Background Art [2] The development of the information technology accompanied the development of the Internet. The user using the Internet has to subscribe as a member in order to use a shopping mall or a specific website. In general, the user has to register a variety of data such as certification information including a password and ID, address, and phone number on the website in order to user the shopping mall, etc. The user connects to the website with the certification information as the member.

[3] However, due to the anonymity of Internet world, it is not easy to certificate the user. Thus, the system for certificating the real name has been employed widely, however, that does not certificate the real user but certificate only the fact that the resident registration number and the name are correct by referring a credit information company. Therefore, the user may be certificated even when a stolen resident reg- istration number is used. As the exposure of the resident registration number is frequent nowadays, it is very dangerous that the user is certificated only with the resident registration number.

[4] For example, fee imposition to young student becomes a social issue. That is, it becomes a social issue that the tremendous communication fee is imposed due to the resident registration number stolen without the approval of the parent. That is due to the anonymity, one of the characteristics of the Internet, and that can be prevented by more complicated certification.

[5] It can be assumed that a certification method using a mobile phone is employed.

The certification with the mobilephone begins with the sending of certification number by a character message to the phone that has been registered by the user. In order that the user certificates himself/herself as a pre-registered member, the user inputs the cer- tification number included in the character message sent to the mobile phone of his/her own to the website that he/she wants to connect. However, it accompanies the in- convenience that the user has to input the respective certification numbers in person.

[6] Meanwhile, due to the development of the wireless communication network, the communication terminals have been developed from a simple telephone to a general WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 terminal used widely for a variety of usages. For example, the mobile phone has been developed as a complex device such as a game device, a diary, a schedule manager, an MP3 player and a digital camera, and more and more functions are being added.

[7] In particular, it is a typical service used widely by the subscribers that the caller's phone number is displayed. The caller's phone number informing service is one of the services that the caller's phone number is provided to the receiver when the phone call is received to the mobile phone requested to be connected so that the receiver can recognize the caller before he responds to the phone call.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem [8] The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above problems.

Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a convenient and rapid certification method that the credible certification of the user is possible without any exposure of important private information such as the resident registration number, and the operation required for the user in certification is minimized.

Technical Solution [9] To achieve the above-described objects, the present invention provides a method for certificating a user, comprising the steps of : (A) detecting a user's phone number included in a subscriber information about the user with reference to certification in- formation input from a user's terminal through a communication channel; (B) sending a character message including a certification phone number that can be used for phone call or a callback URL to the detected user's phone number; (C) detecting a caller's phone number of a user's phone as a request of phone call through the certification phone number or a request of Internet connection through the callback URL is received from the user's phone; and (D) certificating the user when the detected caller's phone number is identical to the user's phone number included in the subscriber information.

[10] In the step (B), a plurality of certification phone numbers or a plurality of callback URLs are prepared in advance, and one of the plurality is selected and sent.

[11] The step (A) can be performed after the user is pre-certificated as a normal subscriber according to the certification information of the user.

[12] The user certification is finished when the request of phone call through the cer- tification phone number or the request of Internet connection through the callback URL is not received from the user's phone in a predetermined period of time.

[13] In such a situation, a webpage that counts a remaining time for certification is sent to the user's terminal from a certification server until an end of the predetermined period of time.

[14] The user's phone can be a mobile communication terminal, a telephone using WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 PSTN, or an Internet phone.

[15] According to the present invention, there is the advantage that a convenient and rapid certification method that the credible certification of the user is possible without any exposure of important private information such as the resident registration number is provided, and the operation required for the user in certification is minimized.

[16] Meanwhile, according to the present invention, there if provided a recording medium that can be read by a computer and is recorded with a program for performing the certification method performed by the certification serer.

Brief Description of the Drawings [17] FIG. 1 shows the configuration of network on which the present invention is realized; and [18] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the certification method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention [19] Hereinbelow, the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, the terminology or words used in the specification and the claims of the present invention should not be interpreted as typical meanings of their own, and they should be interpreted as the meaning and concept conforming to the technological idea of the present invention on the basis of the idea that the inventor can define the concept of the words appropriately in order to illustrate his invention in a best manner..

[20] FIG. 1 shows the configuration of network on which the present invention is realized.

[21] The network system according to the present invention is comprised of a com- munication channel 20 through which the data communication is possible, and a wireless communication network 50 that provides the mobile communication service.

A wireless network server 40 for providing the service to informing the caller's phone number and a user's mobile terminal 60 are connected to the wireless communication network 50. A certification server 10 and a user's terminal 30 are connected to the communication channel 20. The certification server 10 is a server that performs the certification process based on the position of the user according to the present invention, and the certification server 10 is so connected to the wireless network server 40 as to communicate with each other.

[22] The wireless network server 40 is the device managed by a mobile communication service provider, and is substantially comprised of repeaters, base stations, switching centers, etc. , however it is referred to as the wireless network server 40 in this spec- ification. The wireless network server 40 makes the voce communication possible WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 through the phone call with the mobile phone 60 located in a unit cell, and furthermore, provides the service to detect the caller's phone number before the receiver responds to the phone call by providing the caller's phone number to the receiver together with the phone call signal when the phone call between the caller and the receiver is connected by the request of the subscriber.

[23] Here, the mobile phone 60 includes a cellular phone, a personal communication services PCS, a PDA, an International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 IMT-2000, or the like.

[24] Meanwhile, one preferable example of the communication channel 20 used in the present invention is the Internet. Therefore, hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention is illustrated with the example that the communication channel 20 is the Internet.

[25] In the Internet, it is preferable that the certification server 10 is realized by a web server to provide a general web service. Accordingly, the certification server 10 has a program module capable of operating as a web server, however, the detailed de- scription there of is omitted since it is obvious constitution to a person skilled in the art.

[26] Meanwhile, the certification server 10 according to the present invention provides a website 19 so that the method as follows can be implemented in the Internet. The website 10 is substantially constituted by total sum of web pages, and each unit of web program installed in the certification server 10 processes the received request and provides the processed result as a form of a webpage. The web program is constituted as a single unit, or a plurality of web programs having sub-constructions constitutes a single webpage. The web program is operated by a tag of HTML that is the coding language of webpage such as'href, and is identified by the Internet address system called URL. Meanwhile, the language for web program can be ASP, PHP, CGI, JSP, JAVA, etc.

[27] Meanwhile, the hyper link in the webpage provides the automatic address input method of other webpage so as to simply call the object site address, HTML document, and web program. Thus, the user can move to the next page only by clicking the hyper link with a mouse.

[28] In general, the web program is installed as a form of a file on the certification server 10 by module in order to perform one function, operates according to the request transmitted from web browser, and outputs the result as a form of a webpage.

[29] Contrary to the fashion that the certification server 10 performs the function of the web server simultaneously, the certification server 10 and the web server can be prepared separately, and furthermore, can be managed by separate companies. For example, as for the certification for purchasing products or contents through online, it WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 is possible that the connection to online shopping mall is performed only with the general ID and password and the certification is performed as the shopping mall requests the certification for the real purchasing activity to a separate certification server 10.

[30] In the present invention, when the user requests to connect through the Internet, the certification server 10 confirms the user as the member by comparing the certification information provided by the user, i. e., ID and password, with the subscriber in- formation that had been provided by the user during the registration process of the user. The subscriber information is the information achieved when the user connects to the website 19 for the first time or during the registration process of the user, and is comprised of the data such as name, address, telephone number, or mobile phone number of the user and is recorded and managed in a database.

[31] The certification server 10 sends a phone number (hereinafter, referred to as'cer- tification number') that the user can dial to the mobile terminal 60 of the user as a character message. Then, as the phone call from the mobile terminal of the user is received through the certification number, the certification server 10 detects the phone number of the caller included in the phone call and compares the detected phone number with the phone number extracted from the subscriber information. As it is judged that both are the same with each other according to the comparison result, the user is certificated.

[32] In the present invention, it is preferable that plural certification numbers are prepared in advance in order to prevent problems caused by the exposure of the cer- tification number. Then, one of the certification numbers is selected in a random manner, and then is transmitted to the user. Meanwhile, the certification server 10 records and manages the line information about the user certificated by the telephone line. In other words, the certification number is notified to the user, and the data such as the phone number of the mobile phone 60 of the user, the line number used in cer- tification, and sending time are recorded and managed dynamically with the database.

Here, the sending time can be used for finishing the certification process compulsorily at the server. For example, when the phone call is not received through the line assigned to the user even when three minutes lapse after the certification number is sent to the user, the certification server 10 operates to finish the certification process compulsorily. In that situation, a webpage where the remaining time is counted is transmitted to the user's terminal 30.

[33] Meanwhile, the user's terminal 30 is the device that can be connected to a website provided by the certification server 10 or by another separate web server other than the certification server 10 through the Internet. Accordingly, the user's terminal 30 is equipped with a network interface such as a modem or a LAN card in the hardware asp WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 ect, and a web browser for interpreting and displaying the HTML document provided through the website in the software aspect. Accordingly, the user's terminal 30 is preferably constituted by a personal computer, however, the scope of the present invention is not limited to that example.

[34] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the certification method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the figure, the user certification process of the present invention according to the phone call from the mobile phone is as follows.

[35] In the step S 11, the user connects to the website with the web browser installed in the user's terminal 30, for which the user inputs the address of the website 19 to connect in the address input window on the web browser in person, or performs a web navigation process with a search engine.

[36] Then, the certification server 10 that manages the website 19 displays webpage having plural form fields for inputting the certification information (user's ID and password) on the web browser according to the request from the web browser. The user writes the certification information preset during the member registration process of the user on the corresponding form field area in the certification webpage displayed through the web browser, and then clicks a button to send the certification information to the certification server 10 through the certification webpage. S12.

[37] Then, the certification server 10 extracts the user's certification information recorded in the subscriber information database with the received certification in- formation and then compares both of them with each other to perform the subscriber certification process. S13 and S14. That process is a preliminary certification that is performed before the final certification by the comparison of the phone numbers that will be described later. If the identical certification information does not exist according to the comparison result, a certification failure page having a message that the certification information is not correct is displayed on the web browser. S15.

[38] To the contrary, when the identical certification information exists, one of he plural phone numbers capable of dialing is arbitrarily assigned to the user by the step S16. It is also possible that the extension numbers according to a private switching system is used. The private switching system makes it possible to use the telephone line by allotting plural extension numbers in a company while being connected to PSTN network. Accordingly, when the extension numbers are used, the certification server assigns the extension number (for example, 101) together with the representative phone number (for example, 02-588-5757) to the user arbitrarily. Therefore, the phone number sent to the user as the certification number becomes"02-588-5757 (101)".

[39] Then, the certification server 10 extracts the phone number of the user in order to send the certification number assigned to the user, in which the phone number of the WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 user is the telephone number of the mobile phone 60. The telephone number has been registered in advance as a part of the subscriber information during the subscriber reg- istration process of the user. Therefore, the certification server 10 extracts the subscriber information of the corresponding user by inspecting the subscriber in- formation database using the certification information sent from the user, and extracts the user's phone number from that. S17.

[40] Then, the certification server 10 of the present invention creates a character message recorded with the certification number assigned to the user through the step S16 with the extracted phone number, and sends it to the mobile phone 60 of the user through the wireless communication network 50. S18. In that situation, the character message is preferably constituted as a callback type that the phone call is possible by pressing a SEND button after the user recognizes the received character message.

[41] Meanwhile, as the certification server 10 assigns the certification number to the user, the line information is created dynamically to manage the user through the line.

S 19. That is, the data such as the certification number assigned to the user, the mobile phone number of the user, and the sending time are created dynamically regarding to individual users and are recorded and managed, which contributes to the simple operation of the following process.

[42] Meanwhile, a webpage for notifying the fact that the user certification process is performed is transmit to the user's terminal 30, and simultaneously, as the step S19 is finished, the remaining time calculated by the sending time which is a part of the line information is displayed on the user's terminal 30. The remaining time means the residual time within the range the certification is allowed, and if the server sets it as three minutes, the time counted reversely from three minutes is displayed on the webpage through the web browser as a popup window. S20. The webpage vanishes au- tomatically as the certification is done.

[43] Simultaneously, the certification server 10 judges whether a phone call is received through the line (that is, 588-5757 in the above example) allottedto the user. S21. In other words, it inspects whether the phone call signal is received from the wireless network server 10 that manages the wireless communication network 50 within the remaining time.

[44] Meanwhile, the character message recorded with the above-mentioned certification number is sent to the user's mobile terminal 60 through the wireless communication network 50, and the user can request the phone call to the certification server 10 only by recognizing the received character message and selecting the SEND button. In that situation, a buzzer sound is generated at the mobile terminal that tries the dialing, and a guide comment for the normal finish of the certification will be output as the cer- tification is finished. Meanwhile, in substitution for the method that the buzzer sound WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 is generated and the guide comment is output at the mobile terminal 60, another method can be employed that a guide paraphrase for the normal certification is transmitted to the user's terminal 30 by the certification server 10.

[45] When the phone call is not requested to the certification server 10 in the remaining time, the certification server 10 finishes the certification process compulsorily, and outputs a certification failure page recorded with the message that informs the denial of he certification due to the lapse of the certification time. S22.

[46] To the contrary, when the request for phonecall is received from the mobile terminal 60, the certification server 10 extracts the caller's phone number from the phone call request signal. The caller's phone number can be extracted through the caller's phone number informing service that is commercially provided at present. The extracted caller's phone number is compared with the phone number of the mobile phone of the user to be judged whether those are identical to each other. S24 and S25.

[47] According to the judged result of step S25, the certification server certificates the user, and when it is judged to be identical numbers, that is, when it is judged that the phone number of the mobile terminal detected from the caller's phone number is identical to the mobile phone number to which the character message has been sent, the webpage informing of the success of the certification is displayed on the web browser of the user's terminal 30 of the user. S26. Accordingly, the user is certificated as the member of the website.

[48] To the contrary, when it is judged that the numbers are not identical to each other, the certification failure message for notifying the denial of the certification due to the incorrect phone number is displayed on the web browser. S27.

[49] In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the process of detecting the caller's phone number when the callback phone call is requested according to the sending of short message by the certification server 10 to the user's mobile terminal 60 can be modified to a variety of manners as follows.

[50] In other words, the mobile terminal 60 of the user can be constituted with a wired telephone such as a general telephone. In such a situation, the mobile terminal 60 to which the certification server 10 sends the character message is different from the telephone that the user uses for the phone call, and the user should remember the phone number of the telephone that he has registered for the certification during the subscribing process to the website and should dial with the telephone having that phone number.

[51] Furthermore, in such a situation, the process for sending the character message of the certification server 10 can be omitted or modified to another manner. That is, the contents in the character message can be changed to the message that the user has to dial with the telephone having the telephone number registered when the user is WO 2005/071997 PCT/KR2005/000087 subscribing as a member for the certification, and furthermore, the message can be sent as the character message not to the mobile terminal 60 but to the user's terminal 30.

[52] Moreover, the wired telephone used in substitution for the mobile terminal 60 can be not the telephone using the PSTN but an Internet telephone so called VoIP that uses the Internet. That is, the message can be sent to the Internet telephone through the Internet. In such a situation, compared to the situation that the mobile terminal 60 uses the wireless communication network 50, the only difference is that the telephone uses the Internet network and other constitutions are similar.

[53] Meanwhile, the example that a specific phone number is sent in the character message as the certification number has been illustrated in the above embodiment, however, a callback URL can be sent as the certification number in substitution for the specific phone number. In that case, the mobile terminal 60 can connect to wireless Internet only by one click through the callback URL. Even in such a case, the phone number of the mobile terminal 60 that is connected to the wireless Internet can also be detected through the caller's phone number informing service at the wireless Internet site, so the same effect with the case that the phone number is used as the certification number can be achieved.

[54] Meanwhile, in the above embodiment of the present invention, the certification process as above follows when the user inputs the basic certification information (that is, ID and password) for the login. However, to the contrary, it is possible that the connection to the website is performed only by the preliminary certification, that is, the input of the basic certification information, the ID and the password, and the following process, that is, the sending of the character message and the comparison of the phone number according to the phone call or the like is performed when a particular operation such as the operation for paying the fee for contents or products at the website or the operation for displaying a special item at the website is performed. In other words, the certification process can be utilized as an additional means for the payment or for classifying the grade of certification in referring the items.

[55] Furthermore, the respective operations for detecting the user's phone number according to the logon, sending of the phone number or the callback URL for the cer- tification, detecting the phone number of the user's phone, and certificating the user by the comparison of the phone numbers in the present invention can be performed only by a single server or individual servers. The present embodiment illustrates the case that such processes are performed mainly by the certification server 10, however, the concept of the certification server 10 can be understood as a single server or the total sum of the independent servers managed by a plurality of companies.

Industrial Applicability [56] According to the present invention, the user can be certificated easily with the mobile phone that the user possesses in usual. Further, the certification method disclosed in the present invention has the advantage that the private information of the user such as the resident registration number is not exposed outside.

[57] Moreover, the certification is performed by the simple operation to press a button for the phone call according to the callback manner, so the certification becomes very simple and convenient in comparison with the method for inputting certification secret number recorded in the character message sent to the mobile terminal.

[58] The preferred embodiments have been illustrated and described so far, however, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and the scope of the present invention, and accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not limited within the described range but the following claims and the equivalents thereof.