eBIZ.mobility's breakthrough technology provides
interoperability between various mobile network operators and smart card issuers
even if they use different M-commerce systems. The
technology that performs this mission-critical function
is more secure, reliable, and predictable than existing
technologies.
The eBIZ.mobility M-commerce
RMG™ payment gateway employs:
- An innovative
infrastructure for real-time cross-border and
cross-business payment management and
foreign currency exchange per transaction.
- A method to capture transaction
information and to interface to mobile network
operators’ and service providers’
mediation, billing, and payment engines.
- A distributed
network architecture of gateways that is scalable
to meet industry needs.
- The existing
global inter-carrier SS7 signaling network,
and/or secure IP networks.
- A standards-based
solution for real-time routing, authentication,
payment authorization, and foreign currency exchange
between mobile network operators and smart card issuers.
Technical Approach
The RMG payment gateway functions
as a roaming M-commerce transaction proxy between
service providers. It is assumed
that both the home issuing service provider
and the visited merchant acquiring service provider
each have systems for processing local, non-roaming
M-commerce transactions and payments. The RMG payment gateway
interfaces to each of these systems, which may be
from different
vendors.
The RMG payment gateway utilizes the OSA/Parlay and Parlay X protocols, as they are quickly emerging as recognized standards for developing M-commerce applications. The OSA/Parlay and Parlay X charging interfaces are being used by merchant applications to process transaction charges.
Using these same OSA/Parlay and Parlay X charging
interfaces to extend the transaction across service providers
makes things
easier by maintaining standardization. The preferred
interface between the RMG payment gateway
and the local M-commerce system is therefore either OSA/Parlay or Parlay X.
However, the RMG payment
gateway supports other interfaces as well.
The standard, overall technical
approach for processing a roaming M-commerce transaction
used by the RMG payment
gateway is to split up the original remote home-subscriber-vs.-visited-merchant
transaction into two transactions that are local
to each of the home and visited service providers. The original
transaction is processed as a subscriber-vs.-merchant-proxy
transaction at the home service provider, and a subscriber-proxy-vs.-merchant
transaction at the visited service provider. The same merchant-proxy
and subscriber-proxy accounts are used in all roaming
transactions at a single service provider, saving that service provider
from needing to recognize each subscriber and merchant
of other service providers.
The eBIZ.mobility approach guarantees to
service providers that:
- The subscriber funds have been
reserved.
- The purchaser has been authenticated
as the subscriber using the authentication method
demanded by the home
issuing service provider (password, biometrics, etc.).
- Reciprocal local transactions are
mutually executed at both service providers.
- Each transaction leaves a cross-service-provider
audit trail for detailed reconciliation.
- Existing corporate processes for inter-carrier settlement and clearing can be maintained.
Components
The RMG payment gateway that
sits at service provider is identical to the RMG payment
gateway that sits at every other service provider. For some
transactions it serves the home issuing service provider
role and for others it serves the visited merchant acquirer service provider
role.
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