An interconnection architecture for micropayment systems

In the next years the market for low value online content, like music and videos, is expected to grow substantially. To allow “pay-per-use” of such content, micropayment systems are expected to play an important role. Since there are already many competing micropayment systems on the market, customers and merchants are forced to use multiple systems. To overcome the problems associated with using multiple systems, the research presented in this paper builds upon the idea of payment gateways that interconnect these systems. We introduce a generally applicable interconnection method such that the interconnection of these systems can be easily realized in a systematic way. This approach consists of (de)enhancing the existing micropayment services towards a uniform service level before the interconnection takes place. This paper presents the main functional characteristics of existing payment systems, and proposes modification strategies for existing micropayment systems to provide the uniform payment service. The modifications are required before the interconnection can take place.