The routines of payment transaction handling are underdeveloped and, particularly, the payment of a realtime content acquisition or a one-time payment transaction in practice turns out impossible or at least very clumsy.

Moreover, use of Internet connections involves substantial security risks that pose obstacles to extensive use of offered services. By contrast, the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) has been found secure in use and its billing systems are fullyfunctional.

However, calls to subscriber-charged numbers from a PSTN connection can be made from one and a single location only.

Payment arrangements for a WWW (World Wide Web) service has been attempted in such a manner that the user first loads money onto his/her chargeable balance as a separate operation by calling from his/her telephone to a subscriber-charged call number and then enters his/her user ID code via the tone-dial keypad of the telephone set.

The use of the above-described service is awkward as the Internet connection must be disconnected for the duration of the money transfer, or alternatively, a separate telephone connection must be used. Hence, payment in conjunction with simultaneous use of a service is impossible, because the service must be cancelled for calling a subscriber-charged number and then the connection to the Internet operator needs to be reestablished.

Moreover, the user of a conventional PSTN connection can call subscriber-charged

numbers and utilize their services from a single location only, that is, the physical location of the telephone connection.

A further problem of billing systems used in the public telephone network is that, when the user modem connection during the ongoing call is being charged for the use of the public telephone network, no other charging information can be gathered for the same subscriber number simultaneously. This limitation results from the fact that public telephone network systems do not allow charging information to be <BR> <BR> <BR> accumulated on a single telephone number simultaneously from two different charging rates.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the above- described conventional techniques and to provide an entirely novel type of method and apparatus for transferring payment transactions in the Internet network.

The goal of the invention is achieved utilizing the gateway between an Internet Protocol (IP) telephone connection program and the PSTN network with the help of a virtual-connection telephone number. The function of the novel technique is to provide a payment arrangement for WWW services.

More specifically, the method according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The invention offers significant benefits.

The basic function of the invention is to provide a secure, user-location-independent and easy payment arrangement for WWW services.

By virtue of the invention, the user can during his/her Internet connection load money onto his/her account via a subscriber-charged call number of the PSTN network without disconnecting the desired service. Hence, the Internet connection need not be

released for calling the subscriber-charged number as is conventionally necessary if the user has only one subscriber line available.

In the method, a"virtual"telephone number is given to the user that is site- independent and facilitates the loading of money during the use of services offered by a merchant site or a service provider. The connection to the Internet may be of any type and the user can avail of the charged services"on his/her account"from any location.

The invention makes it possible to charge WWW services according to their realtime use. The user is given a virtual telephone number which also serves as a user ID code permitting the user to access his/her local PSTN operator from any Internet site, thus being able to utilize the subscriber services of the operator as if being"normally" connected to the public telephone network via a PSTN telephone set.

The virtual telephone number may also be called via a conventional telephone set or an IP telephone connection program. This is a significant benefit allowing a problem of IP calls associated with their dynamic IP addresses to be overcome by the same token.

In the arrangement, all incoming and outgoing calls are billed to the subscriber according to a technique agreed in cooperation with the local telephone network operator.

In the following, the invention will be examined closer with the help of an exempli- fying embodiment illustrated in the appended drawing, in which Figure 1 shows the block diagram of an arrangement according to the invention.

In text below, the term IP telephone is used in reference to a telephone connection program suitable for running under an Internet protocol on a computer which

communicates with the Internet and is equipped with a sound card connected to a loudspeaker-microphone combination or the like. The telephone connection program encodes the user speech onto the simultaneously ongoing Internet connection and facilitates the use of DTMF (dual-tone multifrequency) dialling functions.

The term PSTN refers to the public telephone network. The term gateway refers to equipment capable of forming a connection between the Internet and the PSTN so that IP telephone can be used for setting up a realtime voice-channel call to a conventional telephone number and vice versa.

The term balance is used in reference to the amount of money value which readily consumable by the user and which amount can be increased by calling a given number by the IP telephone connection program and subsequently entering a given code by the DTMF dialling facility. The balance account is debited during the use of the ongoing service either based on charging by the service time duration or as a one-time charge, depending on the type of the service.

Thus, the problems of conventional techniques can be overcome through the use of the"virtual"connection and matching the properties of IP telephony with those of the PSTN according to the following novel technique: During his/her Internet connection, the user loads money as a realtime operation onto his/her balance by selecting ("clicking") a button displayed on the WWW page, whereby the IP telephone connection program calls a given subscriber-charged number thus facilitating the use of the charged service.

Additionally, the WWW page displays a counter telling the available value on the user balance and cost of the ongoing service.

Among others, the invention is based on an arrangement between the user of the IP telephone connection program and the operator for a given"virtual"telephone

number, whereby calls set up from said number and thereto can be charged to the subscriber of said arrangement according to an agreed charging scheme.

In practice, the available"balance"can be increased in a secure manner as shown in Fig. 1 by calling a PSTN network 5 from the Internet telephone connection via gateway equipment 4 at a subscriber-charged call number 6 which then pays the service provide the exact sum given on the WWW page. Typically, the user clicks a certain button of displayed page, whereby the Internet telephone program is activated and sets up a call to a call number 6 having a preset call charge of 10 monetary units.

Next, the call is released and the balance is increased by said 10 monetary units, whereby the service is used in realtime on the WWW page provided by a WWW server 3. The use of the realtime service consumes the balance loaded by the user on either a time-duration or one-time charge basis.

The time-duration-based charging could be applied to, e. g., viewing a live video, while the one-time charging is applicable to, e. g., a search carried out for the user.

In the routine use of the balance, the user first makes a money transfer by clicking a displayed button that calls the PSTN network 5 from the Internet connection 2 and makes the requested money transfer equivalent to, e. g., 10 monetary units. This sum is then charged to the"virtual"telephone number of the subscriber for later billing to the user.

The implementation requires a separate program capable of monitoring the available balance in real time.

The equipment and programs needed in the invention are described in the following with reference to the designating numerals of Fig. 1: -A microcomputer 1 with multimedia capabilities including an Internet browser and software required for setting up an Internet connection.

-An IP telephone connection program with a dedicated, site-independent call number based on said"virtual"connection.

-Gateway equipment 4 capable of connecting the Internet 2 with the conventional public telephone network designated as PSTN 6.

-A subscriber-charged call number 6 and a program capable of monitoring of the realtime value of the balance loaded from said call number.

The function of the arrangement according to the invention is as follows: 1. The user first sets up an Internet connection from his/her PC 1 either directly or via any ISP (Integrated Services Provider), whereby the user must have agreed beforehand about the charging and allocated virtual number of his/her IP telephone connection program by subscribing to a"virtual"connection.

2. The user logs to the Internet 2 and the gateway 4 in which the telephone number of the virtual connection simultaneously serves the user's ID code and thereby enters his/her password.

3. The user finds from the Internet a WWW page 3 having a content he or she is willing to acquire against a charge. Next, the user sets up a personal account on the page, whereby he/she receives a user ID code and a password.

4. The user clicks on the button marked as"pay 10 monetary units", for instance, whereby the IP telephone connection program installed beforehand on the PC 1 is activated to call via the gateway 4 to the allocated subscriber-charged call number 6 of the PSTN network 5 and transmits as dual-tone multifrequency signals (DTMF) to the charging program the required information onto which account to place the desired amount of money. In this manner, the desired account number and amount of transferred money can be entered by DTMF commands. The charging program identifies the user from the telephone number allocated to his/her virtual connection.

5. The information on the increased balance is sent over the connection 7 to a counter of the WWW server 3.

6. The same user account may also be used on other pages with a compatible charging routine.

7. When required, the user may cancel the use of the charged service, whereby the remaining balance is available during the next session.

The balance may be allocated for a single-service use only, or alternatively, common to a number of service providers, an example of which the balance provided by the Finnish public telephone network operator HPY that allows the same balance to be used in paying for charged services offered by a plurality of service providers.