INTEGRATED FINANCIAL TRANSACTION AND ACCESS SYSTEM

• US 20090072020A1
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Earnest Hull
• Original Assignee: Robert Earnest Hull
• Inventors: Hull, Robert Earnest
• Granted Patent: US 8,261,974 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A universal digital information management and transaction system facilitates a consumer'"'"'s ability to organize, use and obtain personal data related to a consumer, including for example, the consumer'"'"'s financial, health, and personal records. A consumer is provided with an online profile that stores all of the relevant consumer information, with a token associated with the consumer'"'"'s profile to enable the consumer to securely login remotely to the system to access and manage all of their relevant information.

Claims

1. A method of managing a consumer profile, the method comprising:

in response to input from a consumer, creating a consumer profile, the consumer profile identifying a plurality of financial accounts suitable for making payments and respectively associated with a plurality of financial institutions and a plurality of loyalty accounts associated respectively with a plurality of merchants;

associating a token with the consumer profile;

storing the consumer profile in an integrated financial transaction and access system that is independent of the plurality of financial institutions and the plurality of merchants; and

in response to the consumer initiating a transaction with a merchant by providing the token to the merchant;

receiving the token from the merchant at the integrated financial transaction and access system;

accessing the consumer profile associated with the token to obtain the list of financial accounts;

accessing the consumer profile to identify a loyalty account associated with the merchant;

communicating the list of financial accounts and the loyalty account to the merchant to enable the consumer to select a financial account from the list of financial accounts and to enable the merchant to apply the loyalty account to the transaction;

receiving a selected financial account from the merchant at the integrated financial transaction and access system; and

in the integrated financial transaction and access system, completing the transaction using the selected financial account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, with the integrated financial transaction and access system:

providing consumer purchase history information to the merchant prior to the consumer initiating the transaction;

receiving from the merchant at least one promotion for the consumer;

storing the promotion in the consumer profile; and

in response to the consumer initiating the transaction, accessing the consumer profile to identify the promotion, communicating the promotion with the list of financial accounts and the loyalty account to the merchant such that the promotion is automatically applied to the transaction by the merchant.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, with the integrated financial transaction and access system:

authenticating the consumer using the token;

tracking a browsing history of the consumer while the consumer anonymously browses at least one merchant web site when authenticated to the integrated financial transaction and access system;

storing the browsing history in the consumer profile; and

providing the browsing history to the merchant such that the promotion received from the merchant is based at least in part on the browsing history.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering each of the plurality of financial institutions and the plurality of merchants with the integrated financial transaction and access system; and

providing electronic access for the plurality of financial institutions and the plurality of merchants to the integrated financial transaction and access system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the token and receiving the selected financial account are performed by electronically interacting with a terminal disposed at a retail location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the token and receiving the selected financial account are performed by electronically interacting with a merchant web site.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing medical information in the consumer profile in response to consumer input.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the medical information in the consumer profile in response to input from a medical provider.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising via a web site associated with the integrated financial transaction and access system, displaying menu information for a merchant to a consumer in response to consumer input.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising via a web site associated with the integrated financial transaction and access system, transferring funds between financial accounts associated with different financial institutions in response to consumer input.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising via a web site associated with the integrated financial transaction and access system, viewing merchant receipts in response to consumer input.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the token comprises an account number, and wherein receiving the token includes receiving the token after a card upon which is encoded the account number is presented to a merchant.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the account number is processable by a credit card transaction system such that the card is additionally usable as a credit card.