Technical Field The present invention relates to method and system for providing a secure payment service by using a relay server interoperating with at least one shopping mall server providing an online shopping mall. More particularly, the present invention relates to method and system for providing a secure payment service, in which the secure payment service associated with a relay server is provided even to a user who has accessed a shopping mall without passing through the relay server by using cookie information recorded in a user terminal, in case that a certain condition is satisfied.

Background Art Recently, thanks to development of information superhighway, a lot of people use the Internet. Also, as the Internet is more actively used, many Internet users purchase products by using online e-commerce. The online e-commerce enables users to purchase products without visiting stores in person. Thus, the users can save time and efforts. In this aspect, the online e-commerce is getting the limelight from Internet users. Meanwhile, as more users use the online e-commerce, there are occurring some problems. For example, a user may meet with a financial loss by not receiving a product even after having paid a bill for the product. Also, in case of post-payment, even a seller may not receive money even after having the product delivered. As a method for solving the above problems, a secure payment service is being used. Hereinafter, one example of a secure payment method according to the prior art will be introduced. The secure payment method adopts a service method seeking safe trading for both seller and purchaser, in which a third person is in charge of deposit and withdrawal of billing amount. This is in order to prevent damage which may be caused due to breach of a promise of any side in product delivery and payment process, after the seller and the purchaser agree with each other in purchasing and selling products online. That is, the third person maintains the billing amount paid by the purchaser and gives the billing amount to the seller, when the purchaser notifies the third person that the seller has delivered the product and the purchaser has received the same. At this time, the third person can subtract a predetermined commission from the billing amount and give the rest thereof to the seller. In case of using the secure payment method such configured, there is an advantage that purchasers certainly receive products and sellers also get paid for the products without trouble. The small and medium shopping malls are weak for an after-sale service in trading such as purchasing and selling of products. Thus, the secure payment method such configured is essential to small and medium shopping malls rather than to large shopping malls such as LGeshop, SAMSUNG mall and the like, such that users purchase products without worry about any loss in online trading. However, in case of the small and medium shopping malls, mostly, since recognition thereof is low and trading volume is not much, return thereof is also not so high. Thus, it is not easy to directly construct a secure payment service system in the small and medium shopping malls or to adopt a method for paying a commission for the secure payment service to a third person. Accordingly, although there is a product that a purchaser wants to purchaser at the small and medium shopping mall, the purchaser may worry about a loss in trading and resist in purchasing the product. Consequently, there is a problem that the small and medium shopping mall cannot make a profit according to trading of products. Meanwhile, taking it into consideration that the small and medium shopping mall has difficulty in providing a secure payment service for itself, a relay server in charge of relaying a user to access the small and medium shopping mall may provide a secure payment service with respect to trading thereat. The relay server serves to provide a list of products being sold at each of shopping mall sites, or to provide a search service with respect to the products. Also, the relay server serves to relay a user to access each shopping mall site. At this time, in case that the relay server provides a secure payment service with respect to each of shopping malls, a corresponding shopping mall must additionally perform a member authentication procedure at the relay server in order to receive the secure payment service with respect to trading of products at the shopping mall. Or, a user must access the shopping mall via the relay server in order to receive the secure payment service being provided at the relay server. Thus, there is a problem that it is difficult for users to be provided with the secure payment service since procedures thereof are complicated. Also, in a position of the relay server, in case that a user who has accessed a corresponding shopping mall via the relay server does not purchase a product immediately and later directly accesses the shopping mall to purchase the product without going through the relay server, there is a problem that, although the relay server played a certain role such as introducing the shopping mall to the user, the relay server cannot obtain a commission according to providing of a secure payment service. Accordingly, there is required a method for providing a secure payment service, capable of solving the problems as above.

Brief Description of Invention Technical Goals The present invention is conceived to improve the aforementioned prior art. Thus, the present invention provides method and system for providing a secure payment service, capable of providing the secure payment service to both a user who has accessed a shopping mall via a relay server and a user who has accessed the shopping mall without passing through the relay server, in case that a certain condition is satisfied. The present invention also provides method and system for providing a secure payment service, enabling cookie information to be recorded in a user terminal of a user who has accessed a shopping mall via a relay server and, even in case that the user accesses the shopping mall without passing through the relay server by using the cookie information, providing a secure payment service associated with the relay server when a certain condition is satisfied. The present invention also provides method and system for providing a secure payment service, capable of generating profits on the site of a relay server by providing the secure payment service at a shopping mall interoperating with the relay server, in association therewith. The present invention also provides method and system for providing a secure payment service, capable of protecting users such as purchasers and sellers by enabling a secure payment service at a shopping mall having difficulty in constructing a secure payment service system of its own or a shopping mall having difficulty in making a contract with a secure payment provider for itself, such that the users can use e- commerce without any concern.

Technical Solutions In order to achieve the above goals and solve the problems in the prior art, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a secure payment service by using a relay server interoperating with at least one shopping mall server providing an online shopping mall, wherein the relay server performs the steps of: maintaining a shopping mall information database including shopping mall information associated with the shopping mall server, respectively, in which the shopping mall information includes product information or URL information associated therewith; controlling the entire or a part of the shopping mall information to be displayed on a user terminal of a user; receiving a selection with respect to any one of the displayed shopping mall information from the user; relaying the user to access a first shopping mall server associated with the shopping mall information, by using URL information included in the selected shopping mall information; generating cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server; and transmitting the generated cookie information to the user terminal to be stored therein; and the first shopping mall server performs the steps of: determining whether the user has accessed via a relay server, in case that the user has accessed the first shopping mall server; determining whether cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server exists in the user terminal, in case that it is determined that the user has accessed the first shopping mall server without passing through the relay server; and providing a predetermined secure payment service to the user when purchasing a product, in case that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server exists. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing a secure payment service by using a relay server interoperating with at least one shopping mall server providing an online shopping mall, wherein the relay server comprises: a shopping mall information database including shopping mall information associated with the shopping mall server, respectively, in which the shopping mall information includes product information or URL information associated therewith; a display control unit controlling the entire or a part of the shopping mall information to be displayed on a user terminal of a user; a selection input receiving unit receiving a selection with respect to any one of the displayed shopping mall information from the user; an access relay unit relaying the user to access a first shopping mall server associated with the shopping mall information, by using URL information included in the selected shopping mall information; a cookie information management unit generating cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server and transmitting the generated cookie information to the user terminal to be stored therein; and the first shopping mall server comprises: an access determination unit determining whether the user has accessed via a relay server, in case that the user has accessed the first shopping mall server; a cookie information determination unit determining whether cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server exists in the user terminal, in case that it is determined that the user has accessed the first shopping mall server without passing through the relay server; and a secure payment service providing relay unit providing a predetermined secure payment service to the user when purchasing a product, in case that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server exists.

** Explanation of Terms Used in the Present Specification** 1) Relay server: A "relay server" is a server which interoperates with at least one shopping mall server and provides a service, such as for example, introducing products or services on sale at an online shopping mall of the shopping mall server to users, or providing the users with a search service for the products or the services, or helping the users to access the shopping mall server. 2) Online shopping mall and shopping mall server: An "online shopping mall" is a space in which e-commerce of products/services is performed between users through a communication network. The online shopping mall is mainly embodied on a predetermined web page provided by a predetermined "shopping mall server". Also, the online shopping mall may be abbreviated to a "shopping mall" herein. Since the shopping mall is provided through a web page provided by the shopping mall server, the term "access a shopping mall server" is same to the term "access a shopping mall" herein. 3) Shopping mall information and product information: "Shopping mall information" is information associated with an online shopping mall. According to embodiments, the type of the shopping mall information can be variously determined. For example, the shopping mall information includes "product information" which is information on products being sold at the online shopping mall and URL information of a web page provided by the online shopping mall. The "product information" is information associated with the product on sale at the online shopping mall, such as a name of the product, specification thereof, price thereof, quantity thereof, available delivery date thereof, availability of a credit card, and the like. 4) Access a shopping mall server via a relay server: The term "access a shopping mall server via a relay server" used herein is that a user terminal first accesses a relay server and later accesses the shopping mall server according to access relay of the relay server. Accordingly, in case that a user terminal accesses a shopping mall server in order of "relay server → other A server → shopping mall server", it does not apply to accessing the shopping mall server via the relay server. 5) Secure payment service. The term "secure payment service" used herein includes every service for protecting trading between a seller and a purchaser who make trading of products/services through an online shopping mall.

Brief Description of Drawings FIG 1 is a diagram illustrating schematic operations of a secure payment service providing system according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a secure payment service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 3 and 7 are flowcharts illustrating a method for providing a secure payment service according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one example of data included in a shopping mall information database according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating one example of cookie information transmitted to a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a shopping mall server system interoperating with a relay server of a secure payment service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 8 and 10 are flowcharts illustrating one example of a method for providing a secure payment service according to an embodiment of the present; FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating one example of a web page provided on a user terminal in order to provide a secure payment service associated with a relay server, in an embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 11 is an internal block diagram of a general-purpose computer which can be employed in performing the secure payment service providing method according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Hereinafter, method and system for providing a secure payment service according to the present invention will be fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating schematic operations of a secure payment service providing system according to the present invention. The secure payment service providing system includes a relay server 100. The relay server 100 interoperates with one or more shopping mall servers HOa and HOb. The shopping mall servers 110a and 110b provide shopping malls, respectively. Also, the secure payment service providing system further includes a secure payment service server 130 providing a secure payment service associated with the relay server 100. According to embodiments, the relay server 100 and the secure payment service server 130 may be embodied into the same system. The relay server 100 maintains a shopping mall information database including shopping mall information for each shopping mall provided by each of the shopping mall servers 110a and HOb. The relay server 100 provides the entire or a part of shopping mall information associated with each shopping mall to a user terminal 125 of a user 120. The user terminal 125 is connected through a communication network. As aforementioned, the shopping mall information includes product information. According to embodiments, it is also possible to provide only a party of the shopping mall information to the user terminal 125, such as providing only product information to the user terminal 125. As such configured, the user 120 who has accessed the relay server 100 can be easily provided with information about products or services on sale at a plurality of shopping malls, respectively. The user terminal 125 is a general concept for terminals with a computing function by mounting a predetermined memory unit, such as for example, desktop PC, notebook PC, PDA, mobile communication terminals, and the like, and which can be connected in a wired/wireless communication network. Also, a web browser may be installed in the user terminal 125. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating internal configuration of the relay servers 100 and 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The relay server 200 includes a shopping mall information database 201, a display control unit 202, a selection input receiving unit 203, an access relay unit 204 and a cookie information management unit 205. As aforementioned, the relay server 200 interoperates with one or more shopping mall servers providing shopping malls. Also, the relay server 200 serves to provide a user with information on the shopping mall and to relay the user to access the shopping mall. Hereinafter, a function of each configuration element will be in detail described with reference to FIG. 3. The shopping mall information database 201 includes shopping mall information associated with each shopping mall server interoperating with the relay server 200. The shopping mall information database 201 is a kind of database which is recorded in a predetermined storage device. Herein, a group of data systematically recorded such that the correlation between data can be easily understood is defined as a database. In step 301, the shopping mall information database 201 is recorded and maintained in the storage device. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one example of data included in the shopping mall information database 201 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the shopping mall information database 201 maintains shopping mall information about online shopping malls provided by each of shopping mall servers interoperating with the relay server 200. The shopping mall information database 201 may include fields for "a product identifier" for identifying a product, "a product page" for URL of a web page selling the product", "product price" for price of the product, "a shopping mall identifier" for identifying the shopping mall, and the like. In step 302, shopping mall information included in the shopping mall information database 201 includes product information or URL information associated therewith. The display control unit 202 controls the shopping mall information to be displayed on a web browser installed in the user terminal 125. That is, the display control unit 202 controls the entire or a part of the shopping mall information to be displayed on the user terminal 125. For example, the display control unit 202 can control only product information among the shopping mall information to be displayed on the user terminal 125. Shopping mall information displayed on the user terminal 125 can be provided in association with an event, such as "a wedding festival" and the like. Also, the shopping mall information can be provided as search results by a keyword search or a category search of a user. For example, in case that a user inputs a search request for categories including a search query "notebook", the relay server 200 searches the shopping mall information database 201 for product information whose category field is "a notebook". Also, the display control unit 202 controls the searched product information to be displayed on the user terminal 125. In step 303, the user selects a piece of information from shopping mall information displayed on the user terminal 125. In this step, the selection input receiving unit 203 receives the selection of the user. In step 304, by using shopping mall information selected by a user, the access relay unit 204 enables the user to access a shopping mall server associated with the shopping mall information. Hereinafter, the shopping mall server associated with shopping mall information selected by the user is a first shopping mall server. At this time, the access relay unit 204 may enable the user to access a predetermined web page provided by the shopping mall server, by using URL information included in the shopping mall information. For example, the web page may be a web page for sales of products selling products associated with the selected shopping mall information. Also, in steps 305 and 306, when a selection of shopping mall information is received from the user in the step 303, the cookie information management unit 205 generates cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server and transmits the generated cookie information to the user terminal 125. The cookie information includes a first shopping mall server identifier for identifying a first shopping mall server or information on time point of generation of the cookie information. The information on time point of generation may be one time point within a period for which the relay server 200 generates and transmits the cookie information. The cookie information is later used as reference data for determining whether to provide the user with a secure payment service at the secure payment service server 130. Hereinafter, cookie information will be further fully described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating one example of cookie information transmitted to the user terminal 125, in an embodiment of the present invention. Generally, cookie is a file including information associated with a predetermined web site in case that an Internet user accesses the web site. That is, the cookie is a small volume of information whose file size is small. A secure payment service system according to the present invention transmits the cookie information, which is a kind of cookie, to a user terminal to be stored therein. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in the present invention, cookie information may include cookie name information (name) for identifying cookie information, information on time point of generation (data) for indicating the time point when cookie information is generated, relay server identifier information for identifying a relay server, or first shopping mall server identifier information (domain name) for identifying the first shopping mall server, path information (path) for indicating location information where cookie information transmitted to the user terminal 125 is stored, and the like. When the cookie information is generated and transmitted to the user terminal 125 in steps 305 and 306, the user terminal 125 determines a storage location by referring to path information (path) included in the cookie information, and stores the cookie information in the storage location. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the cookie information is deleted from the user terminal 125, in case that a predetermined period has passed from the time point of generation of the cookie information by referring to the information on time point of generation included in the cookie information. For example, in case that it is set up that cookie information is deleted from the user terminal 125 after 7 days from the time point of generation, cookie information whose time point of generation is "2004-05-23, 20:30:15" is automatically deleted from the user terminal 125 at "2004-05-30, 20:30:15" which is a time having passed 7 days from the time point of generation. The selected period can be changed. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram interoperating with a relay server of a secure payment service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, as an example, it will be described that the shopping mall server is the first shopping mall server. That is, the user has accessed the first shopping mall server via the relay server 200. A first shopping mall server 610 includes an access determination unit 611, a cookie information determination unit 612 and a secure payment service providing relay unit 613. Hereinafter, a function of each configuration element will be in detail described with reference to FIG. 6. In case that the user accesses the first shopping mall server 610 in step 701, the access determination unit 611 determines whether the user has accessed via the relay server 200, in step 702. For example, the access determination unit 611 can determine whether the user has accessed via the relay server 200 by using URL information of a web page which the user had accessed just before accessing the first shopping mall server 610. The URL information is sent by a user agent of a web browser of the user terminal 125 according to HTTP protocol. In case that it is determined that the user has accessed the first shopping mall server 610 via the relay server 200, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 controls a secure payment service to be provided to the user when the user purchases a product at the first shopping mall server 610. The secure payment service can be provided by the secure payment service server 130. That is, according to the present embodiment, even in case that the secure payment service system is not constructed at the first shopping mall server 610, the user who has accessed the first shopping mall server via the relay server 200 can be provided with the secure payment service from the secure payment service server 130 associated with the relay server 200. According to embodiments, the relay servers 100 and 200 and the secure payment service server 130 may be operated by the same service operating body. Also, the service operating body of the relay server 200 may make a predetermined contract with that of the secure payment service server 130. Hereinafter, the latter case will be described. Also, a method for providing a secure payment service at the secure payment service server 130 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 8 and 10. Also, even in case that the access determination unit 611 determines that the user has accessed without passing through the relay server 200, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 may provide the user with a secure payment service. Hereinafter, it will be fully described procedures of providing the user with a secure payment service when a predetermined condition is satisfied, even in case that the user has accessed without passing through the relay server 200. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cookie information determination unit 612 determines whether cookie information generated by the relay server 100 exists in the user terminal 125. Whether the cookie information is information generated by the relay server 100 is identifiable by determining whether a relay server identifier is included in the cookie information. In case that cookie information generated by the relay server 100 is searched, the cookie information determination unit 612 determines whether the searched cookie information is cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server 610 accessed by the user. The cookie information determination unit 612 can search for cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server 610 by using a shopping mall server identifier included in the searched cookie information. As aforementioned, cookie information which has passed a predetermined time from the time point of generation is deleted from the user terminal 125. Thus, all the cookie information existing in the user terminal 125 can be determined to be valid cookie information. In step 704, in case that the cookie information determination unit 612 determines that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server 610 exists in the user terminal 125, and the user trades a product, the user is provided with a secure payment service associated with the relay server 200. The case that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server does not exist in the user terminal 125 may correspond to the case that the user has never accessed the first shopping mall server through the relay server, or the case that cookie information has been deleted since a predetermined period, for example, 7 days have passed after the user had accessed the first shopping mall through the relay server. According to another embodiment of the present invention, cookie information stored in the user terminal 125 is not deleted from the user terminal 125 even after a predetermined time has passed from the time point of generation, and maintained in the user terminal 125. At this time, in case that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall exists in the user terminal 125, the cookie information determination unit 612 determines whether a predetermined period has passed from the time point of generation of the cookie information by using information on time point of generation included in the cookie information. In case that it is determined that the period has not passed, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 enables the secure payment service to be provided to the user. That is, the cookie information is regarded as valid cookie information only within the predetermined period from the time point of generation. Like above, the cookie information may not be deleted from the user terminal 125 even after the predetermined period has passed. However, in order to prevent a useless file from being piled in the user terminal 125, it is preferable to set the cookie information to be automatically deleted when the predetermined period has passed. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating one example of a web page provided on the user terminal 125, in order to provide a secure payment service associated with the relay server 200, in an embodiment of the present invention. The web page is provided by the first shopping mall server 610. The web page may be a web page for sales of products for selling the product. As illustrated in FIG. 9, in case that a user has accessed via the relay server 200, or in case that the user has accessed without passing through the relay server 200, however, re-accessed within a predetermined period, for example, 7 days after the user had accessed the relay server 200, the first shopping mall server 6100 can provide the user with a user interface for providing a secure payment service. As indicated by drawing symbol 910 in FIG. 9, the user interface may be a click device associated with the secure payment service. The click device 910 can be provided in a button type. When a purchase request is received from the user using the click device 910, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 enables the user to access the predetermined secure payment service server 130. As aforementioned, the relay server 200 and the secure payment service server 130 may be embodied into the same system. The user who has accessed the secure payment service server 130 is provided with a secure payment service according to the operations of the secure payment service server 130. That is, a secure payment service according to the present embodiment is provided to the secure payment service server 130. The secure payment service providing relay unit 613 of the first shopping mall server 610 relays the user to access the secure payment service server 130 and to be provided with the secure payment service. Also, in case that the user accesses the first shopping mall server 610 without passing through the relay server 200, or in case that valid cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server 610 does not exist in the user terminal 125, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 provides a click device (not illustrated) for general payments, instead of the click device 910 associated with a secure payment. Thus, the user cannot be provided with the secure payment service. Operations of the secure payment service server 130 will be described in FIG. 8 or 10. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method for providing a secure payment service according to an embodiment of the present. In step 801, the secure payment service providing relay unit 613 provides the user with a user interface for providing a secure payment service. The user interface may include the predetermined click device 910 associated with a secure payment. In case that a purchase request for a product is received from the user through a user interface 901 in step 802, the first shopping mall server 610 relays the user to access the predetermined secure payment service server 130 in step 803. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in case that the user pays a bill for the product, the secure payment service server 130 maintains billing amount in a predetermined account in step 804. In case that a receipt of the product is confirmed by the user in step 805, the secure payment service server 130 enables the entire or a part of the billing amount to be given to a seller of the product in step 806. Thus, it is possible to prevent that a user who has paid a bill for a product can not receive the product, or that a user receives an inferior product which is different from one in trading. Giving billing amount to the seller is suspended until the user receives a normal product. A part of the billing amount, for example, 3 % thereof can be used as a service commission of the secure payment service server 130 or the relay server 200. As aforementioned, the secure payment service server 130 may be the same system with the relay server 200 or a second server providing only a secure payment service. For example, in case that the secure payment server 130 is embodied in the same system with the relay server 200, when the user requests a secure payment through the user interface 910 provided at the first shopping mall server 610, the first shopping mall server 610 relays the user to a secure payment server, which is the relay server 200. The relay server 200 provides a secure payment service, as aforementioned. Meanwhile, according to embodiments, various methods can be adopted for a secure payment service. For example, an escrow method as aforementioned may be adopted. That is, in case that the user does not receive a purchased product within a predetermined period, or in case that the user does not receive a normal product, the escrow method enables billing amount to be returned to the user without giving the billing amount to the seller. Thus, according to the escrow method, the user can use e- commerce in the Internet without any concern. Also, according to another embodiment of the present invention, a secure payment service method formed of a guarantee insurance method can be adopted to provide a secure payment service. As illustrated in FIG. 10, in case that it is determined that cookie information associated with the first shopping mall server 610 exists in the user terminal 125, a user interface for providing a secure payment service is provided to the user in step 1001. In case that the user pays a bill for a product through the user interface in step 1002, however, a notice is received from the user that the user did not receive a normal product in step 1003, the secure payment service server 130 enables a predetermined compensation to be made for the user in step 1004. The compensation may be formed of a guarantee insurance method, in which compensation is made for loss of a creditor by default of an obligation in trading of a product. In the guarantee insurance method, since a trustful insurance company is in charge, a user (a product seller or a product purchaser) can sell or purchase a product without concern. Also, the embodiments of the present invention include a computer readable medium including a program instruction for executing various operations realized by a computer. The computer readable medium may include a program instruction, a data file, and a data structure, separately or cooperatively. The program instructions and the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software arts. Examples of the computer readable media include magnetic media (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., CD-ROMs or DVD), magneto-optical media (e.g., floptical disks), and hardware devices (e.g., ROMs, RAMs, or flash memories, etc.) that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions. The media may also be transmission media such as optical or metallic lines, wave guides, etc. including a carrier wave transmitting signals specifying the program instructions, data structures, etc. Examples of the program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing high-level languages codes that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter. FIG. 11 is an internal block diagram of a general-purpose computer which can be employed in performing the secure payment service providing method according to the present invention. A computer apparatus 1100 includes at least one processor 1110 connected to a main memory device including a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1120 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1130. The processor 1110 is also called as a central processing unit CPU. As well-known to the field of the art, the ROM 1130 unidirectionally transmits data and instructions to the CPU, and the RAM 1120 is generally used for bidirectionally transmitting data and instructions. The RAM 1120 and the ROM 1130 may include a certain proper form of a computer readable recording medium. A mass storage device 1140 is bidirectionally connected to the processor 1110 to provide additional data storage capacity and may be one of the computer readable recording medium. The mass storage device 1140 is used for storing programs and data and is an auxiliary memory. A particular mass storage device such as a CD ROM 1160 may be used. The processor 1110 is connected to at least one input/output interface 1150 such as a video monitor, a track ball, a mouse, a keyboard, a microphone, a touch-screen type display, a card reader, a magnetic or paper tape reader, a voice or hand-writing recognizer, a joy stick, and other known computer input/output unit. The processor 1110 may be connected to a wired or wireless communication network via a network interface 1170. The procedure of the described method can be performed via the network connection. The described devices and tools are well-known to those skilled in the art of computer hardware and software. The described hardware devices may be formed to be operated by at least one software module in order to perform the operations of the present invention. While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description of the invention but by the appended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in connection with the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is not limited thereto since it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Industrial Applicability The present invention is conceived to solve the problems in the prior art. Thus, according to the present invention, there are provided method and system for providing a secure payment service, in which the secure payment service is provided not only to a user who has accessed a shopping mall via a relay server, but also to a user who has accessed the shopping mall without passing through the relay server, if a certain condition is satisfied. Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase profits on the side of a relay server by charging a shopping mall server a predetermined commission for advertising of the shopping mall server interoperating with the relay server and providing of a secure payment service. Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a secure payment service even at a small and medium shopping mall by interoperating with a relay server. Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to enhance the convenience of a user by enabling the user to be provided with a secure payment service using cookie information, even in case that the user does not pass through a relay server. Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to protect a user from damage in e-commerce and to enable the user to use the e-commerce at ease.