JP2002032687A - Fixed amount electronic credit card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fixed electronic credit card system suited to the settlement of an intangible small amount merchandise purchase in electronic commerce using the Internet. SOLUTION: The system is constructed of a credit card applying Web site 11A, at least one software sales Web site 12A and a financial institution 13. The Web site 11A receives the application of member registration from a user through the Internet, registers him/her as a member, provides this user an ID, a password and a fixed amount electronic credit card set with a fixed amount. The Web site 11B sells a software through the Internet and is in cooperation with a company 11 operating the Web site 11A to sell the software to the user based on the balance of the fixed amount electronic credit card. The financial institution has the account of the user and is in cooperation with a company concerning the payment of the used amount of the fixed amount electronic credit card.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat-rate electronic credit card system, and more particularly to a flat-rate electronic credit card system suitable for settlement of small-scale products in electronic commerce for purchasing intangible goods using the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the spread of the Internet has been remarkable with the development of IT. On the Internet, various companies have their own homepages and are building sales sites for their products. A variety of products are sold on the product sales site. The sale of goods on the Internet is carried out on the website of a manufacturer company that sells the goods directly, or on the website of a sales agent acting for sale of the goods.

One of the technical problems in electronic commerce is the construction of a settlement system. Currently, several payment systems have been proposed. As an example, there is a payment system using a convenience store (hereinafter referred to as “convenience store”) which is an existing real store. In this payment system, a user (consumer) issues an order for purchasing a product to, for example, a maker company site via the Internet, and the maker company sends the ordered product to a convenience store located near the user, and the user Is a system in which goods are obtained at the convenience store by cash on delivery. The application of the payment system or the payment method using such a convenience store is usually limited to buying and selling a tangible object or a similar product. Examples of similar products include, for example, application software or game software installed and used on a personal computer, the content of the product itself is a program and is intangible, but is stored in a CD, FD, or other storage device. It can be stored and commercialized as a package.

[0004] The above-mentioned payment system using a convenience store is not suitable for payment of intangible products such as music software which are purchased by direct download from a store site using the Internet.

At present, there are three payment methods for purchasing intangible goods via the Internet.
Two methods have been proposed. A first method is a method using a credit card, a second method is a method using a prepaid card, and a third method is a method of paying by a provider. In the payment method using a credit card,
The user accesses the sales store site using his / her computer, places an order for a product on the homepage, and inputs a credit card number. The purchase price of the product is automatically deducted from the account specified by the credit card number. In the payment method using a prepaid card, the prepaid card is purchased in advance, and the user accesses the sales store site on his own computer,
Place an order for the product on the homepage and enter the code shown on the back of the prepaid card. As for the prepaid card, the price of the purchased product is subtracted from the preset amount, and information on the difference is presented. In the payment method of the payment agent by the provider, similarly, the user accesses the sales store site with his / her own computer, places an order for the product on the homepage, and inputs the ID and the password registered in the provider. The price of the purchased product is automatically deducted from the contract account with the provider.

[0006]

In the electronic commerce using the Internet, a method of payment for purchase of intangible (intangible) products such as game software, music software, and other application software will be examined.

[0007] In the purchase of intangible goods based on electronic commerce, the first to third settlement methods described above are generally considered. However, at present, there is no payment system for collecting the fee for information (intangible goods such as game software) distributed for a fee on the Internet safely and easily. The above credit card has a problem in terms of security because the card number is easily stolen. The prepaid card needs to be purchased in advance, and the place of purchase is unclear and inconvenient. The payment agency of the above provider,
Due to the heavy burden on the provider side, many providers do not do this, and it is difficult for subscribers of such providers to actually implement this payment system.

As a payment system suitable for intangible goods on the Internet, a payment system using a credit card is considered to be most desirable from the viewpoint of satisfying conditions of safety, convenience, and versatility. But,
According to current credit cards, it is not possible to dispel the negative image of credit number theft.

Therefore, there is a demand for a credit card payment system that can be used by improving a credit card so as to be suitable for a payment system for electronic commerce of intangible goods on the Internet.

[0010] In order to use a credit card settlement system in electronic commerce such as intangible goods using the Internet, it is important to consider the following points. In other words, on the assumption that theft of the credit card number cannot be completely prevented, even if the theft occurs and the owner of the credit card is damaged, the damage is minimized. That is. Further, for example, when it is assumed that a junior high school student or a high school student obtains game software, music software, or the like, an e-commerce credit card whose amount is limited meets the demands of society.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fixed-rate electronic credit card system suitable for settlement such as purchase of intangible small-sized goods in electronic commerce using the Internet in view of the above demands.

[0012]

The flat-rate electronic credit card system according to the present invention is configured as follows to achieve the above object.

A flat-rate electronic credit card system according to the present invention (corresponding to claim 1) is constructed from a credit card application website, at least one intangible merchandise sales website, and a financial institution. The credit card application website accepts an application for membership registration from the user via the Internet, receives user identification information, registers the user as a member, provides an ID and password to the user who has become a member, Provide a credit card entity with a fixed amount.
The intangible product sales website is, for example, a software sales website of a software sales company. This intangible merchandise sales website sells intangible merchandise via the Internet and is affiliated with the entity that operates the credit card application website, and sells intangible merchandise based on the recorded balance of the credit card entity. Sell to users. The financial institution has a user account and has an affiliation with the business entity to pay for the usage of the credit card entity. In the above configuration,
The user who gets the credit card entity,
Access an intangible merchandise sales website via the Internet and purchase intangible merchandise via the Internet within the credit balance of the credit card entity.

In the above system configuration, the intangible product is preferably any one of game software, music software, data relating to an electronic book, and application software similar thereto (corresponding to claim 2).

Further, in the above system configuration, preferably, the user is a minor such as a junior high school student or a high school student, and the electronic credit card entity for which a fixed amount is set is a small transaction credit card entity ( (Corresponding to claim 3).

In the above system configuration, preferably, the amount set in the small transaction credit card entity is characterized by being determined assuming an expected transaction amount for a certain period (corresponding to claim 4). . Further, the credit card entity is a tangible credit card, and the credit card is sent from the business entity to a user who has become a member after the membership registration (corresponding to claim 5).

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an overall organizational structure showing a relationship between a user and a related organization (business entity or company) for realizing a fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a credit card application website. FIG. 3 is a time-series relationship diagram for explaining an application procedure, an electronic credit card acquisition process, and a product order / purchase process. FIG. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, when constructing a fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to the present embodiment,
At least one business entity that issues at least one flat-rate electronic credit card (flat-rate electronic credit card issuing business) 11, and a plurality of software sales companies that have an alliance with this business entity 11 regarding the use of flat-rate electronic credit cards 12, financial institutions (banks, post offices, etc.) 13 that have an alliance in connection with direct debit are involved. The fixed-rate electronic credit card according to the present embodiment has a role equivalent to an existing real credit card, but is used for settlement of electronic commerce relating to sale and purchase of intangible goods on the Internet 14. Therefore, they are not exactly the same. The difference is that, first, the electronic credit card according to the present embodiment cannot be used with an unlimited amount, and the upper limit of the amount that can be paid in advance in consideration of the probability of the credit card number being stolen on the Internet 14. Is set as a flat-rate electronic credit card. Second, the electronic credit card can be made as a tangible entity, but the card itself does not need to exist as a tangible entity. In other words, it is sufficient that a function similar to a real credit card is realized in electronic commerce on the Internet 14. In view of the above, the fixed-rate electronic credit card according to the present embodiment is recognized as a credit card entity (a real or virtual entity that can function similarly to an existing credit card). However, for convenience of explanation, the name of "credit card" will be used in the description of the present embodiment.

The above-mentioned fixed-rate electronic credit card is basically used by minors such as elementary school students, junior high school students, high school students, etc., using the Internet 14 to make relatively inexpensive intangible goods such as game software and music software. It is assumed that this is used as a settlement method when purchasing by downloading. In other words, it is considered as a dedicated payment system for small transactions. Therefore, in such a case, the “fixed amount” of the fixed-rate electronic credit card is specifically, for example, 2,000 yen, 5000 yen per month.
Yen, 10,000 yen, etc. With such an amount, even if the credit card number is stolen and the damage is caused, it is considered that the damage is not serious.

It is needless to say that the flat-rate electronic credit card is not limited to minors, but can be made for adults by expanding its use. In this case, the upper limit of the amount determined by the flat-rate electronic credit card is set higher according to its economic power. However, even in this case, considering the leakage or theft of the credit card number on the Internet, it is not desirable to set the upper limit of the amount unlimited.

A flat-rate electronic credit card is suitable as a settlement method for buying and selling relatively small intangible goods that can be transmitted and received on the Internet 14. Examples of intangible products include game software and music software as described above for minors, learning software, information software, and software similar to these. For adults,
Hobby software, e-books, accounting software, and any other application software can be considered. Therefore, as a website for selling intangible goods, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of software sales companies 12 that sell various kinds of software are shown. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that each of a plurality of software sales companies 12 sells different software. Moreover, these software sales companies 12
Establish a special sales store website on the Internet 14 and sell the software to be sold on the Internet 1
The sales are provided in such a manner as to be provided to the purchaser (consumer) by downloading via the Internet 4. Software sales company 1
2 forms an affiliation 17 in which an application is made to the business entity 11 and the use of the flat-rate electronic credit card is permitted with the business entity 11 in order to enable the purchase of a product by using the flat-rate electronic credit card.

The financial institution 13 has an alliance with the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business 11. When the fixed-rate electronic credit card issued by the business entity 11 to the user (member) is used for purchasing a product, the payment amount is deducted from the user's account. In this case, the user's account is provided in the financial institution 13 in advance. Business entity 1
1 and the financial institution 13, a card use report 15 is issued for the issued fixed-rate electronic credit card. The card use report 15 includes, for example, a credit card number related to the issued fixed-rate electronic credit card,
It includes the account number, the name and address of the account holder (user), the set amount of the card, the card balance after use, and the like.

In the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, several users 16 are shown. The user 16 is the business entity 11
It is assumed that the member has applied for the use of the flat-rate electronic credit card system and the provision of the services provided thereby. Multiple users 16
Each of them accesses the website of the business entity 11 via the Internet 14 and applies for the provision of a service by a flat-rate electronic credit card (procedure P1
1) With this, the member is registered, and at that time, a fixed-rate electronic credit card is issued (procedure P12). At this time, at the same time, an account for paying a fee for using the fixed-rate electronic credit card is set (procedure P13 and the above-mentioned card use report 15). The user 16 registered as a member can purchase intangible goods such as game software and music software via the Internet 14 within the balance of the fixed-rate electronic credit card issued to him / her. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the user 16 accesses a sales website of one of the software sales companies 12 to place an order for product purchase (procedure P14). At that time, the user 16 provides information specifying itself and information on the fixed-rate electronic credit card. In response, the software sales company 12 downloads the software desired to be purchased to the computer of the user 16 via the Internet 14 (procedure P15). Thereafter, the software sales company 12 withdraws the product price from the designated account of the user 16 at the financial institution 13 (procedure P16). The software sales company pays a part of the product price to the card issuer 11 as a card usage fee (procedure P17). As described above, a fixed-rate electronic credit card system is constructed as a settlement system in electronic commerce for intangible goods using the Internet 14.

Flat-rate electronic credit card issuing business 11
, A member database 18 for managing data such as personal identification and usable amount of the user 16 registered as a member, and data such as company identification and software sales information of the affiliated software sales company 12. A company database 19 for management is provided.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, a process concerning an example of application and use of a fixed-rate electronic credit card will be described.

In FIG. 2, the exchange (procedure) between the user 16, the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business 11 and the software sales company 12 is shown more specifically. Since the exchange between them is performed via the Internet 14, the user 16 actually has an Internet terminal 16A, the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business 11 has a credit card application website 11A, and the software sales company 12 has a software sales web. This is an exchange with the site 12A. In the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business entity 11, the first procedure is a flat-rate electronic credit card application procedure, and thus the name is referred to as a credit card application website 11A. Actually, as shown in FIG. 3, the website 11A of the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business entity 11 is provided with an application server 11a and a product order server 11b.

The application process will be described. The user 16 accesses the Internet terminal 16A to apply for a membership registration to receive the fixed-rate electronic credit card service (procedure P21). Upon accepting this access, the website 11A, specifically the server 11a shown in FIG. 3, sends a homepage for application (application input page) to the Internet terminal 1.
It is displayed on the screen 6A (procedure P22). On this application input page, a registration screen for becoming a member is displayed as a condition for receiving the flat-rate electronic credit card service. On the application input page, information for specifying the user is written in the entry specification column (procedure P2
3). Items to be written include the name, address,
Phone number, debit bank, account number, email address, etc. Further, the user also gives selection information on the amount set by the fixed-rate electronic credit card. After providing this information, the acceptance is completed, and as soon as the account and balance are confirmed and registered at the financial institution 13 (procedure P41), the user 16 is notified that the registration as a member has been completed. A flat-rate electronic credit card is issued (procedure P24). In this case, an ID and password unique to the user are notified to the user 16 as information necessary for using the fixed-rate electronic credit card. At the same time, the information regarding the member registration is also notified to the software sales company 12 as necessary (procedure P
25). As described above, the membership registration for using the fixed-rate electronic credit card and the application process for issuing the fixed-rate electronic credit card are completed.

In the above-described application method, the configuration has been described in which the registration procedure is performed by directly writing necessary information to an application input page prepared in the application server 11a. However, this application procedure is not limited to the above process. For example, a user may apply for membership registration by giving information of only name and address by e-mail,
Thereafter, a formal application form is sent from the flat-rate electronic credit card issuing business entity 11 to have the necessary information filled in, and after checking and registering the account and balance at the financial institution based on the returned application form, the member Registration can be completed.

The fixed-rate electronic credit card issued by the business entity 11 can be made as a tangible card, similar to an existing real credit card, and sent to the member user by mail, or simply by the Internet. It is also possible to configure and issue a virtual credit card that can be used on 14.

The service can be provided using the fixed-rate electronic credit card issued as described above. Next, a mode of using the fixed-rate electronic credit card will be described with reference to FIG. The user 16 who has become a member accesses the website 11A of the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business entity 11 again from the Internet terminal 16A (procedure P31). This access is an access for purchasing a product. In this access, as shown in FIG. 3, the server 11b for ordering goods is accessed. The software product order homepage 21 is opened by the server 11b. When an ID and a password are entered in the entry fields of the member ID and the password provided on the software product order homepage 21, the product sales homepages (software sales website) of all the software sales companies 12 registered based on the alliance are entered. 12
A) is shown based on the link relationship. So user 1
6 selects the product sales homepage of any software sales company 12, and moves to the software sales website 12A based on the link relationship (procedure P32). Next,
A product display / order acceptance page is presented from the software sales website 12A to the Internet terminal 16A of the user 16 (procedure P33). The user 16 looks at the product display / order acceptance page shown on the display screen of the Internet terminal and selects a software product desired to be purchased.
At the same time as placing an order, the user is given ID and password information to use his / her fixed-rate electronic credit card for payment (procedure P34). The software sales website 12A receives the order and the information of the fixed-rate electronic credit card,
After checking the credit card usable amount of the user 16 in the server 11b, payment is possible (procedure P4).
2) On condition that the user downloads the order software to the Internet terminal 16A of the user 16 (procedure P35). At the same time, the user 16 is notified of the usage amount (balance) of the fixed-rate electronic credit card. User 16
Is notified to the business entity 11 as well, and the company database 19 is used.
Of the software sales company and the member information in the member database 18 are promptly updated (procedure P36). Thus, the process of purchasing software using the flat-rate electronic credit card is completed.

In FIG. 3, the user is connected to the Internet terminal 1
The above process of operating 6A to purchase a software product using a flat-rate electronic credit card is shown in a structural illustration. The route 31 in FIG. 3 shows the route of the order of the software product described with reference to FIG. The ordered software product is directly downloaded from the product ordering server 12a to the user's Internet terminal 16A. The user is the Internet terminal 1 as shown in the route 32.
It is also possible to directly access the server 12a of the software sales website 12a from 6A to order and purchase software products. However, in this case, the software sales company 12
Is in affiliation with the fixed-rate electronic credit card issuing business entity 11 and permits use of the fixed-rate electronic credit card.

The charge for using the flat-rate electronic credit card is
It is automatically debited from the designated account of the financial institution 13 and remitted to the software sales company 12, and a part of the money is paid to the business entity 11 as a card usage fee. For the usage fee of the fixed-rate electronic credit card, the user shall usually refer to the details on browsing on the website on the Internet or issued by the financial institution 13, and if requested, the user 16 shall bear the issuance fee, postage, etc. Is received, the receipt to which the contribution amount is added is issued to the user 16.

Various modifications are conceivable as usage forms of the fixed-rate electronic credit card. For example, the upper limit of the fixed amount electronic credit card is suppressed so as to be relatively small. Therefore, when purchasing expensive software products, the use becomes inconvenient. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a plurality of fixed-rate electronic credit cards (a plurality of cards).

When a flat-rate electronic credit card is used for small-scale transactions, it is preferable that the amount set by the flat-rate electronic credit card is determined by assuming an expected transaction amount for a certain period, such as one month. If the balance of the account is less than the expected transaction amount in a certain period, the member registration shall be canceled immediately. In this way, losses due to the inability of the software company to collect payments are also considered.
Will not be exceeded.

[0035]

As apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects.

Since the electronic credit card is a fixed-rate electronic credit card with a relatively small upper limit, it is possible to safely and easily purchase intangible products of various kinds of software by using the Internet. In particular, when a minor such as a junior high school student purchases game software or the like, it can be used within the range of pocket money for a junior high school student or the like, which is preferable from the viewpoint of education while securing the safety of electronic settlement.

Further, the software company can provide a sales channel other than the conventional one, and can provide safe, inexpensive and high-quality software. This contributes to the stability of the management of the software company and contributes to the development of cheaper and higher quality software.

A fixed-rate electronic credit card entity having a similar function can be used for electronic payment on the Internet while making use of the advantages of a real credit card which has been conventionally used, and the security and convenience are extremely high. Things.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an overall organizational structure showing a relationship between a related organization (company) and a user for realizing a fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time-series relationship diagram for explaining an application procedure, a credit card acquisition, and a product order / purchase process centered on a credit card application website.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of usage of the fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to the present invention, focusing on the Internet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Flat-rate Electronic Credit Card Issuing Business 12 Software Sales Company 13 Financial Institution 14 Internet 16 Users (Members)

Claims (5)

[Claims] An application for membership registration is received from a user, and the user is registered as a member by receiving input of user identification information. An ID and a password are presented to the user who has become a member, and a fixed amount is set. A credit card application website that provides a credit card entity, and an intangible product that is sold via the Internet, and is affiliated with an entity that operates the credit card application website, and At least one intangible merchandise sales website that sells the intangible merchandise to the user based on a balance; and an alliance with the business entity having the user's account for paying the usage of the credit card entity. The credit car The user who has obtained the intangible merchandise accesses the intangible merchandise sales website via the Internet, and uses the ID and the password to store the intangible merchandise within the balance of the credit card entity. A fixed-rate electronic credit card system, wherein the user purchases the Internet via the Internet. 2. The fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to claim 1, wherein the intangible product is any one of game software, music software, data relating to an electronic book, and application software similar thereto. 3. The fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to claim 1, wherein the user is a minor, and the credit card entity for which a fixed amount is set is a small transaction credit card entity. . 4. The fixed-rate electronic credit card system according to claim 3, wherein the amount set in the small transaction credit card entity is determined by assuming an estimated transaction amount for a certain period. 5. The fixed-rate electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the credit card entity is a credit card, and the credit card is sent from the business entity to the user who has become a member after the membership registration. Credit card system.