More specifically the invention relates to billing and delivery of event-based premium content by a portal.

Background of the invention Many existing billing models for premium content are based on subscriptions. The need for billing and content delivery solutions, especially event-based billing and content delivery solutions, is growing, especially for content delivered via portals for mobile data networks such as GPRS and UMTS.

US patent US6373933 describes a method for implementing transaction-based billing for telephone services. US6373933 is applicable to telephony networks comprising an intelligent network component, but cannot be used for data networks such as the Internet or mobile data networks.

WO 00/42537 describes a method, which deals with a voucher as a payment utility. This voucher is issued by a service provider and transmitted towards the terminal of the user. A client application (called start up program) must be installed on the terminal. To get the voucher, it is necessary to establish a dial up connection to a special service number (e. g. 0190 in Germany). The connection costs are then written into the voucher and the voucher is transmitted towards the client. The voucher must be kept in duplicate, one at the provider side and one the client side, to prevent misusage. In addition, the voucher needs to be encrypted as well. The voucher acts as a bank

account, allowing the user to spend money exceeding the value of the voucher, if the user has a credit line available. A disadvantage of the method of WO 00/42537 is that a ticket needs to be sent to a client. A consequence of this is that special software needs to be running on the client's terminal and encryption is necessary. Other disadvantages are that a negative credit is possible and each transaction requires a user interaction.

US 2003/00235501 describes a method and a system which deals with a ticket for time meter rating, packet meter rating, hit rate session metering, flat rate and complex mixing meter rating. It is necessary that a client self registers himself and buys a ticket from a billing center.

A content provider must adapt its application to the billing center. The content provider has the task to retrieve tickets, rate the value of its service and pass the information to account the bill to the billing center.

A disadvantage of the method and system of US 2003/00235501 is that self-registration by the client is necessary and a content provider needs to adapt its application.

Furthermore the content provider is troubled with ticket handling.

Problem definition A solution capable of handling a large number of billing and content delivery requests (e. g. millions per month), the solution moreover being able to allow in some cases subsequent delivery of the same premium content without the customer having to pay for it again, is not available.

Aim of the invention The aim of the invention is to provide a solution for billing and content delivery capable of handling a large number of billing and content delivery requests (e. g. millions per month), the solution moreover being able to allow in some cases subsequent delivery of the same premium content without the customer having to pay for it again.

Summary of the invention According to an aspect of the invention a method, a portal, a system, a billing system and software for billing and content delivery are provided for a content requested to a portal by a terminal of a terminal user. The billing and content delivery can be event-based.

In a first aspect of the invention the method comprises the step of receiving a request for content by a processor in the portal and determining by the processor in the portal whether or not the content is already delivered to the terminal but is deliverable again, which can be based on the existence of a digital ticket stored in a memory in the portal and indicating a digital proof of payment of the content and/or whether or not a time-out is reached which is determined by the processor by reading a time-out value from the memory and/or whether or not a predefined number of downloads is reached which is determined by the processor by reading a number-of-downloads value from the memory. The digital ticket can be deleted from the memory by the processor when the time-out is reached and/or when the predefined number of downloads is reached.

If the content is already delivered but is deliverable again, the method comprises the step of delivering the content from the portal to the terminal via the network.

If the content is not already delivered or is not deliverable again, the method comprises the step of fetching a credit-information data of the terminal user from a credit-information storage arranged to communicate with the portal, the credit-information storage being located separately from a billing system which is arranged to communicate with the portal, and verifying the credit- information data by the processor. The verifying can comprise extracting from the credit-information data a credit threshold variable and checking if the credit threshold variable is at a predetermined value by the processor. If the credit threshold variable is at the predetermined value, a billing credit check can be requested by fetching a billing credit-information data of the terminal user from the billing system and it can be verified by the processor if the billing credit of the terminal user is at a predetermined minimum level. The billing and content delivery can be stopped if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level. It is advantageous to verify the credit-information data, because the credit-information storage can be speed- optimized, while the billing credit-information is stored in the relatively slow billing system.

If the content is not already delivered or is not deliverable again, the method further comprises the step of validating the request for content by the processor in the portal. The validating can comprise retrieving in the portal information about the content from an information database connected to the portal. The information can comprise a price for the content. An acceptation page can be sent from the portal to the terminal via the network and can comprise the price for the content and/or means for returning an acceptation statement for the price of the

content. The acceptation statement can be retrieved and/or checked in the portal from the terminal. The acceptation statement can include a pin code. The billing and content delivery can be stopped if the acceptation statement is negative or invalid. A digital ticket can be created in the memory by the processor if the acceptation statement is positive and valid.

If the content is not already delivered or is not deliverable again, the method further comprises the step of delivering the content from the portal to the terminal via the network.

If the content is not already delivered or is not deliverable again, the method further comprises the step of billing the content, e. g. by sending a billing data to the billing system. The credit threshold variable can be set to the predetermined value by the processor in the credit- information storage if the billing credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level. This has the advantage that on a next content request it can be detected (by verifying the credit-information data) that the billing credit is low and thus the billing system needs to do a billing credit check. The billing and content delivery can finish if the billing credit of the terminal user is not at the predetermined minimum level.

The delivering can comprise retrieving in the portal the content from a content provider connected to the portal and/or sending the content from the portal to the terminal.

It can be checked by the processor whether or not the content is retrieved intact from the content provider. This had the advantage that the billing and content delivery can be stopped if the content is not retrieved intact from the content provider. The number-of-downloads variable in the memory can be changed by the processor.

In a second aspect of the invention the portal is arranged to perform any of the steps of the method.

In a third aspect of the invention the system comprising a portal and a credit-information storage is arranged to perform any of the steps of the method.

In a fourth aspect of the invention the billing system is arranged to communicate with a portal arranged to perform any of the steps of the method.

In a fifth aspect of the invention software is arranged to perform any of the steps of the method.

The portal and the system can comprise one or more modules. One or more modules can be provided to determine whether or not the content is already delivered but is deliverable again based on whether or not a time-out is reached. One or more modules can be provided to delete the ticket if the time-out is reached. One or more modules can be provided to determine whether or not the content is already delivered but is deliverable again based on whether or not a predefined number of downloads is reached. One or more modules can be provided to delete the ticket if the predefined number of downloads is reached. One or more modules can be provided to verify the credit of the terminal user by reading a credit threshold variable from the credit-information storage and/or checking if the credit threshold variable is at a predetermined value and/or requesting a credit check from the billing system and/or verifying if the credit of the terminal user is at a predetermined minimum level and/or stopping the billing and

content delivery if the credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level. One or modules can be provided to validate the request for content by retrieving an information about the content from the information database and/or sending an acceptation page to the terminal and/or retrieving the acceptation statement from the terminal and/or checking the acceptation statement and/or stopping the billing and content delivery if the acceptation statement is negative or invalid and/or creating the ticket if the acceptation statement is positive and valid. One or more modules can be provided to deliver the content to the terminal user by retrieving the content from the content provider and/or sending the content to the terminal. One or more modules can be provided to deliver the content to the terminal by checking whether or not the content is retrieved correctly from the content provider and/or stopping the billing and content delivery if the content is not retrieved correctly from the content provider. One or more modules can be provided to change a variable keeping track of a number of downloads.

One or more module can be provided for the billing of the content by sending billing data, e. g. an electronic billing record, to the billing system and/or checking whether or not the credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level and/or setting the credit threshold variable to the predetermined value if the credit of the terminal user is at the predetermined minimum level and/or finishing the billing and content delivery if the credit of the terminal user is not at the predetermined minimum level.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will be explained in greater detail by reference to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows the steps of the billing and content delivery process according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows the steps within the first step of Fig. l according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 3 shows the steps within the second step of Fig. l according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 shows the steps within the third step of Fig. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5a shows the steps within the fourth step of Fig. l according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5b shows alternative steps within the fourth step of Fig. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 6 shows the steps within the fifth step of Fig. l according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; Fig. 7 shows a portal and elements arranged to communicate with the portal for billing and content delivery according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a processor, a memory and a network connection within the portal.

Detailed description of the invention For the purpose of teaching of the invention, preferred embodiments of the method and system of the invention are described in the sequel. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that other alternative and equivalent embodiments of the invention can be conceived

and reduced to practice without departing from the true spirit of the invention, the scope of the invention being only limited by the claims as finally granted.

In Fig. 7 a portal (200) is shown, including its communication links to a terminal (100), a content provider (600), a billing system (300), a credit-information storage (400) and an information database (500). The communication links can be wireless or fixed links of any network type. A terminal user uses the terminal (100), which is capable of sending and retrieving data via a network, e. g. via Internet or a GPRS (General Packet Radio System) or a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephony System) mobile network. It is possible that several networks are used, e. g. a combination of a GPRS network and the Internet. Examples of terminals are a pc, laptop, wap mobile phone, i-mode phone or set-top box. The terminal (100) retrieves content from content providers (600) via the portal (200). The portal (200) makes sure that the content is paid for when delivering it to the terminal (100). Often the content provider (600) is a third party specialized in content provisioning, but it is also possible that the content provider is part of the portal (200). A special kind of content is event-based content, for which there is payment obliged per event such as a page retrieval, access to content for a specific period of time, a maximum number of downloads, etcetera.

The method, portal and system of the invention provide a solution for billing and event-based content delivery for content sent from the content provider (600) via the portal (200) to the terminal (100). The invention can be used for event-based billing and content delivery.

In Fig. 8 a processor (2001) for executing programs which are functional for the portal is shown. A memory (2002) for storing the executable programs and for storing variables is connected to the processor (2001). A network connection (2003) for sending content to the terminal (100) is controlled by the processor (2001).

In the best mode embodiment the portal (200) is separated into two parts: a front-end part (201) and a back-end part (202). This increases security by separating terminals (100) and content providers (600), both possibly residing outside the controlled and secured environment of the portal, from critical internal systems such as the billing system (300), credit-information storage equipment (400) and the information database (500).

In Fig. 1 the steps of the billing and content delivery as processed in the portal are shown. With a request for content, e. g. event-based content, the process starts. The request is a HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) request from the terminal (100) to the portal (200): GET http ://portal/get Puser_ idscontent_id.

In this request the id of the terminal user and the id of the requested event-based content is included.

The request can be a first request, but is can also be a request after a failed previous request, a request because of a reload command at the terminal, or a valid subsequent request because a period of time has not elapsed yet or a maximum number of downloads is not reached yet.

Therefore in a first step the status of the request is determined (1), see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. If a ticket, i. e. a digital proof of payment stored in the portal, for the terminal user exists, which is checked in (11), for the requested content, a time-out value is checked (12) and the

number of downloads is checked (13). Both are stored within the ticket. If all three checks are positive, the content can be delivered (4) to the terminal (100) immediately.

Other criteria for determining the status of the request could be applied. As soon as the maximum time for using the content is reached, thus the time-out value is reached, the ticket is deleted. Also when the maximum number of downloads is reached the ticket is deleted. If at least one of the three checks is negative the process continues with the verification step (2).

The verification (2) step, see Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, first checks a credit threshold variable by reading credit- information data from a speed-optimized LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) storage (400), extracting (21) from the credit-information data the credit threshold variable, and checking (22) if the credit threshold variable is at a predetermined value. The credit threshold value indicates whether or not e. g. 90% of the credit of the terminal user is used. It is stored as: credit_threshold reached=falsel true.

Only when the threshold of 90% is reached a credit check is requested (23) from the billing system. This credit check is more resource and time consuming and should be performed as less as possible. If the outcome of the credit check (24) is that there is not enough credit left, the event- based billing and content delivery process is stopped (6) and a sorry-page is send to the terminal (100).

In the next step the content request is validated (3), see Fig. 1 and Fig. 4. Therefore content pricing information is retrieved (31) from an Oracle database (500) and sent (32) to the terminal (100) in a HTML (HyperText Markup Language) page. The HTML page includes a form for a pin code and an accept button. After retrieving (33) response

from the terminal (100) the pin code is verified (34). If the pin code is invalid the terminal (100) is not allowed to retrieve the content and the event-based billing and content delivery process is stopped (6). A sorry page is then sent to the terminal (100). If the pin code is valid then a ticket is created (35) by storing the user id/content id in the portal. If there is a validity period defined for the content in the Oracle database (500), e. g. a validity period of one day, then that time- out value is stored within the ticket. Otherwise a default validity period of 60 seconds is stored. Likewise a maximum number of allowed downloads (i. e. number-of-downloads value) is stored, with a default of 1.

Next the content can be delivered (4) to the terminal (100), see Fig. 1 and Fig. 5b. After the content is received (41) in the front-end part (201) of the portal (200) from the content provider (600), the content retrieval is checked (42). If the content did not reach the portal intact, the event-based billing and content delivery process is stopped (6) and a sorry-page is sent to the terminal (100). Otherwise the content is sent (43) to the terminal (100) and the maximum number of downloads stored in the ticket is decreased with 1.

Whether or not the content reached the portal intact can be checked using known techniques for data transmission verification/error detection. Examples are CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check), checksum calculation, FCS (Frame Check Sequence) and determining whether the structure of the content is correct.

Only if the request from the terminal (100) was a first request the billing step (5) follows, see Fig. l, Fig. 5a and Fig. 6. An electronic data record containing the user-id, content id and timestamp is sent (51) to the billing system

(300) where the price of the content is deducted from the credit. If the credit reaches the 90% threshold, thus only 10% of the credit is left, a notification is received back from the billing system (300) and the credit threshold value is set (53) in the LDAP storage (400). Otherwise the event-based billing and content delivery is finished (7).

Whether or not the threshold is reached is determined in (52).

It is also possible that the portal checks regularly, e. g. once every hour, if the billing-credit in the billing system reaches the 90% threshold. This can be advantageous in case the billing-credit is not used solely by the portal, but also other systems can deduct money from the billing-credit. If the billing-credit reaches the 90% threshold, thus only 10% of the billing-credit is left, a notification is received back from the billing system (300) and the credit threshold value is set in the LDAP storage (400).