JP2003536147A - Remittance apparatus and method in network environment - Google Patents

Abstract

  (57) [Summary] The present invention provides an improved technique for automatic remittance of funds. The user can instruct remittance from an account registered under his name to another account registered under his name or another name. In a first aspect of the present invention, a user provides information about a remittance source account and a remittance destination account. In the preferred embodiment, this "setting" step can be performed using form filling techniques. Form filling techniques are well known in the field of data manipulation. This is done only when the user needs to provide this information. In the second embodiment of the present invention, remittance from one account to another account is performed. Remittances are made in response to specific instructions from the user or in response to a set of intelligent rules specified by the user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

  The present invention relates to the electronic transfer of funds in a network environment.

[0002]

[Prior art]

  One aspect of the popular Internet is electronic money transfer.

The first form of electronic money transfer is the use of communication links to transfer funds between different accounts of the same financial institution. For example, an individual user may access his bank's website and transfer money from his dedicated payment account to his savings account. Similarly, an individual can access his broker's website and transfer funds from one mutual fund to another.

The second form of electronic money transfer is to pay bills of exchange using the Internet. For example, an individual user may access a commercial website such as a bill presenting service that is used exclusively for automatic bill payments. The user authorizes the bill presenting service to withdraw funds from his bank account and make payments to a particular creditor.

While this form of wire transfer generally achieves the purpose of transferring funds from one account to another, it also has its drawbacks.

The first drawback is that the process of wire transfer is unnecessarily labor intensive. For example, if an individual wants to keep 50% of his money in an account, he cannot achieve it without repeatedly checking his balance and transferring the money.

The second drawback is that the bill presenting service is unnecessarily complicated. The user needs to instruct the bill presenting service to withdraw funds from his account and pay the creditors. Generally, the bill presenting service draws funds from the user's account and creates a check to be paid to the creditor. The user cannot transfer funds directly from his account to the creditor's account.

Therefore, there is a demand for improvement in the technology of electronic money transfer. This has been accomplished in an embodiment of the invention, where the user can transfer funds directly from a bank account registered with his username to another bank account registered with his name or another person's name.

The present invention is in view of the prior art and provides a novel and non-obvious advantage and a potentially useful electronic money transfer technique. Although the examples described below relate to banks, the invention is broadly applicable to the transfer of money between all kinds of accounts of financial institutions, such as credit union accounts and brokerage accounts.

[0010]

[Outline of the Invention]

The present invention provides an improved technique for electronic transfer of funds. The user can direct money transfer from an account registered under his name to another account registered under his name or another person's name.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the user provides information regarding the account of the sender and the account of the recipient. In the preferred embodiment, this "setting" step can be done using form filling techniques. Form filling techniques are well known in the field of data manipulation.
Only then does the user need to provide this information.

In the second aspect of the present invention, remittance from one account to another is performed. Remittances are made in response to user specific instructions or in response to a set of intelligent rules specified by the user.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the following description, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described with respect to preferred process steps and data structures. Those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this specification, will understand that one or more general or special purpose processing units or other circuits adapted to the particular process steps and data structures described can be used to implement the invention. It will be appreciated that embodiments may be implemented and that the process steps and data structures described herein do not require undue experimentation or additional invention.

The invention described herein can be used with the inventions described in the following applications. • Filed on February 11, 2000 under the name Easy Login.com, Inc., formerly Easy Login.com, 20
International application PCT / US00 / entitled "Personalized Access to Websites" published in International Application No. WO 00/48110 on August 17, 2000
03790.・ Easy Login 2001 by the name of dot com, Inc.
International application PCT / US01 / 40019, entitled "Clipping and Manipulation of Elements Contained in Web Pages", filed January 31, 2010.

All of these applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Terminology As stated herein, the following terms relate to the inventive forms described below.

Personal Data Server: As used herein, the term “personal data server” also includes server devices that access a database of information about individual users.

Individual user: The term “individual user”, as used herein, acts as either on its behalf or as an organization, operating a web client to gain access to the Internet, and Includes the person who operates the web client so that it can prepare and execute the transfer.

Remittance: As used herein, the term "remittance" causes money from the first account to the second account to transfer money, stocks, bonds, shared ownership in mutual funds, and other securities. That is.

Financial Institution: As used herein, the term “financial institution” refers to banks, credit unions, brokerage exchanges and other entities that safeguard or transfer the assets of individuals or institutions. is there.

Website: As used herein, the term “website” refers to the Internet, the World Wide Web, its equivalents or its extended clients.
It means a combination of software or devices that play the role of a server in a server environment. There is no requirement that the website be an individual device. It may be a single device, a combination of devices that cooperate with each other, or a part of the devices or a combination thereof.

Electronic Commerce: The term “electronic commerce” as used herein refers to any commercial, business, vocational, investment or other activity conducted through the Internet, Intranet or other networks.

“Client” and “server”: Generally, “client” and “server” are
It is not limited to a specific physical device, but means a relationship between two devices, particularly a server and a client.

“Client device” and “server device”: In general, the term “client device” means a device that acts as a client in a client-server relationship (such as an HTTP web client and a web server). To do. There is no requirement that the client device be an individual physical device. It may be a single device, a combination of devices that cooperate with each other, or a part of the devices or a combination thereof. The term "server device" used here means
In a client-server relationship, a device that acts as a server. There is no requirement that the server device be an individual physical device. It may be a single device, a combination of devices that cooperate with each other, or a part of the devices or a combination thereof.

The general meaning of these terms is set forth here only by way of illustration and not limitation. Other uses of the invention, including extensions of these terms and concepts, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this specification. Such or other uses are part of the scope and spirit of the invention and will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further invention or undue experimentation.

(System Element) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for electronically transferring funds from a first account to a second account.

The system 100 includes at least one client device 110 managed by an individual user 115, a communication network 120, at least one financial institution 130 including a first account 135, a second of the same or different financial institutions 130. Account 1
36 and a personal data server 140.

Each client device 110 has an input element 111 and a presentation element 11.
2, the local memory 113, the software 114 provided for communicating with the personal data server 140. Each client device 110 has a first
User 11 wanting to transfer money from his account 135 to his second account 136
It is controlled by 5.

In the preferred embodiment, each client device 110 comprises a general purpose computer such as a laptop or workstation. However,
The client device 110 may be a handheld calendar (such as a "Palm Pilot" or other handheld device), a portable computer, a special purpose computer, a mobile phone or other telephone device, a web server acting as a user's agent, or , Other information devices (alone or with a laptop or workstation) can also be included. In alternative embodiments, the client device 110 may comprise any other device provided to perform all or some of the functionality described herein.

The communication network 120 is provided for communicating data between the client device 110 and the personal data server 140. In the preferred embodiment, communication network 120 comprises a packet switched network, such as the Internet, as well as (or in place of) an intranet, enterprise network, extranet, virtual private network or virtual switched network. In another embodiment, the communication network 12
0 may also comprise another set of communication links connecting the client device 110 and the personal data server 140.

The financial institution 130 comprises a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or other similar entity to which the user 115 has an account. It may have a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or other similar entity to which the user 115 does not have an account.

In a preferred embodiment, a user is registered with a user name or can be managed by the user from a first account 135 to a second account 136 in stocks, bonds, shared ownership in mutual funds, and other Funds including securities can be transferred. The second account 136 may be at the same financial institution 130 or at a different financial institution 130. The second account 136 does not have to be registered with a username or in a user manageable state.

The personal data server 140 is similar to the client device 110 in that it includes an input element 141, a presentation element 142 and a local memory 143. However, the personal data server 140 includes web server software 144, a database 145, a software package 146 for setting and executing money transfers, a website 147 and an agent 148.

Like the client device 110, embodiments of the personal data server 140 include a general purpose computer such as a laptop or workstation. However, the personal data server 140 may be a handheld calendar (such as a "Palm Pilot" or other handheld device), a portable computer, a special purpose computer, a mobile phone or other telephone device, a web acting as a user's agent. It may also be equipped with a server or other device (alone or with a laptop or workstation). In yet another embodiment, the personal data server 140 may include any other device provided to perform all or some of the functions described herein.

The database 145 is for facilitating the transfer of secret codes, bank account numbers, bank addresses, authorization codes, combinations of intelligent rules set by the user 115, website listings for financial institutions 130, and money transfers. It contains information about the set of users 115, as well as other information needed.

Software package 146 allows a user to accomplish some or all of the following:

A first account 135 under his control to a second account 136 under his control
Remittance to. A first account 135 under his control to a second account 136 not under his control
Remittance to. The first account 135 under his control to the second account 136 under his control
Remittance of shares, bonds, shared ownership in mutual funds, and other securities to. A first account 135 under his control to a second account 136 not under his control
Remittance of shares, bonds, shared ownership in mutual funds, and other securities to.

In a preferred embodiment, software package 146 includes a set of intelligent rules that can be individually adjusted by user 115. Due to these intelligent rules, funds are automatically transferred from the first account 135 to the second account 136 without any instruction from the user 115. For example, the user may want to maintain a percentage of his total money invested in the stock market. With the automation of the remittance schedule, this is achieved without further intervention by the user 115. Similarly, the user 115 may choose to pre-authorize some or all of some remittances with certain characteristics.
For example, the user 115 may authorize all transfers of $ 1000 or more.

Agent 148 is additional software on personal data server 140. The agent simulates the action performed by the browser of the client device 110.

In the preferred embodiment, personal data server 140 also includes personal information, form filling, automated login aggregation and summarization software. This software is used to create a "library" of personalized information about users who can be accessed to automatically respond to requests for registration information or secret codes. Such software is known in the field of data manipulation.

(Operation Method) FIG. 2 shows a process flow of usage of the system for electronically transferring funds from the first account to the second account.

Method 200 is performed by system 100. Although the method 200 is described serially, the steps of the method 200 may be performed asynchronously, like pipelines, or otherwise by separate elements cooperating or in parallel. The steps listed herein have no specific requirements to be followed unless stated otherwise.

In step 205, the user 115 operates the client device 110 to access the communication network 120, and at the same time, the personal data server 1
Establishes a connection with website 147 for 40.

(Setting of Remittance System) In step 210, the personal data server 140 confirms the user 115 and proves that he or she is the user.

In a preferred embodiment, the personal data server 140 can use cookies stored on the web client 110 to perform this step. In another preferred embodiment, the personal data server 140 is the user 1
Perform this step using the login identifier provided by 15. In yet another preferred embodiment, the user 115 does not have to register or enter a secret code and is protected for all websites associated with each financial institution 130 and the user 115 contained therein. You can access all of the information provided.

At step 215, the user 115 provides the personal data server 140 with data regarding the financial institution 130. At a minimum, this information includes the account identification number and authorization for automatic debits. Other information provided by the user 115 includes some or all of the following: route designation number; bank address; relevant successor name; financial institution characteristics and user-controlled accounts 135. Information about. The user 115 need only provide this data to each financial institution 130 once. In the preferred embodiment, a relatively large portion of the information
Is provided to the personal data server 140.

In another preferred embodiment, the information provided by user 115 and financial institution 130 is updated by financial institution 130 on a regular basis. This updated information may include interest rate changes, new balance information, warning flags (eg, flags that tell you when the amount in your account is just below your required balance), and the characteristics of the account 135 or the funds it contains. Data, dividend data, capital gains, new shares acquired, valuations by external entities such as Morningstar, and information about account characteristics.

[0048]   In step 220, the information is stored in database 145.

In step 225, the personal data server 140 creates a set of intelligent rules suitable for the characteristics of the account 135 identified by the user 115.
5 to provide. The following are examples of intelligent rules.

Diversion of profits from the first account into the second account.・ Maintain the ratio of the user's total funds in a specific account. -Reinvestment criteria for accounts that have matured. · Remittance of funds to maintain a minimum balance. -Remittance of funds to avoid service charges. · Delivery of purchase and / or sale orders according to market conditions. -Transactions that require approval in advance. For example, the user 115 may preauthorize all transactions over $ 5,000.

At step 230, the user selects the rules that he wants to apply to the account 135.

At step 235, the user 115 provides the personal data server 140 with information about the account 136 not under his control. In the preferred embodiment, much of the information about the account 136 is provided by the financial institution 130 with which the account 136 resides.
Obtained automatically from. Similar to step 215, this step
15 needs to be done only once for every financial institution 130 that wants to transfer assets.

At step 240, the information provided by the user 115 is stored in the database 145. When this step is complete, the method setup phase ends.

Implementation of Remittance In step 245, the user decides to remit the funds from the first account to the second account 136. The decision is to pay creditors, issue purchase orders,
It is done in response to the need to prepare for another purchase, manage funds, or transfer funds.

At step 250, the user 115 accesses the website 147 under the control of the personal data server 140. If this step has already been performed, method 200 performs step 255.

At step 255, the user 115 indicates the amount of money he wishes to transfer from the first account 135. This may be displayed in currency units, the number of shares, or any unit suitable for the account 135 you want to transfer money to. In other embodiments, the remittance amount desired by the user 115 may be expressed as a percentage of the total amount of the account 135.

At step 260, the user identifies the second account 136. As mentioned above, this account may be the same financial institution 130 or a different financial institution from account 135.

At step 265, the user 115 verifies the amount to be remitted and the account number or other identifier of the accounts 135, 136. User 115 may also see other information related to the transaction.

At step 270, the user sends the money. In the preferred embodiment, this is done automatically by the personal data server without further input by the user 115.

[0060]   At step 275, the user 115 receives confirmation of the transfer.

[0061]   At step 280, a record of the remittance is stored in database 145.

At step 285, the remittance responds to the intelligent rules determined at steps 230 and 235. In the preferred embodiment, this step is automatic and requires no intervention or authorization on the part of the user 115 (unless the user 115 first requests that some or all of the automatic remittance be broken). . This step can be performed at any time after step 235.

At step 290, the user 115 receives confirmation of the remittance made at step 285.

At step 295, the record of the remittance made at step 285 is stored in the database 145.

[0065]   In step 299, method 200 pauses.

(Generality of the Invention) The present invention has general applicability not only to electronic commerce as described above but also to various fields. For example, these specification areas may include one or more of the following or a combination of several.

Automatic payment of salary etc. (remittance from employer's payment account to employee's account, general operation account to payment account, employer's account to insurer's account).・ Automatic payment to creditors (transfer from debtor's account to creditor's account).・ Automated payment of child support and other household responsibilities.・ Automatic cash management (optimizing profit or dividend payments, minimizing tax payments,
Remittances are made like any other financial planning work).

Other applications of the invention in its most general form will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this specification and are within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Other Embodiments Although the preferred embodiments have been described herein, many modifications within the concept, scope, and spirit of the invention are possible, and such modifications are herein described. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the book.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic money transfer system for funds from a first account to a second account.

FIG. 2A is a work flow diagram of a method using a system to electronically transfer funds from a first account to a second account.

FIG. 2B is a work flow diagram of a method using a system to electronically transfer funds from a first account to a second account.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, I T, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE, TR), OA (BF , BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, G M, KE, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ , UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, B Z, CA, CH, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE , DK, DM, DZ, EC, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, I N, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC , LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, P L, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK , SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW

Claims (26)

[Claims] 1. A client device having a processing device and a memory, a processing device for a financial transaction, a memory, a server device having a database and software for transferring funds, a first financial account, and a second financial account. A device with a financial account and a communication link. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the software for remittance has a rule base, and the remittance is performed based on the rule base. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the rule base can be modified by a user of the client device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the remittance can be performed independently of the rule base. 5. The database is a secret code, a bank account number, a bank address, an authorization code, intelligent rules set by the user, a list of websites related to financial accounts, and necessary for facilitating the transfer of money. The apparatus of claim 1 including information about at least one user of the client device, such as other information. 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the server has software that simulates an action performed by a browser of the client device. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein money or stock is transferred directly from the first financial account to the second financial account. 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first financial account is a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or similar entity. 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second financial account is a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or similar entity. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first financial account is at the same institution as the second financial account. 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first financial account is at a different institution than the second financial account. 12. The device of claim 1, wherein a user of the client device is authenticated by the server device using a cookie. 13. A method of remittance of funds, which comprises using a client device to provide information regarding a specific transaction to a server device, remittance of funds, and storing a record of the transaction in a database on the server. 14. A client file is set, wherein the client file includes a user, a financial account under the control of the user, a financial account to which the user wishes to transfer funds, a password for the user account, and other 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the method includes information about physical survey data. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of setting up the client file comprises the step of establishing a rule base governing subsequent transfer of funds. 16. The executing step is responsive to software for sending money,
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the remittance is rule-based. 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the rule base is modifiable by a user of the client device. 18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the remittance is performed independently of the rule base. 19. The executing step is responsive to information stored in a database, including a secret code, a bank account number, a bank address, an authorization code, intelligent rules set by a user, a list of websites for financial accounts, and ,
14. The method of claim 13 including information about at least one user of the client device, such as other information needed to facilitate remittance. 20. The method of claim 13, wherein the performing step comprises the step of transferring funds directly from the first financial account to the second financial account. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first financial account is a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or similar entity. 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the second financial account is a bank, credit union, brokerage exchange or similar entity. 23. The method of claim 20, wherein the first financial account is at the same institution as the second financial account. 24. The method of claim 20, wherein the first financial account is at a different institution than the second financial account. 25. The method of claim 1 is characterized in that the server device is authenticated by the server device as a user of the client device.
The method according to 3. 26. The method of claim 13 including the step of charging a fee for using the server to perform the method.