WO2005071988A1

WO2005071988A1 - Customer certification system based on position and a method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2005071988A1
Application number: PCT/KR2005/000053
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyeong-Mug Yoo
Original assignee: Hyeong-Mug Yoo
Priority date: 2004-01-12
Filing date: 2005-01-08
Publication date: 2005-08-04

Abstract

Disclosed is a customer certification system based on position and a method thereof. According to the customer certification method of the present invention, the respective geographical positions of a customer terminal connected by a customerto the network and a mobile terminal of the customer are determined, and the customer connected to the network is certificated as a real purchaser when the determined geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal are identical to each other.

Description

Description CUSTOMER CERTIFICATION SYSTEM BASED ON POSITION AND A METHOD THEREOF Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a customer certification system based on position and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a customer certification system based on positions of a customer terminal connected to a network and mobile terminal of a user who uses the customer terminal, and method thereof. Background Art

[2] The development of the information technology accompanied the development of the network such as the Internet, and the development of the Internet vitalizes the selling market. In other words, as the network develops, a user can purchase the products while he/she recognizesthe products without visiting the market in person, and such a convenience of purchasing activity stimulates the desire to buy the products to vitalize the selling market and contributes to the development of the economy.

[3] The most important subject in purchasing the product on the network is to certificate the purchaser of the productand charge the price of the product. For such a work, a credit information company refers the resident registration number and thename of the customer who wants to buy the product through the network in order to confirm the real name of the customer. However, such a real name confirmation method only confirms the identity of the resident registration number with the name, and has the shortcoming that the real customer cannot be confirmed if a stolen resident registration number and the name are used.

[4] In order to prevent such a problem, a customer certification method using the mobile terminal such as a cellular phone or a Personal Digital Assistant PDA has been proposed. In the customer certification method using the mobile terminal, when the customer wants to buy a product, the customer has to input the identification number, i.e., the telephone number, of the mobile terminal and the resident registration number to the connected shopping website, receives a certification number with the mobile terminal through the short message service SMS from the website, and inputs the received certification number again to the website to certificating the customer himself/herself.

[5] However, such a customer certification method has the problem that the customer information is liable to be exposed to a third party as the resident registration number of the customer has to be input whenever he/she wants to buy a product. Furthermore, the customer has to perform the input process at least twice whenever he/she wants to buy a product, and that makes the customer feel inconvenient. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[6] The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above problems, and it is the object of the present invention to provide a customer certification system and method thereof that can reduce the probability of exposure of the customer information to the third party and remove the inconvenience of inputting the certification number for every purchasing activity. Technical Solution

[7] To achieve the above-described objects, the present invention provides a method for certificating a customer based on position, comprising: (a) a requesting step that a contents provider server requests a customer certification server to determine a geographical position of customer terminal connected to a network and a geographical position of a mobile terminal of the customer that uses the customer terminal; (b) a comparing step that the contents provider server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal with the geographical position of the mobile terminal determined by the customer certification server; and (c) a certificating step that the contents provider server certificates the customer who is in login status through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal are identical to each other.

[8] It is preferable that the method further comprises a searching step that the contents provider server searches a locationof the customer terminal on the network. In such a situation, the customer certification server determines the geographical position of the customer terminal based on the location of the customer terminal on the network.

[9] Here, the geographical position of the mobile terminal is preferably determined by cell as a cell closest to the mobile terminal is searched, or by a global positioning system GPS.

[10] Further, the geographical position of the customer terminal is preferably determined according to a searched Internet Protocol IP address of the customer terminal.

[11] According to another aspect of the present invention, the method for certificating a customer based on position comprises: (a) an input window providing step that a server prepared to certificate the customer provides a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of the customer; (b) a searching step that the server searches a location of the customer terminal connected thereto on the network; (c) a determining step that the server determines respective geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal based on the searched location of the customer terminal on the network and the input information about the mobile terminal; (d) a comparing step that the server compares the determined geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal with each other; and (e) a certificating step that the server certificates the customer connected through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other.

[12] According to still another aspect of the present invention, the method for certificating a customer based on position comprises: (a) an input window providing step that a contents provider server provides a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of the customer; (b) a requesting step that the contents provider server requests a customer certification server to determine a geographical position of the mobile terminal based on the input information and the geographical position of the customer terminal; (c) a comparing step that the customer certification server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal and the geographical position of the mobile terminal that are determined by the request with each other; and (e) a certificating step that the customer certification server certificates the customer connected through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other.

[13] It is preferable that the method further comprises (e) a searching step that the contents provider server searches the Internet Protocol IP address of the customer terminal. Here, in the requesting step (b), the geographical position of the customer terminal is requested to be determined according to the searched U* address in the searching step (e).

[14] According to the method for certificating a customer based on a position, a system is provided, which comprises: a main server for providing a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of the customer; a customer terminal search server for searching a location of the customer terminal on the network; and a position determination server for deteπxiining the geographical positions of customer terminal and the mobile terminal based on the location of the customer terminal on the network searched by the customer terminal search server and the information about the mobile terminal input to the main server. Here, one of the main server and the position determination server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal determined by the position determination server and the geographical position of the mobile terminal with each other, and certificates the customer as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other. [15] According to the system and method for customer certification based on position, when the customer purchases a product and pays for the product, the probability of exposure of the customer information to the third party is reduced and the inconvenience of inputting the certification number for every purchasing activity is removed. Brief Description of the Drawings

[16] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of oneexample of the customer certification system based on position according to the present invention,

[17] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one example of the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 1,

[18] FIG. 3 is a flow chartof another example of the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 1,

[19] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the customer certification system based on position according to the present invention, and

[20] FIG. 5 is a flow chartof the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 4. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[21] Hereinbelow, the customer certification system and method according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[22] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the customer certification system based on position according to the present invention. Referring to the figure, the customer certification system based on position is comprised of a customer terminal 10, a network 20, a contents provider CP server 30, a certification server 40, a wireless communication network 50, and a mobile terminal 60 of a customer. Here, the contents provider server 30 is subscribed in the certification server 40 as a member, and the description about the judgment whether subscribed as the member by the certification server 40, etc. is omitted.

[23] The customer can connect to the contents provider server 30 through the customer terminal 10 and the network 20. Here, the contents provider server 30 includes a variety of servers such as a shopping mall server for providing a shopping mall on the network 20 to sell the products, and an education contents provider server for providing the online lectures by moving picture about the English, Japanese or any other kinds of education. In that situation, the contents provider server 30 is equipped with a main server 32 and a customer terminal search server 34.

[24] The main server 32 provides the customer terminal 10 connected thereto through the network 20 with an input window for inputting the information about the mobile terminal 60 including the identification number of the mobile terminal 60 of the customer and the name of the customer. Here, the mobile terminal 60 includes a cellular phone, personal communication services PCS, PDA, International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 P T-2000, or the like, and the respective mobile terminals 60 have identification numbers of their own. The identification numbers assigned to the respective mobile terminals 60 can be the product numbers assigned during the manufacturing process of the mobile terminals 60 or the telephone numbers assigned after sold to the customers.

[25] Furthermore, when the customer subscribes to the corresponding website as a member, the main server 32 makes the customer input the information of the mobile terminal 60 only when he/she subscribesto the website and stores the information input by the customer in a database server (not shown) as a database to remove the inconvenience to input the information about the mobile terminal 60 whenever the customer connects to the website.

[26] The customer terminal search server 34 searches the address on the network of the customer terminal 10 connected to the network 20. Generally, the address of the customer terminal 10 on the network is called Internet Protocol TJ* address, and the address on the network can be expressed according to IPv4 or IPv6. Here, the customer terminal search server 34 is prepared in the contents provider server 30, however, the location of the customer terminal search server 34 is not confined as such, and the customer terminal search server 34 can be prepared in the certification server 40 described below.

[27] The certification server 40 generally has the customer terminal recognition server 42 and a mobile terminal recognition server 44.

[28] The customer terminal recognition server 42 determines the geographical position of the customer terminal 10 on the basis of the address of the customer terminal 10 on the network searched by the customer terminal search server 34. For example, the address of the customer terminal 10 on the network can be expressed as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx when the address of the customer terminal 10 on the network is expressed by IPv4, and the respective xxx can be expressed by the numbers from zero to 255. In that situation, the respective numbers include the information about the privatelP or public TJ*, the router information, or the like, and accordingly, the geographical position of the customer terminal 10 can be recognized by the respective number. In order to determine the position of the customer terminal 10 through the TJ* address, the customer terminal search server 34 (or the customer terminal recognition server 42) can have a separate database including the information about the router information and the location information corresponding to the router information. Accordingly, the customer terminal search server 34 (or the customer terminal recognition server 42) can determine the geographical position of the customer terminal 10.

[29] Moreover, the geographical position of the customer terminal 10 can be recognized by the cooperation of the customer terminal recognition server 42 with an Internet Service Provider ISP server, that is, by referring to the ISP server for referring the geographical information of the corresponding TJ* address and then receiving the geographical information.

[30] The mobile terminal recognition server 44 determines the geographical position of the mobile terminal 60 of the customer connected thereto through the wireless communication network 50. Here, the wireless communication terminal 50 is managed by the mobile communication service provider, and is substantially comprised of plural devices such as repeaters, base stations, switching stations, artificial satellites, etc., however, they are called as 'wireless communication network'in a united meaning in this specification. The mobile terminal recognition server 44 searches the base station that is closest to the mobile terminal 60 of the customer, and recognizes the position of the mobile terminal 60 by the cell around the base station. Furthermore, when the mobile terminal 60 is equipped with a GPS receiver, the position of the mobile terminal 60 can be recognized with the Global Positional System GPS, in other words, by referring the server in the mobile communication service providing company for the position of the mobile terminal 60 with the error smaller than a few meters due to the GPS receiver. Furthermore, the position of the mobile terminal 60 can also be recognized by the Bluetooth if the mobile terminal 60 is equipped with a Bluetooth module, or by the RFTD tag if the mobileterminal 60 has that function.

[31] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one example of the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 1. The method of customer certification based on position is described in greater detail with reference to the drawings.

[32] The customer can connect to the contents provider server 30 and subscribe as a member using the customer terminal 10. In such a situation, the main server 32 in the contents provider server 30 provides a certain information input window to the customer terminal 10, and the customer inputs the information about the mobile terminal through the information input window provided to the customer. S101. Here, the information about the mobile terminal of the customer includes the identification number (for example, the telephone number) of the mobile terminal 60, the name of the customer who is the subscriber of the mobile terminal 60, etc.

[33] As the customer purchasesa certain product from the contents provider server 30 and requests to pay the price of the purchased product SI 03, the customer terminal search server 34 in the contents provider server 30 searches the position of the customer terminal 10 on the network. SI 05. Here, the position of the customer terminal 10 on the network searched by the customer terminal search server 34 is illustrated as the IP address according to IPv4.

[34] As the TJ* address of the customer terminal 10 is searched by the customer terminal search server 34, the main server 32 requests the certification server 40 to determine the geographical positions of the customer terminal 10 connected through the network and the mobile terminal 60 of the customer. SI 70.

[35] As the request for determining the positions is received from the contents provider server 30, the customer terminal recognition server 42 in the certification server 40 d etermines the geographical position of the customer terminal 10 connected through the network on the basis of the IP address searched by the customer terminal search server 34. For example, in case the IP address of the customer terminal 10 is 192.xxx.xxx.l, the position of the customer terminal 10 can be determined by cell by recognizing the position of the router and searching the corresponding cell. Or, as described above, the position of the customer terminal 10 can be determined on the basis of the geographical position provided by the ISP server by requesting the geographical information of the customer terminal 10 having the corresponding TJ* address to the ISP server.

[36] Furthermore, the mobile terminal recognition server 44 can determine the position of the mobile terminal 60 by searching the closest base station from the mobile terminal 60 and searching the cell corresponding to the base station. Or, the position of the mobile terminal 60 can be determined by the GPS using the artificial satelliteas described above. SI 09.

[37] As the respective geographical positions of the customer terminal 10 and the mobile terminal 60 are determined by the certification server 40, the main server 32 in the contents provider server 30 compares the respective geographical positions to judge whether both are identical to each other. SI 11. In that situation, the certification server 40 can recognize the respective geographical positions by cell such as Seocho-Dong or Shillim-Dong, and in such a case, the main server 32 judges that the respective geographical positions are identical to each other if the locations of the respective determined cells are identical.

[38] When it is judged that the respective geographical positions of the customer terminal 10 and the mobile terminal 60 are identical, the main server32 judges that the customer who has requested to pay the price is a real purchaser and certificate the customer. SI 15. If it is judged that the respective geographical positions of the customer terminal 10 and the mobile terminal 60 are different from each other, the main server 32 judges that the customer who has requested to pay the price is not the real purchaser and informs the customer of the fact that the customer certification is denied. SI 17. [39] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of another example of the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 1.

[40] The customer can connect to the contents provider server 30 through the customer terminal 10 and the network 20, and can purchase the products fromthe connected contents provider server 30. In that situation, if the customer is not the member of the contents provider, the customer can request the contents provider server 30 to perform the charge process with respect to the nonmember customer.

[41] As the request to pay is received from the customer terminal 10, the main server 32 in the contents provider server 30 provides the customer terminal 10 with the information input window so as to receive the information about the mobile terminal 60. S203. Here, the information input by the customer preferably includes the identification number of the mobile terminal and the name of the customer, that is, the subscriber.

[42] As the information about the mobile terminal 60 is input from the customer, the main server 32 transmits the input information about the mobile terminal 60 together with the information about the customer terminal 10 to the certification server 40. S205. Here, the information about the customer terminal 10 means the identification information included in the data received from the customer terminal 10.

[43] The certification server 40 determines the respective geographical positions on the basis of the information about the mobile terminal 10 and the information about the customer terminal 10 received from the contents provider server 30. S207. In such a situation, the certification server 40 searches the TJ* address of the customer terminal 10 on the basis of the identification information of the customer terminal 10, and determines the geographical position of the customer terminal 10 on the basis of the searched TJ* address. The method for determining the respective geographical positions is as described above.

[44] When the respective geographical positions are determined, the certification server 40 compares the respective geographical positions to judge whether those are the same with each other S209, and when it is judged that the respective geographical positions are identical to each other S211, it certificates that the customer who has requested to pay is the real customer. S213. If the compared geographical positions are not identical to each other, the customer who has requested to pay is not certificated as the real customer. S215.

[45] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the customer certification system based on position according to the present invention. Referring to the figure, the customer certification system based on position is comprised of a customer terminal 110, a network 120, a contents provider server 130, a wireless communication network 140, and a mobile terminal 150. The contents provider server 130 is equipped with a main server 132, a customer terminal search server 134, and a recognition server 132.Here, the detailed description about the customer terminal 110, the network 120, the main server 132, the customer terminal search server 134, the wireless communication network 140 and the mobile communication terminal 150 is omitted since the functionsand the constitutions thereof are the same with the customer terminal 10, the network 20, the main server 32, the customer terminal search server 34, the wireless communication network 50 and the mobile terminal 60 shown in FIG. 1.

[46] The recognition server 136 in the contents provider server 130 determines the geographical position of the customer terminal 110 on the basis of the TJ* address of the customer terminal 110 that is searched by the customer terminal search server 134, and determines the geographical position of the mobile terminal 150. The method for determining the respective geographical positions is as described above.

[47] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the customer certification method performed by the customer certification system based on position as shown in FIG. 4. Referring to the figure, when the request to pay is received from the customer terminal 110 connected through the network 120 S301, the main server 132 provides the customer terminal 110 with the input window for inputting the information about the mobile terminal 150. S303.

[48] In such a situation, the customer terminal search server 134 searches the address on the network of the customer terminal 110 connected through the network 120. S305.

[49] The recognition server 136 determines the respective geographical positions on the basis of the position of the customer terminal 110 on the network searched by the customer terminal search server 134 and the information about the mobile terminal 150 received from the customer terminal 110. S307.

[50] As the respective geographical positions are determined by the recognition server 136, the main server 132 in the contents provider server 130 judges whether the determined geographical positions are identical to each other S309, and it certificates the customer who has requested to pay as the real customer when it is judged that the respective geographical positions are identical to each other. S311. It is the same as described above that the customer who has requested to pay is not judged as the real customer if the geographical positions are not identical to each other. S313.

[51] Here, it has been illustrated that the certification method according to the present invention is employed in the paying process for the purchase on the network, however, the present invention is not limited to that field, and can be applied to the determination whether a user who performed the login process to a specific website through the network is an intrinsic user. In other words, the present invention can be applied in certificating a user as an intrinsic user by registering the name and the identification number of the user who has subscribed to the specific website as a member and determining whether the geographical positions of the customer terminal used by the connected user and the registered mobile terminal are identical to each other.

[52] Meanwhile, the respective servers shown and described in the respectiveem- bodiments and the detailed servers included in the respective servers can be constituted by a single server or a few servers. Furthermore, to the contrary, such servers and detailed servers can be constituted by a single server that can perform the overall function of two or more servers. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the customer terminal recognition server 42 and the mobile terminal recognition server 44 can be constituted by a single server, and the customer terminal search server 34 and the customer terminal recognition server 42 can be constituted by a single server, and to the contrary, the customer terminal recognition server 42 can be constituted in detail so as to include a server that performs the determination process as described above and a separate DB server that storesthe data about the positions corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses.

[53] Furthermore, the locations of the servers depicted in the embodiments of the present invention can be changed so that the functions of their own are performed by another party. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1 described above, the customer terminal search server 34 can be located in the contents provider server 30 or in the certification server 40.

[54] Moreover, the scope of the present invention has to be interpreted to include such a modification that the process of one of the servers is performed by other server if the customer who wants the certification can achieve the same result. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the certification server 40 compares the respective geographical positions of the customer terminal 10 and the mobile terminal 60 and the main server 32 certificates the customer according to the comparison result, however, that can be modified such that the certification server 40 itself certificates the customer according to the comparison result.

[55] The embodiment of the present invention exemplifies the locations of the respective detailed servers and the operation subjectsof the servers as the certification service provider and contents provider or the like on the basis of such an idea, however, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to that embodiment, and should be interpreted to include the cases that the same servers arelocated in a different subject or in a third party or a part of operations performed by one server is performed by other server as long as the certification or payment according to the comparison of the position of the mobile terminal and the position of customer terminal. Industrial Applicability [56] The certification method according to the presentinvention can prevent the shortcoming of stealth login to the network with the identification number and password of other person since the user who connects to a specificwebsite is certificated as an intrinsic user only when the geographical position of the mobile terminal of the user is identical to the geographical position of the customer terminal that the user uses to connect to the network.

[57] Furthermore, the user can input only the name and the identification number of the mobile terminal without inputting the private information such as the resident registration number or address when he/she subscribes to the website that employs the customer certification method according to the present invention. Therefore, there is little possibility of exposure of the private information and little inconvenience of repeated certification process every time he/she buys a product.

[58] The preferred embodiments have been illustrated and described so far, however, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and the scope of the present invention, and accordingly, the scope of the presentinvention is not limited within the described range but the following claims and the equivalents thereof.

[59]

Claims

[1] A method for certificating a customer based on position, comprising: (a) a requesting step that a contents provider server requests a customer certification server to determine a geographical position of customer terminal connected to a network and a geographical position of a mobile terminal of the customer that uses the customer terminal; (b) a comparing step that the contents provider server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal with the geographical position of the mobile terminal determined by the customer certification server; and (c) a certificating step that thecontents provider server certificates the customer who is in login status through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal are identical to each other.

[2] Themethod for certificating a customer based on position as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a searching step that the contents provider server searches a location of the customer terminal on the network, wherein the customer certification server determines the geographical position of the customer terminal based on the location of the customer terminal on the network.

[3] The method for certificating a customer based on position as claimed in claim 1, wherein the geographical position of the mobile terminal is determined by cell as a cell closest to the mobile terminal is searched.

[4] The method for certificating a customer based on a position as claimed in claim 1, when the geographical position of the mobile terminal is determined by a global positioning system GPS.

[5] The method for certificating a customer based on position as claimed in any one of claims 1 through 4, wherein the geographical position of the customer terminal is determined according to a searched Internet Protocol TJ* address of the customer terminal.

[6] A method for certificating a customer based on position, comprising: (a) an input window providing step that a server prepared to certificate thecustomer provides a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of the customer; (b) a searching step that the server searches a location of the customer terminal connected thereto on the network; (c) a determining step that the server determines respective geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal based on the searched location of the customer terminal on the network and the input information about the mobile terminal; (d) a comparing step that the server compares the determined geographical positions of the customer terminal and the mobile terminal with each other; and (e) a certificating step that the server certificates the customer connected through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other.

[7] A method for certificating a customer based on position, comprising: (a) an input window providing step that a contents provider server provides a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of the customer; (b) a requesting step that the contents provider server requests a customer certification server to determine a geographical position of the mobile terminal based on the input information and the geographical position of the customer terminal; (c) a comparing step that the customer certification server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal and the geographical position of the mobile terminal that are determined by the request with each other; and (e) a certificating step that the customer certification server certificates the customer connected through the customer terminal as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other.

[8] The method for certificating a customer based on a position as claimed in claim 7, further comprising (e) a searching step that the contents provider server searches the Internet Protocol TJ* address of the customer terminal, wherein, in the requesting step (b), the geographical position of the customer terminal is requested to be determined according to the searched TJ* address in the searching step (e).

[9] The system for certificating a customer based on a position, comprising: a main server for providing a customer terminal connected thereto through a network with an input window for inputting an information about a mobile terminal of thecustomer; a customer terminal search server for searching a location of the customer terminal on the network; and a position determination server for determining the geographical positions of customer terminal and the mobile terminal based on the location of the customer terminal on the network searched by the customer terminal search server and the information about the mobile terminal input to the main server; wherein one of the main server and the position determination server compares the geographical position of the customer terminal determined by the position determination server and the geographical position of the mobile terminal with each other, and certificates the customer as a real customer when the compared geographical positions of the mobile terminal and the customer terminal are identical to each other.