WO2002042970A1

WO2002042970A1 - Method and system for server to execute electronic commerce in concerted internet site and off-line store

Info

Publication number: WO2002042970A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001992
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kilseob Yang
Original assignee: Kilseob Yang
Priority date: 2000-11-21
Filing date: 2001-11-21
Publication date: 2002-05-30
Also published as: AU2002218542A1

Abstract

This invention relates to methods and systems wherein the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of member terminals, offline stores and concerted websites through a network, vicariously executes a series of procedures occuring in electronic commerce. The procedures are verifying, advertisement providing, purchasing and supplying, and settling procedures. The verifying procedure is characterized in that the intermediary website vicariously executes membership verification by issuing electronic certificates real-time at requests from the concerted websites. The advertisement providing procedure is characterized in that the intermediary website provides the advertisements corresponding to each member using member information recorded in database. The purchasing and supplying and settling procedures are characterized in that through the intermediary website's intermediation concerted websites can utilize offline sotres' supplying capacity in case they do not have certain ordered items in its inventory, and all the parties concerned are guaranteed of being paid for their services.

Description

Method and system for server to execute electronic commerce in concerted internet site

and off-line store

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to methods and systems to execute electronic commerce

within concerted websites through a network. More specifically, it relates to on a network,

the methods and systems for server to intermediate all the possible procedures occurring

when executing a series of processes in electronic commerce such as membership

verification, purchase and supply, advertising, payment and shipment.

In other words, the invention relates to the methods and systems to graft electronic

commerce into the existing economic activities by effectively accepting the present-day

commerce while maintaining it or at least not altering too much.

[Background Art]

The existing electronic commerce is now offering various contents and services through

numerous websites that are classified roughly as the Internet. They are providing all

sorts of contents and services and competing fiercely to attract more registered members.

Therefore, they induce people to register by promising better contents and services at

registration. Meanwhile, visitors find it annoying to enter repeatedly their personal information into numberless websites. Also, very often they have to choose an ID they do

not want because someone else has already taken the one they want.

Up to now, marketing using advertisements has usually been conducted through the

unilateral mass media using cord or cordless communications - TV and the radio. The

functions of advertising are not only to raise awareness of a product but also to provide

information about it. However, because of limited time and cost, advertising through the

mass media had to be focused more on making a product recognizable by the public than

on giving out information about it. It was difficult to measure how well its message has

gotten into viewers, and it was also difficult to provide reasonable basis on which its

costs are decided.

The credit card is a representative tool of payment at purchasing and paying, and a large

variety of multi-functional credit cards are being issued by each and every credit card

companies. If credit card users have a plurality of cards, they have difficulties in using

and managing them. In other words, they should always carry their cards with them and

thus are always exposed to the risks of losing or not carrying the needed ones. The

credit card or prepaid card is often used as the method of payment during online shopping

today. This method, however, where the payment is carried out before the purchaser is

given the product and confirm it, causes resistance and mistrust among consumers

because it reverses the existing practice of purchasing after confirming the product.

When it comes to shipping, the existing electronic commerce depends mostly on physical distribution companies no matter where the purchaser lives, which costs consumers

additional shipping cost and time.

Therefore, the invention, which is devised to solve all the foregoing problems, is to offer

methods and systems wherein all the economic subjects are naturally absorbed into

electronic commerce without interfering with the existing economic behavior structure.

Also, the invention is to provide a system which relieves consumers of uneasiness about

the security for their personal information, gets rid of the inconvenience of registering

every time they visit websites, and at the same time offers various services and contents.

For website operators, the object of the invention is to eliminate the difficulties of

attracting new members and maintaining the existing ones.

The object of the invention for advertisers and viewers is to provide a system that

produces substantial profits for them through analyses of effective advertisements and

the responses to them.

In terms of payment, the object of the invention is to provide credit card users with a

system that removes the inconveniences of managing, maintaining and carrying more than

one credit card.

Finally, the object of the invention in terms of shipping is to provide a system that

reduces the shipping cost and time by utilizing offline shopping malls in the vicinity of to

shipping addresses. [Disclosure of the Invention]

In order to accomplish the foregoing objects, when a plurality of websites, linked through

a network, share their members, one feature of the invention relates to the method and

system of verifying membership though an electronic certificate, wherein among said

plurality of websites, said intermediary website verifies the member who contacts said

intermediary website, receives a request for verification from the concerted website that

said member contacts, and issues an electronic certificate of verification real-time at

each request for verification, and which is characterized in that said member is verified

through said electronic certificate issued said the intermediary website. According an

embodiment of the invention, said electronic certificate of verification can include general

personal information.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said member can protect his/her

personal information, which is attached to said electronic certificate, by selecting the

extent to which it is revealed.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said member can be a group that has a

plurality of constituents, and when said group is registered as member, the constituents

of said group can also be verified through the electronic certificate.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when verifying a constituent of said

group, the issuing of said electronic certificate is determined by the criteria established in

advance by the manager of said group. According to another embodiment of the invention, said electronic certificate can include

the Trust Level, wherein the Trust Level can be established by said intermediary website

by evaluating the confirmed individual information generated according to said member's

activities within the websites.

According to another embodiment of the invention, whether to issue said electronic

certificate can be determined by the criteria of Trust Level established by the

intermediary website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, verification procedure can be

executed one more time when the member visits the concerted website for first time

after registration.

According to another feature of the invention, when a plurality of websites linked through

a network share their members, the concerted site sends to the intermediary website a

request for verification of the member who contacts the concerted website, and receives

the electronic certificate from the intermediary wherein said electronic certificate is

disposable being issued real-time at each request for verification.

According to one embodiment of the invention, said electronic certificate can include

general personal information.

extent to which it is revealed. According to another embodiment of the invention, said concerted website can verify said

member through said electronic certificate received from said intermediary website.

plurality of constituents, and when said group is registered as member, said plurality of

constituents of said group can also be verified as member.

According to another embodiment of the invention, whether to receive said electronic

certificate sent by said intermediary website can be determined by the criteria of Trust

Level established by said concerted website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when said member is not registered at

said concerted website, said concerted website can register said member through said

electronic certificate received from said intermediary website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said concerted website can register

non-registered member at said concerted website using the personal information

attached to said disposable electronic certificate.

According to the another embodiment of the invention, when a group contacts said

concerted website, said group can be registered as member at said concerted website

only if the constituent who has the authority of manager of said group is contacting said

concerted website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said electronic certificate can include

Trust Level. According to another embodiment of the invention, whether to receive said electronic

certificate sent by said intermediary website can be determined by the criteria of said

Trust Level established by said concerted website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the verification process at said

intermediary website can be at least one of: (a) verification through ID and password; (b)

verification through fingerprint scan; and (c) verification through a table of random

numbers,

According to another embodiment of the invention, in the verification procedure at said

intermediary website, the security level can be improved by using another ID, beside

fixed one, alterable at any time.

*According to another feature of the invention, when among a plurality websites linked

through a network, the intermediary website provides services determined in advance to

the member who contacts said plurality of websites, said- intermediary website receives

the member identifier and website identifier from the concerted website, extracts the

member information and website information from database using said member identifier

and said website identifier, creates a status bar corresponding to said member, sends said

status bar to the member terminal, and said intermediary website can provide the status

bar which can indicate the presently-contacted website information and basic information

on said member- through the browser of said member terminal. According to another embodiment of the invention, said intermediary website can provide

advertisements using said status bar, but they are provided depending on said member's

choice.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said status bar provides said member

with advertisements designated in advance according to said member's characteristics

such as gender, age and address.

According to another embodiment of the invention, in providing members with points for

advertisement viewing, the practical effectiveness of advertising can be improved by

using timer and receiving information to confirm viewing for a period of time designated

in advance after the advertisement ends.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a member's choice of advertisements

can be limited by inserting an execution sentence, which is characterized in that it can

limit the extent of a member's choice on advertisements by providing pre-designated

advertisement channel to pre-designated member, within the information provided by the

website which the member contacts.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the intermediary website stores said

member's advertisement viewing details in the form of log files, analyzes said

advertisement receiving details real-time, and provides the advertiser with said analysis

result real-time, wherein the analysis result can be used as marketing information either

through online interfaces or in the form of offline printouts. According to another feature of the invention, when among a plurality of websites linked

through a network, the intermediary website executes electronic commerce in connection

between the concerted website and offline stores, said intermediary website receives

detailed transaction statement of a consumer's purchased products from the concerted

website and posts a notification about the products which said concerted website

requested for supply within said intermediary website, and offline stores which contacts

said intermediary website apply to supply, and said intermediary website sends a list of

offline stores which applied to supply to said concerted website, and said concerted

website awards a contract to said at least one offline store which applied to supply, and

said intermediary website confirms the completion of delivery of all the products said

consumer purchased by said offline store and said concerted website, and distributes and

pays from the money paid by said purchaser to said concerted website and said awarded

offline store, wherein said concerted website's strong points such as marketing ability

and geographically unlimited nature are integrated into those of said offline store such as

supplying ability and specialty in services, and said online and offline stores' burden of

inventory management can be relieved by the intermediary website's settlement

guarantee and transaction intermediation

According to one embodiment of the invention, in confirming whether all the purchased

products are delivered, said intermediary website receives a receipt code from said

purchaser at purchasing and receives said receipt code from said awarded offline store and said concerted website as a token of completion of said shipment, wherein said

receipt code is a PIN which said purchaser inputs at purchasing in correspondence to

products, and said purchaser can give it to said awarded offline store or said concerted

website as a token of reception of products.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when the intermediary website

vicariously executes the payment, said concerted website provides said purchaser with a

menu to choose a payment option from by item, and said intermediary website can settle

the payment according to said detailed transaction statement where the payment option is

indicated,

According to another embodiment of the invention, when said intermediary website

distributes the money paid by the purchaser to said concerted website and said awarded

offline store, said intermediary website can first take the commission proportionate to the

amount of money, then pay the offline store the desired supply price by item, and then

pay the rest amount of the money to said online store.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when the consumer chooses a

payment form and executes payment, said consumer registers payment form information,

and inputs only the name of the payment option not all the information about it, wherein

inputting only of the name of payment form provides said purchaser with convenience

when purchasing, prevents the revelation of information and increases the security level

as said intermediary website dose not exchange information with said concerted website. According to another embodiment of the invention, when the intermediary website

intermediates payment, using the proxy card, it can settle the money to be paid by the

purchaser and detailed transaction statement including transaction details together.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the intermediary website when

executing the verification process for proxy card at payment, can use at least one of: (a)

basic verification through ID and password; (b) verification through a PIN designated for

the proxy card; (c) verification through user table of random numbers; and (d) verification

through fingerprint scan.

According to another feature of the invention, when among a plurality of websites linked

through a network, the concerted website executes electronic commerce in connection

with the intermediary website and offline stores, said concerted website receives a

purchasing order from terminal of said purchaser contacting said concerted website,

creates a detailed transaction statement according to said purchasing order, sends said

detailed transaction statement to said intermediary website, contacts said intermediary

website and receives a list of offline stores which applied to supply, awards said at least

one offline store which applied to supply from said list, and notifies the awarding result

and shipment information to said awarded offline store, wherein said concerted website's

strong points such as marketing ability and geographically unlimited nature are integrated

into those of said offline store such as supplying ability and specialty in services, and said

online and offline stores' burden of inventory management can be relieved by intermediary's settlement guarantee and transaction intermediation.

*According to one of the embodiment of the invention, in settling the payment, said

concerted website provides said purchaser with a menu to choose a payment option from

by item, and said intermediary website can settle the payment according to said detailed

transaction statement where the payment option is indicated.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when the concerted website is given

from the money paid by said purchaser, the intermediary website first takes the

commission proportionate to the amount of money, then pays the offline store the desired

price by item, and then said concerted website is paid the rest amount of the money.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when said purchaser chooses a

payment form and executes payment, said purchaser registers payment form information,

as said intermediary website dose not exchange information with said concerted website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, in order to improve the credit level of

all the electronic commerce, credit information by Point Deduction System can be

established when any violence occurs during the procedures of purchasing, selling and delivery.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the intermediary website can store

said member's purchasing details in the form of log files, analyze said purchasing details

real-time, and provide said analysis result to said seller real-time, wherein said analysis

result can be used as marketing information and credit information reference either

through online interfaces or in the form of offline printouts.

According to another embodiment of the invention, through credit granting, said member

can allow another member who is not registered for a payment form, which said member

uses when purchasing and paying at said concerted website, to use said payment form

within a permitted limit without additional registration procedure at pertinent entity

issuing said payment form. It enables a head of a household and a corporate owner to

allow respectively his/her spouse or children and the constituents of the corporate to use

respectively his/her credit cards or the corporate credit cards within a certain limited

extent.

According to the invention, the intermediary website serves as advertisement provider,

membership verifier, settlement agency, transaction intermediary, online cash register

and customer manager.

With single registration, a member can use all the contents that the concerted websites

offer without any additional registration procedure of inputting information at all the

concerted websites. Also, by analyzing each member's point management and activity details based on the monitoring on details of each member's advertisement viewing and

purchasing and paying, the intermediary website provides each economic subject with

basic information for operational and marketing activities.

By presenting the exact levels of advertisement conveyance and of advertisement

recipient's actual purchasing pertinent advertised products, the intermediary website

helps the advertisers with the precise data for marketing and production planning for the

future market.

And with each financial institution which deals with all the payment forms, using the

economy of scale generated by processing all the transactions with the concerted selling

websites collectively, the intermediary website returns to each concerted websites and

consumer the profits made through the reduction of commission rates.

Also, by presenting members with concerted website information such as the member's

share at advertisement viewing or the exchange rate on point at each concerted website,

the intermediary website serves as a compass to navigate through the sea of economic

information, and intermediates point transactions among members.

If a member purchases from a store and requests for settlement, the intermediary website

offers a system which executes the settlement according to the form of purchase

regardless of the whereabouts and executes purchasing and supplying according to the

online store's product selling. So, by enabling the existing commerce stores to vicariously

execute supplying or delivery using said system, the intermediary website allows them to participate as constituents in the age of the electronic commerce.

Also the intermediary website activates online electronic commerce by handling payment

and settlement-related matters, and providing various services related to the credit and

shipping matters basic to transactions among stores. Here, as each store is dealt as a

member like a customer, each of their corporate number or business registration number

can be secured of its singleness though conversion of the numbers. So, by running a

system which consistently tracks and integrally executes the settlement process among

the online store, the offline store in charge of actual supplying and, the consumer, the

intermediary website minimizes the incidental expenses and maintains the flow of money

among the stores unhindered. And by providing the offline stores with the cash register

function through cord or cordless online contacting and various forms of terminals such

as web browser and PDA, and through this by supporting general offline stores to

perform the same economic activities as online stores do in customer & profit

management and in providing services for customer visiting offline stores, the

intermediary website links and integrates online and offline commerce environments.

For the government, the intermediary website provides basic data for management of

taxation sources and the price policies based on the transparent transactions details, and

for the consumer, a variety of product information based on real transaction prices, which

lead to increase of profits for the consumer.

The invention will serve as a support for the development of information society by establishing a new and effective conveying method for the advertisement that is a

representative marketing tool, a structure to collect the exact advertisement conveying

details to consumers and a effective profit-generating system for IP/CP (Information

Provider/Contents provider, to be referred as to "IP" hereinafter) who are operators of

advertisement conveying media.

In other words, the invention draws up a plan to change the structure of the existing

practice of settlement, without changing too much of it, into a system that can solve the

problems the existing system has shown, and formulates a simple tool, even more

convenient and secured for usage of all forms of cards which are the most popular

payment methods in commerce. The invention, by drawing up a plan to develop the

conventional commerce system centering wholesales and retails together with the new

system of electronic commerce, also achieves the occupational stability of the

conventional commerce community, the customer satisfaction and the effectiveness of

physical distribution system at the same time. The invention is a commerce method and

system which enables the intermediary website to collect, process, store and analyze the

information on each constituent's all the economic activities generated from the above

processes.

[Brief Descriptions of Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a drawing briefly illustrating the organization of the invention according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the membership verification procedure according to a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3a is a flowchart illustrating the automatic registration procedure through an

electronic certificate when a member contacts a concerted website according to a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3b is a flowchart illustrating the automatic registration procedure through an

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the automatic verification procedure through an

electronic certificate according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the advertisement transmission and reception between

the intermediary website sever and a member contacting a concerted website according

to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the transmission and reception process between the

advertisement receptor and the intermediary website' advertisement sever according to a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7a is a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying the

navigation bar by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7b a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying the initial advertisement screen when a user clicks an advertisement channel by a preferred

embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7c a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying the list of

the concerted websites out of the navigation bar by a preferred embodiment of the

invention.

FIG. 7d a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying an

advertisement received from an advertisement channel by a preferred embodiment of the

invention.

FIG. 8 is a drawing illustrating the table of the credit cards that are represented by the

proxy card according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9a is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the use and verification of the proxy

card at the intermediary website according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9b is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the use and verification of proxy card

• in an offline status according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10a is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of payment settlement by a preferred

embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10b is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of payment settlement for products

received online by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10c is a drawing illustrating the table of transaction details that the intermediary

website received from an online store by a preferred embodiment of the invention. FIG. lOd is a drawing illustrating the table of verification methods in the process of

membership verification for the transaction details received at the intermediary website

by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 a flowchart illustrating the entire procedure through which the intermediary

website purchases and supplies in connection with online and offline stores by a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of purchasing and supplying between

online and offline stores by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure in the event the supplying contract is

cancelled after it was awarded by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a drawing illustrating the organization of the intermediary website system

according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15a is a drawing illustrating the table of data established in the membership database

by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15b is the structure of table established in the advertisement reception log file

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15c a drawing illustrating the table of data established in the concerted website

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15d is a drawing illustrating the table of data established in the advertisement

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention. FIG. 15d is a drawing illustrating the table of data established in the advertisement

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15f is a drawing of the table of data established in the product transaction main-log

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15g is a drawing of the table of data established in the product transaction sub-log

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15h is a drawing of the table of data established in the credit card database by a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15i is a drawing of the table of data established in the credit card use, verification &

transaction details database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

< Description of Main Codes in the Drawings>

100 : Member

105 : Network

110 : Concerted Website

120 : Intermediary Website

130 : Payment-related Institution

[Preferred Embodiment of the Invention]

The preferred embodiment of the invention will be concretely described hereinafter with

reference to the drawings. In the invention, the consumer, the user, the member and the purchaser are used to mean

the same and easily understandable term according to each drawing will be used.

Also, in the invention, it is a matter of course that products include intangible products

such as music, lectures, movies and information as well as tangible products.

FIG. 1 is a drawing briefly illustrating the organization of the invention according to a

preferred embodiment of the invention.

Although the invention can share members through two-way verification procedure, the

description will be made on the assumption that the intermediary website executes one¬

way verification in order to help understanding of the invention,

The Information Provider (IP, to be referred to as the "Concerted Website"

hereinafterXllO) that purposes to provide information and sell products to the Member

(100) and the Information Provider (to be referred as to the "Intermediary Website"

hereinafter)(120) that provides advertisements, verifies membership, vicariously

executes settlement and intermediates commerce are connected through a Network(105).

The Member(lOO) can contact Intermediary Website(120) and the Concerted

Website(llO) through a Network(lOO).

As in the event the Member(lOO) contacts the Concerted Website(llO), membership

verification is executed by the Intermediary Website(120), the cumbersome process of

entering ID and password whenever the Member(lOO) move among the Concerted

Websites disappears (110). This member sharing system is not a system of sharing databases, and it is executed

real-time by issuing a disposable electronic certificate that can include personal

information and Trust Level whenever the Member(lOO) visits the Concerted

Website(l lO).

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the services that the Intermediary

Website(120) intermediates includes such things as vicarious execution of membership

verification and payment settlement, advertisement providing, commerce intermediation

connecting online product purchasing to general offline stores.

The Intermediary website(120) consists of the log creation & advertisement distribution

system, the payment settlement & intermediation system, the marketing data mining

system and the database. And the database consists of the advertisement database, the

advertisement reception database, the product database, the payment form database, the

member database, the concerted website database, the payment form use, verification &

transaction details database and the product transaction database. The system of the

Intermediary Website will be described in FIG. 14.

The Intermediary Website(120) provides services of vicariously executing settlement in

connection with the Payment-related Institution 130), and according to a preferred

embodiment of the invention, it handle all the payment settlement by operation a virtual

representative credit card system where all the payment-related cards are represented

by the proxy card. Here, the Payment-related Institution(130) refers to financial institutions or credit card

companies, The payment like this is executed by using Payment Gateway through the

proxy card. Payment Gateway is the business that intermediates all the payment

settlement occurring in the cyber market. Its major business include payment settlement

& management for medium and large member companies, small-sum settlement &

prepayment account management and fund intermediary service in electronic finance, and

the payment forms include the credit card, the ATM card, the banking account and the

purchasing card. The proxy card will be described in FIG. 8.

preferred embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the user moves among concerted websites, membership

verification is executed through the electronic certificate issued by the concerted website

the user first contacts (to be referred as to "the first website" hereinafter) without

entering ID and password. In other words, if the verification is executed at the first

website, when the user moves to another concerted website, the membership verification

is executed through the certificate issued by the website that has already verified the

user's membership. In order to help understanding the invention, explanation about the

one-way verification procedure by which the intermediary website issues a certificate

follows.

According to the invention, a plurality of concerted websites concerts with the intermediary website and they trust each other's membership verification. Therefore,

even if the user is registered at only one of the concerted websites or only at the

intermediary website, the invention provides the method & system which executes

verification (or log-in) at entering any other concerted website. However, in order to

prevent the leakage of personal information, the invention does not use the method of

sharing database, but uses the following procedure.

The member who is registered at the intermediary website or one of the concerted

websites is registered or verified of his/her membership at all the concerted websites

automatically through an electronic certificate. In other words, by eliminating the

cumbersome procedure of registration, the intermediary website helps the concerted

websites to attract members.

Referring to the FIG. 2, membership verification (of log-in) procedure goes through the

following preceding structure and basic establishments. In other words, in order to secure

the mutual trust for the membership verification among the websites, the following

structure should be premised.

At step 200, the Trust Level is defined according to confirmation of the member's

information such as name, resident registration number, address and e-mail address. This

Trust Level can established based on the member's identification and his/her credit level

through various confirmation processes such as the facts whether the member checks e-

mail, whether his/her resident registration number is true when he/she uses credit cards, whether his/her name is real through a request for account transfer of points and whether

his/her billing address is the same as the shipping address at actual purchasing. This

Trust Level is of course can be established by not only the concerted websites but also

by the intermediary website.

At step 205, the concerted website gets to establish the Trust Level in order to receive

selectively the electronic certificate from the intermediary website. In other words, the

intermediary website verifies only the member who meets certain criteria of Trust Level

that each concerted website has established. And the concerted website requests for the

verification of the membership only for the members who meet its own criteria of Trust

Level.

At step 208, the examination is executed whether the Trust Level of the member meets

the criteria the concerted website has established.

At step 210, whether the member contacts the concerted website for the first time after

registered at the intermediary website is decided.

This process is to exclude disguised members of the intermediary or the concerted

websites.

At step 215, when the member is verified through the electronic certificate at the

concerted website for first time, the member should go through the procedure of

identification by entering ID and password at the concerted website. In other words, at

the first contact after registration, before the verification procedure through the electronic certificate the member should go through the same verification procedure

through his/her ID and password. The result of the procedure is stored and the invention

treats him/her as the same person at later times through automatic verification through

the electronic certificate.

At step 220, the intermediary website selects parts of all of the member information

according to the extent to which the member allows, attaches it to the electronic

certificate and send it.

In other words, the member can decide the extent to which his/her personal information

can be revealed. And the intermediary website can send the electronic certificate to

which the personal information within permitted limit is attached.

*This personal information can be used valuably when concerted websites update their

member database or at later when each concerted website provides its members with

customers with customized services. In other words, concerted websites can use it when

they update their member information. In other words, the intermediary website and

concerted websites share this latest updated personal information of each member which

is attached to the electronic certificate.

Also, according to an embodiment of the invention, when a concerted website receives an

electronic certificate of an unregistered member, it can process automatically the

registration of the person using the personal information attached to the electronic certificate.

*At step 230, when the member visits said concerted website after going through the

identification procedure, automatic membership verification is executed without his/her

entering ID and password only through the disposable electronic certificate issued by the

intermediary website.

Based upon this basic processing structure, the member is verified at the concerted

website through the electronic certificate issued by the intermediary website. Verification

through logging-in is executed by the intermediary website. And the result is sent to the

concerted website in the form of electronic certificate issued by the intermediary website,

and each concerted website identifies the member using the electronic certificate and

verifies him/her as if it is through its own ID.

preferred embodiment of the invention.

At step 305, the member visits the homepage of the intermediary website.

Verification procedure when he/she visits the homepage of the concerted website will be

explained at FIG. 3b.

At step 310, the member goes through the user's log-in procedure by entering his/her ID

and password. At step 315, the intermediary website verifies his/her membership through user

identification process, and when the user is not identified, the intermediary website asks

the user to go through logging-in procedure again at step 310.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, at step 320 after membership

verification, the navigation bar containing concerted website information is loaded and

displayed to the member. The navigation bar reveals a list of the concerted websites, a

list of the member websites, advertisement channels and other information at the

member's clicking. (See FIG. 7a, FIG. 7b, FIG. 7c and FIG. 7d). When the navigation bar is

loaded, the member tries to move to one of the concerted website by clicking the

concerted website name. At FIG. 3a the case where the member tries to move to a non-

concerted website should be considered.

At step 325, when the member moves to one of the concerted websites, the intermediary

website creates an electronic certificate and sends the created electronic certificate to

the concerted website. According to an embodiment of the invention, the intermediary

website also sends the member's personal information and Trust Level by attaching them

to the certificate.

At step 330, the concerted website decides whether said member is its own member

according to the information contained in the certificate. When the member is identified

as its own member, automatic membership registration procedure through the electronic

certificate is executed at step 340. At step 335, when the visitor is a member of the concerted website, he/she is

automatically registered at the concerted website based on the personal information that

is attached to the electronic certificate.

In this way, the intermediary website collectively manages information on the members,

ridding each store of the burdens of managing the member information and each member

of the troubles of registering every time he/she visits one of the concerted websites for

the first time, which contributes to attracting members.

At step 340 after automatic registration at the concerted website, logging-in process

should be executed, and the verification though logging-in is executed based on the

electronic certificate issued by the intermediary website. Verification through the

electronic certificate will be explained at FIG. 4.

preferred embodiment of the invention.

At step 355, the member visits the homepage of the concerted website.

At step 357, the concerted website asks the intermediary website to verify the member.

At step 360, the member goes through the user log-in procedure by entering his/her ID

and password.

At step 365, the intermediary website verifies the member through user identification

process. When the member is not identified, the intermediary website asks him/her to go through user log-in procedure again at step 360.

♦According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, at step 360 after the membership

verification, the navigation bar conveying the concerted website information is loaded and

concerted website name. At FIG. 3b the case where the member tries to move to a non-

concerted website should be considered.

At step 370, the intermediary website creates the electronic certificate corresponding to

the user.

At step 375, the intermediary website sends the created electronic certificate to the

concerted website. According to an embodiment of the invention, the intermediary

website also sends the user's personal information and Trust Level by attaching them to

the certificate.

At step 380, the concerted website decides whether the member above is its own

member according to the information contained in the certificate. When the member is

identified as its own member, automatic membership registration procedure through the

electronic certificate is executed at step 390. At step 385, when the visitor is not a member of the concerted website, he/she is

is attached to the electronic certificate.

the first time, which contributes to attracting members.

At step 390 after automatic registration at the concerted website, log-in process should

be executed, and the verification through log-in procedure is executed based on the

electronic certificate will be explained at FIG. 4.

electronic certificate according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Description on step 405 through step 420 shall be omitted because it is the same as the

one on step 305 through step 320 of FIG. 3. At step 420, however, when the member

moves to the concerted website, he/she shall be regarded having been registered at said

concerted website.

At step 430, when the user moves to the concerted website, the intermediary website

examines whether the member meets the Trust Level established by the concerted

website. The Trust Level can be established according to the member's identification and his/her credit level through various confirmation processes such as the facts whether the

member checks e-mail, whether his/her resident registration number is true when he/she

uses credit cards, whether his/her name is real through a request for account transfer of

points and whether his/her billing address is the same as the shipping address at actual

purchasing. The intermediary website does not issue an electronic certificate for the

member who could not meet the Trust Level at step 453.

When the member meets the Trust Level, the procedure of deciding whether he/she visits

the website for the first website after registration is executed at step 447.

At step 448, the identification procedure for the member is executed at the pertinent

website. This process is to exclude disguised members of the intermediary or the

concerted websites.

In other words, when the member is verified through the electronic certificate at the

concerted website for first time, the step for identification procedure by entering ID and

password at the concerted website can be added. And the result is stored and the

invention treats him/her as the same person at later times through automatic verification

through the electronic certificate.

When the member is verified as the same person by entering his/her ID and password,

the electronic certificate is issued at step 450.

However, when either the ID or password is not correct, issue of the certificate is not

permitted at step 453. At step 453, the intermediary website sends the electronic certificate to the concerted

website, and the personal information can be attached to the above certificate.

According Lo another embodiment of the invention, when the intermediary website sends

the electronic certificate, it can attach not only the personal information but also the

member's Trust Level and the latest date when the information is updated. And they can

be referred to when the concerted website updates the information about its members.

At step 455, also the concerted website can set up the standards of the Trust Level.

When the Trust Level attached to the electronic certificate meets the standards set up by

the concerted website, the process moves to Step 465.

At step 465, using the personal information and the latest updated date attached to the

certificate, the concerted website can update the information about the members stored

at its database. In other words, the concerted website can update the information of its

members based on the information included in the electronic certificate. As the above

certificate includes the member's personal information, when the concerted website

receives the updated personal information through the electronic certificate, it can

process information updating real-time.

At step 470, the member is automatically logged-in through the electronic certificate

received from the intermediary website.

If the member's Trust Level does not meets the standards set up by the concerted

website at step 455, the process moves to Step 460 where reception of the electronic certificate is rejected.

The member in this invention can be not only an individual but also a group. As for the

group member, automatic verification for the constituent of the group can be processed

according to the procedure mentioned above. At the automatic registration procedure,

however, according to an embodiment of the invention, if the manager of the group

member is pre-designated, when the group member moves to the concerted website

where the group member is not yet registered, the automatic registration can be executed.

Also when a constituent of the group corresponding to the manager of the group moves to

the concerted website where he/she is not yet registered, he/she can be registered

automatically. And the rest of the constituents can be automatically verified his/her

membership through electronic certificate only at the concerted websites permitted by

the manager of the group among the concerted website he/she has been registered at.

to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Through the invention, the member is provided with the navigation bar from which he/she

can select and receive the advertisement only he/she wants. The navigation bar here is a

program embodied as if it is software.

According to an embodiment of the invention, at the navigation bar the information about

advertisement channels are included. When the member chooses and clicks the advertisement he/she wants from the advertisement channel, the advertisement window

is loaded and the chosen advertisement is displayed on the screen.

When the member enters each website and executes activities corresponding to the

visiting purpose, he/she comes to face on the screen the advertisement channel

information included at the navigation bar provided by the intermediary website as well as

the contents of each website. As the member is to click the menu at the navigation bar

and selects from the list of advertisement provided by the intermediary website,

advertisement is provided only when the customer wants.

The advertisement provided here assumes a kind of channel structure classified

according to the character or the target of the business, and it is a targeting

advertisement whose main advertisement channel is decided according to the tendency

and taste of the members.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, two forms of advertisement

channel are provided. One follows the method of flexible advertisement cost distributing,

through which the advertisement cost is fixed per certain time unit and the money for

advertisement viewing is divided by the number of the members who have viewed the

advertisement for the period of time and distributed among them. The other follows the

method of inflexible advertisement cost distributing, through which the fixed

advertisement cost is given as advertisement viewing money at every viewing. According to another embodiment of the invention, the advertisement viewing money per

certain time unit in case of the flexible distribution method can be decided according to

the total amount of fixed advertisement cost (the number of the time units during the total

advertisement period xthe number of the recipient members per the time unit).

And the viewing money for each of the advertisement changes at certain time intervals.

Each website can adopt different distribution proportion between the website and the

member-viewers according to its marketing purpose, or the method to attract new

members. Therefore, the viewing money for the same advertisement differs at each

website. The member at his/her will selects and views his/her favorite one or ones

among all the advertisement according to the information about the advertisement

viewing money provided by the intermediary website.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the member's advertisement viewing

is verified not when he/she chooses an advertisement but when he/she is confirmed to

have finished viewing it. It is possible by displaying in the advertisement window a timer

that shows the time of progress of the advertisement and a communication mark which

can be confirmed for a certain and short period of time when the timer ends. When an

advertisement ends, the member can choose another one, and the viewing activities

become his/her log information. According to the log information of the member,

advertisement viewing benefits are accumulated in the form of points at the member's

account located in the database of the intermediary website, which in the future can be used at a website purposing electronic commerce or is paid converted into cash. The

member log information includes the member, the website where the viewing has taken

place, the viewing time, codes of the relevant products, the distribution ratio of the

advertisement viewing money and the advertisement-identifying code. Measures such as

the provision regulating that reiterating viewing of the same advertisement within a

certain time period or simultaneous viewing of the same advertisement at various

websites shall not be accumulated in forms of points can increase the effect of the

advertisement.

At step 503, the member contacts the concerted website.

At step 505, the concerted website asks the intermediary website to verify the member,

and the intermediary website executes membership verification by issuing the electronic

certificate for the concerted website.

At step 510, the intermediary website verifies the member and creates the navigation bar

corresponding to the member.

The navigation bar shall be explained at the descriptions of FIG. 7a, FIG. 7b, FIG. 7c and

FIG. 7d.

At step 515, the intermediary website sends the navigation bar simultaneously with the

issue of the electronic certificate.

As the result, the member is automatically verified as soon as he/she contacts the

concerted website, and the navigation bar corresponding to each member is displayed on the screen.

The navigation bar carries such items as the advertisement channels and the group

advertisement classified by category are manifested, and it can carry the name of the

member, his/her accumulated points or the list of the concerted websites he/she has

registered at. The navigation bar has own ID corresponding to the member. According to

a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ID at the navigation bar can use the resident

registration number unique to each member.

At step 520, the member can view his/her points accumulated according to his/her

advertisement viewing from the navigation bar, and the points can be manifested for the

member to choose which advertisement channel.

The member chooses the advertisement channel and views the advertisement, and by

clicking within a pre-designated time a bar that supervises and confirms the

advertisement viewing, he/she is verified of the viewing from the intermediary website. In

other words, in order to ensure the advertisement viewing to yield a practical effect, a

timer is inserted in the advertisement window, and the intermediary website

acknowledges the advertisement viewing only if it receives a certain signal input by the

viewer within a certain time period.

At step 525, the member electronically sends the message about which advertisement

channel he/she will view.

At step 526, the intermediary website creates the advertisement window. At step 527, the intermediary sends the created window to the member.

At step 528, the member can go through the viewing confirming procedure at the

advertisement window after he/she views the advertisement for a designated time period.

According to an embodiment of the invention, in order to raise the effectiveness of the

advertisement, the intermediary website can confirm whether the member has viewed the

advertisement by the member's clicking on the viewing-verifying button within a pre-

designated time period after the advertisement.

At step 529, the intermediary website receives the details about the advertisement

viewing verification.

At step 530, the intermediary website creates the log data about the advertisement

viewing details and stores it in the database. Through this process, based on the

advertisement viewing details stored in the database, the advertiser can execute very

highly effective target marketing. Here, the advertisement viewing details includes the

period of time for which the advertisement has been received, the kind of the media

through which the advertisement was received and the code of the viewed advertisement.

At step 535, based on the advertisement viewing details, the advertisement viewing

money is paid real-time to the advertisement viewer. As for the advertisement with

flexible method, the advertisement viewing money paid to the viewers is adjusted real¬

time according to the number of the viewers of the advertisement.

At step 540, the points for the advertisement viewing and the adjusted advertisement viewing money for the flexible method advertisement are sent to the advertisement

receptor at the intermediary website.

At step 545, the advertisement receptor shows the member the transmitted information,

enabling the member to benefit from the information later when he/she chooses an

advertisement or purchases products.

preferred embodiment of the invention.

At step 600, the member logs-in and performs the membership verification process.

The verification process is executed through the electronic certificate issued by the

intermediary website.

At step 605, simultaneously with the verification, the navigation bar corresponding to the

member is loaded and provided to the member.

Each advertisement receptor is given a serial number the member's resident registration

number, and each member has his/her own receptor.

At step 610, the advertisement receptor displays such information as the accumulated

points and the advertisement dial.

It can also display to the member such information as the member information and the list

of the concerted websites by receiving from the intermediary website only when the

member clicks the menu for them. When the intermediary website is received the request for the list of the concerted

websites at step 615, it sends the list to the advertisement receptor at step 620.

When the intermediary website is received a request for the information about the

advertisement channel at step 625, it sends the information at step 630.

The member draws out the menu from the navigation bar at step 635, and clicks the

advertisement he/she wants at step 640.

At step 645, the navigation bar loads the advertisement window and displays the

advertisement.

At step 650, the timer works and the member's advertisement viewing is verified when

he/she clicks the confirming button within a certain period of time. The process ends if

the member's clicking information within the pre-designated period of time is not

received.

At step 655, if the clicking information is received within the time, the navigation bar asks

the intermediary website to accumulate the points for the advertisement viewing.

At step 660, the intermediary website sends the updated result to the navigation bar.

At step 665, the navigation bar receives the updated result.

At step 670, the updated result is displayed real-time through the navigation bar.

FIG, 7a is a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying the

navigation bar by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The advertisement channel(701) is the item from which the member views the list of the advertisement.

As the advertisement channel is provided classified by category by the advertisement

group(704), the advertiser can execute the marketing advertisement customized to a

certain customers. Also, the member's advertisement channel(701) is decided according

to each member's characteristics.

FIG. 7b a schematic illustration of a computer monitor screen that is displaying the initial

advertisement screen when a user clicks an advertisement channel by a preferred

embodiment of the invention.

The advertisement by flexible method(713) is the advertisement by the method through

which the advertisement cost is fixed per a certain time unit, and the advertisement

viewing money is distributed among the viewer-members divided by the number of them.

As for the advertisement by flexible method(713), 60 represents the time unit (minutes),

and 125 represents the sum of the points distributed between the viewer-members and

the concerted website.

The advertisement by the inflexible method(715) is the advertisement by the method

through which the pre-designated advertisement cost is paid as the advertisement

viewing money at each viewing. The figure that appears after the advertiser represents

the sum of the points distributed between viewers and the concerted website.

the concerted websites out of the navigation bar by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

At the list of the concerted websites, the distribution ratio between the concerted website

and the viewers of the advertisement and the exchange rate of the point at advertisement

viewing are manifested.

According to FIG. 7c, if the member views an advertisement at one shopping-mall

website among the concerted websites, 20% of the total points for advertisement viewing

are distributed to the member. Also, if he/she purchases products from the shopping-mall

website, he/she can use the points on 1:1 exchange rate base.

The concerted websites related to electronic commerce accepts as a form of payment

points which the member has accumulated by viewing advertisement as well as money

and token money which are the general forms of payment for purchasing. And each

concerted website for selling applies 1:1 exchange rate of the point or even higher rates

according to its own selling strategy. This can be an effective strategy to attract

members.

invention.

The advertisement cost is distributed not when the member clicks the advertisement at

the advertisement channel, but when he/she clicks within a certain time period the bar

that confirms the advertisement viewing. With this advertisement-viewing confirming method included, the practical effect of

advertising can be increased.

The concerted websites can lay stress on the contents as the intermediary website

executes advertisement-related activities such as attracting and managing various

advertisements. The advertisement cost provided by the intermediary website is

distributed on a certain ratio between the members who have viewed the advertisement

and the concerted website where the members have contacted while viewing the

advertisement. Therefore, by adjusting the ratio, the concerted website can establish a

more effective marketing strategy.

Also, according to another embodiment of the invention, substantial advertising effect can

be expected by executing targeting advertisement customized to meet the tastes of the

members.

Also, according to another embodiment of the invention, the information about the

advertisement viewing of the customer is recorded in log-files real-time and provided to

the advertiser and the member. Using these log-files, the advertiser can utilize the

responses provided real-time from the members to set up various marketing strategies.

proxy card according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Unlike the general procedure of credit card issue, all the procedure is completed with

assigning a card number at the member's request. The difference is that the member is required to register his/her cards including credit card.

When the member uses proxy card, he/she is demanded to register such cards as his/her

general credit cards.

Although the card is not issued in the form of an actual object, it is given to the member

as occasions demands, and similar to the resident card which is the most general ID card,

the member's photo, resident registration number, the identifying number and his/her

physical features such as the finger prints and glottis are recorded on the card. In order

to ensure an easy identification, the identifying number can be made using the

arrangement of the member's resident registration number. According to an embodiment

of the invention, if the resident registration number of a member is 631214-1559716,

his/her identifying number (the member number) can be 1559716-631214, 6179551-

412136 or 412136-6179551. In other countries than Korea, the identifying number

corresponding to Korea's resident registration number can use according to the method

mentioned above.

In the database which manages the member information, general member information,

passwords for membership verification, member numbers issued by entities and groups

which said member has been registered at, and their passwords for verification are

stored. All the contents in the database except requisite items unalterable by the member,

such as card numbers and their passwords can be added, deleted or altered by the

member through the network like the Internet at any time. FIG. 9a is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the use and verification of the proxy

It is a matter of course that the member can use proxy card not only by visiting one of

the concerted website on the web, but also through the terminal at an offline store by

visiting the store. The procedure of use and verification of proxy card at offline stores

shall be explained at the description on FIG. 9a.

The following shall be explained with reference to FIG. 9a.

At step 905, the member visits a concerted Internet shopping mall.

At step 910, the membership is automatically verified through the electronic certificate

issued by the intermediary website.

At step 925, the member purchase products at the shopping mall.

At step 930, the shopping mall requests the intermediary website to settle for the

purchase. While doing this, the shopping mall can send the transaction details including

the amount of money.

The transaction details refer to product prices and information related to the purchasing,

and shall be explained in full at the description of FIG. 10b.

At step 932, the intermediary website executes the verification about proxy card usage,

and can perform the membership verification procedure one more time for the sake of

security.

At step 935, the intermediary website server calculates the information on the card which the user will pay with, using the information on the user's card, the interest rates and the

commission rates that have already been input. In other words, the intermediary website

server considers and compares the member's accumulated points and the payment form

registered for proxy card and advises the most advantageous settlement option to the

member,

A Step 940, based on the result, the intermediary website server presents the member

with the advantageous payment options in order.

At step 945, the user chooses his/her payment option (points or cards) based on the

payment options recommended by the card server. It is a matter of course that the user

can settle all the payment with the card, partial payment with points or all the payment

with points.

Also, the user input the receipt code at settlement. The receipt code is a PIN that the

member designates at settlement, and the intermediary website manages it. Later when

the concerted website requests the intermediary website to pay for the settlement, the

receipt code works as a token to confirm whether the member actually receives the

purchased product. In other words, the receipt code is prerequisite website when the

concerted website or the offline store asks the intermediary website to settle for the

purchase, as the member is required to send the receipt code to the concerted website or

the offline store after receiving the purchased product

At step 950, the member sends the payment option he/she has chosen and the receipt code. Here, the payment option means the payment form and the option between lump

sum and allotment payments.

At step 952, the intermediary website requests the payment institution including credit

card companies to verify the settlement according to the member's payment option.

At step 955, the intermediary website creates the transaction details and stores them in

the database after it receives the verification from the payment institution.

At step 957, the intermediary website sends the concerted website the message about

the transaction details and the payment option in the form of a purchasing order.

At step 960, the intermediary website sends the member the confirming message about

the transaction details.

At step 962, the concerted website stores the transaction details.

At step 963, the concerted website ships the ordered product to the member.

At step 965, the member receives the purchased product.

At step 967, the member sends the receipt code for the product to the concerted website.

At step 970, the concerted website sends the receipt code to the intermediary website,

and requests the intermediary website to settle the payment.

At step 975, the intermediary website requests the payment institution including credit

card companies to settle the payment and receives the settlement money.

At step 980, the intermediary website remits the received money to the concerted

website. At step 985, the concerted website confirms the settlement and the purchasing

transaction using proxy card are completed.

Of course, the above procedure is also possible for the offline stores through the cord or

cordless network. The procedure of proxy card usage and its verification at the offline

stores shall be explained at the description of FIG. 9b,

in an offline status according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Proxy card based on the invention can be used any place equipped with the credit inquiry

terminals able to read it. As proxy card has the same physical form as other conventional

cards and can be read by the existing terminals, its use largely conforms to the existing

conditions. However, it differs in terms of its use and verification procedure, and it is as

follows.

First, the offline store requests the issuing company of proxy card to verify the user's

identification using the inquiry terminal equipped at the store. The verification procedure

demands reading of the proxy card, or inputting of the membership number of the proxy

card. And then the procedure continues and completes using the password consisting of

general numerical figures or letters, the fingerprints or the glottis, or other physical

features.

If the verification is refused, the verification system records the number of refusal in

order to prevent wrongful use of the card. The number of refusal is recorded as data for forbiddance on its use.

The verification is executed in two ways. One, if it is for the simple recognition of the

member, place of use information previously input in the terminal which executed the

recognition of the member is also sent at the verification of proxy card, and reported to

the verification system of the card's managing agency or institution at once. And the

verification is executed.

Or, if the place is where he/she can choose the card he/she wants, he/she is asked to

choose which card to use. Here, the verification system presents the list of cards in order

of the most advantageous to the user according to the pre-designated logic. The list of

cards is presented according to the card information the user has previously input using

the network. After a card is chosen, proxy card verification system requests the chosen

card's issuing and managing institution to verify its use, receives the verification details

and sends them to the terminal.

Additional details shall be explained with reference to FIG. 9b as follows.

At step 810, the offline store contacts the intermediary website through the terminal

equipped in the store.

At step 815, the intermediary website verifies the offline store through the verification

procedure and creates the cash register on the screen.

At step 820, the intermediary website sends the created cash register screen to the

terminal of the offline store. At step 825, the information on the offline store's list of products and their price is drawn

from the storage medium.

At step 830, the offline store sends the above information to the intermediary website.

At step 840, the customer visits the offline store.

At step 845, the customer purchases products at the store and tries to settle the

purchase.

At step 848, the customer enters his/her ID and password at the store's terminal.

The above entering procedure is for the verification of proxy card. The input ID and

password are sent to the intermediary website and used for the verification of the

customer and proxy card.

Of course, the above verification procedure is also possible by using the proxy card in

the same way as with the general credit card, without the purchaser's inputting his/her ID

and password.

At step 850, the offline store sends the ID and password or the card number of the proxy

card and requests the intermediary website to verify the customer.

When the store's terminal requests the intermediary websites to settle the purchase, it

can send the transaction details including the amount of money.

The transaction details refer to product price and information related to the purchasing,

and shall be explained in full at the description of FIG, 10b.

At step 853, the intermediary website executes the membership verification and proxy card use verification procedure.

At step 855 the intermediary website server calculates the information on card that the

user will pay with, the using the information on the user's card, the interest rates and the

server considers and compares the customer's accumulated points and the payment form

registered for proxy card, and advises the most advantageous settlement option to the

customer.

At step 860, based on the result, the intermediary website server presents the customer

with the advantageous payment options in order.

At step 865, the customer chooses his/her payment option (points or cards) based on the

with points.

At step 870, the customer sends the payment option he/she has chosen and the receipt

code. Here, the payment option means the payment form and the option between lump

sum and allotment payments.

At step 875, the intermediary website requests the payment institution including credit

At step 880, the intermediary website completes the settlement, and sends the completed

settlement details to the store's terminal. At step 887, the customer receives the products and the receipt for the settlement.

At step 885, the intermediary website can create the transaction details after achieving

authorization for the use and store them in the database.

At step 890, the intermediary website can send the purchaser the purchasing details for

the sake of confirmation.

At step 892, the offline store requests the intermediary website to settle the payment

through the store's terminal.

At step 893, the intermediary website requests the payment institution including credit

card companies to settle the payment and receives the settlement money.

*At step 895, the intermediary website remits the received the money to the offline store.

At step 897, the offline store receives the money and the purchase of the products using

the card is completed.

embodiment of the invention,

The member gets verified his/her membership by logging-on, purchases the products

he/she wants. Then if he/she requests for the settlement, and the concerted commerce

website requests for the settlement and the transaction details from the intermediary

website.

Through the financial advisory system based on the member's points, interest rates and other factors, and according to the information on every payment forms (i.e. the credit

card, the debit card and account transfer) that the member has put in the personal

information section in the database of the intermediary website, the intermediary website

presents the member the list of available payment options in the order of

advantageousness, and the member chooses the best settlement option. This is done in

the following three ways.

According to an embodiment of the invention, if the information on the payment forms is

put in the intermediary website once, there is no need to put in the information at every

transaction at every website. Beside, as the transaction is executed only with simple

mark or name for each payment form not with their detailed information, the leak of

information can be prohibited.

According to another embodiment of the invention, credit granting is possible among the

members of the intermediary website. For example, member A can allow member B to

use a certain payment form of member A's, and within a permitted limit member B can

use it as if it is the payment form that member B has registered.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the electronic certificate for the

verification of the electronic commerce, after it is encoded in the form of electronic purse,

can be stored in the member's personal information section in the database of the

intermediary website, available at any time. This enables the member, without recording

it in his/her own storing instrument, to execute any transaction at the concerted website that requires the electronic certificate just by choosing a payment form in the payment

window.

According to the transaction pattern and the commerce website's own policy, the

settlement can be done in three ways: advance, simultaneous -that is at receipt of the

product - and future payments. In case of advance payment, if the member requests for

settlement after purchasing, the intermediary website requests the card company to

verify the purchase and, according to the result, it pays the concerted selling website the

money. In case of simultaneous payment, the member puts in the receipt code for the

confirmation of transaction at purchasing, receives the product and informs either the

concerted website or the delivery agency of the receipt code, enabling the settlement

procedure to start with the code put in the settlement system. In case of future payment,

the process is the same with the case of simultaneous payment except after the receipt

code is put in the settlement system, only if the customer expresses his/her satisfaction

with the product within a certain time period the settlement procedure can start. And if

the customer is not satisfied with the product, he/she can express his/her dissatisfaction

about the transaction to the intermediary website within a certain time period. The

transaction details and the settlement details are stored in the database for them and can

be used as basic date of marketing and the prices information.

Additional details shall be explained with reference to FIG, 10a as follows.

At step 1010, the intermediary website receives from the concerted shopping mall website the transaction details about the product that the user has decided to purchase.

Here, the transaction details that the intermediary website receives can include either

only the amount to settle or the product information as well.

At step 1015, the membership verification procedure follows about the transaction

detailed received by the intermediary website.

The intermediary website verifies the membership of the user of the transaction, and then

the intermediary website's payment system intermediates the settlement for the purchase.

Here, the verification can be done in through basic verification method, proxy card

password verification method, the user's random numbers verification method, the

fingerprints verification method or through a combination of the above methods. And the

user can choose one or a combination of more than one of the methods mentioned above.

Also, the verification procedure permits up to three trials in order to raise the security

rate of the electronic commerce. If the number of trials exceeds the permitted limit, the

settlement for the transaction is refused.

At step 1020, the procedure to put in the information about the orderer and the recipient

of the product follows.

The orderer should be the concerted website, and the recipient of the product may or

may not be the member the concerted website. In the process of the information inputting,

the intermediary website checks the information about the orderer-member and the

recipient, decides whether the information matches the existing member information in the database, and updates the member information.

The intermediary website's payment advisory system recommends the member the best

payment form, after considering such things as registered cards, granted cards by other

members, interest rates, preferential cards at the concerted shopping mall website, the

member's accumulated points, the exchange rate of the point at the shopping mall website

and the settlement day of each payment form,

At step 1030, the customer chooses the settlement option and payment form based on the

information provided by the payment advisory system.

There are three settlement methods: single settlement, combined settlement and small

amount settlement.

The single settlement is to settle using only one of the registered cards. The combined

settlement is to settle using more than two registered cards. And the small amount

settlement is to settle using the points accumulated through such activities as

advertisement viewing or using the balance of the account at the intermediary website.

At step 1035, the final verification procedure is executed.

The final verification for the card to settle is executed by putting in the receipt code. Or,

if the cardholder is not verified at step 1030, the final verification for the card to settle

can be executed through inputting of the verification password.

The secret number is the random numbers that the user is given by the intermediary

website, and according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and is a combination of 35 4-digit numbers.

Depending on the shopping mall website's settlement policy, the member can choose not

the advance payment option but either the future or the simultaneous (or after receipt)

payment option. The receipt code is the tool to confirm whether the shipment is executed

properly in case of future or simultaneous payment, and the recipient of the product

informs the delivery agency or the shopping mall of this confirmation number. When the

shopping mall or the supplier presents this receipt code, the recipient is considered to

have received the product. The purchaser previously puts in the receipt code when

he/she requests the intermediary website to execute the settlement procedure.

At step 1040, the intermediary website executes the settlement and distributes the

settled money.

In other words, the intermediary website requests verification from the pertinent credit

card company. Depending on the verification result and the fact whether the customer

receives the product, the intermediary website receives the settled money from the

pertinent financial institute and distributes it among the online store, the supplier and the

intermediary website according to the pre-designated distribution ratio. Through this

process, a revenue model is created.

According to an embodiment of the invention, small amount settlement can be also applied

to the above case. The small amount settlement means the settlement, without additional

settlement confirmation procedure, through a certain amount of money previously in an account with the intermediary website.

When the member uses the small amount settlement option, certain amount of money to

settle is immediately transferred from the member's account to the concerted website's

account. Through this process, immediate settlement is executed without additional

procedures with the member,

received online by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

At step 1050, the intermediary website establishes the basic distribution ratio for the

profit created when the contents provider's or the copyright holder's contents within the

concerted website -are sold or used.

Description on Step 1055, Step 1057 and Step 1060 shall be omitted because it is similar

to the description of FIG. 3, the verification procedure through electronic certificate.

At step 1070, the member chooses to purchase the product receivable online such as

movies, and decides the payment method.

At step 1071, whether the concerted website holds the copyright for the ordered product

is judged.

If anther concerted website holds the copyright for the ordered, the website sends the

information on the copyright for the product to the intermediary website.

Here, the information on the copyright includes the product code, the concerted website

code, the price, the member code, the copyright holder or the contents provider code and the profit distribution ratio.

At step 1072, the concerted website sends the intermediary website the information such

as the product code, the concerted website code, the member code, the copyright holder

or the contents provider code and the profit distribution ratio, and requests for settlement.

At step 1073, the concerted website sends the intermediary website the information on

the product and requests for settlement.

At step 1074, the intermediary website checks whether it has received the profit

distribution ratio agreed specifically for product for whose copyright the settlement is

now requested. If not, the intermediary website applies the ratio established at step 1050.

At step 1076, the intermediary website sets up the received profit distribution ratio.

At step 1075, the intermediary website has already verified the membership at the

pertinent concerted website, at the pertinent concerted website's request for settlement.

So, according to the distribution ratio, the intermediary website executes the settlement

by paying the selling price, the loyalty, the information-providing fee and the

intermediary commission respectively to the concerted website, the copyright holder, the

contents provider and the intermediary website.

At step 1077, the intermediary website sends the settlement result to the concerted

website.

At step 1080, the concerted website verifies the member to use the online product

depending on the settlement result. FIG. 10c is a drawing illustrating the table of transaction details that the intermediary

website received from an online store by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The online store sends to the intermediary website the transaction details on the product

that the user has decided to purchase. The intermediary website executes the settlement

for the transaction details with the pertinent financial institution including credit card

companies.

only the amount to settle or the product information as well.

If only the information on the amount to settle is sent, the information includes the sum to

pay, the business registration number and the ordering code, and here the business

registration number means that of the online store.

If all the transaction details are sent, they may include the product code, the product unit

price, the number to order, the settlement option (advance, future or simultaneous

payment), whether to get supplies, and the supply price as well as the sum to pay, the

business registration number and the ordering code.

FIG. lOd is a drawing illustrating the table of verification methods in the process of

by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Only if the user verifies the purchase of the product by putting in the user information,

the intermediary website's payment system intermediates the settlement for the purchasing. Here, the verification can be done in through basic verification method, proxy

card password verification method, the user's random numbers verification method, the

user can choose more than one of the methods mentioned above.

The basic verification means to verify through the user's ID and password.

The card password means the number for verification of the card.

The user's random number means a combination of 4-digit numbers, called as the secret

number.

Verification through fingerprints scan is possible, and verification through scan of other

bodily features such as the pupil and glottis is also possible.

The user can choose more than one of the verification methods, and after the user

chooses the method, the verification procedure follows according to the chosen method.

FIG. 11 a flowchart illustrating the entire procedure . through which the intermediary

preferred embodiment of the invention.

The online store focusing on the electronic commerce sells products to the purchaser and

them sends the transaction details to the intermediary website for settlement. The online

store has to have the ordered products in possession by purchasing them previously and

ship them through the delivery agency or it has to purchase and get supplied once the

ordering for the products takes place. These circumstances put a limit on the kinds of products that can be transacted through the electronic commerce. In other words, the

kinds of the products have to be restricted by the factors like the shipping condition and

the limitations of time and location. And if the sum of prices at a single purchase is small,

the shipping cost takes up too much of the total amount to pay, leading to no transaction

at all or purchasing of unnecessary products.

These problems can be solved through the purchase and supply system according to an

embodiment of the invention.

According to the system, first the transaction details that are sent by the online store to

the intermediary website include the product item, the shipping address, the desired

supply price, the shipping time limit and the shipping conditions. Now, these are posted in

the intermediary website's purchase and supply intermediation system, and the existing

offline store decides whether to accept the conditions of supply and shipping.

The minimization of the product's moving distance du to the system reduces the physical

distribution cost and also overcomes the restricting factors on the electronic commerce

such as small transactions and the product characteristics. Also, various customized

services, for example the delivery within one hour, can be available.

By solving the problems of purchase and supply in the electronic commerce using the

invention, the new business entering the electronic commerce industry can enjoy the

effect of eliminating the entry barrier, resulting in the improvement of service qualities

due to competition. Also, the existing offline stores can establish the enduring relationship with the customers in vicinities, and the satisfaction with the service

increases. As a result, a business structure is created which combines the strong points

of the conventional commerce structure and those of the electronic commerce.

Under the existing electronic commerce structure, if an online bookstore takes an order

of a book priced at 10 thousand won, the transaction is hard to be concluded because the

shipping costs too much compared to the book price. Under the new electronic commerce

structure provided by the invention, however, this order can be supplied by the

conventional bookstores, and the store the closest to the shipping address delivers the

book directly from its selves and receives the receipt code from the purchaser. And if the

bookstore which has executed the delivery contacts the intermediary website through the

network and gets verified of the delivery from the intermediary website, the intermediary

website completes the transaction finally. The final settlement is executed by distributing

the money the customer has paid among the offline bookstore and the online bookstore.

At step 1100, the member logs-in, goes through the verification procedure and then

orders a product from the online bookstore.

Of course, the verification is automatically executed through the concerted website's own

verification procedure or through the electronic certificate issued by the intermediary

website.

At step 1105, the purchaser purchases the product that meets the conditions he/she

presents. At step 1110, the online store sends the transaction details on the purchased product to

the intermediary website, and on the details the product item that needs to be supplied

can be indicated.

At step 1111, the purchaser goes through the settlement procedure at the intermediary

■ website.

At step 1112, the purchaser puts in the receipt during settlement procedure.

At step 1113, the intermediary website posts the list of the ordered products on the

bulletin board for product supply.

At step 1115, offline stores contacts the intermediary website and views the list.

At step 1120, the offline store able to meet the conditions that the customer has

demanded such as the product itself and other services applies the intermediary website

for the supply.

At step 1123, the intermediary website posts the list of the applying offline stores.

At step 1130, the online store contacts the intermediary website and chooses the supply

offline store from the list.

At step 1135, the online store sends the result of choice to the intermediary website.

At step 1137, the intermediary website sends the result to the offline stores.

At step 1140, the chosen offline store delivers the product satisfying the needs of the

customer thanks to the advantage of geographical vicinity.

At step 1145, the offline store receives the receipt code as a token of completion of delivery.

The receipt code is a PIN that the member designates at settlement. With this code the

purchaser confirms whether the delivery is completed without any trouble, and only with

this code input the settlement for the product follows,

At step 1150, the offline store sends the received receipt code to the intermediary

website.

At step 1155, the intermediary website compares the code received by the offline store

with the one input by the purchaser at the moment of purchasing, and confirms whether

the purchaser has received the product.

At step 1160, if the two codes are the same, the intermediary website requests the credit

card company to pay for the purchase.

At step 1165, the credit card company executes the settlement and the intermediary

website receives the money.

At step 1170, the intermediary website distributes the received money to the online and

the offline stores.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when the intermediary website

distributes the money settled by the purchaser to the concerted website and the offline

store chosen to supply, first, it takes the commission proportionate to the total amount of

money. Then it pays the offline store the desired price for each item, and finally pays the

concerted website the rest of the money, which is the amount of money left after deduction the commission and the price desired by the offline store.

At step 1175, the intermediary website remits the sale margin to the online store.

At step 1180, the intermediary website remits the supply price to the offline store.

online and offline stores by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

At step 1205, the intermediary website receives the purchase information and the receipt

code for each product.

Here, the receipt code is a token to confirm whether the shipment has been completed. It

is a PIN that the member designates at settlement. With this code the purchaser confirms

whether the delivery is completed without any trouble, and only with this code input the

settlement for the product follows.

The intermediary website stores the receipt code and uses it for settlement procedure

later when the offline store completes shipping,

At step 1210, the intermediary website posts the information on the products to be

supplied according to the transaction details.

At step 1215, after waiting for offline store and other businesses to apply for the supply

for a pre-designated time, the intermediary website moves to the next step if more than

one of the stores applies.

At step 1220, the intermediary website posts the list of applying stores for the online

store to choose a store, and the online store views the list through the network. It is the online store that chooses the store to supply because as the user has purchased

the product from the online store, all the rights and responsibilities belong to the online

store. The intermediary website only supports to choose the offline store to supply,

confirms the completion of delivery and intermediates the settlement.

The offline stores able to meet the supplying conditions presented by the online store

apply for supply to the intermediary website.

At step 1225, the online store chooses the offline store to supply. At step 1230, the

intermediary store notifies the chosen offline store of the fact.

At step 1235, the offline store delivers the product, receives the receipt code, sends it to

the intermediary website, and request for settlement.

At step 1240, the intermediary website judges the purchaser's settlement option.

According to an embodiment of the invention, there are two settlement options: the

simultaneous -that is, payment at receipt of the product- and the future payment.

At step 1245, in case of the simultaneous payment, the receipt code is used only to judge

whether the member has received the product.

If the receipt code presented by the offline store does not accord with the one input by

the purchaser at the moment of purchasing, the intermediary website does not execute

the settlement procedure until the correct code is put in.

At step 1250, the two receipt codes accord with each other, the intermediary website

executes the settlement procedure. As after all the products purchased by the first purchaser are confirmed to be received by him/she, the settlement can be executed

among the online store, the offline store and the intermediary, the settlement for the

early delivered product is deterred until the last product is delivered. When all the

products are confirm to be received, and then the money is settled among the online

store, the offline store and the intermediary website.

In case of future payment, the receipt code is verified at step 1250.

At step 1260, the customer is asked if he/she is satisfied with the product.

The receipt code in case of future payment works as not only a token to confirm the

completion of delivery but also a tool to judge the degree of the customer's satisfaction

with the product.

If the customer is satisfied, he/she pays for the product at t Step 1255, and if not, the

intermediary website deletes of the transaction details at step 1265. And it notifies the

online shopping mall of the fact and finishes the procedure. The online store is

responsible for any further dealings with the transaction.

cancelled after it was awarded by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Explanation on the procedure from Step 1305 to Step 1330 shall be omitted because it is

the same as for the procedure from Step 1205 to Step 1230 in FIG. 12.

At step 1335, the intermediary website judges whether the contract is cancelled.

If not, the offline store delivers the product at step 1340, and the transaction is completed with the settlement at step 1350.

If the contract is cancelled, at step 1341 the intermediary website judges who cancelled it

- that is, the online store or the chosen offline store.

At step 1343, if the chosen offline store cancelled the contract, it puts in the fact in the

intermediary website, and the intermediary website notifies the online store.

At step 1345, re-selection method is decided.

If the online store cancelled the contract, it chooses one among other applying store. Or,

it posts the lists of products again and invites offline stores to apply.

In other words, if no store can satisfy the needs of the customer, again the list of product

is posted and another offline store is chosen. But if the previously chosen offline store

cannot meet the customer's demands and one of the let-out offline stores can, the online

store can choose the one left-out store as the supply store.

As a result, if the supplying contract is cancelled, a newly chosen offline store gets to

deliver the product. The invention enables the electronic commerce to absorb the

conventional practices of commerce, contributing to the creation of a new structure of

commerce that leads to optimization of the physical distribution.

according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The intermediary website is made up of log creation & advertisement distribution

system(1410), payment settlement & intermediation system(1420), marketing data mining system(1430) and the database(l440).

Log-creation & advertisement distribution system(1410) creates log-files about the

user's advertisement viewing details, product purchasing details and his/her activity

details at the intermediary website or at the concerted websites.

The created log-files are stored in the database and later used as basic data for

providing services of advertisement customized for each customer.

Payment settlement & intermediation system(1420) executes the settlement in

cooperation with financial institutions including the existing credit card companies.

Originally, data mining refers to the process to extract information in order to find the

pattern and tendency inside the oversized date and to use them for a more advanced

decision-making. It is an interactive tool for the user to access the database management

system (DBMS) and to search for data easily and correctly.

As the data in e-business section is based mostly on the time concepts such as time

series, sequence and cycle, when processing this kind of data, the data mining method

based on the concept of time is the essential for providing the customized services.

The log-files created by log-file creation & advertisement distribution system (1410) and

stored in the database can be utilized for Customer Relation Management (CRMO and

Supply Chain Management (CRM) through the marketing data mining system (1430).

In the database (1440), data that is needed to or created from the services provided by

the intermediary website such as membership verification, proxy card ^λ}- -, purchase and supply, advertisement sending.

Each of the sub-databases shall be explained with reference to FIG. 15a through FIG.lδi

as follows.

by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The membership database stores the basic information the user has entered during

membership registration and the newly created information in the Internet websites by

the invention.

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The advertisement reception log database records the member's advertisement viewing

details, and the member's accumulated points and tastes identified based on this database

can be utilized to provide customized services.

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In these databases, information about the Internet websites in concert with the

intermediary website is stored.

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The advertisement database is helpful to the advertiser as it stores information necessary for each advertisement. By analyzing this database, the advertiser can execute the

efficient targeting advertisement to yield practical effects.

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

This is used to display the descriptions on each product when the purchaser searches for

products.

database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The product transaction log database records the transaction details on the products the

customer purchases directly from the Internet shopping mall or indirectly through the

mall. The user's payment pattern and tastes identified based on this database can be

utilized to provide the customized services.

The product transaction log database is divided into the main-log and the sub-log

database. The main-log database stores the information about the purchasers, and on the

other hand, the sub-log database stores the purchasing conditions and information on

each product.

preferred embodiment of the invention. The proxy card can represent all the cards that the user has in possession, and this

database is used when the information on each card is demanded through the use of the

proxy card.

transaction details database by a preferred embodiment of the invention.

As although the proxy card is used in the transaction, ultimately the settlement is

executed through the actual card such as the credit card, this database stores the

verification and transaction details of each card.

It is anticipated that other embodiments of the present invention will be readily apparent

to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to

the specific details, representations, schematic drawings or examples and embodiments

shown and described herein. Accordingly, departures may be made from the details

without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed general inventive concept.

[Industrial Applicability]

As stated above, the invention provides a system of integrating member management,

ridding each store or website of the burdens of managing its own data on all the members

and each member of the troubles of registering at every website, which leads to increase

in the number of members.

On the informational contents provider's part, the invention eases the burden to keep the website's specialty while depending on earnings from advertisement providing, the

customer, and on the customer's part, it returns the advertising costs usually included in

the product price to them. Also, it induces the member to visit less-known Internet

websites for the purpose of earning more advertisement viewing money, which proves

the effectiveness of advertising at the Internet websites which focus on new or small

number of specific members.

The advertiser, now informed of the exact number of advertisement viewers, can control

the effect of advertising by adjusting the advertisement viewing money paid to the

members using the method of adjusting the advertising period with the total costs firmly

set. He/she also can utilize the information about the viewer's response to the

advertisement - that is, whether the advertisement induces the viewer to purchase,

execute the optimal marketing in the market, and reduce the advertising costs.

The shopping website, without advertisement campaign, can attract new members by

granting the right to use the accumulated points to purchase. Also, it can apply a more

active method to attract members such as floating exchange rate system. The floating

exchange rate on the point has the effect of returning the advertising costs to the

customer more actively, and incidentally of more active transaction among members that

leads to purchasing of more expensive products.

The number given to each member enables the member to store the information on

various kinds of cards he/she has in the related database, solving the security problem of using the actual credit card at transactions and eliminating the inconvenience of carrying

all of the cards,

Credit granting among the intermediary website members relieves the difficulties for all

the family members or all the constituents of a company to register and manage all the

cards individually, which improves the convenience and reduces the incidental expenses.

And the individual electronic certificate, if stored in the form of electronic purse in the

member's personal information section, is free of the inconvenience to use due to the

change of location of the user. It is safe and convenient to use.

Large-scale transactions, due to collective settlement between the credit card companies

and all the concerted websites, reduce the commission rate, and the resulted profits are

returned to each concerted website and customers.

The invention provides convenience for new credit card companies to attract their

members and enter the market more easily, leading to reduction in all the incidental

expenses. And the reduced amount can be used for customer services, which naturally

gives rise to competitions among the credit card companies. The reduction in the

incidental expenses, which was difficult under the existing system, also reduces the

commission rate of credit card transactions, and the profits are returned to not only

concerted websites but also the customers.

Online stores undertake information providing for the customer and online sales, and

conventional stores do the actual selling. This specialization reduces the physical distribution costs due to the minimization of the product's moving distance. The

specialization also activates small online business transactions and broadens the scope of

items sold online, resulting in providing products and services satisfactory to the

customer. Moreover, the invention solves the problem of purchase and supply that new

businesses used to face enter the electronic commerce market. Thus, the entry barrier is

eliminated, and improvement in service qualities due to competitions is expected. And the

operation based on long-standing relationship with customers in vicinity of the

conventional stores increases the customer satisfaction.

Business structure like this has positive effects on all the sectors in the information

communications market. It eliminates the initial entry barrier for each business and

provides them with the opportunity to create another market.

Each member's advertisement viewing and purchase & payment details can be monitored

and used as basic data by all the economic subjects. First of all, these details help the

advertiser to set up future marketing policy by presenting the advertiser with the

information on the effectiveness of advertising and the viewer responses to the

advertisement. By providing the government with transparent transaction details, these

details can be used as the basic data for taxation source management and the price

policy-making. And by providing the consumer with product information based on real

market price, these details increase the consumer's profits.

Claims

[Claims]What is claimed is:

1. In a method wherein the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of member

terminals and at least one concerted websites through a network, provides membership

verification service for the purpose of sharing members, a method for verifying a member

through an electronic certificate comprising the steps of: verifying the member contacting

said intermediary website; receiving a request for verification from said concerted

website which said member are contacting; creating an electronic certificate real-time at

each request for verification; and sending said created electronic certificate to said

concerted website, wherein at said concerted website said members are verified through

said electronic certificate issued by said intermediary website.

2. A method according to claim 1 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein said

electronic certificate can include general personal information, wherein the general

personal information includes name, resident registration number, address, telephone

number and e-mail address.

3. A method according to claim 1 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein said

member can choose the extent to which the personal information is revealed for the

purpose of protecting said member's personal information.

4. The method according to 1 for verifying a member through an electronic certificate,

wherein said member can be a group comprising a plurality of constituents, and wherein

when said group is registered as member, the constituents of said group can be verified

as member through the electronic certificate corresponding to said group.

5. A method according to claim 4, when verifying said constituents of a group, for issuing

an electronic certificate for a group, wherein it is determined by the criteria established

in advance by the manager of said group whether to issue said electronic certificate for

said constituents.

6. A method according to claim 1 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein Trust Level

can be included in said electronic certificate, wherein said Trust Level is established in

advance by intermediary website through evaluation of individual information generated

according to said member's activities within the websites.

7. The method according to claim 6 for issuing an electronic certificate, wherein said

intermediary website can determine whether to issue said electronic certificate according

to said criteria of Trust Level established by said concerted website.

8. The method according to claim 1 for verifying a member through an issuing an

electronic certificate, when said member contacts said concerted website for the first

time after registration, further comprising the step of by the concerted website, verifying

said member, through going through said verification procedure said member is identified

as the same person at said intermediary and said concerted website.

9. In a method wherein a concerted website, linked to a plurality of member terminals and

the intermediary website through a network, provides membership verification service for

the purpose of sharing members, a method of issuing an electronic certificate comprising

the steps of: sending a request for verification for the member contacting said concerted

website to said intermediary website, wherein said member contacts the concerted

website after going through the verification procedure at the intermediary website; and

receiving an electronic certificate from said the intermediary website, wherein said

intermediary website creates the electronic certificate and sends said created electronic

certificate to the concerted website, and wherein said electronic certificate is disposable,

issued real-time at each request for verification.

10. A method according to claim 9 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein said

personal information includes name, resident registration number, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

11. The method according to claim 9 for issuing an electronic certificate, wherein said

purpose of protecting said member's personal information.

12. A method according to claim 9 for verifying a member through an electronic

certificate comprising the step of verifying, by said concerted website, said member

through said electronic certificate sent by said intermediary website, wherein said

member, without inputting procedure, is verified through the electronic certificate issued

by another website.

13. The method according to claim 12 for verifying a member through an electronic

certificate, wherein said member can be a group comprising a plurality of constituent, and

the constituents of said group can be verified as members through the electronic

certificate corresponding to said group.

14. A method according to claim 12 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein Trust

Level can be included in said electronic certificate, wherein said Trust Level is

established in advance by intermediary website through evaluation of individual information generated according to said member's activities within the websites.

15. The method according to claim 14 for issuing an electronic certificate, wherein said

concerted website can determine whether to receive said electronic certificate sent by

said intermediary website according to said criteria of Trust Level established by said

concerted website.

16. A method according to claim 10 for registering a non-registered member using an

electronic certificate, when said member is not registered at said concerted, comprising

the step of registering said member through said electronic certificate sent by said

intermediary website, wherein said concerted website can register said non-registered

member using the personal information attached to said disposable electronic certificate.

17. The method according to claim 16 for registering a non-registered member using an

electronic certificate, when a group contacts said concerted website, wherein said group

is registered at said concerted website, only if a constituent who has the right of a

manager of said group contacts said concerted website.

18. A method according to claim 16 for issuing an electronic certificate wherein said

electronic certificate can include Trust Level, wherein said Trust Level is established in advance by intermediary website through evaluation of individual information generated

according to said member's activities within the websites.

19. The method according to claim 18 for issuing an electronic certificate, wherein said

concerted website can determine whether to receive said electronic certificate received

from said intermediary website according to said criteria of Trust Level established by

said concerted website.

20. A method as in one of claims 1 and 19 for verifying said member in issuing said

electronic certificate, wherein the verification procedure at said intermediary website can

be at least one of: (a) verification through ID and password; (b) verification through

fingerprints scan; and (c) verification through random numbers.

21. The method according to claim 20 for verifying said member in issuing an electronic

certificate, wherein the security level of the verification through ID and password at said

intermediary website can be improved by using anther ID, besides a fixed ID, alterable at

any time.

22. When the intermediary website provides a member contacting one of a plurality of

websites linked through a network with services determined in advance, a method for providing user interfaces comprising the steps of: receiving the member identifier and

website identifier; extracting member and website information from database using said

member identifier and said website identifier; creating a status bar corresponding to said

member, wherein in said status bar said member information and said website information

is included; and sending said status bar to the member terminal, and wherein the

intermediary website can provide the status bar that can show basic information on the

presently-contacted website and said member through said member terminal.

23. A method according to claim 22 for providing a user interface for advertisement

viewing, wherein the intermediary website provides advertisements using said status bar

and they are provided according to said member's choice.

24. A method according to claim 23 for providing user interfaces, wherein said status bar

provides said member with advertisements designated in advance according to said

member's characteristics such as gender, age and address.

25. A method according to claim 23 for verifying advertisement viewing, in providing

points for advertisement viewing, wherein using a timer, the intermediary website can

improve the practical effectiveness of advertising by receiving information for confirming

the advertisement viewing for a period of time designated in advance after the advertisement ends.

26. A method according to claim 23 for limiting a member's choice on advertisement

further comprising the step of inserting an execution sentence into information provided

by said concerted website which said member is contacting, wherein the intermediary

website can limit said member's choice on advertisements by providing pre-designated

channels to pre-designated members using said inserted execution sentence.

27. A method according to one of the claims 22 and 26 for analyzing advertisement

reception log files comprising the steps of: by said intermediary website, storing said

member's advertisement viewing details in the forms of log files; at said intermediary

website, analyzing said advertisement viewing details real-time; and providing said

analysis results to the advertiser real-time, wherein said analysis results can be used as

marketing information either through online interfaces or in the form of offline printouts.

28. In a method wherein the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of offline stores

and at least one concerted website through a network, executes electronic commerce in

connection with said concerted website and said offline stores, a method of purchasing

and supplying in electronic commerce combining online and offline comprising the steps

of: receiving said detailed transaction statement from said concerted website, wherein said detailed transaction statement is created when a purchaser orders products from

said concerted website, and said detailed transaction statement refers to transaction

details including item, price by item, quantity by item, total sum and desired supply price

by item; posting said detailed transaction statement inside said intermediary website;

receiving applications to supply from said offline stores contacting said intermediary

website, wherein it is the offline stores able to meet said order according to said posted,

detailed transaction statement that apply; sending a list of said offline stores that applied

to supply for said concerted website, wherein said concerted website views said list of

offline stores that applied to supply by item and awards a contract to said at least one

offline store that applied to supply; receiving said awarding result from said concerted

website; sending said awarding result and shipping information to said awarded offline

store; confirming the result of shipment of said products, wherein said awarded offline

store delivers to said purchaser and notifies the shipment result; and distributing and

paying from the money paid by said purchaser to said concerted website and said

awarded offline store, and wherein said concerted website's strong points such as

marketing ability and geographically unlimited nature are integrated into those of said

offline store such as supplying ability and specialty in services, and said online and offline

stores' burden of inventory management can be relieved by intermediary's settlement

guarantee and transaction intermediation.

29. A method according to 28 for confirming, by said intermediary website, the

completion of shipment in purchasing and supplying in electronic commerce comprising

the steps of: receiving a receipt code from said purchaser at purchasing; and receiving

said receipt code from said awarded offline store and said concerted website as a token

of completion of shipment, wherein said awarded offline store receives said receipt code

from said purchaser after shipment, and wherein said receipt code is a kind of PIN which

said purchaser inputs at purchasing in correspondence to products, and said purchaser

provides it for said awarded offline store and said concerted website as a token of

reception of products.

30. A method according to claim 28 for providing payment options in purchasing and

supplying in electronic commerce, when said intermediary website executes vicariously

settlement, comprising the steps of: by said concerted website, providing said purchaser

with a menu to choose a payment option from, wherein payment options refer to advance

payment (payment before reception of a product), simultaneous payment (payment

concurrent with reception of a product) and future payment (payment in a certain period

of time after reception of a product); and by the intermediary website, executing

settlement according to said detailed transaction statement where the chosen payment

option is indicated.

31. A method according to claim 28 for distributing the money paid by the purchaser in

purchasing and supplying in electronic commerce, wherein said intermediary website first

takes a commission proportionate to the amount of money, pays desired supply price by

item to said awarded offline store, and pays the rest amount of money to said concerted

website.

32. A method according to claim 28 for paying in purchasing and supplying in electronic

commerce, when a purchaser chooses a payment option and executes payment,

comprising the steps of: registering payment form information at said intermediary

website, wherein the payment form information includes all the information necessary to

credit card or online payment; and at payment, inputting only the name of payment form,

not all the information on said payment forms necessary to pay, and wherein inputting

only of the name of payment form provides said purchaser with convenience when

purchasing, prevents the revelation of information and increases the security level as said

intermediary website dose not exchange information with said concerted website.

33. A method according to claim 32 for granting credit in electronic commerce, wherein

said purchasers can use jointly said payment forms through credit granting among said

purchasers.

34. A method according to claim 32 for granting credit in electronic commerce, wherein

when said purchaser is a group, the constituents of said group can use jointly said

payment forms through credit granting among constituents of said group.

35. A method according to claim 28 for paying using the proxy card, when said

intermediary website intermediates payment, wherein using the proxy card, said

intermediary website settles the money to be paid by the purchaser and detailed

transaction statement including transaction details together.

36. A method according to 35 for verifying on a network, wherein the intermediary

website when executing verification of a proxy card at payment, can choose at least one

of: (a) basic verification through ID and password; (b) verification through PIN used for

each card; (c) verification through user random number; and (d) verification through

fingerprints scan.

37. In a method wherein a concerted website, linked to a plurality of offline stores and to

the intermediary website through a network, executes electronic commerce in connection

with said intermediary website and said offline stores, a method of purchasing and

supplying in electronic commerce combining online and offline comprising the steps of:

receiving a purchasing order from a terminal of a purchaser contacting said concerted website; creating a detailed transaction statement according to said purchasing order,

wherein said detailed transaction statement refers to transaction details including item,

price by item, quantity by item, the total sum and desired supply price by item; sending

said detailed transaction statement to said intermediary website, wherein said

intermediary website posts said detailed transaction statement, and offline stores,

viewing said detailed transaction statement, sends an application to supply to said

intermediary website; contacting said intermediary website and receiving a list of said

applying offline stores! awarding a contract to said at least one offline store that applied

to supply; sending said awarding result to said intermediary website, wherein said

intermediary website sends said awarding result and sends shipping notification to said

awarded offline store, and said awarded offline store executes shipment to said purchaser

according to said shipment notification, then notifies said intermediary website of the

shipment result and is confirmed by said concerted website that all the purchased items

have delivered; and getting paid by said intermediary website the distributed amount from

the money paid by said purchaser, and wherein said concerted website's strong points

such as marketing ability and geographically unlimited nature are integrated into those of

said offline store such as supplying ability and specialty in services, and said online and

offline stores' burden of inventory management can be relieved by the intermediary

website's settlement guarantee and transaction intermediation.

38. A method according to claim 37 for providing payment options in purchasing and

supplying in electronic commerce further comprising the steps of; by said concerted

website, providing said purchaser with a menu to choose a payment option from, wherein

the payment options refer to advance payment (payment before reception of a product),

simultaneous payment (payment concurrent with reception of a product) and future

payment (payment in a certain period of time after reception of a product); and by said

concerted website, executing settlement according to said detailed transaction statement

where the chosen payment option is indicated.

39. A method according to claim 37 for distributing the money paid by the purchaser in

purchasing and supplying in electronic commerce, when said intermediary website gets

paid from the money paid by said purchaser, wherein said intermediary website first

takes a commission proportionate to the amount of money, then pays desired supply price

by item to said awarded offline store, and pays the rest amount of money to said

concerted website.

40. A method according to claim 28 for paying in purchasing and supplying in electronic

commerce, when a purchaser chooses a payment option and executes payment,

website, wherein the payment form information includes all the information necessary to credit card or online payment; and at payment, inputting only the name of payment form,

only of the name of payment form provides said purchaser with convenience when

intermediary website dose not exchange information with said concerted website.

41. A method according to claim 40 for granting credit in electronic commerce, wherein

purchasers.

42. A method according to claim 40 for granting credit in electronic commerce, wherein

payment forms through credit granting among constituents of said group.

43. A method according to one of claims 28 and 42 for operating electronic commerce,

wherein for the purpose of improving credit level of electronic commerce, credit

information can be established through application of Point Deduction System.

44. A method according to one of claims 28 and 43 for analyzing transaction details log

files comprising the steps of: by said intermediary website, storing said member's transaction details and point-deduction details in the form of log files; and by said

intermediary website, analyzing said transaction details real-time, wherein said

intermediary website can provide said analysis results real-time to the seller, and said

analysis results can be used as marketing information either through online interfaces or

in the form of offline printouts

45. When the intermediary website, linked to offline store terminal and to a plurality of

card issuing companies through a communications network, executes settlement, a

method of operating the proxy card in electronic commerce comprising the steps of:

executing verification of said offline store; creating a cash register screen; sending said

created cash register screen to said offline store terminal; receiving a list of products and

price information through said offline store terminal; receiving consumer verification

information through said offline store terminal; verifying said consumer using said

consumer verification information; extracting the proxy card corresponding to said

consumer; verifying said extracted proxy card; extracting the card list registered at said

proxy card; sending said extracted card list to said store terminal; receiving from said

store terminal the card identifier corresponding to the card which said member,

corresponding to said proxy card, chose from said card list; extracting the card

information corresponding to said card identifier; sending said extracted card information

to the company, among said plurality of card companies, that corresponds to said card identifier; receiving from said card company verification information created by using said

card information; and sending said verification information to said offline store terminal,

and wherein said intermediary website unifies a plurality of cards into one proxy card and

executes settlement through it.

46. A method according to claim 45 for advising on operation cards, when the

intermediary website extracts said list of cards registered at the proxy card, wherein by

sending information on desirable order of cards to use, said intermediary website can

help said member to choose a card to pay.

47. A method according to one of claims 1 and 8 for executing electronic commerce of

copyrighted materials comprising the steps of: by said concerted website, receiving

copyrighted material information and a request for settlement; by said intermediary

website, storing settlement details using said copyrighted material information and said

request for settlement; by said intermediary website, distributing the pre-designated

ratio of the price corresponding to said copyrighted material to the copyright holder; and

by said intermediary website, sending said settlement details to said concerted website,

and wherein said intermediary website executes settlement for said copyrighted material

and profit distribution.

48. The method according to claim 47 for executing electronic commerce of copyrighted

materials, wherein said intermediary website determines in advance said distribution ratio

of the price corresponding for said copyrighted material to said copyright holder.

49. The method according to claim 47 for executing electronic commerce of copyrighted

materials, wherein said concerted website determines in advance said distribution ratio of

the price corresponding to said copyrighted material to said copyright holder.

50. The method according to claim 49 for executing electronic commerce of copyrighted

materials, wherein said copyrighted material information includes the profit distribution

ratio for said concerted website.

51. The method according to claim 47 for executing electronic commerce of copyrighted

materials, wherein said copyrighted material information includes copyrighted material

code, concerted website code, copyrighted material price code and copyright holder code.

52. The method according to claim 47 for executing electronic commerce of copyrighted

materials in executing payment for said copyrighted materials, wherein said member can

use accumulated points to pay.

53. A method according to any one of claims 9 and 19 for executing electronic commerce

of said copyrighted material comprising the steps of: by said concerted website, receiving

a choosing signal for said copyrighted material from said user terminal; sending the

copyrighted material information and request signal for payment corresponding to said

chosen copyrighted material to said intermediary website; receiving said payment details

from said intermediary website; and sending said chosen copyrighted material to said

member terminal, and wherein said concerted website, linked to said intermediary

website that executes settlement for said copyrighted materials and profit distribution,

executes electronic commerce on copyrighted materials.

54. The method according to claim 53 for executing electronic commerce on copyrighted

materials, wherein said concerted website establishes in advance said distribution ratio of

the price corresponding to said copyrighted material for said copyright holder.

55. The method according to claim 53, for executing electronic commerce on copyrighted

materials, wherein said copyrighted material information includes said profit distribution

ratio for said concerted website.

56. The method according to claim 53 for executing electronic commerce on copyrighted

materials, wherein said copyrighted material information includes copyrighted material code, concerted website code, copyrighted material price code and copyright holder code.

57. In a system wherein the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of member

terminal and to at least one concerted website through a network, provides membership

verification service for the purpose of sharing members comprising: a memory in which

program is being stored; and a processor, which connected to said memory, executes

said program, said system, by said processor through said program, for verifying a

member through an electronic certificate comprising the steps of: verifying a member

contacting said intermediary website; receiving a request for verification from the

concerted website which said verified member has contacted; creating an electronic

certificate real-time at each of said request for verification; and forwarding said

electronic certificate to said concerted website, and wherein in said concerted website,

said member is verified through said certificate issued by said intermediary website.

58. In a system wherein the concerted website, linked to a plurality of member terminals

and to the intermediary website through a network, provides membership verification for

the purpose of sharing members comprising; a memory in which program is being stored;

and a processor which, connected to said memory, executes said program, said system,

by said processor through said program, for issuing an electronic certificate comprising

the steps of: sending a request for verification of said member who contacted said concerted website to said intermediary website, wherein said member contacted said

concerted website after going through verification procedure at the intermediary website,'

and receiving an electronic certificate from the intermediary website, wherein said

intermediary website creates said electronic certificate and sends said created electronic

certificate to said concerted website, and wherein said electronic certificate is disposable

issued real-time at each request for verification.

59. When the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of websites through a network

provides the member contacting the plurality of websites with services designated in

advance, a system for providing user interfaces comprising: a memory in which a

program is being stored; and a processor which, connected to said memory, executes

said program, said system, by said processor through said program, comprising the steps

of; receiving member identifier and website identifier form one concerted website;

extracting member information and website information from the database using said

member and said website identifier; creating a status bar corresponding to said member,

wherein said status bas includes said member information and said concerted website

information; and sending said status bar to member' screen, and wherein said status bar,

which indicates the basic information on the website which said member is presently

contacting and said member's basic information, can be provided through the browser of

said member terminal.

60, In a system wherein the intermediary website, linked to a plurality of offline stores

and to at least one concerted website through a network, executes electronic commerce

in connection with said concerted website and said offline stores comprising: a memory in

which a program is being stored; and a processor which, connected to said memory,

executes said program, said system, by said processor through said program, for

purchasing and supplying in electronic commerce combining online and offline comprising

the steps of: receiving said detailed transaction statement from said concerted website,

wherein said detailed transaction statement is created when a purchaser orders products

from said concerted website, and said detailed transaction statement refers to transaction

details including item, price by item, quantity by item, total sum and desired supply money

receiving applications to supply from said offline stores that are contacting said

intermediary website, wherein it is the offline stores able to meet said order according to

said posted, detailed transaction statement that apply; sending a list of said offline stores

that applied to supply for said concerted website, wherein said concerted website views

said list of offline stores that applied to supply by item and awards a contract to said at

least one offline store that applied to supply; receiving said awarding result from said

concerted website; forwarding said awarding result and sending shipping information to

said awarded offline store; confirming the result of shipment of said products, wherein said awarded offline store delivers to said purchaser and notifies the shipment result; and

distributing and paying from the money paid by said purchaser to said concerted website

and said awarded offline store, and wherein said concerted website's strong points such

as marketing ability and geographically unlimited nature are integrated into those of said

stores' burden of inventory management can be relieved by the intermediary website's

settlement guarantee and transaction intermediation.

61. In a system wherein a concerted website, connected to a plurality of offline stores

and to the in intermediary website through a network, executes electronic commerce in

connection with said intermediary website and said offline store comprising: a memory in

executing said program, said system, by said processor through said program, for

the steps of: receiving an purchasing order from the terminal of a purchaser contacting

said concerted website; creating a detailed transaction statement according to said

purchasing order, wherein said detailed transaction statement refers to transaction details

including item, price by item, quantity by item, the total sum and desired supply price by

item; sending said detailed transaction statement to said intermediary website, wherein

said intermediary website posts said detailed transaction statement, and offline stores, viewing said detailed transaction statement, send to said intermediary website an

application to supply; contacting said intermediary website and receiving a list of said

offline stores that applied to supply; awarding a contract to at least one of said applying

offline stores; sending said awarding result to said intermediary website, wherein said

shipment result, and is confirmed by said concerted website that all the purchased items

website's settlement guarantee and transaction intermediation,

62. In a payment system at the intermediary website which is linked to the offline store

terminal and to a plurality of card companies through a communications network

comprising: a memory in which a program is being stored; and a processor which,

connected to said memory, executes said program, said system, by said processor by

said program, for operating the proxy card in electronic commerce comprising the steps of: executing verification of said offline store; creating a cash register screen', sending

said created cash register screen to said offline store terminal; receiving a list of

products and price information through said offline store terminal; receiving consumer

verification information through said offline store terminal; verifying said consumer using

said consumer verification information; extracting the proxy card corresponding to said

consumer; verifying said extracted proxy card; extracting the card list registered at

proxy card; sending said extracted card list to said offline store terminal; receiving from

said offline store terminal the card identifier corresponding to the card which said

member, corresponding to said proxy card, chose from said card list; extracting the card

to the company, among said plurality of card companies, that corresponds to said card

identifier; receiving from said card company verification information created by using said

executes settlement through it.