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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic financial transaction
communication systems and more particularly to a system providing on-line
secure communications using means available on most telephone equipment
either POTS (plain old telephone system) or ISDN (integrated services
digital network) for performing electronic shopping on the Internet
transmission media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
More recently, electronic cash transactions have gained desirability with a
particular emphasis on conducting such transactions on the internet. The
advent of electronic cash transactions has led to rapid popularity of
electronic shopping. Electronic shopping on the Internet appears to be the
wave of the future inevitably replacing much of today's paper catalog
shopping and perhaps even in-person shopping. This recent trend lends
itself particularly well to shopping for software type of products in
particular, due to the user's opportunity to try a demonstration or sample
of the software product prior to making its purchase.
The basic difficulty that exists with today's financial transactions on the
Internet transmission media is security and privacy concerns resulting
from the easily readable nature of electronic information being
transferred on such media. As messages move across the Internet, they can
easily pass through many numbers of computers, any one of which can be
utilized to copy the messages. To address security concerns, current
solutions generally employ encryption techniques. In fact, almost all cash
transaction schemes depend on encryption for privacy and security
enforcement, as will be discussed in greater detail shortly.
Among other reasons, encryption is generally used to (1) protect
information such as credit card numbers, (2) establish identity of either
the merchant or the buyer, (3) verify information, and (4) provide
electronic signatures that are legally binding and not likely to be
forged. To this end, both public key and private key encryption or
decryption schemes are deployed. Private key schemes depend upon a single
"shared secret" for encryption and decryption while public key schemes
publish one key and maintain another key as confidential. However, the
downfall in employing these schemes as stated in the April, 1996 issue of
Business Communication Review (page 4) is the requirement for a unique key
associated with each user which results in not merely hundreds rather
literally millions of encryption keys.
Models for secured digital money transactions currently seem to fall into
two basic categories, credit card sales and digital travelers checks. Both
categories depend upon encryption for security. A useful text describing
prior art is Digital Money by Dan Lynch and L. Lundquist published by John
Wiley & Sons 1996 ISBN 0-471-14178-X. A brief summary of several digital
money transaction schemes is also found in the May 1996 issue of WebSmith
Magazine in an article entitled "Digital Cash." An example of a prior art
digital money transaction is where the subscriber using "touchtone" or
personal computer and modems (not through the Internet) sends S payment
information to a company by the name of CheckFree who in turn uses the
existing U.S. Federal Reserve or MasterCard RPS System to transfer funds
electronically from the subscriber's checking account to the creditor, or
in some cases, a check is forwarded through the U.S. Post Office. The
transaction is ultimately recorded on bank statements or cancelled checks.
CheckFree's subscription software on the PC keeps track of transactions
and telephone subscribers receive a monthly statement.
Several prior art digital money transaction schemes in use today are listed
and described as follows:
CyberCash
Because the current banking credit card system is unable to handle internet
traffic, CyberCash acts as a gatekeeper linking the internet to bank
networks (currently Wells Fargo Bank and First of Omaha Merchant
Processing) as needed. CyberCash provides security based on encryption in
linking the Internet to bank networks. Cybercash handles credit card,
debit card and cash transactions and works with any web browser to
download a free software module. The transaction is performed as follows.
The merchant first sends an electronic invoice to the buyer to which the
buyer's credit card number is ultimately appended. Then, the invoice and
the appended number thereto are encrypted and returned to the merchant.
The merchant further appends his own confirmation number, encrypts this
information again and sends it to CyberCash's server which reformats and
encrypts per banking standards for transmission to the banking network.
Debit transactions require the merchant to open a CyberCash account in
advance thereby allowing the buyer to request funds to be transferred to
that account in order to pay for the purchased merchandise. Where the
merchant does not have a CyberCash account, he must first download
software from CyberCash in order to be paid. Cash transactions use
"pointers" to cash existing "in escrow" accounts and customer bank
accounts. Payments occur when pointers enact electronic fund transactions
between escrowed accounts.
DigiCash
The prior art cash transaction model DigiCash, works directly with the
banks, resembling purchasing travelers checks. The user or buyer sends
money to the bank through his/her credit or ATM card and the bank sends
back Electronic cash (E-cash) to the user. E-cash is an encrypted e-mail
message containing numbers that correspond to a specific amount of money.
These numbers can then be sent to the merchant as payment. The merchant
forwards these numbers to the bank who in turn credits the merchant's
account. In this method, the bank keeps track of the numbers.
E-cash
E-cash is yet another prior art technique that is used in conjunction with
the Mark Twain Bank to allow "authentication" of digital cash withdrawals
from bank accounts. A software program enables storing the withdrawn
digital cash on the PC's hard disk. This stored "cash" can then be
transferred to a seller's machine. In this scheme, participants must set
up a World Currency Access account provided by the Mark Twain Bank.
First Virtual Holdings
Electronic transactions using prior art techniques can be based on
Electronic mail (E-mail). The customer opens an account and is given an
Identification (I.D.) number which is sent to the merchant via E-mail, The
merchant forwards the E-mail to First Virtual to verify the customer's
I.D. number. First Virtual then sends an E-mail message to the customer to
verify the transaction. First Virtual performs the most sensitive parts of
the financial transaction off-line performing actual transfers over a
private network using Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Corporation.
NetBill
NetBill is an alliance between Carnegie Mellon University and Visa designed
to allow information (not hard goods) to be bought and sold through the
Internet. Customers deposit money into a NetBill account which is drawn
upon by NetBill when purchases are made.
NetCheck and NetCash
This scheme was developed by the University of Southern California allowing
registered users to write electronic checks to other users. Electronic
checks may then be sent via E-mail as payment for merchandise purchased
through the internet. Similar to paper checks, these checks authorize the
transfer of funds from the accounts on which the check is drawn, to the
account in which the check is deposited. NetCheck is based on Kerberos
private key cryptography instead of the public key cryptography.
NetCheck and NetCash payments are both accepted by Pay-Per-View (PPV) a
worldwide web (WWW) protocol which allows "previews" of documents based on
HTML and HTTP protocols. Upon "payment" (via an allowed scheme), the
merchant's server receiving the payment then releases the full document to
the customer's web browser.
Netscape Communication Corp.
This prior art method appears to be the most common electronic cash
transaction technique used today. Netscape has formed an alliance with
First Data, who is the number one processor of bank card transactions and
has licensed public key encryption technology from RSA Data Securities,
Inc., to develop an electronic credit card based scheme which only works
with Netscape's web browser. Netscape sells a commerce server package that
supports "secure" on-line purchase and data exchanges.
Some of the difficulties inherently existing in cash transactions over an
open network such as this one, are evident in Netscape's "Secured Socket
Layer" (SSL) (similar to WinSock Services). SSL sits between applications
(such as FTP, HTTP, etc.) and the TCP/IP Transport layer and serves to
provide secure identification and communications over a client/server link
based on "digital certificate" technology provided by VeriSign (a spin-off
of RSA Data Security). Digital certificates require a "third party
guaranty" which must be obtained by users of SSL before transactions may
occur. Consequently, a certificate of authority, such as a corporate
security officer verifying the identity of a person is required.
VeriSign, currently the only provider of digital certificates, not only
generates the certificate, but includes the user's name, their public key
for encryption, and a digital signature attesting that VeriSign has
performed the appropriate background check on the server owner or client's
identity. For this reason, it would appear that this scheme is designed
more for the hundreds or thousands of merchants, and it is rather
difficult to implement such a scheme where there are millions of sellers.
NTT
Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) has announced an on-line transaction
system which allows users to transfer money or place credit from a bank
account to the user's "credit card" based on a private key which is used
in conjunction with a public key.
Open Market
"Open market" schemes allow a merchant following simple computer commands
to open a "store" on its Internet merchant server for a fee, in addition
to monthly usage fees. Open market connects merchant servers to payment
servers on which data is secured with personal I.D. numbers, passwords,
data encryption, and a security code generated by a smart card (required
for large transactions).
Visa/Master Card
Visa and Master Card are working together on Secured Electronic
Transactions (SET) based on encryption technology from RSA and VeriSign.
The Visa/Master Card SET scheme has attracted major players such as IBM,
Microsoft, GTE, Netscape Communications, VeriSign and SAIC. SET is a
multiparty protocol, securing communications among five parties in a
payment card transaction where the card provider, the card holder, the
card holder's financial institute, the merchant and the merchant's
financial institution are parties involved in performing each transaction.
Logicom
Perhaps the most relevant prior art scheme is one employed by a company by
the name of Logicom who calls its scheme WEB900 using a "900" number
published on a web page to gain authorization for accessing some or all of
the information at the web site. Logicom's web site can be accessed at
http:/www.netleader.com/logicom/qc900.htm.
In Logicom's scheme WEB900, charges for accessing some or all of the web
site is via the use of a 900 number as follows. First, the buyer accesses
the web page of interest, and then the buyer receives a seven-digit system
code from the accessed web page. From the web page, the buyer also
receives a 900 telephone number provided by the merchant. The buyer then
places a call to the retrieved 900 number using a common telephone and
also enters the seven-digit system code through the telephone keypad. The
buyer then listens for a redemption code and upon receiving the redemption
code, turns back to the web page on the Internet and enters the redemption
code into a validation form provided by the merchant on his/her web page.
Upon successful verification of the redemption code, the buyer is now
given access to the previously-locked web page. The buyer then downloads
the desired information or purchased product to his/her local system (PC).
The telephone company (telco) then bills the buyer (perhaps through the
buyer's telephone bill), collects the money, and ultimately distributes
the funds minus any service charges associated with the 900 call to the
merchant.
While the Logicom system uses a 900 calling number, it does not differ from
other prior art schemes in the sense that the switched network is used
only to access the Internet. That is, the 900 line connection is
effectively accessed off-line and represents a separate stage in the
process. In this scheme, Telco is considered an auxiliary network, useful
only for connecting to the Internet. The Logicom scheme never uses the 900
number to directly access the merchant's server. A further disadvantage of
the Logicom system is that the 900 number voice call accomplishes the
financial transaction only when used with redemption codes and
authentication forms.
The following provide additional information regarding Digital Money
schemes:
______________________________________
Checkfree http://www.checkfree.com
Cybercash http://www.cybercash.com
Digicash http://www.digicash.com
Ecash http://www.marktwain.com
First Virtual Holdings
http://www.fv.com
MasterCard http://www.mastercard.com
NetBill Tel: (412) 268-2000
NetCheque/NetCash
http://nii-server.isi.edu:80/info/NetCheque
Netscape Comm http://mosaic/unicorn.com
Open Market, Inc.
http://www.openmarket.com
VeriSign http://www.verisign.com
VISA http://www.visa.com
Web900 http://logicom.com
http://delivery.reach.com
www.twenty.com
"Electronic Commerce"
PC Magazine May 28, 1996, page 54-60.
______________________________________
In summary, most of today's electronic funds transaction schemes are based
on encryption employing either public keys or private keys and
further-entailed distributing keys, for keeping track of lost keys and
preventing forged and stolen keys. These and other problems associated
with key management schemes are clearly difficult to resolve on a massive
scale.
Additionally, most prior art schemes depend upon E-mail or internet
communications via FTP, web browsers, etc. where encryption is required
due to the public, postcard-like nature of Internet communications. Many
prior art schemes have tried to address these problems by coupling to
commercial banking networks to provide a degree of security, however most
banking schemes require the users to open and maintain bank accounts
and/or escrow accounts. Encryption-based schemes generally require a
"digital certificate" to authenticate identification of parties to a
transaction in order to address the problems of lost keys and flaws in the
encryptic algorithm, stolen keys, etc. Finally, Logicom's scheme using the
900 number to directly access the merchant server, accomplishes financial
transactions only when used with redemption codes and authentication
forms.
A common difficulty among prior art on-line financial schemes arise from
connecting the transaction parties to the existing banking network. In
FIG. 1, we observe that CyberCash exists as an interface layer connecting
CyberSpace to Banking Space (Banking Net in FIG. 1). Layered architectures
are of considerable importance. In 1979 the United Nations CCITT (now the
ITU=International Telephony Union) International Standards Organization
(ISO) began work on the Open Systems interconnection (OSI) architecture.
The Seven Layer OSI standard model was published in 1984. (See Uyless
Black: "OSI-A Model for Computer Communication Standards", Prentice Hall
1991, ISBN 0-13-637133-7). In the abstract, the Financial layer is the
same as any layer in the abstract, such as the Physical layer, the Data
Link layer, the Network layer, the Transport layer, the Session layer, the
Presentation layer or the Application layer. Prior art schemes interface
the Financial layer to the TCP/IP transport layer, thus forsaking real
network addresses and physical space for virtual Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses in CyberSpace. When the Financial layer interfaces to the
Transport layer, financial transactions occur between two internet nodes
(the client and the merchant server) whose IP addresses exist in
CyberSpace. This is shown in FIG. 2 where the client 82 conducts financial
transactions with the merchant server 84 through the Financial layer 80.
Between the local client system and Physical layer 78, sequentially reside
Application layer 70, Transport layer 72, Network layer 74 and Data Link
layer 76. Financial layer 80 interfaces to Transport layer 72.
To further appreciate some of the drawback of prior art schemes for
financial transactions, an understanding of network connectivity is
necessary. There are primarily two types of networks in use today,
switched and packet networks. Most voice communications (telephone lines,
fax derivatives, etc.) use switch networks, while most Internet data
communications, including packetized voice and video, employ packet
routing networks. The switch network establishes a connected network by
switching physical links until an end-to-end path exists from the caller
to the called party. This obviously entails distance-base pricing for
establishing the connected network.
A packet network (connectionless network) such as used in the Internet
media, routes packets from node-to-node over local links until the
destination is reached or the number of hops is exceeded. Each hop is
almost free of cost. Therefore, the cost of packet communications is
distance independent. The source and destination addresses are key to
connectionless or packet communications. However, these addresses are not
secure. The destination address can be changed and information re-routed
or the source address can be changed for anonymity via re-mailers.
Information cast into the packet network is, on the other hand, low cost,
yet high risk.
It is key to note that connected lengths in switched networks, have
physical source and destination addresses, and these physical addresses
(especially wired local loops) provide a degree of security and, if
desired, lack of anonymity that is valuable in a business sense.
The typical Internet communication is through the switched network to a
packet router. All communications proceed through both the switch network
and the packet routing Internet network. This is effective, but does not
make full use of the distinct features associated with each type of
network. Prior art schemes for conducting financial transactions employ
multi-network schemes having both switch and packet routing. The switched
network is primarily only a means for connecting to the internet. This
limited use of the switched network completely discounts and ignores the
advantages, i.e., the inherent privacy and security of a switched
end-to-end connection, associated with switched network systems. The
inherent privacy and security of a switched end-to-end connection between
physical addresses is the goal of prior art schemes using encryption and
digital signatures which are employed as an attempt to accomplish in
CyberSpace the functions accomplished by the built-in financial mechanisms
of the 800/900/XXX directory number systems.
Thus, encryption, digital signatures or other authentication procedures are
required to establish credit between "ghost-like" buyers and sellers.
Accordingly, the need exists for a on-line secure communication scheme for
performing financial transactions while eliminating the need for digital
signatures, encryption, and authentication procedures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal objective of the present invention to provide
an on-line financial transaction system that uses state-of-the-art
computer telcom to provide secure and private purchasing capability of
product goods. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
system of the type described which uses the 900 number system or a similar
system to assess and collect user tolls for use of the system in
performing financial transactions.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a system
for performing financial transactions wherein inexpensive servers can be
employed, eliminating the need for digital signatures, authentication
procedures and banking system connectivity.
Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a financial
transaction system wherein the accounting, billing and collecting funds
may be managed by telco.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an on-line
financial transaction scheme based upon a multi-network solution in which
the distinction between switched and packet routing networks are used to
optimally partition functionality.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system
wherein small-shop software developers can market their products to the
public inexpensively.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a financial
transaction system employing point-to-point protocol (PPP), thereby
allowing any hardware or operating system to negotiate a common
information transfer protocol with dissimilar hardware and operating
systems software.
Briefly, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a remote
communication system for facilitating secure electronic purchases of goods
on-line, wherein a suitable local user input device in association with a
data transmission system, couples the user input to a packet network
system for communicating to a remote receiver/decoder apparatus to TRY
potentially desired products. Upon selection of the desired product by the
user, a telcom network communication link for communicating a telephone
number associated with the desired product from the user to the remote
receiver allows the user to BUY the desired product. The telcom
connection, linking the user input device to the remote server device may
also include a 900 number billing system to support the BUY transaction.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no
doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated in
the several figures of the drawing.
IN THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 depicts a prior art CyberCash financial scheme where the Internet is
interfaced to the Banking Net;
FIG. 2 depicts prior art on-line financial schemes interfacing the
Financial layer to the Transport layer;
FIG. 3 shows a preferred embodiment of an overall diagram of the financial
transaction system employed in the present invention;
FIG. 4 shows a detailed diagram of the TRY and BUY financial transaction
scheme employed in the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 shows interfaces of network layers as employed by the present
invention;
FIG. 6 depicts a state diagram of an ISDN implementation of a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 illustrates a state diagram of an alternative embodiment utilizing
POTS lines; and
FIG. 8 depicts the present invention's integration of the cost parameter
into various network layers;
FIG. 9 shows a Netscape Navigator window employed in a preferred embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a software execution as implemented by the
client's subsystem;
FIG. 11 is a flow chart of the steps implemented by the merchant's system
and router in response to the client's subsystem in FIG. 10; and
FIG. 12 depicts a flow chart of the events likely to take place as a result
of the client's input to the Netscape Navigator window settings of FIG. 9.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 3 shows in conceptual diagrammatic form
two channels, `TRY` and `BUY,` for establishing communications between a
user and a remote system. As such, a user input device or subsystem 10 and
a TRY local telcom connection 12 are connected through a switching system
or network 14 and Internet transmission media 22 to a TRY remote telcom
connection 28 which couples to a remotely located subsystem TRY server 16.
TRY server 16 accesses files from demo file storage location 18 wherein
demonstration files reside. User input subsystem 10 is additionally
coupled through a BUY local telcom connection 20 to switching network 14
and a BUY remote telcom connection 30 to a remotely located subsystem BUY
server 24 which accesses files from product file storage location 26
wherein electronic information such as software data are stored.
FIG. 4 depicts a more detailed diagram of an embodiment of the present
invention. The left side of the figure illustrates the connection layers
on the client side, and the right side illustrates the connection layers
of the server(s). The buyer or client operates the client side while the
seller or merchant maintains the server(s). On the client side (left side
of FIG. 4) typically a user subsystem would be a personal computer (PC)
such as an IBM compatible PC including a monitor such as the client's
display device 66 used for viewing demo products. The user's subsystem
would further include web browsers 32 and 62 and TCP/IP protocol stack 34
which may be WinSock software and a plug-in card in the PC incorporating
address decoder 38, dual port RAM 40, ISDN Protocol Controller 42, ISDN
S/T interface device 44, and optionally Network Terminator 46. The card
may be a CyberSpace Freedom Series ISDN terminal adaptor board for IBM PCs
available from ISDN*tek Incorporated of San Gregorio, Calif. The user
subsystem may include WinISDN drivers 36 available from ISDN*tek and
WinSock software as TCP/IP protocol stack 34 from NetManage. A dual port
RAM40 addressed by address decoder 38 is accessed on one side by ISDN
drivers 36 through the PC ISA or EISA bus (as the case may be) 68, and the
other side by the Cybernetic Micro Systems CY123 ISDN Protocol Controller,
42, which decodes driver commands and issues ISDN Q.931 messages on the
D-channel by managing appropriate buffers in the Siemens 2186 ISDN S/T
interface device, 44. The S/T (4-wire) interface connects to the Network
Terminator 46 of the (2-wire) local loop from the switch. This device, 46,
can be a standard unit or can be implemented as on ISDN*teks CyberSpace
cards with Siemens 2091 ISDN Adaptive Echo Cancelling 2B1Q
encoder/decoder. Client encoder/decoder 46 transmits data through the `U`
interface to either or both the TRY local telcom connection 12 (B1) or the
BUY local telcom connection 20 (B2), connections 12 and 20 may be
implemented as ISDN lines or POTS lines.
The local switching system 14 need not be an ISDN switch. TRY local
connection 12 is a WEB connection through the Internet transmission media
22 which consists of many routers and switches and is a packet routing
network structure as described earlier. Internet media 22 connects TRY
local connection 12 to the TRY remote telcom connection 28. BUY local
connection 20 on the other hand, is a direct switch telco connection
through switching system 14 to BUY remote telcom connection 30. From the
TRY and BUY remote telcom connections 28 and 30, the seller's interfaces
resemble the client's interfaces, i.e., TRY and BUY remote connections 28
and 30 connect to the seller ISDN `S/T` interface device 50 through seller
Network Terminator (NT1) device 48 which encodes and decodes the 2B1Q
signals across the 2-wire `U` interface. The 4-wire ISDN interface device
50 connects to seller ISDN protocol controller 52 which accesses seller
dual port RAM 54 on one side and seller ISDN drivers 58 on the other side.
Addresses provided by the ISDN driver 58 cross the (E) ISA bus 70 and are
decoded by the address decoder 56 before accessing the dual port RAM 54.
Seller terminal adaptor board (incorporating 48, 50, 52, 54, and 56) may
be a PC plug-in board communicating through (E) ISA bus 70 with the ISDN
driver 58. The drivers 58 are connected to a BUY server 24 and a TRY
server 16 by the WinSock TCP/IP protocol stack 60. The latter accesses the
seller's WEB page and/or demonstration software files from demo file
storage location 18 which may be in the form of hard disk, CD ROM, etc.
The BUY server 24 accesses software product files that are available for
sale to the client from a product file storage location 26. BUY server 24
and TRY server 16 are physically in areas that are remotely located with
respect to the user. Additionally, BUY server 24 and TRY server 16 may be
located remotely from each other. An example of this is where a seller may
want to have TRY server 16 located in the marketing area of the
organization and the BUY server 24 located in the purchase area of the
organization and the marketing and purchasing facilities are physically
located in two separate buildings or geographic areas. In fact, the only
relationship between the TRY server 16 and BUY server 24 is the product
that is for sale. Practically, TRY server 16 may be accessed many more
times than BUY server 24 due to the number of users wanting to browse the
seller's web page or wanting to try the demo software. Obviously, TRY
server 16 and BUY server 24 may alternatively reside in the same physical
location.
Before describing the operation of the entire system of the preferred
implementation, operation of key subsystems and interfaces are described
as follows.
Interfaces in the Preferred Implementation
The Windows Interface: The "Windows" API is the Application Programming
interface developed by Microsoft Corporation. It is well known to those
skilled in the art, and is described in hundreds of books in the public
domain.
The Winsock Interface: The "Winsock" Interface was developed by Netmanage
Corporation and others, and is supplied by Netmanage, Spry/Compuserve, FTP
Software, Frontier Technologies, Microsoft Corporation, and others. The
Winsock description is in the public domain, and has been available over
the Internet for free downloading at:
ftp.netmanage.com/pubs/win.sub.-- standards/winsock.
The WinISDN Interface: The "WinISDN" Interface was developed by Netmanage
and ISDN*tek, Inc., and Performance Systems International (PSI) and is
supported by Netmanage, ISDN*tek, IBM, FTP Software, Shiva Corporation,
Frontier Technology, Digi International, US Robotics, Yamaha, and other
public corporations. WinISDN is in the public domain and has been
available via the Internet for free downloading at:
ftp.netmanage.com/pubs/win.sub.-- standards/winisdn/winisdn.doc and is
described in the Software Developers Kit (SDK) available from ISDN*tek.
The (E) ISA Interface: The (E) ISA bus was developed by IBM and is in the
public domain. It is well described in numerous publications and texts in
the public domain, and is well known to one skilled in the art. It is an
electrical and mechanical specification for designing adapter boards for
interface to IBM PCs and clone computers.
The "S/T" or "U" Interface: The "S/T" interface is specified by the
CCITT/ITU recommendations, and is available worldwide as the primary
interface to ISDN networks for Basic Rate Interface circuits. These
recommendations are in the public domain. In addition, the 2B1Q-based
"U"-interface is available in North America, and is also well known to one
skilled in the art.
The TCP/IP Interface: The TCP/IP protocol is the primary interface to the
Internet routers and is in the public domain and is well known. The TCP/IP
protocol stack is accessed via the WinSock interface in the preferred
implementation of the present invention.
The financial/monetary (900#) interface: The only public domain financial
interface available today is the 900 number system available from
Recognized Private Operating Agencies (RPOAs) such as PacBell, Bell
Atlantic, etc. Therefore, the preferred implementation uses the 900#
financial interface. The 900 numbers are telephone toll numbers provided
by the telephone company charges the user a toll fee every time the 900
number is dialed and a connection is established based upon the period of
time associated with the user connect time.
System Operation
In order to fully understand the advantages of the present invention an
understanding of network layers is helpful. In FIG. 5, the client 82
directly interfaces to the Application layer 70. The Application layer 70
interfaces through WinSock to the Transport layer 72 and the Network layer
74. As discussed above, the TCP/IP protocol is the primary interface to
the Internet routers. The Data-Link layer 76 resides below the Network
Layer 74 and employs Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and its multi-point
extensions, MP,BACP, etc.
BUY server 24 will be set by the seller to "listen" and "accept" incoming
calls from the 900 number through WinSock and WinISDN interfaces 94 and
96, respectively. "Listen" and "accept" are instructions supported by
WinSock ›listen()! and WinISDN ›ISDN listenforconnection()!. This places
the BUY server 24 in a mode waiting for requests on the 900 number from
the client. The client dials the 900 number using either a second ISDN
channel (B2) or a POTS line. In using a POTS line, the client would simply
hang up his first connection to the Internet and dial the 900 number that
he retrieved with the product information from TRY server 16. At this time
the clien | | |
