Method and system for performing a commercial transaction by using a short message service terminal
Method for performing a commercial transaction wherein a customer having a computer connected to a public network such as the Internet network and a SMS terminal is able to receive and send SMS messages over a telephone network and can order an article by using the computer to a commercial server connected to the public network.
1. A method of using a short message service (SMS) terminal to effect secure communications between a customer, a commercial server, and a payment server, said method comprising:
the commercial server receiving from the customer, through a public computer network, an order for an article; and in response to receiving said order, the commercial server sending an SMS message, through a cellular network, to a specified SMS terminal, said SMS message including a redirect routing number and an encryption key;
said customer, by using the specified SMS terminal, adding to said SMS message information identifying the customer and information enabling identification of a customer payment means to form a modified SMS message;
encrypting, by using said encryption key, said customer identification information and said payment enabling information in the modified SMS message; and
redirecting, by said cellular network, by using said redirect routing number, the modified SMS message, with said encrypted information therein, from said SMS terminal, through said cellular network, to a payment server to debit a customer account with the price for the article and to effect purchase of the article by the customer in said secure communications without the customer identification information and the payment enabling information being transported over the public computer network, and without the customer identification information and the payment enabling information being shared with the commercial server.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said encryption key is a public encryption key.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said encryption key is a public encryption key of the payment server.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sending an SMS message includes setting in the SMS message a flag for indicating to the payment server that the SMS message redirected to the payment server includes information encrypted using said encryption key.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said redirect routing number includes an identification number of said payment server on said cellular network.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising said payment server authenticating said customer by using an identification number of said customer on said cellular network.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said sending the SMS message includes said SMS message requesting said customer to input a customer card number into said SMS terminal, and
said customer adding to the SMS message includes including said card number in said SMS message redirected to said payment server.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
said sending the SMS message includes requesting said customer to input a personal identification number (PIN) code into said SMS terminal, and
said customer adding to the SMS message includes including said PIN code in said SMS message redirected to said payment server to retrieve said customer card number.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said adding to said SMS message includes adding to said SMS message an order identifier, a customer name and an article price.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising said payment server authenticating said customer; and after authenticating said customer, debiting a customer's account and informing said commercial server that said commercial transaction has been completed successfully.
11. A system of using a short message service (SMS) terminal to effect ft secure communications between a customer, a commercial server, and a payment server, said system comprising:
a commercial server for receiving from a customer, through a public computer network, an order for an article; and for sending, in response to receiving said order, an SMS message, through a cellular network, to a specified SMS terminal, said SMS message including a redirect routing number and an encryption key; and
a payment server for debiting a customer account with a price for said article; and
wherein the customer, by using the specified SMS terminal, adds to said SMS message information identifying the customer and information enabling identification of a customer payment means to form a modified SMS message, and encrypts said customer identification information and said payment enabling information using said encryption key, and the modified SMS message is redirected, by said cellular network by using said redirect routing number, and with said encrypted identification information in the modified SMS message, from said SMS terminal, through said cellular network, to said payment server through said cellular network to debit the customer account with the price for the article and to effect purchase of the article by the customer in said secure communications without the customer identification information and the payment enabling information being transported over the public computer network, and without the customer identification information and the payment enabling information being shared with the commercial server.
12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said encryption key is a public encryption key.
13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein said public encryption key is a public encryption key of the payment server.
14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the sending the SMS message includes setting in the SMS message a flag for indicating to the payment server that the SMS message redirected to the payment server includes encrypted information encrypted using said encryption key.
15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said customer payment means is a credit card.
16. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said cellular network is a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network.
17. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said SMS terminal is a mobile terminal.
18. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said redirect routing number includes an identification number of said payment server on said cellular network.
19. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said payment server authenticates said customer by using an identification number of said customer on said cellular network.
20. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the payment server decrypts the information received from the customer through the cellular network, authenticates the customer, and informs the commercial server that the transaction has been completed.