FI109505B - Use of banking services in a digital cellular radio system - Google Patents

Description

109505

USE OF BANKING SERVICES IN A DIGITAL CELLULAR RADIO SYSTEM The invention relates generally to the utilization of data transmission capabilities provided by a digital cellular radio system. In particular, the invention relates to the utilization of short message type communication to provide banking services to a user of a terminal of a cellular radio system.

10 Many banking services have now come under remote access. For example, a user of a computer with a modem can establish a data connection between their own computer and a computer maintained by a bank and use it to handle common banking issues such as checking their account balance and recent transactions, or paying an invoice. The connection from the user's computer to the bank's computer is then a telephone connection, which may pass through wires in a conventional telephone network or at least in part via radio waves in a mobile telephone system. Some banking services are also available for users who only have a telephone as their communication device. In a conventional telephone banking system, a bank or a telephone operator commissioned by it maintains a so-called. voice service apparatus responsive to DTMF (Dual Tone MultiFrequency) signals transmitted by the user's telephone device 20 corresponding to certain key presses. In response to the user-typed DTMF signal messages, the voice service apparatus generates transaction instructions, which it forwards to the bank;: 'to perform the desired actions on the user's account. Audio: ·, · The service hardware can also play voice messages to the user over a telephone connection,, *. : 25 that it reads from memory or uses a speech synthesizer based on responses from the bank ....: central computer.

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There are some disadvantages to the prior art remote access methods for banking services. Computer and modem are relatively expensive purchases, so they are not suitable for all users. The user of a telephone banking system has to key in: · 'blindly dialing long numbers in the numeric keypad of his phone, especially when paying bills, which gives a high chance of keystroke errors. As the data transfer requires a continuous telephone connection, which is usually charged by the telephone operator, ···. based on the length of the connection time, in-service errors and / or the use of more complex 'E 35 services will increase the cost of using the services.

* 11 · * ·. '·: It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method of providing banking services to users irrespective of time and place. The object of the invention is in particular 2,109,505 that the method according to it is easy to use. It is a further object of the invention to provide a system implementing the method.

The objects of the invention are achieved by transmitting banking services communication between the user and the bank in both directions in short message type messages of a digital cellular radio system.

The method of the invention is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: 10 - transmitting a first short message from the user terminal via a cellular radio network to a short message service center, - routing said short message from a short message service center to a bank and - inserting said first result information into a second short message sent from the user interface server to the short message service center and the cellular radio network. The first first banking service, - transmitting the first result information from said self-service unit to the user interface server;

·. The invention also relates to a rigid system for carrying out the method described above.

The system according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises - at least one digital cellular radio system and at least one short message service center associated therewith, - an interface server for automatically transmitting and receiving short messages, 30 - a communication link between short message service center i - a self-service unit to provide self-service banking, . ·. - a data link for the transmission of information relating to banking services. · · ·. between the core server and the self-service unit, 35 - transmission of the banking application computer and .. - data link transactions and the resulting data:. '· · Sex between the self-service unit and the banking application computer.

3,109,505; The technology of digital cellular radio systems is known as the so-called. Short Message Service, or SMS (Short Message Service), which means the transmission of relatively short character messages between system-related devices without the need for an actual telephone connection. In the method 5 according to the invention, the user generates a short message on his terminal device, which follows a certain syntax and contains the information required by the user for the desired banking service operation. The cellular radio system transmits the short message in a manner known per se to a specific short message service center, from where it is forwarded to a user interface server provided by the bank for this purpose, and therewith to other bank computers 10 implementing the service desired by the user. The response message, by which the bank notifies the user of the desired information and / or acknowledges that the desired action has been performed, is also transmitted as a short message from the bank's computers via the user interface server to the short message center and from the cellular radio system to the terminal. The invention does not require that messages are always exchanged at the initiative of the user 15; in some forms of service, a bank or other entity involved in a payment transaction may start by sending a short message to which the user may respond by sending a response message. Further, the use of some services is preferably via more than one return and / or return message, i.e., the invention does not limit the number of short messages needed to use one service.

In the system of the invention, the user interface server maintained by the bank or one of its authorized entities provides the necessary adaptations if different communication systems: ·. * Short Message Service Centers maintained by kennel operators require a different set of: 25 protocols. In the preferred arrangement, the bank has a so-called. self-service unit: a separate computer for implementing security functions and other features common to all self-service ... services offered to customers. The short message service interface server then performs the necessary protocol conversions between the short message service centers and the data transmission modes used by the self-service unit. The self-service unit is connected to the bank's main * 'computers, the databases of which contain eg customer account information.

: The self-service unit may also have connections to the computers of other entities that may need information to send to the short message service user.

. · · ·. An example of such an entity may be a credit card company.

35

The creation, editing and reading of short messages takes place with the aid of a terminal display, which makes the method according to the invention illustrative and easy to use as compared to simply typing a number sequence with the keys of the telephone 4 109505. Short message services are pre-existing in modern cellular digital cellular radio systems, so the owner of a suitable telephone need not make any new purchases in order to use the method of the invention. At least for the time being, telecoms operators only charge a one-time fee for the delivery of short messages, so the cost to the user is not affected by the amount of input required for one operation or the time spent on composing the message or viewing the information sent by the bank. The short messages are transmitted as signaling and do not require the establishment and maintenance of a continuous telephone connection between the terminal and the base station; short messages can also be transmitted during speech. A short message is usually delivered even in distracted circumstances, as disconnection caused by a momentary disturbance, distraction, or phone shutdown does not destroy the information being transmitted, but rather awaits a better time of transmission.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to an exemplary preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates the system of the invention, Figure 2 illustrates the method of the invention in a site survey and Figure 3 illustrates the method of paying the invoice.

In Figure 1, cellular telephone 10 can operate on either operator A's network 11 or operator's B network 12. Networks 11 and 12 are digital cellular radio systems, e.g., GSM systems (Global System for Mobile telecommunications), whereby operation is governed by the standards of that rigid system. Here, it is assumed that system standards include so-called. implementation of the short message service, i.e., relaying its relatively short string messages between the devices 30 associated with the systems. In GSM systems, the maximum length of a short message, or SMS, is 160 ··· characters. In addition, the system transmits a header :: :: section for each message, containing e.g. details of the sender and intended recipient of the message.

: ·. *. The GSM system does not specify in detail the collection of short messages and · · ·. operation of the short message service center responsible for rolling, which has resulted in '·' 35 that the short message service centers of different operators, or at least the interfaces to them, may operate slightly differently. In the case of Figure 1, each operator maintains its own: · Short Message Service Center (SMSC) 13 and 14.

5 109505

The bank computer hardware 15 comprises a user interface server 16, a self-service unit 17 and a banking application computer 18. The user interface server 16 is typically a computer at the level of an efficient data network server, the self-service unit 17 is typically a so-called. minicomputer-level computer and banking application computer 18 are typically 5 so-called. mainframe computer. The self-service unit 17 and its connection to the banking application computer 18 are known per se, for example, in connection with terminal banking services. The terminal bank customers 19 may be in direct contact with the self-service unit if so-called terminal services are used in the terminal service. VT 100 or 3270 emulation or other suitable terminal emulation. Preferably, the connection between the self-service unit 17 and the user interface 10 server 16 is a TCP / IP socket connection known per se or an X.25 connection.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the short message service centers 13 and 14 of both operators A and B are connected via a known X.25 public network to the UI 16. The invention does not require any standard interface between the short message service centers and the UI. with various short message service centers.

The self-service unit 17 in Figure 1 also communicates with a credit card company 20 in a manner known per se. This connection is intended for use in connection with credit card information inquiries, i.e. self-service unit 17 may send a credit card - ;: · to the company's 20 computers for a specific customer, the latter responding by sending credit information related to that customer's credit card: 25 for an agreed period.

Figure 2 illustrates a preferred procedure for implementing a balance survey in the system of Figure 1. In a first step 21, the user poses a terminal message containing information necessary to identify the user, as well as a command section by which the message can be interpreted as meaning a balance message. The short message must follow a predetermined format in order to be processed by computers. A preferred form of a short message is the prefix: ·. ·. ·: · '35 AAAAAAXXXXT, (1) where AAAAAA stands for the user's six-character user name, XXXX stands for the user's four-character password, and T is a single character 6 109505 part of the command. Here, it is assumed that in the short message service agreement with the bank, the user has specified that the balance queries provided without an account number are directed to a specific so-called. master account. If you would like to use the balance of another account belonging to him, he could write a short message, for example, 5 AAAAAAXXXXT111111 -222222, (2) where 111111-222222 represents the account number you want.

10 Because most users, at least with the current set of devices, have to write short messages using the number keys 0 to 9 and so-called. text mode, the predetermined formats of short messages are preferably kept as short as possible. Because of this, it has been stated above that the length of a command section is only one character. In practice, for example, it is possible to allow both a specific character as a command element and a specified command word beginning with it, since it is easier for many users to remember whole words than single characters. The user does not need to include the mobile phone number of his / her terminal in the short message as it is automatically transmitted in the header of the short message.

In step 22, the user sends a short message that is directed to the base station of the cellular radio system, thence to the mobile switching center, further to the short message service center, and finally to the bank user interface server serving as the recipient of the short message. The recipient is identified during the sending of a short message by entering the recipient's ID number. It's a good idea to book a short one from everyone. ': 25 message service or intervening operators for the same identification number for the service of the invention so that the user does not have to use a different number depending on which operator's network he is operating on. Step 22 includes all the steps known per se for the cellular radio system to ensure the delivery of a short message in all circumstances. For example, if the sender's terminal is temporarily out of range and does not receive a proper signaling connection to any base station, the short message · '' 'is stored in the terminal's memory and retransmitted at regular intervals until successful.

··. In step 23, the user interface server redirects the balance request contained in the short message to the bank's self-service unit, which checks that the username and password contained in the message match and that the user identified by the username is entitled to the short message service of the invention. At the same time, the self-service unit adds the user's main account number to the balance request, if the query does not include the account number.

7 109505

In step 24, the self-service unit submits a database balance request to a banking application computer in a manner known per se, which returns the desired balance in response to the query. In step 25, the self-service unit generates a response message, which may be, for example, 5 USER AAAAAA ACCOUNT 111111-222222 BALANCE +3333.44 DATE DD.MM.YYYY TIME HH: MM HAVE A NICE DAY, (3) where AAAAAA is the user ID, 111111-222222 is the number of the nu-10 account (you do not need to use a hyphen for short messages), +3333.44 is the account balance obtained from your banking application computer, DD.MM.YYYY is the date of the query and HH: MM is the time of the query. The self-service unit delivers the message in question via TCP / IP socket to the user interface server, which in step 26 delivers it as a short message through the short message service center, mobile 15 link center and base station to the user terminal. Step 26 again contains all the steps known per se for a cellular radio system to ensure the delivery of a short message in all circumstances. In addition, it is advantageous to include in the subject or message body of the short message sent to the terminal any identification number or other information as to which balance request this response message is associated with, since if delivery of 20 response messages is delayed, it may otherwise be difficult for the user to identify. In step 27, the user reads the received short message.

Figure 3 shows a preferred method of paying a bill in the system of Figure 1: 25. The first step 31 corresponds to step 21 of Figure 2 in that the user writes on his terminal a short message containing the necessary information to identify the user and a command portion based on which the message can be interpreted as a request for payment of the bill. The format of the short message may be the same as the above form (1), except that the command part is another letter or word. Step 32 corresponds to step 22 of Figure 2, i.e., the user transmits a short message to a cellular radio base station, thence to a mobile switching center, v: further to a short message service center, and finally to a bank interface server: ·. ·. which acts as the recipient of the short message. In step 33, the user interface service · · · ·. Iin directs the bill payment request to the self-service unit, which verifies the compatibility of the username and password and the user's privileges. In step 34, the self-service unit forms a so-called. for example, the following: '• I string: 8 109505 USR: AAAAAA PW: _N 1: 1111 N2: _AC: 222222-333333 REC: _AM: _DUE: _REF: _MSG: (4) Here the abbreviations USR, PW, Nl , N2, AC, REC, AM, DUE, REF, and MSG are invoice-5 payment template field names. In step 35, the bill payment template (4) is transmitted as a short message to the user terminal.

In step 36, the user opens the received bill payment template for editing. In the USR field, the self-service unit has placed a user ID that it has read on the invoice payment request sent by the user. In the PW field, the user enters his password. In the N1 field, the self-service unit has placed a so-called. seed number, whereupon the user looks at the seed and response number list he has previously received and writes it to the N2 field. In the AC field, the self-service unit has placed the user's main account number. If a user wishes to receive a bill from mak-15 from another account, he / she can at this point replace that number with the account number of his / her choice. In the REC field, the user enters the payee's account number and the amount to be paid in the AM field. In the DUE field, the user can enter the due date for the payment. If the user wants to pay the invoice immediately, they can leave the DUE field blank. In the REF field the user can enter the payment reference number and in the MSG-20 field a short text message to the payee. In many banking applications, only one of the above information can be related to an invoice, so if a user enters a reference number, he or she cannot write the message and vice versa. The length of the text message in the method according to the invention is limited by the fact that the length of the short message according to GSM standards may not exceed 160 characters, and 25 ..,.: Once the user has entered the required information on the billing template, In step 37, the entire string thus obtained is sent as a short message to the bank user interface server. Step 37 again includes all steps known per se

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The lock radio system strives to ensure the delivery of a short message in all circumstances. In step 38, the bank's user interface server receiving the short message controls the billing information contained in the short message to the bank's self-service unit, which \:: verifies that the username and password contained in the message and the seed number and response are correct and that the user identified by the username In step 39, the self-service * '35 unit presents, in a manner known per se, a database-based payment transaction instruction to the bank application computer, which in response to the instruction initiates a payment transaction and:. based on the response, an acknowledgment message, which may be, for example, the following string:

USER: AAAAAA ACCOUNT 111111-222222 PAYED TO ACCOUNT 5 333333-444444 AMOUNT 3333.44 DATE DD.MM.YYYY TIME HH: MM

REF 5 66666 77777 HAVE A NICE DAY (4) Here AAAAAA is the user ID, 111111-222222 is the account number debited, 333333-444444 is the account number credited, 3333.44 is the amount paid, 10 DD.MM.YYYY is the due date, HH: MM is the payment time and 5 66666 77777 is the payment reference number. In step 41, the string in question is transmitted as a short message to the user terminal as described above, and in step 42 the user reads the received short message and thus receives the payment upon delivery.

15 An alternative bill payment method is based on the fact that the user terminal's memory means (for example, a SIM card of a GSM phone) have a bill payment template stored therein, so that the bank's computer system self-service does not have to send it as a short message. Other ready-made short word-20 map templates may also be stored in the memory of the terminal, in which the user simply fills in the additional information needed at any given time. This saves the user the hassle of typing, especially when he wants to use the same banking service several times in a row, for example paying several bills in a row.

: · The invoice payment method described above assumes that the user knows the contents of the advance invoice: the payee's account number, the invoice amount, the reference number and the due date. This information can also be delivered to the user as a short message, in which case it is a so-called. electronic invoice. A billing entity, such as a telephone operator, may send the user a short message containing the above billing information.

'' This short message can be used directly by the user as a basis for an invoice payment short message, 30 without having to re-enter the invoice information.

v: It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the above strings have the form:. ·. and exemplary in composition. Similarly, the above banking services are merely examples of how the method and system of the present invention may be utilized to provide various services to users using a cellular digital cellular radio system or the like; a terminal capable of sending and receiving. For example, in addition to the account balance, a response to a balance request may include as many recent account transactions as the 10,109,505 short messages can fit. The user may also request a specific form of short message about payment information related to his credit card, whereupon the bank's computer system self-service unit will, on request, retrieve the desired information from the credit card company's computer and send it as a short message to the user's terminal. The credit-5 card information query requesting the self-service unit to obtain this information is similar to the short message (1) above for the user, except that a specific letter or word for the credit card inquiry is provided as a command. If the customer has multiple credit cards, he / she may enter the desired credit card number as a parameter in his / her short message in the same way as in the short message (10) above.

The number of send and receive messages associated with a particular service is in no way related to each other. Thus, a user may send more than one message related to a particular service, and on the other hand, the system may respond to the user with more than one message.

Other banking services for which the method of the invention is applicable include investment services. The user may save in the bank's computer system self-service unit the price limits of the securities of interest to which he would like to be notified on the stock exchange. When the price of the security in question exceeds or falls below a set limit, the self-service unit generates a message to this effect and sends it as a short message to the user terminal. The user may also use other short messages of a certain format. * · * To subscribe to a new service or to unsubscribe from an existing service. If the user also uses terminal banking services: * ·: 25 telephone banking services and / or other forms of self-service, the above-mentioned user IDs • ♦;: Why, passwords, and seed and response listings are the same for all, \ these services eliminating the need for IDs. Sa, ·: ·, the club saves memory space in the bank's self-service unit, since there is no need to store several different recognition mechanisms per user.

30 "Further services for which the invention is applicable are the follow-up to account transactions' '', bank statement brokerage, payment service searches, loan related services! '·': Queries and announcements and repayment plans, '*'; (account numbers and balances), subscription services, currency and stock exchange services, and marketing services Since short message service is not dependent on the location of the terminal * · (as long as the terminal is within the coverage of the cellular radio system), the invention provides all the services described above. use also from foreign countries.

11 109505

In order to protect banking secrecy, encryption may be used for short messages. A preferred embodiment is based on a so-called "sp. public key encryption, in which a message to be sent to a particular recipient can be encrypted using that recipient's public key so that the encrypted message is only opened using the 5 private keys of the same recipient. The digital cellular radio subscriber terminal or associated smart card may include a microprocessor having at least a user's secret key and a bank public key stored therein, as well as algorithms stored in encryption. Short messages sent by the user are routed through an encryption processor that encrypts them using the bank's public key. The encrypted information is only opened on the computer of 10 banks, which knows the bank's secret key. Similarly, the bank's computer stores, among other information about the user, the user's public key, which is used by the bank computer to encrypt short messages sent to the user before they are sent. In order to open an encrypted message, it must then route in the terminal through an encryption processor that applies the user's secret key 15 to decrypt it.

It would also be possible to include in the method and the waste system of the invention a feature whereby the user can only access the service from a particular terminal. The terminals of digital cellular radio systems include in their short messages the identity of the transmitting terminal. The user may agree with the bank that the user interface server will also provide this information to the self-service unit along with other information, in which case the self-service unit will check whether the short message has been sent from the correct terminal in addition to the items described above. With this estet-t. ί unauthorized use of the service in a situation where the user ID and password · 25 and possibly the seed and response count list have gone into the wrong hands but the terminal has not. The disadvantage is the limitation of the user's capabilities, j. since he then needs a particular terminal or at least a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in order to use short message * banking services.

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Claims (5)

12 109505 A method for accessing banking services via a digital cellular radio system, comprising the steps of: - generating, in the user terminal (10), a first short message from the user-provided key-5 commands, - transmitting said first short message from the user terminal (10) to a cellular radio network. , 12) routing said short message from the short message service center (13, 14) to the bank interface server (16), 10. transmitting the information contained in the first short message from the user interface server (16) to the bank self-service unit (17), on the basis of a certain first banking service, - transmitting the first information about the result of said first banking service from the bank's self-service unit (17) to the user interface server (16), and - including said first output information to the second short message transmitted from the user interface server (16) via the short message service center (13, 14) and the cellular radio network (11, 12) to the user terminal (10). A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said first banking service is a query, wherein in response to receiving information contained in the first short message, a database query (24) is applied to the identified user account based on said information. V *! 25 A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said en-; ·: Simmainc's banking service is by nature a template, whereby "· t. - in response to the receipt of the information contained in the first short message, identifies. ·: ·. inserting said message template as a first result information in a second short message ',.' country transmitted (35) from the user interface server to the short message service center; · 'and through the cellular radio network to the user terminal, - forwarding (37) from the user terminal short message via cellular radio network to short message service center, - routing said third short message from short message service center to bank ': * * user interface server, 109505 - forwarding information contained in the third short message to user interface server 5. relaying a second result information describing the result of said second banking service from the bank self-service unit to a user interface server, and to the user's terminal. 10 A method according to claim 3, characterized in that said second banking service is a payment, whereby a payment transaction (39) is performed on the basis of said information in response to receiving the information contained in the third short message, the result describing information being included as second result information in the fourth short message. A system for accessing banking services via a digital cellular radio station, comprising: - at least one digital cellular radio system (11, 12) and at least one short message service center (13, 14) associated therewith, - a user interface server (16) for automatically transmitting short messages. and. for receiving, t H1 '' y \ - for transmitting short messages between the short message service center <* · '·' and the user interface server, to provide self-service banking services of the 25. self-service unit (17), - for communicating information relating to banking services; between the core server and the self-service unit; '· *: - Banking application computer (18), and - Transmission of data link transactions and resulting data. ·. 30 sex between a self-service unit and a banking application computer. • · ► * · l I * I I · t t * «I I I t lllll» I 14 109505