U.S. patent application number 10/722170 was filed with the patent office on 2004-04-22 for method and apparatus for managing electronic commerce.
Invention is credited to Goldschmidt Iki, Jean M., Shah-Nazaroff, Anthony Alexander.
Application Number | 20040078342 10/722170 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32096377 |
Filed Date | 2004-04-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040078342 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Goldschmidt Iki, Jean M. ;
et al. |
April 22, 2004 |
Method and apparatus for managing electronic commerce
Abstract
A method for managing electronic commerce includes storing
consumer information. Transactional information is sent to a user.
A request made by the consumer to make a transaction and the
consumer information are securely forwarded to a party of the
transaction.
Inventors: |
Goldschmidt Iki, Jean M.;
(San Jose, CA) ; Shah-Nazaroff, Anthony Alexander;
(Santa Clara, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Gordon R. Lindeen III
Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Suite 1300
8055 E. Tufts Avneue
Denver
CO
80237
US
|
Family ID: |
32096377 |
Appl. No.: |
10/722170 |
Filed: |
November 25, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10722170 |
Nov 25, 2003 |
|
|
|
09632640 |
Aug 4, 2000 |
|
|
|
09632640 |
Aug 4, 2000 |
|
|
|
08940442 |
Sep 30, 1997 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/75 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0609 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 20/401 20130101; G06Q 30/0633
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/075 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: sending transactional information to
consumers; receiving a transaction request from a consumer in
response to the sent transactional information; verifying the
consumer from which the transaction request has been received
against a first library of consumer information; verifying a
business with respect to which the transaction request has been
received against a second library of business information; sending
the verified transaction request to a server system of the business
with respect to which the transaction request has been
received.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transactional information
comprises information about a product or service that is for
sale.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein sending transactional information
comprises sending the transactional information along with
broadcast data for viewing by the user.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein sending the transactional
information along with the broadcast data comprises sending using
at least one of cable broadcast, satellite broadcast, very high
frequency (VHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast
networks, ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency communication
of broadcast networks and a telephone/computer network
interface.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a transaction request
comprise receiving a transaction request over an insecure internet
connection.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving an identification of the consumer, an
identification of a business and an identification of a product or
service sold by the business.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving a consumer identifier identifying the consumer
from which the transaction request was received and wherein
verifying consumers comprises comparing the consumer identifier to
a list of consumers in the first library.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving a transaction identifier identifying the
transactional information to which the transaction request is
directed and wherein verifying businesses comprises comparing the
transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the
second library.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first library includes credit
information regarding consumers listed in the library and wherein
sending the verified transaction request includes sending an
identification of the consumer and credit information regarding the
consumer.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising verifying information
for use in the second library by at least one of checking the
history of the business and checking whether any complaints have
been filed against the business.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the second library contains at
least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the
business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax
numbers of the business and products sold by the business.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the verified transaction
request comprises forwarding transaction requests to a server
interface to be sent to a server system of a business corresponding
to the transaction request.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the verified transaction
request comprises sending the verified transaction request using an
encrypted internet connection.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the verified transaction
request comprises sending the verified transaction request using a
telephone connection.
15. A machine readable medium having stored thereon data
representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a
machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
sending transactional information to consumers; receiving a
transaction request from a consumer in response to the sent
transactional information; verifying the consumer from which the
transaction request has been received against a first library of
consumer information; verifying a businesses with respect to which
the transaction request has been received against a second library
of business information; sending the verified transaction request
to a server system of the business with respect to which the
transaction request has been received.
16. The medium of claim 15 wherein the transactional information
comprises information about a product or service that is for
sale.
17. The medium of claim 15 wherein sending transactional
information comprises sending the transactional information along
with broadcast data for viewing by the user.
18. The medium of claim 17 wherein sending the transactional
information along with the broadcast data comprises sending using
at least one of cable broadcast, satellite broadcast, very high
frequency (VHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast
networks, ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency communication
of broadcast networks and a telephone/computer network
interface.
19. The medium of claim 15 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving an identification of the consumer, an
identification of a business and an identification of a product or
service sold by the business.
20. The medium of claim 15 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving a consumer identifier identifying the consumer
from which the transaction request was received and wherein
verifying consumers comprises comparing the consumer identifier to
a list of consumers in the first library.
21. The medium of claim 15 wherein receiving a transaction request
includes receiving a transaction identifier identifying the
transactional information to which the transaction request is
directed and wherein verifying businesses comprises comparing the
transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the
second library.
22. The medium of claim 15 wherein the first library includes
credit information regarding consumers listed in the library and
wherein sending the verified transaction request includes sending
an identification of the consumer and credit information regarding
the consumer.
23. The medium of claim 15 wherein the second library contains at
least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the
business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax
numbers of the business and products sold by the business.
24. The medium of claim 15 wherein sending the verified transaction
request comprises sending the verified transaction request using an
encrypted internet connection.
25. The medium of claim 15 wherein sending the verified transaction
request comprises sending the verified transaction request using a
telephone connection.
26. An electronic commerce system comprising: an information
distributor to send transactional information to consumers; a first
library having information related to consumers; a second library
having information related to businesses; a client interface to
receive transaction requests from consumers for which related
information is stored in the first library, the transaction
requests being received in response to the sent transactional
information; a server interface to send transaction requests to
server systems corresponding to businesses for which related
information is stored in the second library; and a transaction
processor to verify consumers from which a transaction request has
been received through the client interface against the first
library and to verify businesses with respect to which a
transaction request has been received against the second library
and, after verification, to forward the verified transaction
request to the server interface.
27. The system of claim 26 wherein the transactional information
comprises information about a product or service that is for
sale.
28. The system of claim 26 wherein the information distributor
sends transactional information along with broadcast data for
viewing by the user.
29. The system of claim 26 wherein the information distributor
comprises at least one of a network interface, a telephone
interface, a vertical blanking interval encoder, a cable link
encoder and a satellite link encoder
30. The system of claim 26 wherein the consumer information
includes at least an identifier corresponding to each consumer and
wherein the transaction request includes the respective
identifier.
31. The system of claim 26 wherein the transaction request includes
an identification of the consumer, an identification of a business
and an identification of a product or service sold by the
business.
32. The system of claim 26 wherein the transaction request includes
a consumer identifier identifying the consumer from which the
transaction request was received and the transaction processor
verifies consumers by comparing the consumer identifier to a list
of consumers in the first library.
33. The system of claim 26 wherein the client interface receives
transaction requests over an unsecured internet connection.
34. The system of claim 26 further comprising a transaction
manager, the transaction manager comprising the client interface,
the server interface, the transaction processor and a storage
medium interface to couple the transaction processor to the storage
medium.
35. The system of claim 26 further comprising a storage medium,
wherein the storage medium comprises the first and second
libraries.
36. The system of claim 26 wherein the first library includes
credit information regarding consumers listed in the library and
wherein the verified transaction request includes an identification
of the consumer and credit information regarding the consumer.
37. The system of claim 26 wherein the transaction request includes
a transaction identifier identifying the transactional information
to which the transaction request is directed and wherein the
transaction processor verifies businesses by comparing the
transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the
second library.
38. The system of claim 26 wherein the second library contains at
least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the
business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax
numbers of the business and products sold by the business.
39. The system of claim 26 wherein the server interface forwards
the consumer information to the respective server system using
encryption.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a division of pending U.S. application
Ser. No. 09/632,640, filed Aug. 4, 2000, entitled, A Method and
Apparatus for Managing Electronic Commerce which is a continuation
of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/940,442, filed Sep. 30, 1997, the
priorities of which are hereby claimed.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to the field of electronic
commerce. More specifically, the present invention relates to a
method and apparatus for managing electronic commerce.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Commerce on the Internet is attracting enormous financial
interest from businesses large and small. The Internet is
attractive to businesses because it enables them to reach a large
audience and generate an impressive presence regardless of the size
of the business. For many businesses, Internet commerce involves a
business running a server system that takes credit card orders from
a customer running a client system over the Internet. Sending and
receiving sensitive information over the Internet raises many
security issues. Some of these security issues include maintaining
privacy by insuring that the information is inaccessible to anyone
but the sender and receiver, and guaranteeing non-fabrication by
insuring that the receiver is genuine.
[0004] Several software programs made available for client and
server communication provide a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol
that employs a variety of standard encryption algorithms including
the government and banking standard of Data Encryption Standard
(DES) and several Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) algorithms
including RC4. SSL enables a client and server to exchange a secret
number known as a Master_Key. After the Master_Key is shared, the
client and server use the Master_Key to create a different set of
keys called Session Keys. These keys are used with a specified
cryptographic algorithm to encrypt and decrypt the contents of the
communication session.
[0005] Even with the security measures provided through the SSL
protocol in client and server software, communications between
clients and servers are not unbreakable. Furthermore, regardless of
how labor intensive the SSL protocol makes for an intruder to break
an encrypted message between a client and server, the SSL protocol
fails to provide a mechanism for insuring that the receiver is a
genuine business.
SUMMARY
[0006] A method for managing electronic commerce according to a
first embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. Consumer
information is stored. A request made by the consumer to make a
transaction and the consumer information is securely forwarded to a
party in the transaction.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and
not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying
drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in
which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network in which an
embodiment of the present invention is implemented;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the system components
of one embodiment of a client system according to the present
invention;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a
system controller according to the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of modules implementing an
embodiment of an electronic commerce manager according to the
present invention;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of modules implementing an
embodiment of a transaction manager according to the present
invention; and
[0013] FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for managing
electronic commerce according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network in which an
embodiment of the present invention is implemented. Block 110
represents a client system. Block 130 represents an electronic
commerce system. Block 150 represents a server system. The client
system 110 and the electronic commerce system 130 are coupled to a
first transmission medium 120. The electronic commerce system 130
and the server system 150 are coupled to a second transmission
medium 140.
[0015] According to an embodiment of the present invention, sending
data on the first transmission medium 120 is insecure because the
data may be monitored and read by someone other than a sender or
receiver of the data. According to one embodiment of the present
invention, the transmission medium may be the Internet. When a user
of the client system 110 wishes to transmit sensitive information
to another location such as the server system 150, the client
system 110 sends the request to the electronic commerce system 130
over the first transmission medium 120 without actually sending the
sensitive information. The electronic commerce system 130 stores
consumer information including sensitive information such as credit
information corresponding to the user. According to one embodiment
of the present invention, the electronic commerce system 130
forwards the sensitive information to the server system 150
securely over the second transmission medium 140 upon receiving the
request from the client system 110. In this embodiment, the second
transmission medium 140 may be a direct telephone connection.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, the
electronic commerce system 130 encrypts the sensitive information
and forwards the encrypted sensitive information securely over the
second transmission medium 140 upon receiving a request from the
client system 110. In this embodiment, the second transmission
medium 140 may be the Internet.
[0016] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the
electronic commerce system 130 includes an information distributor
that sends transactional information to the client system 110.
According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the
server system 150 includes an information distributor that sends
the transactional information to the client system 110. In this
embodiment, the electronic commerce system 130 verifies that the
server system 150 is genuine before forwarding the sensitive
information to the server system 150 as requested by the client
system 110.
[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating system components of
a client system 110 (shown in FIG. 1) according to one embodiment
of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the client
system 110 is an entertainment system 200 that includes a common
input/output (I/O) bus 210 that connects the system components in
the entertainment system 200 together. It should be appreciated
that the common I/O bus 210 is illustrated to simplify the routing
of signals between the computer system components. The common I/O
bus 210 may represent a plurality of known mechanisms and
techniques for routing I/O signals between the computer system
components. For example, the common I/O bus 210 may include an
appropriate number of independent audio "patch" cables that route
audio signals, coaxial cables that route video signals, two-wire
serial lines or infrared or radio frequency transceivers that route
control signals, or other routing mechanisms that route other
signals.
[0018] In the illustrated embodiment, the entertainment system 200
includes a television/monitor 221, video recorder/playback device
222, digital video disk (DVD) recorder/playback device 223,
audio/video tuner and amplifier 224, audio playback/recorder device
225, and compact disk player 226 coupled to the common I/O bus. The
video recorder/playback device 222, DVD recorder/playback device
223, audio playback/recorder device 225, and compact disk player
226 may be single disk or single cassette devices, or alternatively
may be multiple disk or multiple cassette devices.
[0019] In addition, the entertainment system 200 includes a speaker
system 231, microphone 232, video camera 233, and a wireless I/O
control device 234. In one embodiment, wireless I/O control device
234 is an entertainment system remote control unit which
communicates with the components of the entertainment system 200
through IR signals. In another embodiment, wireless I/O control
device 234 may be a wireless keyboard and cursor positioning device
that communicates with the components of entertainment system 200
through IR signals or RF signals. In yet another embodiment,
wireless I/O control device 234 may be an IR remote control device
similar in appearance to a typical entertainment system remote
control with the added feature of a track-ball, which allows a user
to position a cursor on a display of the entertainment system
200.
[0020] The entertainment system 200 also includes a system
controller 240. According to one embodiment of the present
invention, the system controller 240 operates to receive
transactional information from either the electronic commerce
system 130 or the server system 150 along with broadcast data
available from the server system 150 or other broadcast data
sources. The transactional information is presented to a user of
the entertainment system 200 during the viewing of broadcast data.
The transactional information may be used by the user, for example,
to purchase a product related to the user's viewing selection.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, system
controller 240 is configured to control a wide variety of features
associated with each of the system components. As shown in FIG. 2,
system controller 240 is coupled, either directly or indirectly, to
each of the system components, as necessary, through I/O bus 210.
In one embodiment, in addition to or in place of I/O bus 210,
system controller 240 is configured with a wireless communication
transmitter (or transceiver), which is capable of communicating
with the system components via IR signals or RF signals 210'.
Regardless of the control medium, the system controller 240 is
configured to control one or more of the entertainment system
components of the entertainment system 200, although it is
understood that each of the components may be individually
controlled with wireless I/O control device 234.
[0021] As illustrated in FIG. 2, entertainment system 200 may be
configured to receive broadcast data from a wide variety of
sources. In one embodiment, entertainment system 200 receives
broadcast data from any or all of the following sources: cable
broadcast 241, satellite broadcast 242 (e.g., via a satellite
dish), very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF)
radio frequency communication of the broadcast networks 243 (e.g.,
via an aerial antenna), telephone/computer network interface 244,
and/or information stored locally at system controller 240 or
another component of the entertainment system 200. Further, it will
be appreciated by one skilled in the art, that cable broadcast
input 241, satellite broadcast input 242 and VHF/UHF input 243 may
receive input from digital broadcast programming and digital cable
programming. The broadcast data may be received by the
entertainment system 200 via the audio/video tuner and amplifier
224, the system controller 240, or other system components or
combination of system components.
[0022] Although the present invention is described in the context
of the exemplary embodiments presented in the figures, those
skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is
not limited to these embodiments and may be practiced in a variety
of alternate embodiments. Accordingly, the innovative features of
the present invention may be practiced in a system of greater or
lesser complexity than that of the system depicted in FIG. 2. For
example, according to one embodiment, the client system 110 may be
practiced using the system controller 240 alone.
[0023] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 300
that may be used to implement the electronic commerce system 130
(shown in FIG. 1). The computer system 300 includes a processor 301
that processes digital data signals. The processor 301 may be a
complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced
instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, a very long
instruction work (VLIW) microprocessor, a processor implementing a
combination of instruction sets, or other processor device. FIG. 3
shows an example of the present invention implemented on a single
processor computer system 300. However, it is understood that the
present invention may be implemented in a computer system having
multiple processors. The processor 301 is coupled to a CPU bus 310
which transmits data signals between processor 301 and other
components in the computer system 300.
[0024] As an example, memory 313 may be a dynamic random access
memory (DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device,
or other memory device. The memory 313 stores information or other
intermediate data signals that are executed by the processor 301. A
cache memory 302 resides inside processor 301 that stores
information or other intermediate data that is stored in memory
213. The cache 302 speeds up memory accesses by the processor 301
by taking advantage of its locality of access. In an alternate
embodiment of the computer system 300, the cache 302 or a second
cache resides external to the processor 301.
[0025] A bridge memory controller 311 is coupled to the CPU bus 310
and the memory 313. The bridge memory controller 311 directs data
signals between the processor 301, the memory 313, and other
components in the computer system 300 and bridges the data signals
from these components to a first I/O bus 320.
[0026] The first I/O bus 320 may be a single bus or a combination
of multiple buses. As an example, the first I/O bus 320 may be a
high performance I/O bus that operates at high throughput rates.
The first I/O bus 320 may include for example a Peripheral
Components Interconnect (PCI) bus, a Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA) bus, a NuBus, or other buses.
The first I/O bus 320 provides communication links between
components in the computer system 300. A network controller 321
links the computer system 300 to a network of computers and
supports communication among the machines. A display device
controller 322 is coupled to the first I/O bus 320. The display
device controller 322 allows coupling of a display device to the
computer system 300 and acts as an interface between the display
device and the computer system 300. The display device controller
may be a monochrome display adapter (MDA) card, a color graphics
adapter (CGA) card, an enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) card, an
extended graphics array (XGA) card or other display device
controller. The display device may be a television set, a computer
monitor, a flat panel display or other display device. The display
device receives data signals from the processor 301 through the
display device controller 322 and displays the information and data
signals to the user of the computer system 300.
[0027] A second I/O bus 330 may be a single bus or a combination of
multiple buses. The second I/O bus 330 may include an Industry
Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an Extended Industry Standard
Architecture (EISA) bus, or other buses. The second I/O bus 330
provides communication links between components in the computer
system 300. A keyboard interface 332 may be a keyboard controller
or other keyboard interface. The keyboard interface 332 may be a
dedicated device or can reside in another device such as a bus
controller or other controller. The keyboard interface 332 allows
coupling of a keyboard to the computer system 300 and transmits
data signals from a keyboard to the computer system 300. A data
storage device 331 may be a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a
CD-ROM device, a flash memory device or other mass storage device.
An audio controller 333 operates to coordinate the recording and
playing of sounds is also coupled to the I/O bus 330. A wireless
communications interface 334 may be an IR transceiver or a RF
transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals between system
components of the entertainment system 200 (shown in FIG. 2).
[0028] A bus bridge 323 couples the first I/O bus 320 to the second
I/O bus 330. The bus bridge 323 operates to buffer and bridge data
signals between the first I/O bus 320 and the second I/O bus
330.
[0029] According to one embodiment, managing electronic commerce is
performed by the computer system 300 in response to the processor
301 executing sequences of instructions contained in the memory
313. Such instructions may be read into the memory 313 from other
computer-readable mediums such as data storage device 331 or from a
computer connected to the network via the network controller 311.
Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the memory
313 causes the processor to manage electronic commerce, as will be
described hereafter. In alternative embodiments, hard-wire
circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software
instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the present
invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware
circuitry and software.
[0030] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of
modules of an electronic commerce manager 400 operating in the
electronic commerce system 130 (shown in FIG. 1), according to the
present invention. The modules may be implemented by software,
hardware, or a combination of both hardware and software. The
electronic commerce manager 400 includes a storage medium 410. The
storage medium 410 includes a first library 411 that stores
information relating to consumers. The information in the first
library 410 may include names, addresses, phone numbers, credit
information, identifiers, or other information corresponding to the
consumers. The storage medium 410 includes a second library 412
that stores information relating to businesses that practice
electronic commerce. The information in the second library 410 may
include the names, physical addresses, Internet addresses, phone
and fax numbers, products sold, or other information relating to
the businesses. According to an embodiment of the present
invention, the second library 410 stores information relating to
genuine businesses practicing electronic commerce that have been
verified by managers of the electronic commerce manager 400. The
verification may be achieved, for example, by checking the history
of the business, whether any complaints have been filed against the
business, or by referencing other information relating to the
business.
[0031] A transaction manager 420 is coupled to the storage medium
410. As shown in FIG. 5, the transaction manager 420 includes a
client interface 510, a transaction processor 520, a storage medium
interface 530, and a server interface 540. The client interface 510
operates to receive a request to make a transaction from a client
system 110 (shown in FIG. 1). The request may include an identifier
(consumer identifier) corresponding to the user of the client
system 110 who is a consumer, and a transaction identifier that
identifies a business and a product sold by the business. The
client interface 510 forwards the request to the transaction
processor 520 coupled to the client interface 510.
[0032] The transaction processor 520 obtains information about the
consumer making the request via the storage medium interface 530.
The transaction processor 520 references the identifier received by
the client system 110 (consumer identifier) with information in the
first library 411 (shown in FIG. 4). The transaction processor 520
also verifies that the business the user wishes to engage in the
transaction with is a genuine business via the storage medium
interface 530. The transaction processor 520 references the
transaction identifier received by the client system 110 with the
information in the second library 412 (shown in FIG. 4). The
transaction processor 520 forwards the information about the
consumer and the transaction identifier to the server interface 540
coupled to the transaction processor 520.
[0033] The server interface 540 operates to securely forward the
request to make a transaction and the information about the
consumer to the server system 150 (shown in FIG. 1). According to
one embodiment of the present invention, the server interface 540
is a telephone interface that operates to dial a direct telephone
connection to the server system 150. A direct telephone connection
provides a secure communication link where the risk of monitoring
and reading of data traffic is reduced. According to a second
embodiment of the present invention, the server interface 540 is an
encryption unit and a network interface. The encryption unit
encrypts the request and the information about the consumer before
sending the request and the information over an Internet connection
via the network interface. Encrypting the request and information
reduces the chance that the request and information may be read by
someone other than the sender or receiver. The present invention
allows encryption to be performed on sensitive information and
transmitted over the Internet without requiring a client system 110
to be configured with the necessary encryption hardware or
software. The server interface 540 may securely forward the request
to make a transaction and the information about the consumer to the
server system 150 in real-time as the server interface 540 receives
each request and information. In an alternate embodiment of the
present invention, the server interface 540 may securely forward a
plurality of requests and information using batch processing at a
later time.
[0034] Referring back to FIG. 4, an information distributor 430 is
coupled to the transaction manager 420. The information distributor
430 operates to distribute transactional information to the client
system 110 (shown in FIG. 1). The transactional information may be,
for example, information about a product or service that is for
sale or other information. According to a first embodiment of the
present invention, the information distributor 430 may be a network
interface or a telephone interface that sends transactional
information to the client system 110 over the Internet or over a
direct phone connection. According to a second embodiment of the
present invention where the electronic commerce system 130 is used
for broadcasting broadcast data, the information distributor 430
may be a vertical blanking interval encoder, a cable link encoder,
or a satellite link encoder that transmits transactional
information over vertical blanking intervals, available cable
bandwidth, or available satellite bandwidth during the transmission
of broadcast data.
[0035] FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates a method for
managing electronic commerce according to an embodiment of the
present invention. At step 601, user information and business
information is stored. According to an embodiment of the present
invention, consumer information is stored in a first library of a
storage medium. The user information may include name, address,
credit information, and an identifier corresponding to a consumer
(consumer identifier). According to an embodiment of the present
invention, business information is stored in a second library in
the storage medium. The business information may include name,
physical and Internet addresses, and product information
corresponding to the business.
[0036] At step 602, transactional information is sent to the user.
The transactional information may be, for example, information
about a product that is for sale. According to an embodiment of the
present invention, the transactional information is sent over the
Internet to a user on a client system. It should be appreciated
that the transactional information may be sent to the consumer via
a direct phone connection, vertical blanking intervals of broadcast
data, or via other communication mediums. According to an
embodiment of the present invention, the transactional information
is displayed to the consumer during the viewing of broadcast data
by the user on a client system.
[0037] At step 603, a request to make a transaction is received
from the consumer. According to an embodiment of the present
invention, the user sends an identifier that identifies the
consumer (consumer identifier) and a transaction identifier that
identifies the transaction and a party of the transaction.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identifier
and the transaction identifier is sent by the consumer over the
Internet.
[0038] At step 604, it is determined whether the party of the
transaction is a genuine business. According to an embodiment of
the present invention, the determination is made by referencing
information in the second library of the storage medium that
indicates whether the intended party of the transaction is a
genuine business. If the party is a genuine business, control
proceeds to step 606. If the party is not a genuine business,
control proceeds to step 605.
[0039] At step 605, the request to make the transaction is
terminated. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a
message is sent to the user at the client system informing the
consumer that the party is not a genuine business.
[0040] At step 606, the request made by the consumer to make a
transaction and the consumer information corresponding to the
consumer is securely forwarded to the party of the transaction. The
request made by the user to make the transaction may be a request
to purchase the product and the consumer information may be credit
information belonging to the consumer. According to an embodiment
of the present invention, the request and the consumer information
is securely forwarded by transmitting the request and the consumer
information over a direct phone connection. According to an
alternate embodiment of the present invention, the request and the
consumer information is encrypted and transmitted over the
Internet.
[0041] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been
described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will,
however be evident that various modifications and changes may be
made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of
the invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to
be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
* * * * *