Effecting an electronic payment
Effecting an electronic payment from customers to vendors over the Internet is disclosed. A vendor offers a product to potential customer over the Internet. A customer browsers the Internet and the customer has a mobile cellular phone configured to receive premium rate mobile terminating text messages. Transaction details are transmitted from the vendor to the browsing customer. Order details are then transmitted from the browsing customer to the vendor that require a payment to be made by the customer. In order to effect payment, a plurality of premium rate text messages are transmitted to the mobile cellular phone.
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, in a purchase server, a payment instruction from a web server of a vendor, wherein the web server offers a product to a customer via transmitting transaction details of a transaction to a web browser of the customer and receiving order details of an order from the web browser of the customer to initiate the payment instruction for a payment to be made by the customer to the vendor, wherein the order details include a payment amount and identify a mobile phone of the customer;
communicating, by the purchase server via text message through a carrier server of a mobile phone of the customer at the phone number, to confirm the payment requested by the payment instruction;
receiving, at the purchase server, a confirmation from the mobile phone of the customer in response to the communication;
determining, by the purchase server, based on the payment amount requested by the payment instruction, a plurality of premium rate message codes corresponding to a plurality of premium text messages for transmission to a recipient, wherein each respective premium rate message code of the plurality of premium rate message codes is predefined by the carrier server of the mobile phone to charge a predetermined amount, the premium rate message codes including at least first and second premium rate message codes each for different predetermined amount, wherein the payment amount is divided by the purchaser server such that, in combination, the predetermined amounts of at least the first and second premium rate message codes add up to the payment amount; and
transmitting, from the purchase server through the carrier server of the mobile phone, the plurality of premium text messages to the mobile phone of the customer at the mobile phone number in response to the confirmation from the mobile phone, wherein the customer is to be charged on an account of the mobile phone held by the carrier server according to the predetermined amounts, including the first and second different amounts matching respectively the first and the second of the premium rate message codes, of the plurality of premium rate message codes of the plurality of premium text messages for a total of the payment amount.
2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining by the purchase server, a schedule for transmission, wherein the transmission of the plurality of premium text messages to the mobile phone of the customer is according to the schedule over the period of time.
3. A method according to claim 2 ,
wherein said transaction details also identifies an additional price for effecting payment via mobile telephone.
4. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein said transaction details identify a payment currency.
5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the communicating with the mobile phone of the customer to confirm the payment comprises:
transmitting a confirmation text message through the carrier server to the mobile telephone after the order has been placed in the web server of the vendor; and
receiving a confirmation through the carrier server from the customer before the plurality of premium rate messages are transmitted.
6. A method according to claim 5 ,
wherein said confirmation from the customer is made via a mobile originating text message.
7. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the premium messages are transmitted according to a schedule that is based at least in part on time constraints that only allow up to a maximum sum value of predetermined amounts of premium messages within a predetermined time frame.
8. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein a fee, in addition to a price charged by the vendor for the product, for completing the transaction via the mobile phone of the customer is identified to produce the payment amount.
9. A method according to claim 8 ,
wherein the payment amount is divided into an appropriate number of premium rate messages based on network permitted messages.
10. A method according to claim 9 ,
wherein the schedule for the transmission of the plurality of premium rate messages is calculated based on maximum allowable transactions per unit of time.
11. A method according to claim 10 ,
wherein the maximum allowable transactions are daily maximum values.
12. A method according to claim 10 ,
wherein the maximum allowable transactions are monthly maximums.
13. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of premium rate messages are only transmitted after receiving a mobile originating message from the mobile phone of the customer agreeing to the payment.
14. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein said browser is executed by a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a mobile computer separate from the mobile phone.
15. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein said browser is included within said mobile phone.
16. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the schedule is determined based at least in part on the payment amount.
17. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the period of time is more than a day.
18. A method according to claim 17 ,
wherein the period of time is more than a month.
19. A system, comprising:
a first interface to a cellular telephone network;
a second interface to an internet; and
a purchase server coupled to the first interface and the second interface to:
receive a payment instruction from a web server of a vendor, wherein the web server offers a product to a customer via transmitting transaction details of a transaction to a web browser of the customer and receiving order details of an order from the web browser of the customer to initiate the payment instruction for a payment to be made by the customer to the vendor, wherein the order details include a payment amount and identify a mobile phone of the customer;
communicate, via text message through a carrier server with the mobile phone of the customer at the phone number to confirm the payment requested by the payment instruction;
determine a confirmation from the mobile phone of the customer in response to the communication;
determine, based on the payment amount requested by the payment instruction, a plurality of premium rate message codes corresponding to a plurality of premium text messages for transmission to a recipient, wherein each respective premium rate message code of the plurality of premium rate message codes is predefined by the carrier server of the mobile phone to charge a predetermined amount, the premium rate message codes including at least first and second premium rate message codes each for different predetermined amount, wherein the payment amount is divided by the purchaser server such that, in combination, the predetermined amounts of at least the first and second premium rate message codes add up to the payment amount; and
transmit through the carrier server of the mobile phone the plurality of premium text messages to the mobile phone of the customer at the phone number in response to the confirmation from the mobile phone, wherein the customer is to be charged on an account of the mobile phone held by the carrier server according to the predetermined amounts, including the first and second different amounts matching respectively the first and the second of the premium rate message codes, of the plurality of premium rate message codes of the plurality of premium text messages for a total of the payment amount.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed on a purchase server, cause the purchase server to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving, in a purchase server, a payment instruction from a web server of a vendor, wherein the web server offers a product to a customer via transmitting transaction details of a transaction to a web browser of the customer and receiving order details of an order from the web browser of the customer to initiate the payment instruction for a payment to be made by the customer to the vendor, wherein the order details include a payment amount and identify a mobile phone of the customer;
communicating, by the purchase server via text message through a carrier server of a mobile phone of the customer at the phone number, to confirm the payment requested by the payment instruction;
receiving, at the purchase server, a confirmation from the mobile phone of the customer in response to the communication;
based on the payment amount requested by the payment instruction, a plurality of premium rate message codes corresponding to a plurality of premium text messages for transmission to a recipient, wherein each respective premium rate message code of the plurality of premium rate message codes is predefined by the carrier server of the mobile phone to charge a predetermined amount, the premium rate message codes including at least first and second premium rate message codes each for different predetermined amount, wherein the payment amount is divided by the purchaser server such that, in combination, the predetermined amounts of at least the first and second premium rate message codes add up to the payment amount; and
transmitting, from the purchase server through the carrier server of the mobile phone, the plurality of premium text messages to the mobile phone of the customer at the mobile phone number in response to the confirmation from the mobile phone, wherein the customer is to be charged on an account of the mobile phone held by the carrier server according to the predetermined amounts, including the first and second different amounts matching respectively the first and the second of the premium rate message codes, of the plurality of premium rate message codes of the plurality of premium text messages for a total of the payment amount.
21. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein a third of the predetermined amounts that add up to the payment amount is for an amount that is different to the first predetermined amount.
22. A method according to claim 21 ,
wherein the second and third predetermined amounts are for the same amount.
23. A method according to claim 22 ,
wherein the second and third predetermined amounts have the same message code.
24. A method according to claim 22 ,
wherein the second and third predetermined amounts are each larger than the first predetermined amount.