Information processing system, information processing method, electronic money service providing system, and recording medium

Abstract

An electronic money system is provided which requires lower management and running cost, and features higher flexibility. An acquirer/brand holder managing an electronic money brand manages all keys used for authentication processing in the system, and issues the keys as necessary. The acquirer/brand holder distributes keys according to a tie-up agreement to IC card issuers, a POS center, an MMK center, and an affiliate merchant terminal unit. The POS center, the MMK center, and the affiliate merchant terminal unit are apparatuses for users to use the IC cards or for managing them. The acquirer/brand holder, however, does not distribute issued keys to cybershops which users can access by using a personal computer and a reader/writer. Instead, in this case the acquirer/brand holder saves the issued key itself, and carries out authentication processing with a predetermined IC card upon a request from the cybershop.

1 . An information processing system comprising:
 a first information processing apparatus managed by a first business entity performing the management of an electronic money brand in an electronic money service and the management of an affiliate business entity in the electronic money service;   first information giving and receiving means for giving and receiving information with a third information processing apparatus managed by a second business entity issuing a second information processing apparatus in which electronic money information and authentication information employed for authentication processing for the electronic money service are recorded, the authentication information including a plurality of keys associated with a plurality of business entities;   second information giving and receiving means for giving and receiving information with a fourth information processing apparatus managed by a third business entity providing a service that uses the electronic money, wherein the second information giving and receiving means is in communication with a plurality of reader/writer devices associated with the third business entity;   first recording means for recording the authentication information used for the authentication processing for the electronic money service;   second recording means for recording the information regarding the second business entity and the information regarding a tie-up agreement between the first business entity and the second business entity;   third recording means for recording the information regarding the third business entity and the information regarding a tie-up agreement between the first business entity and the third business entity; and   fourth recording means for recording proxy transactions where the fourth recording means records and completes transactions executed by the first business entity and associated with the second business entity without being in active communication with the second business entity, and where the fourth recording means communicates with the second business entity at a predetermined interval,   wherein the first information processing apparatus determines the acceptability of a value loaded on the second processing apparatus based on information related to the electronic money information.   
     
     
         2 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the first information giving and receiving means outputs the authentication information recorded by the second recording means on the basis of the information regarding the tie-up agreement between the first business entity and the second business entity that has been recorded by the second recording means, and   the second information giving and receiving means outputs the authentication information recorded by the first recording means on the basis of the information regarding the tie-up agreement between the first business entity and the third business entity that has been recorded by the third recording means.   
     
     
         3 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , further comprising first accounting means for carrying out accounting with the second business entity, and second accounting means for carrying out accounting with the third business entity. 
     
     
         4 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , further comprising authenticating means for carrying out authentication processing using the authentication information recorded by the first recording means,
 wherein the authenticating means carries out authentication processing by using the authentication information associated with the third business entity recorded by the first recording means when a signal requesting the implementation of authentication processing is received from the third business entity by the second information giving and receiving means.   
     
     
         5 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 third information giving and receiving means for giving and receiving information, through a network, with a fifth information processing apparatus that rewrites the electronic money information recorded in the second information processing apparatus; and   generating means for generating a control signal causing the fifth information processing apparatus to carry out the loading of electronic money into the second information processing apparatus,   wherein the generating means generates the control signal for the second information processing apparatus, which has been issued by the second business entity, on the basis of information regarding the tie-up agreement between the first business entity and the second business entity that has been recorded by the second recording means, and   the third information giving and receiving means outputs the control signal generated by the generating means to the fifth information processing apparatus.   
     
     
         6 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the network is the Internet, and
 the third information giving and receiving means further exchanges information with a sixth information processing apparatus managed by the third business entity having a virtual store on the Internet.   
     
     
         7 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the second information processing apparatus stores a log of value loading results. 
     
     
         8 . An information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the first information processing apparatus sends a value loading processing result to the second business entity.