal  141  in response to the control signal of the control unit  321 . The display unit  361  includes a plurality of lighting devices (not shown) such as LED (light emitting device) and lamps. For example, if the light signal  141  has an error, a first lighting device is turned on; if not, a second lighting device is turned on. If a signal indicating that the payment-related information transmitted from the mobile phone  111  is correct is transmitted from the control server  131 , a third lighting device is turned on; if not, a fourth lighting device is turned on.  
      The encryption unit  341  encrypts the output signal of the photo sensor  311  transmitted from the control unit  321 . The encrypting method used by the encryption unit  341  includes, for example, a method of increasing or decreasing the number of pulses of the light signal  141 , and a method of increasing or decreasing widths of the pulses in comparison to a width of a basic pulse of the light signal.  
      The communication unit  351  transmits an output signal of the encryption unit  341  to the control server  131  via a network NT. The network NT may be constructed with a wire network such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an integrated services digital network (ISDN), or a wireless network.  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating the control server  131  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , in detail. The control server includes a data storage unit  431 , a decoder  411 , a data comparator  421 , a payment authentication unit  441 , and a communication unit  451 . The data storage unit  431  stores personal information of a subscribed user, the decoder  411  decodes the signal transmitted from the photo receiver  121 , the data comparator  421  compares information decoded by the decoder  411  with the associated information stored in the data storage unit  431 , and the payment authentication unit  441  authenticates the payment requested by the user, if the information decoded by the decoder is identical to the associated information stored in the data storage unit. The communication unit  451  transmits a result of the payment authentication to the mobile phone  111 .  
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a mobile phone payment method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 5 , in a first step S 511 , the mobile phone  111  downloads payment-related information of a user from a control server  131 . The payment-related information is stored in the mobile phone. The payment-related information includes at least one of identification (ID) information and a credit card number, and the associated passwords of the user.  
      In step S 521 , the mobile phone  111  converts the payment-related information into a binary code data in response to a user&#39;s request. Accordingly, the binary code data is constructed with a plurality of “1” and “0” bits.  
      In step S 531 , the mobile phone  111  encrypts the binary code data. By the encrypting, for example, the number of pulses of a light signal can increase or decrease, or the widths of the pulses of the light can increase or decrease in comparison to the width of a basic pulse of the light signal, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 .  
      In step S 541 , the mobile phone  111  generates the light signal having a series of pulses and transmits the light signal to the photo receiver  121 . Preferably, the light signal is generated by turning on and off a backlight of the mobile phone  111  based on the binary code data. When the backlight is turned on and off, the levels of the encrypted pulses are “0” and “1”, respectively. Therefore, the light signal has a series of encrypted pluses having predetermined time intervals.  
      In step S 551 , the photo receiver  121  receives and converts the light signal into an electrical signal and transmits the electrical signal as an output signal of the photo receiver  121  to the control server  131 . The photo receiver  121  performs the operations described above with reference to  FIG. 3 .  
      In step S 561 , the control server  561  decodes the output signal of the photo receiver  121 , compares the decoded payment-related information with the payment-related information of the user stored in a database of the control server  131 , and determines if the decoded payment-related information is correct in Step S 565 .  
      In step S 571 , if the decoded payment-related information is identical to the payment-related information stored in the control server  131 , the control server  131  authenticates the user&#39;s payment. However, in step S 581 , the control server  131  transmits the result of the determination of step S 561  to the mobile phone and the photo receiver. If the decoded payment-related information, that is, the payment-related information transmitted from the mobile phone  111 , is identical to the payment-related information stored in the control server  131 , the control server  131  authenticates the user&#39;s payment and transmits the result of the payment to the mobile phone  111  and the photo receiver  121 . However, if the decoded payment-related information is not identical to the payment-related information stored in the control server  131 , the control server  131  transmits the message that the user&#39;s payment is not authenticated to the mobile phone  111  and the photo receiver  121 , such that the user may transmit the payment-related information again.  
      According to the present invention, it is possible for a user of a mobile phone to make payments by using the mobile phone, without carrying paper money or a credit card.  
      In addition, it is possible to make payments by using a mobile phone payment system being implemented by updating software of the mobile phone without additional hardware modules. Therefore, it is possible to reduce production costs of mobile phones.  
      While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof and specific terms such as a mobile phone  111 , a photo receiver  121 , and a control server  131 , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description of the invention but by the appended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.