System and method for delivering financial services

• US 5,933,816 A
• Filed: 08/07/1997
• Issued: 08/03/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Citicorp Development Center Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cohen, Albert, Markarian, Grigor, Cook, James, Lan, Sikhun, Abbott, Charles, Boyd, Nik, Lindsley, Bonnie, Zeanah, James, Moss, Leslie, Grandcolas, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Application Number:
  US08/908,413
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/39, 705/42, 705/43
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/201 Accessories of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/211 Software architecture within ATMs or in relation to the ATM network

Abstract

A delivery system and method allow a financial institution to provide financial services to a plurality of remote devices, such as personal computers, personal data assistants, and screen phones. In addition to providing services to these remote devices, the system and method provide services to automatic teller machines (ATMs), external service providers, and internally within the financial institution to staff terminals and to the individual branches of the financial institution. The delivery of financial services is not limited to any particular network but rather may be provided through dial-in access, Internet access, on-line service provider access, or other types of delivery networks. The system is comprised of a set of reusable global components which are modular and are organized into services sets. By separating the components of the system into independent components, the system and method can be developed and tested on a component level rather than the entire system level, thereby substantially reducing the development and maintenance cycle time. The system and method operate in sessions and, for instance, employ a dialog component for gathering information from a customer, a rule broker component for providing answers to the various legal and regulatory rules in a particular country, a language man component for selecting appropriate language, a transaction executor component for performing transactions, and a presentation manager component for formatting outputs to the customer. The system and method provide state-of-the art interfaces with interface components and support legacy applications with legacy app bridge components.

Claims

1. A system for delivering financial services to a customer through a remote device, comprising:

a mini-app dialog component; and

a transaction executor component;

the mini-app dialog component for receiving a request for a financial service function from the customer through the remote device, for collecting information from the customer through the remote device, and for instantiating the transaction executor component;

wherein the transaction executor component is for use in performing the financial service function that was requested by the customer.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an interface between the mini-app dialog component and the remote device, the interface routing information from the customer and the request from the customer from the remote device to the mini-app dialog component.

3. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the interface routes information from a plurality of remote devices to the mini-app dialog component.

4. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface routes information from remote devices of a plurality of different types, the types including ATM terminals and home banking terminals.

5. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface receives information from remote devices over a mobile radiotelephone network.

6. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface receives information from remote devices over a cellular network.

7. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface receives information from remote devices over a cable network.

8. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface receives information from remote devices over the Internet.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8, wherein the receiving comprises receiving at the common interface requests from different types of remote device.

10. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface receives information from remote devices over a public telephone network.

11. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a rule broker component for registering a rule authority for each question and for directing requests for an answer to an appropriate rule authority.

12. The system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the mini-app dialog component validates the customer information using the rule broker component.

13. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a presentation manager component for mapping messages in a canonical representation into a format designated for the remote device.

14. The system as set forth in claim 13, wherein the presentation manager component is for converting the information from the customer into a tagged canonical representation and for supplying the tagged canonical representation to the mini-app dialog component.

15. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a front door man component for adding security tokens to messages sent to the remote device and for verifying security tokens on messages received from the remote device.

16. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a navigation shell component for notifying the customer of available functions and for instantiating the mini-app dialog component based on a function requested.

17. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a welcome mat component for outputting a welcome page to the remote device of the customer and for collecting customer identity and preference information.

18. The system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the welcome mat component instantiates a customer ID component for holding customer information and an issuer component for answering questions on an issuer business.

19. The system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the welcome mat component instantiates a profile transaction executor to authenticate the customer.

20. The system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the welcome mat component instantiates a navigation shell component, the navigation shell component for notifying the customer of available functions and for instantiating the mini-app dialog component based on a function requested.

21. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a legacy app bridge component for converting data between a tagged canonical representation into a second data format, the second data format being used by a legacy application to perform at least part of the function requested.

22. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a language man component for storing a repository of phrases, the mini-app dialog component querying the language man component for a named phrase and the language man component returning the named phrase to the mini-app dialog component according to a language and content specific for the customer and the remote device.

23. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an external service provider component for communicating with an external service provider.

24. The system as set forth in claim 23, wherein the transaction executor component uses the external service provider in performing the function requested by the customer.

25. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a peripheral device component which is called by the mini-app dialog component in response to the function requested by the customer and which is for interfacing with a peripheral device associated with the remote device to perform at least part of the function requested by the customer.

26. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a session controller component for receiving an initial contact from the customer through the remote device and for instantiating a session component for a session bubble associated with the customer.

27. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the session component instantiates a welcome mat component for sending a welcome page to the remote device.

28. The system as set forth in claim 26, further comprising a touch point interface component for interfacing with a plurality of customers for a plurality of sessions and for routing the information from each customer to the mini-app dialog component associated with the respective session bubble.

29. The system as set forth in claim 26, further comprising a back door man component for sending messages from a plurality of transaction executor components in a plurality of session bubbles to a single external service provider.

30. The system as set forth in claim 26, further comprising a back door man component for receiving messages from an external service provider and for routing each message to the transaction executor component associated with the session bubble for each message.

31. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device is a personal computer.

32. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device is a screen telephone.

33. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device is an automated teller machine.

34. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device is a personal data assistant.

35. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device is a staff terminal used within a financial institution providing the financial services.

36. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a second transaction executor component, the second transaction executor component for performing a second function.

37. The system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a second mini-app dialog component for receiving a second request for a second function from the customer through the remote device, for collecting information from the customer through the remote device, and for instantiating a second transaction executor component for performing the second function.

38. A delivery system for providing financial services to different types of remote devices that include ATM terminals and home banking terminals, the delivery system comprising:

an interface for communicating with the remote devices, the interface being shared between the different types of remote devices;

a mini-app dialog component for receiving requests for financial service functions from the remote devices and for collecting customer information from the remote devices, the requests and the customer information being routed through the interface; and

a transaction executor component, the transaction executor component being instantiated by the mini-app dialog component and is for use in performing the financial service functions.

39. A method for delivering financial services to a remote device, comprising:

receiving a request for a financial service function at a mini-app dialog component from a remote device;

collecting information through the remote device with the mini-app dialog component;

instantiating a transaction executor component; and

performing the financial service function that was requested through the remote device with the transaction executor component.

40. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request over the Internet.

41. The method as set forth in claim 40, further comprising establishing a plurality of sessions with a plurality of remote devices and wherein receiving the request from the remote device comprises receiving the request from the remote device at a touch point interface component and routing the request from the touch point interface component to the mini-app dialog component associated with the session for the remote device.

42. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from the remote device through an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

43. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from an automated teller machine.

44. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from a personal computer.

45. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from a personal data assistant.

46. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from a screen phone.

47. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from a staff terminal located within a financial institution delivering the financial services.

48. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising receiving an initial contact from the remote device at a session controller component and instantiating a session component for managing a session with the remote device.

49. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a welcome mat component for outputting a welcome page to the remote device prior to receiving the request for the function.

50. The method as set forth in claim 49, further comprising collecting customer identification information and preference information with the welcome mat component.

51. The method as set forth in claim 49, further comprising instantiating under the welcome mat component a profile transaction executor component, the profile transaction executor component for authenticating a customer.

52. The method as set forth in claim 49, further comprising instantiating under the welcome mat component a customer ID component for holding customer information and an issuer component for answering questions on an issuer business.

53. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a navigation shell component for notifying a customer of available functions and instantiating the mini-app dialog component in response to a selection of a function associated with the mini-app dialog component.

54. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising receiving from the remote device a second request for a second function at a second mini-app dialog component, collecting information from the remote device with the second mini-app dialog component, instantiating a second transaction executor component, and performing the second function that was requested through the remote device with the second transaction executor component.

55. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein the function requested is executed by a legacy application and the method further comprises instantiating a legacy app bridge component for converting information from a canonical representation into a second data format, transferring the information in the second data format to the legacy application, receiving an output from the legacy application in the second data format, and converting the output to the canonical representation.

56. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein performing the function with the transaction executor component comprises performing the function through an external service provider.

57. The method as set forth in claim 56, further comprising performing a plurality of functions for transaction executor components in different sessions through the external service provider and routing, with a back door man component, messages from the transaction executor component in the different sessions to the external service provider.

58. The method as set forth in claim 57, further comprising routing each response message from the external service provider to its respective transaction executor component.

59. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a presentation manager component for mapping information in a canonical representation into a format designated for the remote device.

60. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a front door man component, providing security tokens on messages sent to the remote device with the front door man component, and verifying with the front door man component the security tokens on messages received from the remote device.

61. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a rule broker component, registering rule authorities with the rule broker component, receiving a question at the rule broker, and directing the question to a respective rule authority.

62. The method as set forth in claim 61, further comprising validating customer information with the rule broker component on behalf of the mini-app dialog component.

63. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a language man component, storing a repository of phrases in the language man component, receiving queries for a named phrase at the language man component, and returning the named phrase according to a language and content specific for the remote device.

64. The method as set forth in claim 39, further comprising instantiating a language man component, storing a repository of phrases in the language man component, receiving queries for a named phrase at the language man component, and returning the named phrase according to a language and content specific for a customer using the remote device.

65. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein performing the function comprises calling a peripheral device component for interfacing with a peripheral device associated with the remote device to perform at least part of the function requested by the remote device.

66. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein receiving comprises receiving at a common interface a plurality of requests from a plurality of remote devices.

67. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request over a cellular network.

68. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request over a cable network.

69. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request over a public telephone network.

70. A computer-readable medium storing software for use by a computer in delivering financial services to a remote device, the software being executed by the computer in performing a method of:

receiving a request for a financial service function at a mini-app dialog component from a remote device;

collecting information through the remote device with the mini-app dialog component;

instantiating a transaction executor component; and

performing the financial service function that was requested through the remote device with the transaction executor component.