System and method for programmatically accessing financial data

• US 10,319,029 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plaid Inc.
• Original Assignee: Plaid Technologies Incorporated (Plaid Inc.)
• Inventors: Hockey, William, Li, Charles, Perret, Zach
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Asfand M
• Application Number:
  US15/258,299
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods for programmatic access of external financial service systems. An application proxy instance is created that simulates an application of an external financial service system. A normalized account request is received for financial data of the external financial service system for a specified account. The normalized account request is provided by an external financial application system by using a financial data API of the financial platform system. Responsive to the normalized account request, communication is negotiated with the external financial service system by using the application proxy instance to access the requested financial data from the external financial service system by using a proprietary Application Programming Interface (API) of the external financial service system. The financial data is provided to the external financial application system as a response to the normalized account request.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices configured to store a plurality of computer executable instructions; and

one or more hardware computer processors in communication with the one or more computer-readable storage devices and configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to cause the computer system to;

receive, from a first computing device, a request for data associated with a user, the request including authentication credentials associated with the user;

identify an institution associated with the request;

create a simulated instance of a software application, the software application being a first party application of the institution and specifically configured to interface via an API of the institution with computing devices associated with the institution, wherein;

the simulated instance of the software application is also configured to interface, via the API of the institution, with computing devices associated with the institution, and

the simulated instance of the software application is configured to appear to the computing devices of the institution to be the software application executing on a physical computing device of the user;

request, by the simulated instance of the software application and via the API, data associated with the user from a second computing device of the institution;

receive the data associated with the user from the second computing device;

enhance the data associated with the user to generate enhanced data; and

provide, to another computing device, the enhanced data.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

authenticate the simulated instance of the software application with the second computing device based on at least one of;

an identifier code, an authentication token, or a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein:

the authentication credentials associated with the user include at least a username associated with the user, and a password associated with the user; and

requesting the data associated with the user further includes providing, to the second computing device, the username associated with the user and the password associated with the user.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

further request, by the simulated instance of the software application and via the API, the data associated with the user from the second computing device by;

receiving, from the second computing device, a request for second factor authentication information;

requesting, from the first computing device, the second factor authentication information;

receiving, from the first computing device, the second factor authentication information; and

providing, to the second computing device, the second factor authentication information.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein enhancing the data associated with the user to generate the enhanced data comprises:

augmenting, based on an analysis of the data, a plurality of data items of the data with respective category labels; and

augmenting, based on a further analysis of the data, the plurality of data items of the data with respective geolocation information.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

standardize a format of the data such that the data may be provided in the normalized format.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the simulated instance of the software application is generated based on at least one of:

an analysis of an actual instance of the software application, or interactions between an actual instance of the software application and the second computing device.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

store, in the one or more computer-readable storage devices, the simulated instance of the software application such that future requests for data may be obtained via the simulated instance of the software application.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the another computing device is the first computing device.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the another computing device is a third computing device different from the first computing device and the second computing device.

11. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the API is a proprietary API of the institution.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein requesting the data associated with the user further includes providing, to the second computing device, credentials associated with the user and one or more properties associated with the simulated instance of the software application.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

by one or more hardware processors executing program instructions;

receiving, from a first computing device, a request for data associated with a user, the request including authentication credentials associated with the user;

identifying an institution associated with the request;

creating a simulated instance of a software application, the software application being a first party application of the institution and specifically configured to interface via an API of the institution with computing devices associated with the institution, wherein;

the simulated instance of the software application is also configured to interface, via the API of the institution, with computing devices associated with the institution, and

the simulated instance of the software application is configured to appear to the computing devices of the institution to be the software application executing on a physical computing device of the user;

requesting, by the simulated instance of the software application and via the API, data associated with the user from a second computing device of the institution;

receiving the data associated with the user from the second computing device;

enhancing the data associated with the user to generate enhanced data; and

providing, to another computing device, the enhanced data.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions;

authenticating the simulated instance of the software application with the second computing device based on at least one of;

an identifier code, an authentication token, or a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein:

the authentication credentials associated with the user include at least a username associated with the user, and a password associated with the user; and

requesting the data associated with the user further includes providing, to the second computing device, the username associated with the user and the password associated with the user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions;

further requesting, by the simulated instance of the software application and via the API, the data associated with the user from the second computing device by;

receiving, from the second computing device, a request for second factor authentication information;

requesting, from the first computing device, the second factor authentication information;

receiving, from the first computing device, the second factor authentication information; and

providing, to the second computing device, the second factor authentication information.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein enhancing the data associated with the user to generate the enhanced data comprises:

augmenting, based on an analysis of the data, a plurality of data items of the data with respective category labels; and

augmenting, based on a further analysis of the data, the plurality of data items of the data with respective geolocation information.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions;

standardizing a format of the data such that the data may be provided in the normalized format.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the simulated instance of the software application is generated based on at least one of:

an analysis of an actual instance of the software application, or interactions between an actual instance of the software application and the second computing device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions;

storing the simulated instance of the software application such that future requests for data may be obtained via the simulated instance of the software application.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the another computing device is the first computing device.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the another computing device is a third computing device different from the first computing device and the second computing device.