Electronic payment and associated systems

摘要

By linking together mobile telephony systems having small message service capacity and payment clearance systems such as those operated by banks and credit card companies, substantial facilitation of electronic payments may be achieved. Existing security systems designed to protect the mobile telephony system, for example SIM cards and optional encryption provide a base level of transaction security which may be enhanced by suitable programming to require the use of a PIN to validate a transaction. By linking such systems with e.g. ATMs, the usefulness of a mobile telephone, where each assigned telephone number essentially functions as a player identity number (or, in certain enhancements, as an account number), substantial transaction economies can be achieved without compromising security, with excellent audit trail features and with automatically generated confirmations and acknowledgements.