The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 15, 2008
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2000
Peter Brune, Bonn, DE;
Patrik Ljungström, Königswinter, DE;
Uwe Michel, Bad Honnef, DE;
Jörg Rass, Freehan Königsdorf, DE;
Leonhard Schmickler, Bonn, DE;
Peter Brune, Bonn, DE;
Patrik Ljungström, Königswinter, DE;
Uwe Michel, Bad Honnef, DE;
Jörg Rass, Freehan Königsdorf, DE;
Leonhard Schmickler, Bonn, DE;
T-Mobile Deutschland GmbH, Bonn, DE;
Abstract
A method is provided for a mobile telephone users to pay small individual fees for certain content when surfing the Internet using a mobile telephone terminal, for example, a WAP-enabled terminal. The method establishes a payment gateway which is accessible by the mobile telephone Internet user via the mobile telephone terminal and by a provider via a provider server. Customer data of the user is held securely in a database of the payment gateway and is not transmitted over the Internet or held in the mobile terminal. A micropayment account opened at a bank is synchronized continuously with the payment gateway. To provide payment of fees for content, a reservation of a certain amount is made in the payment account via the payment gateway and is authorized by the user to the provider allowing the provider to debit amounts against the reservation. Actual charges are transmitted from the provider to the payment gateway and allocated against the reservation debiting the amounts from the micropayment account, crediting the provider and canceling the reserved amount.